Quantica and ELANTAS enter printed electronics partnership

Quantica, an additive manufacturing technology provider, and ELANTAS, a manufacturer of insulating and protective materials, have partnered to adapt a high-viscosity silver ink, traditionally used in screen printing, for use with Quantica’s inkjet technology. This collaboration aims to develop a cost-effective, digital alternative for printed electronics, specifically for creating conductive tracks for flexible electronics.

While conventional printheads are unable to jet materials with larger particles, Quantica’s NovoJet printhead targets materials with particle sizes up to 9µm and fill rates of over 50wt%. This allows particle diameters up to 100x larger compared to typical nanoparticle inks. Larger particles and higher fill rates result in better properties for conductive materials and significantly reduce costs in raw materials.

With support from Fraunhofer IPA, the team has identified a fine-line silver ink from ELANTAS’s portfolio and is currently evaluating suitable mixing ratios and printable parameter ranges. This work helps to outline key aspects for an optimized ink formulation that could be tuned for the NovoJet printhead. By enabling the use of this new ink, the aim is to significantly lower production costs and provide a more efficient manufacturing process for printed electronics.

“Screen printing remains the most widely used application method in printed electronics, offering clear advantages when processing highly viscous and heavily filled materials. The idea of digitally jetting such formulations to create customized structures in real time, and even going beyond the limitations of screen printing, is incredibly exciting. As printed electronics continue to grow, I believe this demand will rise as well. With Quantica’s jetting technology, I see great potential for us to achieve meaningful progress together,” said Berit Schuster, Head of R&D Printed Electronics at ELANTAS Europe.

“This collaboration between ELANTAS and Quantica opens up the floodgates for enabling new applications in the field of printed electronics. With the materials and customer applications in ELANTAS’s portfolio, Quantica will be able to quickly validate ultra-high viscosity inkjet with existing and certified materials and processes. This is just the beginning, and great things are surely to come,” said Ben Hartkopp, Founder, Inventor, Head of Research & IP at Quantica.

This collaboration aims to develop a more accessible, efficient, and digital manufacturing alternative for the printed electronics industry.