While electronic equipment requires that the circuit be accommodated within a housing or enclosure, where conventional PCBs (2D) are no longer suitable, there is now a growing movement to switch to three-dimensional (3D) circuit carriers to optimise the use of the available space.
For production quantities, the circuit carriers tend to be manufactured by injection moulding, but to produce prototype quantities using an injection moulding process it is much too expensive. As a cost effective alternative, Beta LAYOUT now produces 3D-MID – (3 Dimensional Mechatronic Intergrated Devices).
Using laser direct structuring (LDS), the circuit pattern structures such as the interconnections can be defined; the laser also activates the pre-varnished 3D printed model which allows for the parts to be metallised. The assembly of the 3D-MID is then performed and completed in-house.
Beta LAYOUT can manufacture 3D-MID prototypes with a maximum size of 300 mm x 200 mm x 25 mm and the placement of electronic components is now also possible.
The minimum contact spacing is (pitch): 0.65 mm, the minimum trace width is 0.3 mm and the minimum gap between traces (pitch) is 0.3 mm.