Insights from Melbs LeMieux on advanced materials, additive manufacturing, and the future of microelectronics.
Welcome to Business Insight Journal, Melbs. We’re delighted to have you. Please can you walk us through your professional journey and what led you to co-found Electroninks Incorporated?
At the highest level, this is an opportunity to build something that could advance microelectronics, while adding a positive economic impact and high-value jobs in an important technology sector. Specifically for me, my education and professional training in advance materials, thin films and microelectronics, combined with an entrepreneurial drive led me to start my first company, which was eventually sold to a large a chemicals company here in the US. Electroninks is my second company. In 2014, I met Brett Walker, my co-founder and really the driver of the initial chemistry, and we had a mutual vision on how to commercialize that chemistry into formulations that could be produced and deposited in mass-production settings. It’s extremely difficult to start companies to begin with, and especially challenging with new materials. We built a solid team, travelled the globe nonstop for 5+ years teaching customers about MOD technology, with adoption now taking hold.
Traditional metallization processes have been widely used for years. What are the key limitations of these legacy approaches?
As performance demands increase (particularly in advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration) these methods become limiting. They struggle to enable the types of structures now required, such as highly conformal sidewalls, fine-pitch high-density interconnects, low-temperature processing on sensitive substrates, and complex 3D geometries. In many cases, the process itself dictates the design, rather than enabling new architectures.
Breaking through current performance bottlenecks increasingly requires new build approaches that decouple design from these legacy constraints—enabling more flexible, additive, and geometry-driven fabrication. Companies like Electroninks have framed this shift clearly in applications such as seed-layer formation, EMI shielding, and next-generation packaging.
Additive ink-based methods are gaining attention. How do they simplify manufacturing workflows and reduce costs?
Additive, ink-based metallization simplifies manufacturing by shifting from subtractive processes to selective deposition—placing material only where it’s needed. This eliminates multiple steps such as vacuum deposition, lithography, etching, and extensive wet processing, reducing complexity, defect risk, and cycle time. It also lowers costs by minimizing material waste, energy use, and reliance on capital-intensive equipment. More importantly, it decouples manufacturing from legacy constraints, enabling lower-temperature processing, broader substrate compatibility, and scalable panel-level approaches. Ultimately, the advantage is foundational —simplifying the process, tooling footprint and CAPEX, while enabling more design-driven, flexible production.
As semiconductor devices become more advanced, how important is conformal metallization and EMI shielding in modern packaging?
It is becoming critical. As packages get denser and components sit closer together, EMI becomes a system-level design issue, not an afterthought. Conformal metallization matters because modern packages are three-dimensional, compact, and performance-sensitive. If you cannot coat complex surfaces uniformly, you end up creating reliability and performance bottlenecks. Package-level shielding is increasingly important in compact electronics, and Electroninks has specifically highlighted that its MOD deposition process can achieve strong sidewall coverage in geometries that traditional methods struggle to handle.
How is System in Package and AI-driven compute influencing the need for new materials and processes?
System-in-Package and AI-driven compute are accelerating the need for new materials and processes by fundamentally increasing integration density, power, and complexity. As multiple dies, memory, and heterogeneous components are tightly integrated, traditional metallization approaches struggle to meet requirements for fine-feature interconnects, thermal management, and signal integrity. AI workloads further intensify these demands, pushing for higher current densities and faster data movement on increasingly complex geometries. This is where additive, ink-based approaches—such as those developed by Electroninks—become especially relevant, enabling direct patterning of high-performance metals at lower temperatures and across a wider range of substrates. Ultimately, these trends are driving a shift toward more flexible, design-driven manufacturing that better aligns with the needs of next-generation packaging.
Sustainability is becoming a priority in manufacturing. How do additive approaches support decarbonization goals?
Additive approaches support decarbonization at a system level by fundamentally reducing the material, energy, and infrastructure intensity of manufacturing. For OEMs and hyperscalers, this translates directly into lower embodied carbon, reduced water and chemical usage, and more efficient, scalable production aligned with sustainability targets. By eliminating multiple process steps and enabling lower-temperature, less capital-intensive workflows, additive methods also support more localized and flexible manufacturing—reducing supply chain emissions and improving resilience. Approaches like those from Electroninks further align with this shift by enabling high-performance metallization with fewer inputs and less process overhead. Ultimately, additive manufacturing offers a pathway to meet both performance and ESG goals without the traditional trade-offs.
What impact does reduced material waste and energy usage have on large-scale production environments?
Reduced material waste and energy usage have a compounding impact at scale, improving both economics and sustainability across large production environments. For OEMs and hyperscalers, this means lower operating costs, reduced embodied carbon, and more efficient, resilient supply chains aligned with ESG targets. For engineering directors, it translates into simpler process flows, fewer failure points, and more predictable yield and throughput—making it easier to scale advanced designs without adding complexity. On the factory floor, fewer steps, less chemical handling, and reduced process overhead can improve uptime, safety, and overall workflow efficiency. Approaches such as those from Electroninks reinforce this shift by enabling more selective, streamlined metallization. Ultimately, these efficiencies benefit every layer of the organization, scaling from day-to-day operations to long-term strategic advantage.
As leaders, we have to look beyond simply replacing legacy processes and instead embrace solutions, which are often new and risky, that fundamentally simplify manufacturing, improve sustainability, and unlock performance and scale.
Flexible electronics and wearables are growing rapidly. How are new materials enabling innovation in these categories?
Flexible electronics and wearables are still an early, rapidly evolving market, and new materials are playing a central role in shaping what products are even possible to build. From a product development perspective, materials that enable low-temperature processing, mechanical flexibility, and direct patterning on non-traditional substrates allow teams to move beyond rigid form factors and explore new device architectures. This reduces the gap between concept and manufacturable design, enabling faster iteration and more integrated, conformal products.
For engineering teams, these materials open up new design spaces—such as stretchable interconnects, printed sensors, and embedded functionality—without requiring entirely new manufacturing infrastructure. Approaches like those from Electroninks further support this by enabling conductive features to be printed directly onto/into flexible substrates/fabrics, simplifying prototyping and early production. Ultimately, innovation in this category is less about incremental improvements and more about expanding the design envelope, allowing product teams to define new use cases rather than just optimize existing ones.
On a personal note, what strategy helps you stay effective while leading innovation in a highly technical industry?
I’ve found that staying effective in a highly technical, fast-moving space comes down to consistently aligning innovation with outcomes—both technical and economic. It’s easy for teams to get pulled into complexity, so I focus on maintaining succinctness around what actually drives step-function improvements in performance, and ultimately customer adoption. That means spending time at multiple levels: understanding enough of the technical detail to ask the right questions, while also keeping a clear line of sight to how those decisions translate into growth, adoption, and long-term value creation.
Equally important is building a team and environment that can move quickly while staying grounded. At Electroninks, that means actively listening to the teams closest to the technology and the process—because they often see opportunities and risks before they surface elsewhere. My role is to balance that input with external signals, ensuring we’re driving toward near-term customer adoption while also investing in the capabilities that create long-term value. In an emerging space, there isn’t a fixed playbook, so staying effective comes down to aligning strong internal insight with market realities and focusing execution on the highest-impact opportunities.
Finally, what advice would you give to leaders exploring advanced manufacturing solutions, and any closing thoughts you would like to share with our readers?
For leaders exploring advanced manufacturing solutions, the most important starting point is to anchor every decision in a clear understanding of where meaningful value is created—whether that’s performance, cost, scalability, or time to market. It’s easy to get drawn to novel technologies, but the real advantage comes from identifying where a new approach removes a fundamental bottleneck rather than incrementally improving an existing process. That requires an entrepreneurial mindset—being willing to challenge assumptions, move early on promising ideas, and accept a degree of calculated risk to capture outsized upside.
More broadly, we’re at a point where manufacturing innovation is increasingly tied to system-level outcomes—performance, efficiency, and sustainability are no longer independent variables. Approaches like those being advanced by Electroninks reflect a broader shift toward more flexible, design-driven manufacturing that aligns better with where advanced packaging and electronics are heading.
Ultimately, the leaders who will benefit most from this transition are those who stay focused on outcomes, remain open to fundamentally different approaches, and are willing to invest early in capabilities that can define the next generation of products.
Melbs LeMieux is the co-founder and president of Electroninks, a global leader in developing and commercializing advanced electronic materials. The company’s core products are focused on a portfolio of metal-complex conductive inks, comprised of Ag, Cu, Ni, Pd, Pt, and other alloys, for additive manufacturing and advanced semiconductor packaging. Their metallization technology has become critical materials for commercial and defense supply chains. With nearly two decades of experience at the intersection of materials science, electronics, and manufacturing, he is widely recognized for advancing next-generation metallization technologies that enable more efficient, scalable, and sustainable production processes.
LeMieux holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Iowa State University and completed postdoctoral research in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. His career has focused on translating deep materials innovation into real-world manufacturing solutions.
At Electroninks HQ headquarters in Austin TX, LeMieux leads the company’s strategic vision, driving the development and commercialization of proprietary metal-organic decomposition (MOD) inks that are reshaping how conductive materials are deposited across industries ranging from consumer electronics to automotive, medical devices, and aero/defense. Ultimately, his work emphasizes listening to customer problems from design, implementation and market strategy perspective, and responding with solutions from Electroninks technology and talented team.
A frequent industry speaker and thought leader, LeMieux is an active voice in the evolution of advanced packaging and additive manufacturing. He is particularly focused on how advanced materials can address needs in emerging technologies such as AI-driven compute and related 3D and chiplet architectures driving these end-uses for the hyperscalers, and ultimate their customers.
Co-Founder and President of Electroninks Incorporated
Full release here – https://bi-journal.com/business-insight-journal-interview-with-melbs-lemieux/
Portfolio of nanoinks bring gold, platinum, silver and dielectrics for additive manufacturing customers in biomedical, defense and other demanding applications
AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, May 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — Electroninks, the leader in metal organic decomposition (MOD) inks for additive manufacturing and advanced semiconductor packaging, today announced it has officially completed its full acquisition of UTDots products and IP into its portfolio, further expanding its offerings in digital printing for high-performance applications. The acquisition brings fully commercialized, market-ready gold, silver, and platinum-based materials designed for inkjet and aerosol jet printing, strengthening Electroninks’ position in the rapidly evolving additive manufacturing for defense and research markets.
Electroninks can now deliver UTDots products with improved product quality and increased manufacturing capacity. These advancements ensure higher reliability, scalability, and enhanced performance for researchers and manufacturers utilizing digital printing techniques. These new products, now wholly owned by Electroninks, provide the company immediate and easy entry into new product applications, like antennas, EMI shielding, microheaters, and miniaturization – further expanding Electroninks’ market share.
“Integrating UTDots’ premium nanomaterials into our portfolio represents an expansion of ownership in the market for gold and platinum nanomaterials globally, and especially here in the US. It also accelerates our mission to provide the highest quality conductive materials to the market,” said Melbs LeMieux, co-founder and president at Electroninks.
“The integration demonstrates EI’s continued focus on top-line growth as we transition towards commercialization. We see continued broadening of adoption of our technology and products,” added Dhaval Patel, chief financial officer at Electroninks.
Electroninks is now able to serve a broader range of industries and institutions, offering scalable solutions for next-generation electronic applications. Specifically, the UTDots portfolio means 20 new products, including nine gold, two platinum, and nine silver products. The company remains committed to delivering cutting-edge materials that drive innovation in digital printing and beyond.
Ethan Stone
Contributor
As 2025 unfolds, the technology landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, with advancements across energy, aviation, artificial intelligence, and semiconductor manufacturing set to reshape industries and economies. The coming year promises to be a defining moment for innovation, where decarbonization efforts, AI evolution, and sustainable fuels take center stage.
The Carbon Intensity Revolution in Energy
Clean energy valuation is undergoing a transformation as carbon intensity emerges as the definitive measure, replacing the outdated color-coded hydrogen classification system. “Carbon intensity numbers will replace the color system as a globally recognized measure of value for different forms of clean energy, fuel, and feedstock production,” says Parker Meeks, CEO of Utility. This shift enables precise environmental performance assessment and aligns with global decarbonization objectives. Governments and corporations are adapting their regulatory frameworks to incentivize low-emission hydrogen production, ensuring that sustainability efforts translate into real-world impact.
Hydrogen mobility is also experiencing a shift, as biogas-to-hydrogen pathways become economically viable. By leveraging biogas from organic waste, industries are not only reducing methane emissions but also creating a renewable hydrogen source with lower carbon footprints. “Biogas-to-hydrogen has the unique benefit of being available everywhere cars, trucks, and buses travel, and can easily be set up at scale, distributed along mobility corridors, critically reducing the dispensed price of hydrogen,” Meeks explains.
Meanwhile, the emphasis on centralized hydrogen hubs is giving way to onsite and distributed hydrogen production, a more practical approach for businesses looking to decarbonize without relying on extensive infrastructure. “Deploying modular technologies that don’t even use electricity in the process eliminates the complexities and costs associated with hydrogen infrastructure,” Meeks adds. These developments reflect a broader industry movement towards flexibility, efficiency, and sustainability.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Reshaping Airline Economics
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has long been viewed as an environmental imperative, but its impact on airline profitability is becoming clearer. Historically, SAF’s higher costs have posed challenges, but industry leaders are now rethinking its value through a carbon abatement lens. “Profitability has long been a major challenge for the airline industry. It’s not too often that an opportunity to fundamentally reshape the value equation for an industry arises—but that is exactly the opportunity SAF is creating,” says Steve Toon, COO of BioVeritas.
SAF is also poised to revitalize rural America, creating new market opportunities for domestic agriculture. “SAF delivers many benefits to multiple stakeholders. While sustainability has been the primary benefit of SAF discussed to date, this perspective is one-dimensional and doesn’t do justice to the important role SAF plays broadly,” says Pareen Shah, CMO of BioVeritas. With SAF production increasingly relying on U.S. farm-based feedstocks, rural communities stand to gain from job creation, economic stimulation, and enhanced energy security.
Despite the buzz around e-fuels as an alternative, their viability remains questionable. “E-fuels are generating significant marketplace and investor buzz because they sound—at face value—like a fantastic solution to a daunting problem. The reality is that these technologies are more theoretical than practical or economical,” says Dave Austgen, CEO of BioVeritas. Given the high costs and energy requirements of e-fuel production, the industry is likely to prioritize SAF as the dominant near-term solution.
Generative AI’s Industry-Specific Evolution
Artificial intelligence continues to redefine business operations, but in 2025, the trend is shifting from generalized AI applications to highly specialized, department-specific AI agents. “GenAI implementation will become more department-specific with AI agents that will focus on complete business transformation—not from the top down but left to right,” says Daniel Fallmann, CEO of Mindbreeze. This shift will see AI deeply integrated into enterprise applications like SharePoint, Teams, and Salesforce, fundamentally transforming workflow automation and decision-making processes.
North America is expected to see the fastest GenAI growth, overtaking Europe, where adoption has already matured at the enterprise level. “The hottest growth market for GenAI will be North America,” Fallmann notes. Meanwhile, advances in large language models (LLMs) will continue to drive new business models, pushing AI adoption to unprecedented levels. “The evolution of LLMs is not even close to hitting a plateau. However, in 2025, the world will see significant advancements in AI, and its use in enterprises will explode, creating entirely new business models,” predicts Sidhant Gupta, CTO of CWX.
The Semiconductor Investment Surge
With AI-generated code becoming mainstream, software developers are shifting their focus from writing code to reviewing and securing it. “The increasing use of AI-generated code will shift developers’ focus toward code review activities, which are often more time-consuming and complex than writing the code itself,” says Nir Valtman, CEO of Arnica. While AI-assisted development promises greater efficiency, it also introduces new security risks that traditional tools may struggle to detect, making code review more critical than ever.
Semiconductor manufacturing is another area of rapid investment. While the U.S. has significantly ramped up domestic chip manufacturing, advanced packaging has lagged behind. “2025 and 2026 are expected to see key investment in U.S. facilities for additive metalization in advanced packaging, and specifically in panel-level packaging, including metalization for very large panels—beyond 300 mm wafer,” says Melbs LeMieux, Co-Founder of Electroninks. This focus on semiconductor packaging will be crucial for the future of AI and high-performance computing, reducing reliance on overseas facilities.
A Year of Opportunity and Innovation
So as 2025 progresses, a powerful intersection of artificial intelligence, decarbonization strategies, sustainable fuel innovations, and semiconductor breakthroughs will reshape the global technology landscape. The rise of carbon intensity as a key performance metric, the accelerating growth of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) markets, and the deeper integration of AI into core business functions are set to drive both economic expansion and environmental progress.
Organizations that proactively adapt to these shifts will position themselves ahead of the curve, navigating an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment. The responsibility now lies with industry leaders and policymakers to channel these advancements effectively, ensuring that technological progress aligns with long-term sustainability and economic resilience. With unprecedented opportunities on the horizon, those who act decisively will define the next era of innovation in an evolving global economy.
Full Article can be found here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/special/contributor-content/2025/02/20/2025-the-year-technology-redefines-the-future/79335988007/
Leading metal complex conductive inks provider to showcase product line and iSAP process sponsored by Dongjin Semichem
AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, February 18, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — Electroninks, the leader in metal complex inks for additive manufacturing and advanced semiconductor packaging, today announced that the company will exhibit and showcase their metal complex conductive inks at booth D800 during SEMICON KOREA. The Electroninks’ team will be on hand to discuss the next-generation manufacturing technology achieved with particle-free conductive inks at booth D800 from February 19-21, 2025.
The booth discussions will showcase how Electroninks’ metal composite conductive inks achieve up to 90% conductivity of bulk metals in low-temperature processes and are compatible with a wide variety of substrates, allowing them to be used directly as an alternative technology to nanoparticle inks, metal pastes, sputtering, deposition, and plating. The session will also cover the iSAP Process, a groundbreaking concept that complements the existing SAP framework with revolutionary new materials, seamlessly adapting to varying scales, while readily reaching feature sizes as small as one micron easily achievable through available photolithography.
“SEMICON KOREA is about revolutionizing industries and showcasing the next level of innovation,” stated Wanjong Kim, Electroninks Korea Representative. “At Electroninks we are creating the most flexible and cost-effective solutions for advanced semiconductor packaging to advance innovation across industries and change lives globally.”
You can read the full release here – https://www.einpresswire.com/article/787050391/electroninks-to-exhibit-with-dongjin-semichem-at-semicon-korea
Enhancing Lightweight and Cost Efficiency of Defense Components with Conductive Metal Inks
Establishing a foothold in the U.S. market, strengthening global competitiveness through open innovation
LIG Nex1 has entered into a joint research and development agreement with advanced materials company Electroninks (Austin, Texas) to develop next-generation component materials based on conductive inks.
On December 3, LIG Nex1 and Electroninks signed a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU) at LIG Nex1’s Pangyo House in Seongnam, South Korea, with key officials from both companies present. This agreement marks the first step in combining LIG Nex1’s cutting-edge defense industry technology with Electroninks’ metal complex particle-free conductive ink technology to innovate electronic materials for the defense sector. The collaboration will focus on jointly developing next-generation component materials based on conductive inks, aimed at reducing the weight and cost of weapon systems.
Electroninks is a global leader in the field of metal complex (particle-free) conductive inks using Metal Organic Decomposition (MOD) technology. The company first developed particle-free silver (Ag) composite conductive ink, and now is the only global supplier of a combined portfolio including silver, gold, platinum, nickel and copper MOD products. The company has grown into a key player in the semiconductor, display, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding markets. The next-generation ink, which uses significantly less material compared to traditional particle-based or paste-type inks with enhanced performance and required reliability properties, is expected to contribute to lightweighting and cost reduction when applied to key components, such as LIG Nex1’s antennas.
Meanwhile, LIG Nex1 acquired approximately 60% of the shares in Ghost Robotics, a leading quadruped robot company in the U.S., in July. In addition, they have been accelerating their entry into the U.S. market by passing the 5th FCT (Foreign Comparative Testing) of the 2.75-inch guided rocket ‘Bigung’ with the U.S. Department of Defense
Shin Ik-hyun, CEO of LIG Nex1, stated, “This collaboration presents a significant opportunity for innovation, not just in the defense industry but also in the advanced electronic materials sector. It marks a pivotal moment for a leading Korean defense company and a next-generation U.S. technology startup to achieve breakthrough innovation.”
Melbs LeMieux, Co-founder and President of Electroninks, commented, “Our partnership with LIG Nex1 will accelerate the commercialization of our conductive ink technology,serve as a key stepping stone for entering the Korean market, and further strengthen the Korea – US Defense cooperation.”
Looking ahead, LIG Nex1 plans to continue its open innovation efforts with global high-tech startups, focusing on acquiring cutting-edge technologies in key future industries, including defense, and positioning itself as a game-changer in these fields.
You can read the full release here: https://n.news.naver.com/article/001/0015081871?sid=104
by Matt Kremenetsky
Electroninks, the Austin-based manufacturer of metal organic decomposition (MOD) inks for additive manufacturing (AM) and semiconductor packaging, has introduced what the company claims is the “world’s first” commercially available copper MOD ink. According to Electroninks, one particularly sought-after application driving interest in copper inks “seed layer printing”, which involves the deposition of extremely thin layers of metal onto a substrate, making subsequent plating processes easier and more efficient.
Solar cells seem to be one of the areas in which seed layer printing shows the most promise. Electroninks claims that, compared to the currently dominant processes of electroless (e-less) copper plating and physical vapor deposition (PVD), AM with copper inks requires both far less water and energy.
In addition to enhancing the sustainability of the underlying production processes, that also contributes to customers’ ability to manufacture the relevant components with far less CAPEX than is required with conventional methods. Along with seed layer printing, Electroninks is already working with customers to explore the potential for its copper MOD inks in areas like advanced semiconductor packaging.
In a press release Electroninks CEO and co-founder Brett Walker, said, “These copper inks bolster Electroninks’ strong and diverse MOD ink product portfolio and deliver best-in-class ESG and cost savings to customers.”
Jim Haley, the VP of Marketing for the International Microelectronics and Assembly Packaging Society (IMAPS) Executive Council, said, “MOD inks, which have been on the market from Electroninks for a few years now, provide unique properties that are well suited for today’s semiconductor wafer and module-based packages requiring high-performance thermal and power management. By introducing a copper-based MOD product, markets and customers are generally more supportive, as copper is a standard in electronic design for many use-cases. While silver, gold, and other MOD inks will continue to serve this market, we welcome copper MOD inks to address key needs in advanced packaging.”
In addition to helping the reshoring effort in the US for the industries where it matters most — semiconductor packaging and green energy — Electroninks has made significant inroads into the Asian Pacific market in recent years, namely in Japan and Taiwan. Of course, this bolsters the US’s reshoring effort as well, as the American domestic market can’t advance forward without heightened cross-collaboration between the US and its leading trade partners outside the Chinese mainland.
As far behind as the US may still be in achieving its goals to build the domestic green energy and semiconductor manufacturing bases, the bright side to this is that the nation can, to a significant extent, start from scratch in building its new industrial ecosystem. Whereas other nations have already committed themselves to doing things the old way, the US can focus on accentuating its advantages in truly forward-thinking areas like conductive inks.
New copper ink displaces electroless copper plating and other industry-standard manufacturing processes with significantly faster production speed, lower ownership cost, and greater sustainability levels
AUSTIN, TX & SEMICON TAIWAN – September 3, 2024 – Electroninks, the leader in metal organic decomposition (MOD) inks for additive manufacturing and advanced semiconductor packaging, today announced the launch of the company’s advanced conductive copper ink line. The new copper ink extends Electroninks’ global-leading portfolio of metal complex inks while providing further manufacturing flexibility and lower total ownership costs to customers. Electroninks will be showcasing the new copper ink line at booth Q5152 in Hall 2 of SEMICON Taiwan September 4-6, 2024.
A high-demand application for the new copper ink is seed layer printing for fine-line metallization and RDL formation in combination with the company’s proprietary iSAP™ process. For this application, Electroninks copper ink effectively displaces industry use of electroless (e-less) copper plating and physical vapor deposition (PVD) tie layers while achieving a significant increase in manufacturing throughput and a vast reduction in ESG footprint. Compared to legacy methods (PVD and e-less), ink-based additive printing uses a fraction of the water and energy, factory footprint and CAPEX, thus providing customers with the lowest total cost of ownership and highest ROI on the market.
The copper inks are deposited by spray coating, screen printing, inkjet, spin-on, and other conventional printing methods. Beyond the seed layer application, Electroninks is working with customers on a multitude of applications, including advanced packaging, serving a diversity of markets. “These copper inks bolster Electroninks’ strong and diverse MOD ink product portfolio and deliver best-in-class ESG and cost savings to customers.” stated Brett Walker, CEO and co-founder of Electroninks.
“MOD inks, which have been on the market from Electroninks for a few years now, provide unique properties that are well suited for today’s semiconductor wafer and module-based packages requiring high performance thermal and power management.” stated Jim Haley, Vice President of Marketing, IMAPS Executive Council. “By introducing a copper-based MOD product, markets and customers are generally more supportive, as copper is a standard in electronic design for many use-cases. While silver, gold, and other MOD inks will continue to serve this market, we welcome copper MOD inks to address key needs in advanced packaging.”
Electroninks is offering a range of copper ink grades to address customer demand for adhesion to various substrates, including glass, silicon, and EMC. These inks are compatible with multiple printing techniques and can be cured at low temperatures for short times – as low as 140C in 5 minutes under nitrogen or ambient conditions.
Electroninks’ corporate executives and its international sale team will be showcasing the company’s copper ink release at SEMICON Taiwan (https://www.semicontaiwan.org/en/node/7046). For more information on Electroninks products and solutions, please visit www.electroninks.com
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Leading aerosol printing technology manufacturer partners with Electroninks for advanced printed microelectronics production
AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, July 15, 2024 — Electroninks, the leader in metal complex inks for additive manufacturing and advanced semiconductor packaging, today announced a business partnership with IDS, Inc. (Integrated Deposition Solutions) for advanced printing on 3D surfaces and printed microelectronics, such as sensors and antennas. IDS will now use Electroninks metal complex inks after both companies worked together to test printing longevity, fine feature printing, and a newly designed in-situ UV curing system.
When evaluating metal complex inks, IDS had a long list of requirements for a partner in reference to the properties of their inks. Specifically, these inks had to be super stable, cause zero nozzle clogging, set up once without the need for additional recalibration, be suitable for low-temp applications, be capable of printing microelectronics (super fine resolution) with less than 10um line printing, and have a high aspect ratio. To fit the company’s needs, IDS chose Electroninks metal complex inks.
Electroninks’s silver inks are formulated for aerosol printing and for applications that require high conductivity and low curing temperatures. The ultrasonic inks are also capable of fine line <20 um printed features. Electroninks’ new particle-free gold ink is designed specifically for non-contact aerosol jet printing of high-conductivity traces on 3D surfaces.
“Successful demonstrations for our clients is a three-part formula involving the deposition machinery, the printing material, and the application design,“ stated Dov Phillips, sales manager at IDS. “Having a materials partner with expertise in crafting and supplying customer-ready inks for aerosol printing is crucial to our success and Electroninks provides that to IDS and our customers.”
“We are proud to collaborate with IDS to support our mutual customers. The combination of Electroninks’s revolutionary metal complex inks and the cutting-edge precision of IDS Nanojet system brings a broad array of solutions for the advanced packaging and additive manufactured electronics,” stated Yuan Gu, Director of Applications at Electroninks. “This is another example of Electroninks working hard with our ecosystem printing partners to bring total solutions to customers.”
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Electroninks continues global expansion with new facility and increased production capabilities
AUSTIN, TX – April 24, 2024 – Electroninks, the leader in metal complex inks for additive manufacturing and advanced semiconductor packaging, today announced the official opening of the company’s APAC facility in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. The facility includes offices, a full technical/field support lab, as well as full ink production for customers using Electroninks’ metal-complex inks in-region. The new operation enables increased and redundant ink production capabilities, with additional engineering staff to work with customers directly in APAC. In addition, the company has also hired Takashi Mochizuki as Head of Asia Business, KY Liu as Taiwan Application Development Manager and Kazutaka Ozawa as Technical Director. Combined, these new members have more than 40 years of experience in conductive inks and semiconductor industries. They will work closely with the rest of the global operations and customers.
In addition to the new reactors and ink production tools, there is a full QA/QC lab and analytical equipment for ink qualification. The APAC facility also has a full engineering support lab complete with printing tools including new screen printers, spray coaters and inkjet printers – that match equipment going into production lines at customer sites. With the new staff and additional equipment, global customers will receive significantly improved logistics with shorter product lead times and faster technical support.
“This new facility marks an important milestone of growth and achievement for our company, and significantly improves our ability to serve the global market,” stated Melbs LeMieux, president and cofounder of Electroninks. “We appreciate the support of the local officials and our partners in Kaohsiung to bring this project to completion.”
Key domestic supplier of advanced materials fortifies executive leadership with financial and operational expertise on pathway to commercialization with expanding customer base
AUSTIN, TX – January 8, 2024 – Electroninks, the leader in metal complex inks for additive manufacturing and advanced semiconductor packaging, announced today the appointment of Dhaval Patel as their chief financial officer and Michael Vinson as chief operating officer. Mr. Patel joins the executive leadership team to deliver the company’s financial and strategic objectives as it enters its next phase of growth. Mr. Vinson will supply his expertise and vast industry experience in operational development and material production to bolster Electroninks’ quality assurance and product readiness.
Mr. Patel brings a wealth of relevant experience to Electroninks, most notably in corporate strategy, M&A, corporate finance and investor relations. Prior to joining Electroninks, Dhaval was most recently VP of Investor Relations at Shoals Technologies and prior to that was SVP of Investor Relations, Corporate Strategy and M&A at Pactiv Evergreen. Prior to Pactiv Evergreen, he was Managing Director at Nuveen Asset Management overseeing portfolios with a focus on the materials sectors. At Electroninks, Mr. Patel will focus on strategic financial planning and budgeting, M&A, and other financial responsibilities to achieve longer term company goals.
Mr. Vinson brings a wealth of experience to his new role with an extensive background spanning 11 years in relevant markets and an even more substantial tenure in the electronics and semiconductor sector. In his capacity as COO, Mr. Vinson will collaborate closely with the senior leadership team, working alongside the President and CEO. His responsibilities will include the oversight of Electroninks’ day-to-day operations and the implementation of strategic initiatives to achieve the company’s commercial and manufacturing objectives.
“Everything we do at Electroninks is rooted in the ability to grow smart and fast,” stated Dr. Brett Walker, chief executive officer of Electroninks. “As we start rapid commercialization of existing and new products, it’s imperative that we have the best people at the helm and both Dhaval and Mike bring the exact experience and expertise required to support the continued success of our organization and the development of our product lines.”