Selective Electroplating for 3D‐Printed Electronics

Abstract Creating 3D‐printed parts with embedded circuitry is the next frontier in additive manufacturing, but printing of conductors with performance comparable to bulk metals such as copper is a difficult challenge. A hybrid process based on 3D printing followed by electroplating on highly conductive thermoplastic filament is used to manufacture 3D circuit boards and electronic packaging. Dual extruder heads on a standard fused filament fabrication printer are used to selectively define regions for electroplating, allowing distinct traces and multiple materials to be patterned in the same 3D‐printed parts. Using this approach, a 3D‐printed surface‐mount package and a 555 timer oscillator circuit are demonstrated, including soldering of components onto the electroplated copper surface.