IDS and APES enter 3D printed electronics partnership

Integrated Deposition Solutions (IDS), an aerosol printing technology manufacturer, and Advanced Printed Electronic Solutions (APES), a 3D printed electronics, engineering, and manufacturing services company, have entered a partnership to accelerate customer development of next-generation 3D printed electronics applications. Through the partnership, the companies will improve the alignment of customer product development design requirements with manufacturing and process technologies leveraging industry-proven platforms and advanced aerosol-based technologies by IDS.

The partnership between IDS and APES addresses a significant business issue impeding the adoption of printed electronics, and more importantly, customer time-to-market for new products. Today, customers must navigate a myriad of technologies and manufacturing systems to move from product concepts to prototypes and pilots and are often incapable of realizing their product vision due to the variety of complexities associated with developing production products incorporating 3D printed electronics. Further, product concept development is frequently decoupled from the capabilities offered by 3D printed electronics, and is therefore not considered during concept exploration and product definition – limiting potential innovation and product differentiation.

Both IDS and APES will begin working closely to to address these issues by creating a template-driven set of print processes and end-to-end concept-to-production methodology. IDS will focus on providing industry-leading aerosol-based printed electronic platforms and modules and robust process recipes – collectively providing a reliable, accurate, and high-performance manufacturing foundation. APES shall work with customers in the beginning of their additively manufactured electronics (AME) journey – including supporting customer product concept definition and engineering development, and prototyping-to-pilot fabrication based on the foundation established by IDS in conjunction with the company’s in-house Neotech AMT 5-axis motion systems, each equipped with IDS NanoJet capability.

“A strategic partnership with Advanced Printed Electronics Solutions is a tremendous opportunity to aid NanoJet users as they move their project from concept to reality. Success in printed electronics relies on a viable application, well-suited materials, and a reliable printer. IDS has created an aerosol printing platform with industrial reliability and now, leveraging APES application engineering strengths, have a development pipeline for advanced manufacturing integration”, said Dov Phillips, Sales  Manager for IDS. “There is a lot of momentum and excitement around aerosol printing for advanced electronics packaging, biomedical, optical, and flexible hybrid electronics applications, and having a partner like APES who will work closely with clients to hone in on these use cases is a really great resource we can now offer our customers.”

“By bridging the gap that exists today between product engineering teams and 3D printed electronics fabrication technologies, not to mention the significant expertise required across each, I believe we can accelerate customer product development and accelerate the process required from R&D to pilot manufacturing, followed by scaling as needed for production”, said Rich Neill, CEO and Founder of APES. “A key part of this strategy is to benefit the customer by leveraging the combined expertise between IDS and APES in engineering while incorporating proven manufacturing technologies that are reliable and hardened 3D printed electronic solutions.”