Nano Dimension Ltd. recently announced that its DragonFly Pro electronics 3D printing system has successfully shortened the assembly process for ball grid arrays (BGAs) and other surface mount technology (SMT) parts for integrated circuits from days to roughly one hour. The milestone was achieved through a recent qualification study led by Nano Dimension’s Application Engineering team.
Traditionally, the process of designing, printing, soldering, manufacturing, assembling and completing reflow for BGAs and SMT components would take weeks to complete. With Nano Dimension’s additive manufacturing platform, however, the process was dramatically streamlined. That is, the DragonFly Pro is capable of printing a special layout structure of PBCs that does not require any additional special tooling or assembly. This, in turn, allows for in-house manual assembly of BGAs and SMT components throughout the design and application development phase.
BGA and SMT components are found in most electronic devices, from phones and watches to cars and airplanes. BGAs are a type of surface-mount packaging (a chip carrier) used for integrated circuits and which provide more interconnection pins than a dual in-line or flat package, since the entire bottom surface of the device can be used rather than just the perimeter.
The DragonFly Pro 3D printer effectively eliminates all the stages of ordering and delivering assembled PCBs from external suppliers because production can be done in house. This enables companies to not only save time but to conduct more tests and feasibility studies for improved products. The DragonFly Pro’s 3D printed socket structure can also improve the mounting accuracy of the BGA component since there is a lower risk of the mounting position shifting.
“With the DragonFly Pro, companies can easily assemble BGA components within one hour,” said Amit Dror, CEO of Nano Dimension. “This means companies can do everything in-house, with no need for outside contractors, less risk of errors and they can complete complex PCB prototypes without high volume manufacturing processes. Greater flexibility enables teams to innovate more freely, resolve problems quickly, and makes it much easier to control product quality.”
