If you happen to own stock in Nano Dimension, it’s definitely your lucky week, as the price quadrupled after a surprise announcement. 

The company announced a breakthrough in its technology that will be of significant interest to the industry. Nano Dimension produces equipment to 3D print circuit boards. While circuit boards are essentially 2D structures, the company’s DragonFly device is able to 3D print three-dimensional printed circuit boards (PCBs). 

The company previously expanded its application footprint in 2019 but suffered some layoffs later in the year due to poor results. It seems they may be in for a bit of a turnaround as a result of the latest news.

Nano Dimension Breakthrough

There’s been a persistent problem in 3D printing PCBs: the process for soldering on advanced chips and components for dual-sided boards was incompatible with the materials used in 3D printed PCBs. 

The inability to mount components on 3D printed boards is obviously a show-stopper for many applications. 

However, this is no longer a barrier as Nano Dimension announced they were able to overcome this effect through the use of specific materials. With their client HENSOLDT, a German manufacturer of military sensors, they were able to produce — and mount components on — a 10-layer PCB for the first time in history. 

At top you can see this unusual 10-layer PCB. 

Additively Manufactured Electronics

Additively Manufactured Electronics, or “AMEs”, are of significant interest if they can be made to work. Just as conventional 3D printing can adopt radically new geometries for mechanical parts, so too can PCBs. This would be highly beneficial to any application that requires unusually-shaped PCBs that must fit into non-standard spaces, and that likely includes military applications. 

Nano Dimension said:

“AMEs are useful to verify a new design and functionality of specialized electronic components before production. AME is a highly agile and individual engineering methodology to prototype a new electronic circuitry. This leads to significant reduction of time and cost in the development process. Furthermore, AME gives a verified and approved design before production starts, leading to higher quality of the final product.”

These are benefits quite similar to those found in the mechanical 3D print world: iterative prototyping can be done far, far faster, leading to better final results at lower costs. And we all know what happened once that industry “discovered” 3D printing. 

Nano Dimension Stock Price

Will a similar boom occur in 3D printed electronics as a result of this breakthrough? It seems that investors think so, as Nano Dimension’s stock price blew through the roof in the past few days. 

From a stable US$0.77, the stock price ripped up to over US$3.00 in short order. 

It’s not clear that the stock price will remain at those high levels, but if this breakthrough stands and additional clients begin exploring Nano Dimension’s capabilities, it may go even higher. 

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Fabbaloo tracks developments in the amazing technology of 3D Printing, publishing news and analysis daily. Whether from a manufacturer’s press release, onsite coverage of events or just some crazy ideas we thought up, our material will keep you up to date.