Horizon Microtechnologies has established a material and coating system with validated solderability, having successfully formed a reliable solder joint between a standard PCB and one of its metallised AM components using standard processes known from surface mount technology workflows. This was achieved on the first attempt, with no damage observed to the coating or the underlying polymer.

Company bigwigs say this technical milestone underscores the robustness and industrial relevance of its advanced metal coatings for polymer additive manufacturing (AM) parts.

“This might seem like a small step, but it’s actually a significant leap for the integration of AM parts into demanding electronics environments,” Horizon Microtechnologies CEO Andreas Frölich said. “It demonstrates that our coatings go beyond just surface conductivity, they are mechanically and thermally robust enough to support real-world manufacturing processes, like soldering.”

By proving that metallised AM parts can be soldered to PCBs, Horizon establishes compatibility of its parts with standard electronics manufacturing workflows. This also demonstrates interoperability between 3D printed metallized polymer components and parts that leverage the strengths of established, essentially 2D or layered electronics (and other) manufacturing workflows. The company is confident this innovation will be particularly valuable for numerous applications including EMI/RFI shielding housings and custom surface mount devices exploiting 3D features, such as RF signal filters and custom connectors.

The achievement highlights Horizon’s role in enabling functional AM solutions for mmWave and RF applications, where custom shielding and component integration are critical.

“Our vision is to bridge the gap between polymer AM parts and industrial electronics processes,” Frölich added. “This latest result highlights more than just integration and durability, it validates the interfaceability of our coated parts with existing electronics workflows. That’s essential for delivering a complete solution, not just an exciting new option that comes with compromises. We’re only beginning to explore the potential of our technology in high-throughput environments like reflow soldering, and this result is an important step in that direction.”

Horizon’s advanced coating systems are designed specifically for micro AM parts, offering precise, conformal metallisation that enables electrical functionality while maintaining the design freedom, precision and resolution of polymer additive manufacturing at the micron scale.

Horizon Microtechnologies delivers micro-scale conductive parts and components to customers by harnessing the power of current highly precise polymer additive manufacturing (AM) technologies in combination with coating processes tailored to 3D precision parts.