Introducing Vertical Soldering Technology

State of the art electronics design has steadily been pushing toward smaller and smaller volumes with a demand for more functionality. This is especially true for fuzing systems where the available volume is often very limited for the intended application. New munition technologies such as guided munitions, multipoint ignition, scalable effects, and laser ignition are demanding more functionality in less space. The vertical soldering technology presented supports micro miniaturization of multilayer electronics without the use of connectors. This technology was developed to allow laser ignition electronics to be adapted into an exceedingly small space (.0005 in3) using conventional surface mount technologies. Vertical soldering is like conventional additive manufacturing but is based on a combination of solder paste printing, SMT components, and layers comprised of prefabricated printed circuit boards. It is applicable for miniature circuit assemblies and can be adapted into a modern surface mount assembly line. The result is a three-dimensional circuit assembly that can be mass produced.