RIM speeds semiconductor test rig project

Thanks to a speedy rapid injection moulding (RIM) service, a leading manufacturer of printed semiconductor-based sensors has already managed to steal a march on the competition

Nanoident Technologies, based in Linz, Austria, is a leader in the development and production of printed semiconductor-based sensors and was the world's first company to commercialise printed sensor products for high volume applications. Thanks to inks made from conductive and semi-conductive liquid materials, it is possible to print electronic circuits on almost any surface, enabling a dramatic increase in productivity and a corresponding decrease in production time and device costs. The devices are printed on glass slides and scrutinised after the printing process.

“Our initial attempts to interconnect the glass devices with automated test systems were cumbersome,” recalls Jeff Graw, the man responsible for electronics development. “We tried things like gluing ribbon cable to the glass and utilising ‘bed-of-nails’ spring contacts. Then we decided to use a new, two-axis connector device that we could fix to glass and obtain a reliable contact. However, we needed a plastic housing to hold the connector - it wouldn’t just sit on the glass by itself.”

The two-piece plastic housing had some demanding requirements. Firstly the two halves had to fit together perfectly, so that over-screwing the fastener wouldn’t crack the glass. Also the contacts on the glass slide had to line-up precisely with the contacts on the connector.

“By trade I’m an electrical engineer and I had never done anything like this before,” admits Mr Graw. “I started by laying-out the plastic parts using SolidWorks. It seemed to make sense but I knew the test would be in the manufacture. I found Protomold on the Internet and submitted my SolidWorks 3D model via its website. Within a couple of hours a ProtoQuote price and manufacturing quotation for tooling and parts arrived in my e-mail inbox.”

As well as tight tolerance requirements the plastic housing also needed to be static-charge dissipative, yet not conductive enough to generate an electrical short-circuit. “Protomold did an excellent job regarding the material,” he says. “Not only does the housing fit together perfectly, we have also tested the component for dissipation and so far, so good.”

Protomold was able to talk Mr Graw through the process of adding a draft angle to his design for injection moulding purposes, despite his lack of design experience. “The team at Protomold were great to work with,” he says. “Within two weeks the first batch of 100 samples were received in Austria. When I saw them I was amazed to see they had produced an exact replica of my design. As I say, mechanical design is new to me and it’s a weird thing to have someone make a real product from a CAD model. I would feel very confident about using Protomold on future projects.”

The Protomold-supplied connector housings are currently undergoing accelerated life testing at Nanoident, which mostly means spending several months inside an oven. “So far they are holding up well,” says Mr Graw. “They look good and there is no warping or cracking on the plastic part. We are definitely going to need more, so Protomold can expect another order shortly.”

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