The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency introduced a new program to enhance the capabilities and scale up production of defense-related microelectronics using additive manufacturing processes.
The Additive Manufacturing of Microelectronic Systems program, or AMME, will use complex geometries to discover new 3D manufacturing innovations in areas such as multi-material printing and high-speed, sub-micron resolution production.
One of AMME’s goals is to create a 500-nanometer resolution microsystem no bigger than a one-cent coin in three minutes. The project’s researchers are working toward geometries for integrating electrical, mechanical or biological microsystem subcomponents.
Such a technology would enable the Department of Defense to expedite mission requirement response and add features to commercial devices procured by the agency.
“AMME is inspired by new insights from selective material synthesis and volumetric additive manufacturing that would enable a new class of microsystems,” AMME Program Manager Michael Sangillo said. It will also “focus on the commercialization approach, so we can produce a manufacturing system that can be quickly adopted by the broader industrial community, including DOD and other U.S. government organizations.”
