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Inkjet printing is a promising and challenging technique that could potentially revolutionize large area and organic electronics fabrication. Inkjet systems are designed to construct devices and circuits drop by drop, which would lead to a new paradigm in electronics fabrication. However, inkjet technology for Printed Electronics is still under development and several challenges remain. While there is significant progress being made in the development of electronic devices, such as transistors or sensors, there is a lack of work on circuit and system level design. Designing devices and circuits implies a wide knowledge of process aspects, requiring a complex interaction among concepts, tools and processes coming from different science and engineering disciplines. An explicit methodology is needed to separate design from fabrication in a similar way as in silicon design, to design devices and systems without a deep knowledge of process and materials; thus making it possible to open up inkjet technology to a larger community and undergo more rapid design implementations. In this paper we present the main aspects of such a methodology and we discuss the key topics on inkjet technology that allow us to propose these new specific steps.

This publication considers the use of a variety of additive manufacturing techniques in the development of wireless modules and sensors. The opportunities and advantages of these manufacturing techniques are explored from an application point of view. We discuss first the origami (4D-printed) structures which take advantage of the ability to alter the shape of the inkjet-printed conductive traces on the paper substrate to produce a reconfigurable behavior. Next, focus is shifted towards the use of additive manufacturing technology to develop skin-like flexible electrical system for wireless sensing applications. We then discuss the development of a fully flexible energy autonomous body area network for autonomous sensing applications, the system is fabricated using 3D and inkjet printing techniques. Finally, an integration of inkjet and 3D printing for the realization of efficient mm-wave 3D interconnects up to 60GHz is discussed.

This publication provides an overview of additive manufacturing techniques including Inkjet, 3D and 4D printing methods. The strengths, opportunities and advantages of this array of manufacturing techniques are evaluated at different scales. We discuss first the applicability of additive manufacturing techniques at the device scale including the development of origami inspired tunable RF structures as well as the development of skin-like conformal, flexible systems for wireless/IoT, Smartag and smart city applications. We then discuss application at the package scale with on package printed antennas and functional packaging applications. Following this, there is a discussion of additive manufacturing techniques in applications at the die scale such as 3D printed interconnects. The paper is concluded with an outlook on future advancements at the component scale with the potential for fully printed passive components.

With the development of inkjet-/3D-/4D-printing additive manufacturing technologies, flexible 3D substrate with complex structures can be patterned with dielectric, conductive and semi-conductive materials to realize novel RF designs. This paper provides a review of state-of-the-art additively manufactured passive RF devices including antennas and frequency selective surfaces (FSS), couplers, where origami-inspired structure enables unprecedented capabilities of on-demand continuous frequency tunability and deployability. This paper also discusses additively manufactured active RF modules and systems such as inkjet printed RF energy harvester system with high sensitivity and efficiency for Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities and wireless sensor networks (WSN) applications, inkjet-printed RF front ends, and inkjet-printed mm-wave backscatter modules.

The recent developments in mmWave and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have dramatically increased the interest and demand for radio frequency (RF) devices that can be used for applications such as smart cities, energy harvesting, and ubiquitous wireless sensor networks. Additive manufacturing technologies (AMT) plays an important role to support these applications, as they allows to significantly reduce fabrication costs and times while enabling the achievement of devices with more complex geometries and the possibility of using a wide variety of materials. This publication reviews recent developments of state-of-the-art wireless devices including reconfigurable antennas, frequency-selective surfaces and highly scalable phased arrays enabled by AMT capabilities. It also discusses the benefits of AMT in the fabrication of interconnects that are suitable for packaging of fully-integrated antennas.

The rapid development and deployment of 5G/mm-Wave technologies for communication, sensing and energy harvesting applications have been on the rise. Consequently, the need for low-cost, scalable, agile and compact RF modules has become more prominent than ever. This paper presents a review of recent efforts in utilizing additive manufacturing techniques such as inkjet printing to sustainably accelerate the massive deployment of 5G/mm-Wave. First, a novel flexible and massively scalable multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) tile-based phased array enabled by additively manufactured microstrip-to-microstrip transitions is presented. Next, a novel Rotman-Based harmonic mmID tag for Ultra-Long-Range localization is presented. Finally, low-power, low-cost mm-Wave backscattering modules for localization and orientation sensing are demonstrated.

This review encompasses additive manufacturing techniques for crafting 5G electronics, showcasing how these methods innovate device creation with novel examples. A wearable phased array device on commonplace 3D printed material is described, with integrated microfluidic cooling channels used for thermal regulation of integrated circuit bulk components. Mechanical and electrical tunability are exemplified in an origami-inspired phased array structure. A 3D printed IoT cube structure shows the flexibility in the number of geometries additively manufactured 5G devices can adhere to. Finally, integrating 3D optical lenses with 5G electronics is shown.

We reported a simple, high yield and large-scale preparation method for silver nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles with 8–13 nm in diameter were successfully synthesized by silver nitrate as raw material, sodium borohydride as reducing agent, dispersan-5040 (polycarboxylate sodium salt) as surface modifier in aqueous solution. The effects of sodium borohydride and dispersan-5040 on the morphologies of silver nanoparticles were investigated. Further, the conductive inks were prepared with as-synthesized silver nanoparticles as conductive fillers in the presence of deionized (DI) water and additives. The effects of conductive fillers and additives on the pH, conductivity, surface tension and viscosity of the inks were investigated. The conductive patterns were fabricated by inkjet printer and their performances were studied. The sheet resistances of the printed pattern with seven-layer was 1.2 $\mathrm{\Omega }/\square$ when the printed pattern was heat-treated at 120${}^{\circ }$C for 60 min. We succeeded in printing a simple conductive circuit on photographic paper, which can light three 0.06 W LED beads. The successful fabrication of the functional circuit proves the feasibility of the ink and provides some ideas for future paper-based circuits.

In organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), the high performance of devices depends on balanced charge transfer in emitting layer (EML). However, the balance charge transfer is hard to achieve in the single host material-based EML. In this work, a high luminance co-host based OLEDs is printed. In detail, green phosphorescent material tris[2-(p-tolyl)pyridine]iridium(III) $(\mathrm{\text{Ir}}{(\mathrm{\text{mppy}})}_3)$ is used as dopant, and a hole-transporting material $4,4^{\prime },4^{″}$-tris[3-methy-lphenyl(phenyl)amino]-triphenylamine (m-MTDATA) blended with an electron-transporting material 1,3,5-tris(phenyl-2-benzimidazolyl)-benzene (TPBi) as co-host. As a result, the optimized printing co-host OLEDs with 10 wt.% $\mathrm{\text{Ir}}{(\mathrm{\text{mppy}})}_3$ shows a maximum luminance of $13240{\mathrm{\text{cd m}}}^{-2}$, which is much higher than the CDBP counterpart.

Inkjet printing (IJP) is an efficient, simple, scalable and low-cost additive manufacturing technique for the deposition of functional materials on substrates used in flexible electronic devices, sensors, and light-emitting diodes to name a few. Nanoparticle ink, metal oxide decomposition (particle-free ink), polymer ink, and semiconductor ink are classifications of the inks used in IJP. Effective printing of the material is possible when the ink parameters (viscosity, particle size, surface tension) and its derived dimensionless quantities (Weber number, Reynolds’ number, and Ohnesorge number) fall within a desirable range. The formation of the coffee-ring effect during the post-printing process is one of the major concerns, which affects the morphology and electrical conductivity of the printed pattern. In this review, a summary of recent developments of Ni-based inks in terms of formulation, sintering and properties is presented, along with the effect of combining Ni with other materials such as NiO, Ag, Cu, Zn, Fe, carbon, and rare earth metals on the film properties. The precursors and solvents used for the Ni ink preparation, along with the additives and surfactants, have been presented to understand their impact on the film’s properties and develop a design to choose the ideal precursor–solvent pair. Finally, the challenges in formulating inks and the necessity to develop a model to optimize the choice of solvent/ precursor are presented. The model would improve the selection of additives and precursors and reduce material wastage and enhance performance with fewer defects.

Tissue engineering tools and technologies are critical for regenerative medicine and the translational research supporting development of cell-based therapies. 3D cell bioprinting is a relatively new engineering tool being used to design 3D cell constructs (rather than cell suspensions) for transplantation therapies. In this review, we describe a broad range of printing technologies now being used to deliver cells and biomaterials in preclinical studies. We focus on 3D cell bioprinting, in which the building blocks (or 'bioink') used in printing process are three-dimensional cell structures, that are placed by the bioprinter into precise architectures to generate small tissues or organs. 3D cell bioprinting is a flexible research tool for basic and translational stem cell biology.

This publication provides an overview of additive manufacturing techniques including Inkjet, 3D and 4D printing methods. The strengths, opportunities and advantages of this array of manufacturing techniques are evaluated at different scales. We discuss first the applicability of additive manufacturing techniques at the device scale including the development of origami inspired tunable RF structures as well as the development of skin-like conformal, flexible systems for wireless/IoT, Smartag and smart city applications. We then discuss application at the package scale with on package printed antennas and functional packaging applications. Following this, there is a discussion of additive manufacturing techniques in applications at the die scale such as 3D printed interconnects. The paper is concluded with an outlook on future advancements at the component scale with the potential for fully printed passive components.

With the development of inkjet-/3D-/4D-printing additive manufacturing technologies, flexible 3D substrate with complex structures can be patterned with dielectric, conductive and semi-conductive materials to realize novel RF designs. This paper provides a review of state-of-the-art additively manufactured passive RF devices including antennas and frequency selective surfaces (FSS), couplers, where origami-inspired structure enables unprecedented capabilities of on-demand continuous frequency tunability and deployability. This paper also discusses additively manufactured active RF modules and systems such as inkjet printed RF energy harvester system with high sensitivity and efficiency for Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities and wireless sensor networks (WSN) applications, inkjet-printed RF front ends, and inkjet-printed mm-wave backscatter modules.

The recent developments in mmWave and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have dramatically increased the interest and demand for radio frequency (RF) devices that can be used for applications such as smart cities, energy harvesting, and ubiquitous wireless sensor networks. Additive manufacturing technologies (AMT) plays an important role to support these applications, as they allows to significantly reduce fabrication costs and times while enabling the achievement of devices with more complex geometries and the possibility of using a wide variety of materials. This publication reviews recent developments of state-of-the-art wireless devices including reconfigurable antennas, frequency-selective surfaces and highly scalable phased arrays enabled by AMT capabilities. It also discusses the benefits of AMT in the fabrication of interconnects that are suitable for packaging of fully-integrated antennas.

The rapid development and deployment of 5G/mm-Wave technologies for communication, sensing and energy harvesting applications have been on the rise. Consequently, the need for low-cost, scalable, agile and compact RF modules has become more prominent than ever. This paper presents a review of recent efforts in utilizing additive manufacturing techniques such as inkjet printing to sustainably accelerate the massive deployment of 5G/mm-Wave. First, a novel flexible and massively scalable multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) tile-based phased array enabled by additively manufactured microstrip-to-microstrip transitions is presented. Next, a novel Rotman-Based harmonic mmID tag for Ultra-Long-Range localization is presented. Finally, low-power, low-cost mm-Wave backscattering modules for localization and orientation sensing are demonstrated.

This review encompasses additive manufacturing techniques for crafting 5G electronics, showcasing how these methods innovate device creation with novel examples. A wearable phased array device on commonplace 3D printed material is described, with integrated microfluidic cooling channels used for thermal regulation of integrated circuit bulk components. Mechanical and electrical tunability are exemplified in an origamiinspired phased array structure. A 3D printed IoT cube structure shows the flexibility in the number of geometries additively manufactured 5G devices can adhere to. Finally, integrating 3D optical lenses with 5G electronics is shown.

This publication considers the use of a variety of additive manufacturing techniques in the development of wireless modules and sensors. The opportunities and advantages of these manufacturing techniques are explored from an application point of view. We discuss first the origami (4D-printed) structures which take advantage of the ability to alter the shape of the inkjet-printed conductive traces on the paper substrate to produce a reconfigurable behavior. Next, focus is shifted towards the use of additive manufacturing technology to develop skin-like flexible electrical system for wireless sensing applications. We then discuss the development of a fully flexible energy autonomous body area network for autonomous sensing applications, the system is fabricated using 3D and inkjet printing techniques. Finally, an integration of inkjet and 3D printing for the realization of efficient mm-wave 3D interconnects up to 60GHz is discussed.