A thermally expandable material includes microcapsules and a binder having a conducting property, each microcapsule including a shell having an insulating property, and a thermally expandable component contained in the shell and having a property of expanding by heating, the shell deforming due to expansion of the thermally expandable component to come in contact with another capsule and have an insulating state with the other capsule.

The disclosure relates to methods and compositions for direct printing of rigid flexible electronic objects. Specifically, the disclosure relates to methods, systems and compositions for the direct, optionally simultaneous inkjet printing of rigid-flexible electronics, for example, rigid-flexible PCBs, FPCs, TFTs, antennae solar cells, RFIDs and the like, using a combination of print heads with flexible and rigid conductive and dielectric ink compositions.

A microcapsule includes a shell including a conducting component, and a thermally expandable component contained in the shell and having a property of expanding by heating. The shell is deformable in accordance with expansion of the thermally expandable component when the thermally expandable component is heated.

Inter-alia, a method for manufacturing a three-dimensional light emitting appliance is disclosed, said method comprising: providing a first data model of a three-dimensional area; arranging a plurality of spots for light emitting devices on the three-dimensional area of the first data model, wherein the plurality of spots is substantially evenly distributed over at least a part of the three-dimensional area; transforming the first data model of the three-dimensional area comprising the spots into a substantially two-dimensional and flat second data model, wherein the position of the spots on the second data model is derived; manufacturing a printed circuit board in accordance with the second data model and arranging pads of the printed circuit board on the spots of the second data model; equipping the pads of the printed circuit board with light emitting devices; and bringing the printed circuit board into the shape of the three-dimensional area. Further, a three-dimensional light emitting appliance is disclosed.

Systems and methods for dispensing a liquid or viscous material onto a substrate are disclosed herein. One exemplary method of positioning an applicator of a dispensing system to apply a liquid or viscous material to an electronic substrate includes generating a two-dimensional image of the electronic substrate using a camera communicatively connected to the dispensing system. Based on the two-dimensional image of the electronic substrate, a first set of one or more sub-regions of the electronic substrate having one or more components that protrude above the surface of the electronic substrate is identified. The method further includes using height information relating to the one or more sub-regions having the one or more components to determine a control program for the dispensing system to position the applicator relative to the electronic substrate and dispense the liquid or viscous material onto the electronic substrate.

A variable signal flow control method for realizing chip reuse and a communication terminal for realizing chip reuse using the variable signal flow control method, the method comprises the following steps: using at least two identical integrated circuit (IC) chips, the respective IC chips achieving different flows of the control signals according to different logic control signals; controlling the logic control signals such that the respective IC chips achieves the flow of the corresponding control signals. The method can achieve control function of different signal flows for two identical IC chips, thereby greatly simplifying chip types for achieving IC system functions, greatly reducing development costs of the IC system and management complexity of the mass production supply chain.

Some examples described herein relate to a design system and a method for printed circuit board (PCB) design. In an example, a design system includes a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory stores instruction code. The processor is configured to execute the instruction code to provide a workspace in a user interface in which a PCB design comprising multiple layers is capable of being created; provide a list of layout templates in the user interface; and provide an insert function, via the user interface, configured to insert a selected layout template of the list of layout templates into the workspace to be included in the PCB design. Each layout template of the list of layout templates is a tile layout that includes a layout component and metal lines that extend to one or more edges of the tile layout.

A printed circuit board (PCB) printing method includes obtaining PCB parameters and stencil printing parameters of a PCB to be printed, determining print parameters for printing the PCB according to a print model parameter relationship, the obtained PCB parameters, and standard values of solder paste detection parameters, transmitting the determined print parameters to a printer for printing the PCB, receiving values of the solder paste detection parameters detected by a solder paste inspection device, determining whether the detected values are within a preset range of the standard values, and re-determining the print parameters when the detected values are not within the preset range of the standard values. The print model parameter relationship indicates a relationship of the PCB parameters and the print parameters to solder paste detection parameters. The solder paste detection parameters include information related to solder paste on the printed PCB.

Provided is a method for populating printed circuit boards, which includes the steps of registering jobs in each case relating to the population of a number of printed circuit boards of a printed circuit board type with components of predetermined component types, assigning printed circuit board types of the registered jobs to a predetermined number of fixed set-up families, optimizing the assignment in such a way that a characteristic number relating to all the pick-and-place lines of the pick-and-place system is optimized as far as possible, and populating the printed circuit boards on one of the pick-and-place lines by using one of the fixed set-ups.

An information processing apparatus includes a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to receive a designation of a progression degree in which a circuit pattern displayed on a two-dimensional model of a printed circuit board is traced from a start point to an end point of the circuit pattern, display, on the two-dimensional model, the circuit pattern from the start point to a point corresponding to the progression degree on a three-dimensional model of the printed circuit board based on a setting of the start point and the end point of the circuit pattern, and display the circuit pattern of the two-dimensional model to distinguish a first pattern to form a part of the circuit pattern and a second pattern to form a part of the circuit pattern, the first pattern and the second pattern having portions overlapping each other.