Printegrated Circuits: Merging 3D Printing and Electronics

Summary

Just as the laser printer delivered the benefits of a printing press to personal computer users more than 40 years ago, 3D printers have made it possible for individuals to turn digital designs into physical objects. Some printers cost less than US $1,000, and they can be used to create one-off objects or low-volume production of items.3D printed objects have one major limitation; it’s not easy to make them “smart.” Adding digital processors and other components remains a challenge, as does adding conductive traces to, for example, detect when someone is touching the object. This is particularly true for the average hobbyist or even university lab—printed electronics technology exists that uses flexible silver inks and semiconductor materials, but the materials and machinery are way out of reach for such groups.Oliver Child, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Bristol, has been working on the problem. After a stint in the semiconductor business, he has found a way to merge his digital electronics experience with his love of 3D printing. He has created a process that allows someone to embed a physical microcontroller—such as an Arduino—in a 3D printed object. He calls the result “printegrated circuits.”IEEE Spectrum spoke with Child to learn more about his work and his hopes for the future of the technology.Oliver Child on:I was looking through your website and it looks as though you came into this from the 3D printing side; is that fair to say?Oliver Child: I did a computer science undergrad program and then went into the electronics industry, but I have always been a bit of a hobbyist.I went into the semiconductor industry with a startup that had about 300 people working for it. We still couldn’t be competitive, because iteration was so expensive compared with establish products already on the market. Every time you wanted to make a new chip, you had to pay to license the software and then the tape-out fee cost several million dollars as well.I have always had t...