Additive Manufacturing of High-Temperature Hybrid Electronics via Molecular-Decomposed Metals

Abstract

As the modern electronic technology extends into operating in harsh working conditions, it calls for a system that is capable of uncompromising performance in extreme environments, thus providing a strong motivation to look for advanced materials and electronics with the capability of high-throughput and rapid prototyping. Coupled with additive manufacturing, molecular decomposition metals bypass the challenging oddities of traditional material-limited and thermally initiated metalworking, enabling high throughput and rapid prototyping of stoichiometry and composition-controlled metals. Here, a new paradigm for the design and additive manufacturing of copper metallic alloy materials onto ceramics is described by printing molecular decomposable metal materials, capable of withstanding thermo-mechanical loading, operating in extreme environments in static and dynamic conditions. The resulting printed hybrid electronics are electrically stable for 25 h of aging at 1000 °C. This curious fact paves a way for printed antenna and sensor electronics that reliably operate up to 1000 °C. These results can be further extended to establish other printable molecular decomposable materials as a platform for rapid prototyping of high temperature electronics that are suitable for harsh environments.