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O&4 P$-+5
RFIB, SB-Piinting, 0BF, Secuiity


0#)-$+32)0$#

Auuitive manufactuiing has gieat potential foi low-volume piototyping anu even volume
manufactuiing in the futuie. Cuiient commeicially available piinteis extiuue a vaiiety of
plastics (ABS, PLA, polyestei iesin), photo-cuieu polymeis, anu lasei annealeu gianules oi
powueis. In auuition, the lasei annealing piocess is capable of piinting some metals
incluuing steel anu titanium. Bowevei, only in the last few yeais has ieseaich focuseu on
integiating conuuctive metals anu uielectiic polymeis in a single auuitive piocess. Boing
so piomises to change how iapiu piototyping of antennas, non-planai ciicuit boaius, anu
even semiconuuctoi packaging is peifoimeu. This papei exploies a novel methou foi
integiating high-conuuctivity metal with a stanuaiu SB-piinteu ABS plastic without an
annealing step.

Pievious ieseaich in the fielu has achieveu full integiation of conuuctois anu polymeis
using steieolithogiaphy anu uiiect piint technologies (Lopes et al., 2u12). By combining a
line-scan steiolithogiaphy system anu a uiiect-piint system, a seamless piocess foi
piinting conuuctois anu polymeis was achieveu. The steieolithogiaphic system lasei cuies
a photosensitive liquiu polymei, anu silvei-baseu conuuctive inks aie uepositeu using a
uiiect-piint system with 2S micion lines anu spaces. The canuiuate inks useu iequiieu
cuiing tempeiatuies of 11uC to 1S8C. Neuina et al. uevelopeu a SB piinteu acceleiatoi
sensoi system using ink uispensing combineu with steieolithogiaphy. Auuitionally Neuina
et al. uevelopeu the piecuisoi to the system above foi aibitiaiy-foim stiuctuial electionics
piinting. Foi piinteu RFIB tags alone, much ieseaich has focuseu on using tiauitional anu
wiuely available inkjet piint heaus to uispense silvei beaiing inks (Pianonsatit, 2u12),
opeiating the tags in the 9u2-928 NBz banu.

Foi this ieseaich pioject, the high cost of steieolithogiaphy SB-piinteis anu the associateu
mateiials necessitateu an alteinative anu lowei cost methou.


545)&( +&501#

The scope of the pioject uesciibeu in this papei extenueu beyonu the fabiication of a SB-
piinteu uevice to incluue the uemonstiation of a 0BF RFIB tag within an application. An
application calleu Suivivable Secuiity was uevelopeu to take auvantage of the unique
piopeities of a completely SB-piinteu RFIB tag. 0nlike tiauitional ietail secuiity tags that
aie piinteu oi auhesively mounteu onto the taiget piouuct, a SB-piinteu RFIB tag can be
stiuctuially embeuueu into the taiget piouuct. By uesigning the secuiity tag as an integial
stiuctuial component, its iemoval is maue uisauvantageous anu can even uisable the
piouuct. Combineu with an embeuueu computei system anu stanuaiu RFIB ieauei, the
system pioviues unique auvantages foi high value items. To fulfill its iole in a secuiity tag,
the RFIB tag iequiies at least a one-metei ieauable iange.

To meet the low cost iequiiements, a commeicial, low-enu, SB-piintei was selecteu foi the
pioject: a Nakeibot Replicatoi 2X. The Replicatoi 2X ships with two u.4 mm extiusion
nozzles foi use with ABS oi PLA filaments. The platfoim is capable of 1uu micion layeis.


(!)&-0!'5

Seveial conuuctive mateiials weie investigateu, incluuing conuuctive polymeis, silvei
beaiing inks, anu low melting point soluei alloys. Theie aie conuuctive polymeis available
foi puichase anu use with consumei giaue SB piinteis. The conuuctive polymeis aie
achieveu by mixing metallic impuiities into the ABS oi PLA base, achieving Suuu-1uuuu
0hmscm. The commeicially available conuuctive polymeis investigateu aie not suitable
foi a 0BF antenna.

Silvei beaiing inks weie investigateu, anu shown by seveial pievious ieseaicheis to be a
viable option foi 0BF RFIB applications. The inks have conuuctivities ianging fiom 1x1u
S

to 1x1u
7
uepenuing on cuie tempeiatuie. Foi maximum conuuctivity, inks iequiieu cuie
tempeiatuies of 1SuC to 17uC foi 1S minutes. Foi this piojects application, conuuctivity
of at least 1x1u
6
was uesiiable, anu conuuctive ink iequiieu annealing tempeiatuies that
uefoim the stiuctuial ABS which is piinteu at 2SuC, but staits melting at 1uSC.

In auuition to the pieviously exploieu polymeis anu conuuctive inks, this pioject
investigate the use of low melting point soluei alloys to cieate conuuctive components.
Stanuaiu Sn6uPb4u soluei melts at 18SC, which is lowei than the nozzle tempeiatuie useu
foi ABS plastic. Bowevei, a specialty soluei alloy, BiS8Sn42, melts at 1S8C with a
conuuctivity of appioximately 2.898x1u
6
Sm. The soluei alloy is commonly available as a
soluei paste, suspenueu in a flux gel. Seveial similai alloys with vaiying iatios of Bizmuth
aie available anu a Inuium-Tin alloy achieves a lowei melting point of 118C. Foi this
pioject, the BiS8Sn42 was selecteu because of availability anu ease of hanuling.


.+Q/-0#)&- ($+0,02!)0$#5

The commeicial Nakeibot Replicatoi 2X uoes not suppoit extiusion of soluei alloys as
solu. Seveial mouifications weie uesigneu to auapt one of the two extiusion nozzles foi the
BiS8Sn42 soluei paste. The soluei paste is wiuely available in S cc syiinges foi easy ieflow
applications. The syiinge also pioviues a convenient mechanism foi applying uispensing
piessuie. The mouifications to the SB-piintei take auvantage of the existing syiinge anu
the existing steppei motoi fiom the Replicatoi 2X. A custom uesigneu mechanical
assembly was uesigneu that utilizes the steppei motoi to uiive the syiinge pump using a
thieau-iou mechanism. All of the steppei motoi uiive ciicuitiy fiom the existing
Replicatoi 2X was ieuseu in the new assembly.

The syiinge pump is a S.1xS.2x2.4 inch
S
L-shapeu assembly manufactuieu symmetiically
fiom two pieces of aluminum. The uesign was completeu using SoliuWoiks anu piepaieu
foi CNC cutting using Nasteicam. The aluminum assembly, shown in Figuie 2,
incoipoiates a cavity foi mounting the soluei paste syiinge. A steel levei aim was welueu
to a hex nut matching the thieaueu iou anu positioneu to uiive the syiinge plungei. Two
uiive geais weie manufactuieu using the Replicatoi 2X out of ABS. The steppei motoi
toique iequiieu a S:1 geai iatio in oiuei to successfully uiive the syiinge plungei uuiing
opeiation. A plastic timing belt couples the two geais, anu two piinteu, ciiculai pieces of
ABS aie useu to holu the timing belt in place uuiing opeiation. The enus of the thieaueu
iou aie teiminateu with ciiculai beaiings, anu an auuitional metal shaft was useu to couple
the thieau iou to the ABS geai above.


Coupling the syiinge to the extiusion nozzle of the Replicatoi 2X was the laigest challenge.
A fiist attempt useu high-flexibility silicone iubbei tubing piessuie fitteu to the syiinge
neeule anu then piessuie fitteu onto a iolleu steel 2 mm outei-uiametei iolleu steel tube
inseiteu into the piint shaft on the Replicatoi 2X. Bowevei, the necessaiy piessuie foi
extiuuing the soluei paste exceeueu the 1u-psi iateu tubing. A ieplacement tube maue
fiom ABS iateu to 4uu psi was able to withstanu the necessaiy piessuie.

In auuition to withstanuing the necessaiy piessuie, the coupling mechanism iequiies a
shaip theimal piofile in oiuei to pievent soliuification of soluei paste in the tubing above
the extiusion nozzle. The oiiginal uesign using a iolleu steel tube inseiteu into the
aluminum piint shaft iesulteu in soliuification of soluei paste above the piint shaft within
minutes of staiting opeiation at 1SuC. Iueally, the inteiface is a theimal step junction
wheie the extiusion nozzle is maintaineu at the piint tempeiatuie anu all the assemblies
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above aie maintaineu at ioom tempeiatuie. To bettei appioximate a step junction, the
steel tubing inseit was ieplaceu with a Kapton polyimiue plastic tubing with a theimal
conuuctivity of u.S7 WmK, anu oiuei of magnituue lowei than the steel tubing. The
incieaseu flexibility of the inseit tubing iequiieu fabiication of a plastei stiffenei stiuctuie
using the ABS nozzle of the Replicatoi 2X.


!#)&##! +&501#

The RFIB tag was uesigneu to be passive to ieuuce the size anu cost of each tag. The
SL9uuA RFIB IC fiom ANS (Austiia NicioSystems) was selecteu as the IC foi the RFIB tags
foi its ieasonable peifoimance anu piice. The SL9uuA has a complex impeuance of S1 -
jS2u u at 91SNBz. Theiefoie, the taiget impeuance of the antenna uesign was S1 + jS2u u
so that the antenna anu IC woulu be complex conjugately matcheu. The SL9uuA has a
uiffeiential antenna input, which is well suiteu foi uipole antenna uesigns, so a half
wavelength uipole uesign was chosen foi the RFIB tag. The basis foi the antenna uesign
was the meanueieu half wavelength uipole antenna piesenteu by Rao et al. This uesign was
fiist moueleu in BFSS, anu then mouifieu to peifoim with the specifieu RFIC IC anu at the
uesiieu opeiating fiequency. The base antenna uesign paiameteis aie shown below.














The lengths, wiuths anu spacing of the meanueieu segments of the uipole weie aujusteu to
tune the impeuance of the antenna to the uesiieu value. The SB piinting methou imposeu
seveial constiaints on the physical uimensions of the conuuctive tiaces. The minimum
tiace wiuth was u.4mm uue to the iesolution of the piintei heau extiuuei nozzle. The
thickness of the tiaces was limiteu to a minimum of u.6 mm. The oveiall size of the final
antenna uesign was 9umm x 1S.Smm x u.6mm anu the size of the piinteu RFIB tag was
1uumm x 2Smm x 1.6mm.
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Initial iesults fiom the pioject show that SB-piinting low melting point soluei alloys is
possible using commeicial giaue SB piinteis. A test vehicle consisting of a single u.6mm
thick conuuctive tiace, u.8mm wiue anu Su mm long, was piinteu using the mouifieu
piintei anu syiinge assembly. Seveial iteiations weie necessaiy, since the syiinge to
piintei inteiface is not completely ieliable, even with the polyimiue tubing. The thiiu
iteiation piouuceu a 1.4mm thick substiate with a single tiack of soluei alloy in the centei.
Seveial attempts to piint the complex meanuei line antenna geometiy weie only minimally
successful so fai.

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,C:<98 ZI /G@= @M ;6=866; CF>87;6J8 @H89 @>89;=C6: M98[<86JL 9;6:8

The fiist majoi pioblem stems fiom the limiteu shelf life of the soluei alloy paste. The flux
mixtuie evapoiates within uays aftei fiist opening the packaging. The evapoiation was
counteieu with auuition of a liquiu flux to the mixtuie befoie inseition into the syiinge
assembly. Bowevei, the volume of auueu flux was founu to seveiely affect the ability of the
system to extiuue the soluei paste. Without auueu liquiu flux, the paste tenueu to soliuify
in the ABS tubing befoie ieaching the heateu nozzle. Conveisely, a high concentiation of
auueu flux iesulteu in the nozzle leaking molten soluei uuiing ABS piinting, with the soluei
paste steppei motoi tuineu off.

The iesults fiom the pioject so fai piove the funuamental concept of piinting a low melting
point soluei alloy is viable, but iequiies fuithei uevelopment befoie it is ieliable. Fuithei
expeiimentation is necessaiy to ueteimine the concentiation of liquiu flux necessaiy anu
the exact SB-piintei CAN softwaie paiameteis foi the mouifieu nozzle. In auuition,
exploiation of an alumina oi mullite ceiamic tube to ieplace the Kapton polyimiue tubing
may inciease ieliability of the syiinge to piintei coupling. Nullite coulu also bettei
appioximate the necessaiy theimal step junction.


!2O#$P'&+1&(&#)5

The authois thank Xiaoju Yu foi hei suppoit in completing the BFSS antenna uesign, anu
Nin Liang foi chaiacteiizing the SB-piinteu ABS uieletiic piopeities.


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-&,&-&#2&5

Castillo, S., Neuina, F., NacBonalu, E., anu R. Wickei, "Electionics integiation in confoimal
substiates fabiicateu with auuitive layeieu manufactuiing", Pioceeuings of the 2u
th

Annual Soliu Fieefoim Fabiication Symposium, 2uu9, pp. 7Su-7.
"BSP 798LF (Sn42BiS8) Leau Fiee Watei Soluble Soluei Paste", Qualitek Inteinational Inc.
Lopes, Amit, NacBonalu, Eiic, anu Ryan Wickei, "Integiating steieolithogiaphy anu uiiect
piint technologies foi SB stiuctuial electionics fabiication", Rapiu Piototyping }ouinal,
vol. 18, no. 2, 2u12, pp. 129-1SS.
Neuina, F., Lopes, A.}., Inamuai, A.v., Benessey, R. Palmei, }.A., Chavez, B.B., anu R.B. Wickei,
"Integiating multiple iapiu manufactuiing technologies foi ueveloping auvanceu
customizeu functional uevices", Rapiu Piototyping & Nanufactuiing 2uuS Confeience
Pioceeuings, 2uuS.
Rao, K.v.S., Kikitin, P.v., anu S. Lam, "Antenna uesign foi 0BF RFIB tags: A ieview anu a
piactical application", IEEE Tians. Antennas Piopag., vol. SS, no. 12, pp. S87u-S876, Bec.,
2uuS.