Plastic Circuits Designed To Enable Tough, Green Computers 67
DanS writes "Computerworld has an article about two Australian engineers who have invented 'Circuits in Plastic' technology. CIP designs aim to be more environmentally friendly than traditional circuits as they can be made from recycled plastic, don't contain any hazardous substances, and since packaging is part of the base circuit board, there is no need for additional packaging material. As an added bonus, different 3D shaped circuits can be made using CIP, which are also waterproof. No more ruining cell phones by getting them wet! The hope is that the technology will reduce the amount of toxic electronic waste in landfills, as even with lead-free technology, etching of existing printed circuit boards (and disposal of the chemicals) is a significant issue during manufacturing."
When can I start placing orders? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd love to start using this tech in my prototypes. The big question of course is how this stuff compares to an equivalently functional traditional PCB in price.
Another question that comes to mind has to do with the well established design principles used in RF level circuits. Parasitic capacitance calculations and all of the nastiness that goes along with it will become even more like black magic now that it has crossed into the third dimension.
Waterproof, i wonder... (Score:2, Interesting)
How will they achieve this without encasing all the components in the plastic, even if the board conductors were all encased (it's not like the anti-solder screen [green stuff on the board] could not be made waterproof and I think it already is) at least some of the components simply cannot be (due to heat dissipation problems). I have made completely waterproof circuit boards (simple PWM stuff, they don't generate enough heat for it to be an issue), the only connectors are rated for underwater and the board encased with epoxy, not really repairable though...
So anyways, since some of the components must be exposed they will have exposed connectors ergo water getting in will short-circuit it.
I don't know if it would work to use only such active components that have connector-bar on the underside and then just encase it up to the sides but this would add significant cost (connectors themselves, size of components -> board size...) and repair would still be out of the question.
Re:What about heat extraction? (Score:3, Interesting)
Slowly. It really depends upon how well these materials conduct heat if you don't have the luxury of putting a great big lump of copper on everything that gets hot. Conduction has a nice simple linear relationship so it's not going to be hard for designers to work out and it will certainly limit things.
A nice parallel example is the all ceramic engine craze of the early 1990s. In the end the extra weight required to run extra cooling was one of the things that killed the concept, but now ceramic parts are used in various bits. We may see polymer electronics in some places with copper heatsinks stuck to them where it makes sense. The phone example is probably a good one since they get stuck in places where they are well insulated any so you would want a design that produces very little heat anyway - polymers may be a good choice. There can't be very many phones left that will be destroyed by turning them on and wrapping them in a blanket
Re:switching is going to be a real bitch (Score:2, Interesting)
If this process is going to be mainstream they'll have to get some kind of cost benefit attached, otherwise the only way there is going to be a switch is through legislation.
How about (from the summary):
No more ruining cell phones by getting them wet!
That's worth big dollars, particularly to people such as myself who do most of our work outdoors. I'd love to have feature parity on a truly waterproof smartphone, and am quite willing to pay.
a few downsides (Score:5, Interesting)
Embedding electronic components and circuit pathways into hunks of plastic sounds like a fairly obvious evolutionary step up from the printed circuit board. If they can make the manufacturing process is cheap enough, I can't see why it wouldn't be the standard for consumer electronics in the foreseeable future.
Some downsides to consider:
Prototyping will be more difficult. If you discover a fatal bug in a non-trivial circuit, it can't be jumpered or otherwise worked around easily.
Calling it a "green" technology is insidious. Sure the manufacturing processes may involve fewer chemicals, but the resulting hunks of plastic are going to be much more difficult to recycle than components laid out on a PCB. The electronics industry is already a throw-away-when-obsolete economy, this will only help expand the concept further.
Hackers are going to have a much more difficult time modifying and repurposing their gear. You can't just solder and desolder the components and rewire things to make them do what you want. I guess many manufacturers will consider this a security feature (e.g., no more modchips on video game consoles). Reverse engineering hardware will also be more tricky. Where you might have needed a screwdriver before, you'll now need a drill.
Upsides to consider:
Building your own computer will basically be like playing with big Legos with drives, memory, and GPUs inside them.
Green buzzword-compliance... (Score:2, Interesting)
The technology, if works as described, is perfectly awesome in itself — a way to build electronics, that's cheaper, water-proof, and needs no external casing. That it is also "greener" is a nice addition, but the editor's write-up over-emphasizes it, like it is the most important aspect. It simply is not...