Increasing the productivity of the novel atmospheric pressure sputtering technology for 3D chip interconnection

Three-dimensional printing and rapid prototyping are becoming more and more important in the field of research and low volume production. There are many systems that can print a wide variety of materials. In the field of thin-film technology, as required for MEMS applications, only a few approaches are available. One of the promising technologies in this field is sputtering at atmospheric pressure with miniaturized plasma sources. This paper introduces a new anode nozzle geometry that increases the productivity of this novel technology substantial. It shows that three-dimensional thin-film metal structures can be printed more economically.