SBIR Phase II: Parallax Manufacturing for Next Generation Electronic Connectors

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be driven by the commercialization of parallax manufacturing, a new polymer structuring method with unprecedented speed, choice of materials and manufacturing integration. Parallax manufacturing fabricates parts 100x faster than current layer-by-layer additive manufacturing and eliminates resin injection, reducing typical manufacturing time from hours to minutes. The field of additive manufacturing will benefit from new methods that more precisely control the photopolymerization reaction in 3D. More narrowly, the program will advance the field of volumetric additive manufacturing whose part quality is currently constrained by poor reaction control. The proposed parallax manufacturing technology will support the rapid evolution of the AI and cloud computing industry by addressing electronic interconnect bottlenecks including long lead times, design constraints, and miniaturization barriers of traditional techniques such as injection molding. Parallax manufacturing enables seamless integration into customer manufacturing processes through unlimited planar build area, record-setting speed, and greater materials flexibility. Current expensive, low-yield multi-step processes will be collapsed to a single step by fabrication of polymer elements in and around electronic components fabricated in other processes. Overall, the development of this technology will decrease manufacturing complexity, costs, and time to market.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will advance a new form of contact-free manufacturing that translates an optical toolhead above a flat cartridge of photo-sensitive resin. The light projected from the toolhead continuously changes shape to solidify arbitrary 3D objects around components immersed within the resin. The primary goal of this project is to increase the manufacturing accuracy of the parallax manufacturing tool. This is currently constrained by mechanical tolerances which perturb the projected light cone and exothermic temperature rise which uncontrollably accelerates the resin reaction. The project will establish models of the instrument’s mechanical and resin chemical states, informed by preprocess calibration instruments and in-process monitoring of ray distortion and temperature. This data will inform models that adapt the projected light cones to the instrument and resin states. The expected outcome is dramatically greater tolerance to instrument, resin, and environmental perturbations typical of manufacturing environments, enabling consistent high-quality fabrication.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Award Number: 2528425
Principal Investigator: John Hergert
Funds Obligated: $1,237,656
State: CO