Can 3D Printing Solve The Semiconductor Shortage?

By John Oncea, Editor

Semiconductors have been in short supply for the past couple of years and some experts don’t expect the supply of these little wonders to return to acceptable levels anytime soon. Those in need of semiconductors are learning to cope by designing for ability, leveraging AI, and finding the right logistics partners. There is one more solution to talk about: 3D printing.

Let’s jump into the WABAC Machine to a simpler time – August 2022.

Volkswagen launched a working prototype of its electric flying car, splooting was taking the animal kingdom by storm, and Nicki Minaj became the first female rapper to have a single (Super Freaky Girl) debut at number one since Lauren Hill turned the trick with Doo Wop (That Thing) in 1998. Heck, gas was an average of $4.08 a gallon.

Oh, and the White House signed into law the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 which provided around $280 billion in new funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors in the U.S. It also included $39 billion in subsidies for chip manufacturing on U.S. soil, 25% investment tax credits for costs of manufacturing equipment, and $13 billion for semiconductor research and workforce training.

Shortly after the announcement, Fabbaloo wrote, “America invented the semiconductor, but today produces about only 10% of the world’s supply — and none of the most advanced semiconductors. Instead, we rely on East Asia for 75% of global production. The CHIPS and Science Act will unlock hundreds of billions more in private sector semiconductor investment across the country, including production essential to national defense and critical sectors.”

Now, here’s where things get interesting. “We have previously written extensively about semiconductors and how the industry supply chain shortage was affecting everything from automobiles to washing machines,” wrote Fabbaloo. “We covered how tensions in Taiwan were pushing many to look at 3D printing for solutions.

“The now permanent Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit is available for companies developing new or improved products, processes, and/or software.” This includes 3D printing which can help boost a company’s R&D Tax Credits. “Wages for technical employees creating, testing, and revising 3D printed prototypes can be included as a percentage of eligible time spent for the R&D Tax Credit. Similarly, when used as a method of improving a process, time spent integrating 3D printing hardware and software counts as an eligible activity. Lastly, when used for modeling and preproduction, the costs of filaments consumed during the development process may also be recovered.”

So, 3D printing of semiconductors became a viable and potentially lucrative option for dealing with the current shortage. Let’s take a look at how that played out.

The Rubber Meets The Road (Sounds Better Than “The Thermoplastic Filaments Meets A Dual Material Fused Filament Process)

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), relative to semiconductors “largely centers on printing electronic components, resistors, transistors, capacitors, antennas, radio frequency (RF) devices, etc.,” according to a ResearchAndMakets.com report. “Researchers believe that 3D printing will enhance the 5G connection in mobile devices by enabling the manufacture of densely printed electronic components. In terms of applications, 3D semiconductor printing impacts many industries, especially the automotive, consumer electronics, and medical industries, with large-scale adoption expected in the next 2 to 5 years resulting from improved functional requirements of 3D-printed electronic parts.”

There are several ways to 3D print the electronic components of the semiconductor industry, according to Makenica. “However, the most popular method remains implementing a dual material fused filament process that makes use of thermoplastic filaments. The filaments in question are typically made from copper, but increasingly, carbon and graphene are also used. Once the material has been chosen, the process from design to realization of the component is surprisingly straightforward with 3D printing services.” That process includes:

• designing a digital CAD model that serves as a blueprint for the printer
• creating a trace, akin to a fingerprint, with various instructional lines for the printer
• adding upon the trace in layers to build up the structure of the component

“A key challenge of 3D printing semiconductors compared to other objects is the need to use thicker traces,” writes Makenica. “More robust traces are required to compensate for the fact that conductive ink, paint, or filament that’s used to create the traces has a higher resistance than materials, like copper, that are more commonly used for online 3D printing services.”

Velo3D (VLD) CEO Benny Buller, writing for Nasdaq, notes that 3D printing doesn’t simply print the microscopic pieces that make up the chips. “While my company has developed ways for customers to design and create previously ‘impossible’ geometries, 3D printing works at the 1/10th of a millimeter scale. Semiconductor fabrication plants (also known as ‘fabs’) work at the nanometer scale (one billionth of a meter).”

Buller writes developing a basic understanding of fabs is the first thing needed to fully understand the impact 3D printing can have on semiconductors. “Since each fab requires thousands of machines that have intricate parts, it takes years to build new fabs and ramp up production at them,” writes Buller. “In the meantime, the global economy needs existing fabs to operate at the fastest, and most efficient, pace possible. As with any factories, fabs can experience breakdowns and other technical problems, preventing them from running at full capacity.”

This is the point at which 3D printing steps up by allowing for parts to be created more quickly. “Fab operators should not have to wait for factories overseas to create and ship replacement parts. With 3D printing, they can have parts created by a service provider nearest to them and delivered right away.”

3D printing of electronics has been around for a while, notes TECHDesign. But it hasn’t always been successful until recently when “these printing tools … improved feature size resolution, yield, and variability in production.”

Those improvements have led electronics manufacturers to “turn to additive manufacturing with the prospect of enhancing throughput and bringing new products to market quicker as they face increasing pressure to reduce product cycle times, satisfy new consumer expectations, and manage more turbulent market circumstances.” In addition, 3D printing allows semiconductor equipment makers to reassess and broaden the scope of what is feasible and has a huge potential to help overcome semiconductor scarcity and reinforce supply chains.

Despite the rise and success of 3D printing, it won’t be a quick fix to overcoming the semiconductor chip shortage. But it, along with the other components that make up the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, is a step in the right direction.