Coherent Company, a producer specializing in lasers headquartered in Saxonburg, PA, introduced that the corporate has developed a ceramic additive manufacturing (AM) course of that’s the equal of its current injection molding course of. Coherent notes within the press launch that the ceramic supplies it has developed have explicit potential for the next-gen semiconductor gear market, in addition to for chip packaging.
In 2022, II-VI, an optics company primarily based primarily based in Saxonburg (within the suburbs of Pittsburgh), closed its acquisition of Coherent, initially primarily based in Santa Clara, CA. The resultant firm now operates beneath the Coherent identify. Previous to its being acquired by II-VI, the unique Coherent bought German firm OR Laser, which is how the Santa Clara Coherent turned the maker of the now out-of-production Coherent Creator metallic powder mattress fusion (PBF) printer.
Whereas it’s not clear if the Creator was concerned in any means within the improvement of the brand new ceramic supplies, it will actually be fascinating if the corporate noticed supplies improvement as a extra worthwhile use of its platform, long-term, than could be utilizing the asset to do enterprise as a 3D printing OEM. In any case, this background coupled with the truth that Coherent operates at such a big scale means the corporate may simply acquire an edge within the nonetheless comparatively small ceramic AM market.
In a press launch in regards to the profitable improvement of its ceramic AM course of, Steve Rummel, the Senior VP of the Engineered Supplies and Laser Optics Enterprise Unit at Coherent, stated, “Ceramic [AM] allows elements which might be lighter and with fully new geometries, that are required for next-generation semiconductor capital gear designs. Till now, these elements are decrease in high quality and precision in contrast with molded ceramic elements. With this new breakthrough, our clients will profit from the perfect of each worlds. We’re shifting shortly to ascertain a brand new ceramic [AM] line in Temecula, CA. We’ve additionally outlined with our clients a strategic roadmap to broaden our AM capabilities, past ceramics, to a wider vary of supplies, together with metals.”
Any potential incorporation of 3D printing into the construction of the approaching US semiconductor growth could be pivotal, if solely due to what number of occasions bigger the semiconductor sector is than the AM sector. Past the pure scale of issues like packaging, the likelihood for leveraging AM in making and/or repairing the uniquely high-value machines and basic {hardware} utilized in semiconductor manufacturing is equally important.
Most intriguing of all, maybe, is the truth that Coherent has developed with its clients “a strategic roadmap” for its AM actions. Contemplating its buyer base is essentially comprised of semiconductor firms, this means that AM is certainly being constructed into the construction of the subsequent period of the US chips provide chain.
Photos courtesy of Coherent
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