3D Systems

333 Three D Systems Circle
Rock Hill,  SC  29730

United States
http://www.3dsystems.com/semiconductor

• Booth: 1733

Make the existing better and the new possible.

Semiconductor lithography and wafer processing equipment require constant innovation to meet the accuracy, speed, reliability, and productivity demands of increasingly complex microchip production. Additionally, the continual need for increased quality, improved total cost of ownership, reduced time to market, and minimized supply chain disruption persists.

With decades of expertise in semiconductor applications and metal additive manufacturing, 3D Systems has a dedicated team that understands these challenges and can help semiconductor OEMs and suppliers overcome them. As a complete solution provider, we will collaborate with you on application development, helping you transition from prototype to production and enabling your own metal additive capabilities.

 Press Releases

• Increasing Performance, Productivity, and Reliability in Semiconductor Capital Equipment (20211004)

  Wilting, a precision machining company, helps a large manufacturer of semiconductor capital equipment produce complex metal parts to improve system imaging accuracy and productivity. As the industry leader in additive manufacturing, 3D Systems has been partnering with large semiconductor OEMs and suppliers for over ten years to help them scale from prototyping to production. By working with 3D Systems to accelerate adoption of their own advanced metal additive manufacturing capabilities and expertise, Wilting can now produce optimized components designed for higher performance in semiconductor capital equipment. 

  The Challenge

  WINNING THE RACE TO HIGHER RESOLUTION

  Semiconductor OEMs are under pressure to advance lithography capabilities as microchip package sizes continue to decrease. Working with 3D Systems’ Application Innovation Group and metal additive manufacturing solutions, semiconductor OEMs and tier 1 suppliers like Wilting are reaping the benefits of optimized semiconductor components in the race to higher resolution with application-specific consultation on design for optimized performance and manufacturability. 

  Metal additive manufacturing allows for the design and manufacturing of highly optimized components. When applied to semiconductor lithography and wafer processing equipment, complex metal AM parts like manifolds, wafer tables, wafer handling systems, flexures, and brackets improve performance and reliability of the part. These improvements enable system accuracy advancements at the nanometer level, and improved speed and throughput that ultimately results in more wafers processed and improved total cost of ownership. 

  3D Systems’ technology transfer and consulting approach has enabled us to support our customers with their design and engineering challenges. We can better help our customers scale their ideas down to keep them printable and bring the benefits of additive manufacturing to their application.  

  - Adwin Kannekens, Sales Director, Wilting

  The Solution

  COLLABORATION FOR SCALABLE PRODUCTION

  01 Application Engineering Consultation

  Together with Wilting and 3D Systems, semiconductor OEMs are able to make many design and performance improvements in an accelerated timeframe by leveraging AM design guidance from 3D Systems’ application engineers and Wilting’s precision production. It is now possible to rapidly iterate and test complex semiconductor components with a proven path to production.  

  For example, manifolds designed for additive manufacturing like the part pictured here, optimize fluid and gas flow to reduce pressure drops and minimize mechanical disturbances and vibration. Traditional manufacturing often results in parts that are large, heavy, and cause stagnant flow and unreliable connections that negatively affect system performance. The benefits of using additive manufacturing for semiconductor applications include: 

  • Optimized fluid flow. It is possible to reduce liquid induced disturbance forces by as much as 90% with AM solutions. 

  • Reduced weight and volume. Additive manufacturing light-weighting can reduce weight as much as 50%, as well as optimize volume claims in limited spaces versus conventional manufacturing. 

  • Increased reliability. Compared to a traditionally manufactured manifold assembly (20+ parts), additive manufacturing can deliver a single monolithic part for increased reliability, and improved manufacturing and yield. 

  02 Production Support

  Production support via 3D Systems’ Customer Innovation Center provides high quality, high accuracy additive manufacturing services paired with proprietary processes for optimal particle cleanliness. This service delivers metal parts that meet clean room requirements and are fit for use in lithography and wafer processing equipment. 

  Wilting has been able to build up its expertise over time in post-machining, post-processing, and assembling 3D printed parts by partnering with 3D Systems. As this partnership has continued, it has also proved the demand for additive manufacturing with Wilting’s customer base. 

  Even with an AM system in-house, Wilting anticipates that demand for metal printed parts will be quick to exceed in-house capacity. “Our relationship with 3D Systems will continue in developing new business effective immediately, because 3D Systems extends our capacity with overflow production support as business grows,” said Kannekens. 

  03 Metal Additive Capabilities

  After building demand for complex AM parts among its customers, Wilting selected 3D Systems' DMP Flex 350 for high quality in-house metal printing. The best-in-class oxygen level (<25 ppm) and inert atmosphere of 3D Systems’ metal AM technology ensures exceptionally strong and accurate parts of high chemical purity in titanium, stainless steel, aluminum, or nickel alloy.  

  The DMP Flex 350 is an integrated metal AM solution that combines a high throughput, modular printer architecture with 3DXpert® all-in-one 3D printing software and a suite of extensively tested LaserForm® materials. Wilting can grow capacity with the DMP Flex 350 by adding additional printers when ready.

  04 Technology Transfer

  Through technology transfer, 3D Systems engineers share knowledge and provide training to new printer customers to streamline and accelerate their transition to AM and safeguard their investment. This leverages pre-developed print files and processes and includes professional account management, consulting, training across pre-qualified AM production processes, and installation. For Wilting, technology transfer has focused on printing processes and strategies like how to run the machine, program the printer, set up files for printing, part supports and orientation, and part post-processing, among other specialized tasks. 

  3D Systems’ technology transfer helps 3D Systems’ customers mitigate the risks inherent to change and experience AM productivity right away, with faster time to market.

  The Results

  HIGHER PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY IN SEMICONDUCTOR CAPITAL EQUIPMENT

  • Productivity improvements

    Reduce inertia and system vibration with up to 50% lighter parts for increased machine speed and up-time resulting in more wafers processed.

    Performance improvements

    90% reduction in flow induced disturbance forces reduce system vibration and realize a 1-2 nm accuracy improvement.

    Reduced cost of AM adoption

    through expert-led technology transfer to accelerate learning and time-to-market. 

• CERN LHCb Advances Particle Detection Capabilities with 3D Printed Cooling System (20211004)

  Develop and produce reliable, leak-tight custom cool-bars to achieve -40˚C temperatures within Large Hadron Collider detector.

  Solution

  Collaboration with 3D Systems application engineers to optimize ideal design for additive manufacturing and fulfill limited production series with 3D printing in titanium.

  Results

  • Wall thickness of 0.25mm with confirmed leak-tightness
  • Flatness with 50-micron precision over length of part
  • Design and production strategy to enable cost-effective production of high complexity part
  • 2019 LHCb Industry Award winner

  One hundred meters beneath the mountains of Switzerland and France sits the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator ever built. This impressive construction is used by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to conduct high-energy physics research under four key experiments.

  Stretching a full 27 kilometers to allow particle acceleration to get up to speed, the observable reactions take place at four beam-crossing points, instrumented with large particle detectors. Within the detection volume of the LHCb Experiment, a long and extremely narrow photon-detector strip must be cooled to -40˚C in order to preserve the reaction for study. This strip runs roughly 140 meters in length, is less than two millimeters wide, and is attached to 3D printed titanium cool-bars that perform 100% of the cooling operation.

  These cool-bars are the result of a collaboration between Nikhef, the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics, and 3D Systems Customer Innovation Center, and were produced using 3D Systems’ direct metal printing (DMP) technology. For its contribution to the successful upgrade of the experiment, 3D Systems was honored with the 2019 LHCb Industry Award.

  Achieving -40˚C Cooling in Limited Space

  Particle collisions within the LHC happen inside detectors, which are extremely sophisticated systems that make it possible to gather information about fundamental particle properties. Modern detectors include layers of subdetectors, among which are tracking devices like the LHCb SciFi tracker – short for scintillating fibers – that reveal the path of a particle. Through other subdetector systems it is also possible to measure a particle’s energy and radiation.

  

  The performance requirements and space limitations for the cool-bars required the highest design efficiency possible.

  Antonio Pellegrino works at Nikhef and is a leader on the SciFi tracker project at CERN under the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment. He explains that the complexity of the cooling system was the result of several unavoidable factors: the incredibly limited space in which the cool-bars are required to fit, the heat that needs to be dissipated within that short space, the temperature uniformity required over the length of the entire photon-detection strip, and the flatness of the cool-bars necessary to preserve the detector efficiency and resolution. “The effect of this is that you have to be very efficient in how you construct your cooling,” he says.

  Nikhef project engineer Rob Walet began developing the cool-bar by designing a part that perfectly answered performance requirements. “This design was so beautiful,” says Pellegrino, “but it was not producible in the usual ways.” One major issue that complicated manufacturability through conventional means was the required wall thinness. For maximum efficacy, it was important to have minimal material between the coolant and the surface to be cooled. For the length of the part (263 mm), this thinness could not be machined.

  After early experimentation with manual prototyping, CERN quickly determined a manual approach to production was not practical. Not only was it labor intensive, but it was not easy to make in a reproducible way. With this awareness the team began to research other options and explore capabilities in metal 3D printing.

  Collaborating to Optimize for Production with Additive Manufacturing

  Although CERN optimized its cool-bar design for final function, it was not yet optimized for additive manufacturing (AM). Awareness of this shortcoming informed CERN’s choice of manufacturing partner. “Out of a few possible companies, we chose 3D Systems because it seemed to me that the engineers there were capable of actually transforming our design into something that could be produced,” says Pellegrino.

  CERN leveraged the application engineering expertise housed within 3D Systems’ Customer Innovation Center (CIC) in Leuven, Belgium, to accelerate its path forward with additive manufacturing. 3D Systems CICs are global facilities equipped with the experience and technology to support additive manufacturing applications in the high technology, aerospace, healthcare, transportation and motorsports markets. 3D Systems CICs can advise and assist on projects at any stage, from application development and frontend engineering, to equipment validation, process validation, part qualification, and production.

  As both a manufacturer and user of additive manufacturing solutions, 3D Systems is home to a unique feedback loop between application engineers and machine engineering groups. This open communication fuels constant refinement of 3D Systems’ software, hardware, materials, and printing processes to enable better equipment and better outcomes.

  Through a collaborative iterative process of design, printing, and testing, the engineering teams at CERN and 3D Systems worked together to modify the cool-bar design to meet the requirements for manufacturing as well as final function.

  Performance requirements included:

  • Wall thickness. A major specification of the part was a wall thickness of 0.25mm. This was achieved through the high dimensional accuracy of 3D Systems’ DMP machines as well as through 3D Systems’ in-house expertise to adjust laser parameters with respect to the stability and width of the titanium powder melt pool. 
  • Leak-tightness. The requirement for leak-tightness guided the choice of LaserForm® TiGr23 material, a high strength titanium alloy. The custom parameter set 3D Systems developed for the project also enabled this goal.
  • Flatness. It was necessary for the flatness to have a precision of 50 microns over the length of the 263 mm part. This was achieved through various design for additive manufacturing strategies applied by 3D Systems’ application engineers, as well as build strategy recommendations like a vertical print orientation.

  

  3D Systems was honored with the 2019 LHCb Industry Award for its contribution to the successful upgrade of the LHCb Experiment.

  Enabling Reliable Manufacturing with Metal AM

  Optimizing the cool-bar design for production was critical to effectively achieving the final order of more than 300 precision units. According to Pellegrino, the major value of using 3D printing for production was the cost-efficiency of the process relative to the extreme complexity of the components, as well as the ability to achieve the uncommon tolerances that were necessary for the success of the final application. “We needed a reliable way to get both the part and the performance we were after,” says Pellegrino.

  In addition to having ISO 9001, ISO 13485 and AS/EN9100 certified facilities, 3D Systems is partner to hundreds of critical applications across industries where quality and performance are paramount. 3D Systems’ systematized approach to transitioning and scaling from prototyping to production ensured a streamlined path to qualified AM parts.

  Manufacturing guidance included:

  • Design strategy. The final cool-bar was designed as a set of mirrored A and B components that are welded together to form a complete part. This enabled CERN to get the features, dimensions, and quality it required with minimal assembly.
  • Print orientation. With additive manufacturing, the orientation of a part on the build platform can impact the support requirements. Based on the geometry of CERN’s design, 3D Systems’ engineers recommended a vertical orientation so the part could be as self-supporting as possible.
  • Part cleaning. The cool-bar was designed with parallel cooling channels, which can pose a challenge in controlling and ensuring complete powder removal. From its extensive post-processing experience 3D Systems was able to assign a cleaning protocol to ensure thorough material evacuation from the parts.

  Based on stress testing, the cool-bars are predicted to last a minimum of ten years. Although Pellegrino says only time will tell, he believes the cool-bars will prove more reliable due to the limited assembly enabled by AM, and the ability to build an optimized form in a single material.

  Exploring future opportunities for AM production

  According to Pellegrino, the problem-solving additive manufacturing enabled was a major benefit to the team at CERN, and the success of this project has sparked interest in AM from colleagues who have not used it before. “3D printing really brings in new possibilities,” says Pellegrino. “You can really push it.”

  In terms of his own experience working with 3D Systems, Pellegrino says he has already engaged the company’s application experts on new projects.Develop and produce reliable, leak-tight custom cool-bars to achieve -40˚C temperatures within Large Hadron Collider detector.

  Solution

  Collaboration with 3D Systems application engineers to optimize ideal design for additive manufacturing and fulfill limited production series with 3D printing in titanium.

  Results

  • Wall thickness of 0.25mm with confirmed leak-tightness
  • Flatness with 50-micron precision over length of part
  • Design and production strategy to enable cost-effective production of high complexity part
  • 2019 LHCb Industry Award winner

  One hundred meters beneath the mountains of Switzerland and France sits the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator ever built. This impressive construction is used by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to conduct high-energy physics research under four key experiments.

  Stretching a full 27 kilometers to allow particle acceleration to get up to speed, the observable reactions take place at four beam-crossing points, instrumented with large particle detectors. Within the detection volume of the LHCb Experiment, a long and extremely narrow photon-detector strip must be cooled to -40˚C in order to preserve the reaction for study. This strip runs roughly 140 meters in length, is less than two millimeters wide, and is attached to 3D printed titanium cool-bars that perform 100% of the cooling operation.

  These cool-bars are the result of a collaboration between Nikhef, the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics, and 3D Systems Customer Innovation Center, and were produced using 3D Systems’ direct metal printing (DMP) technology. For its contribution to the successful upgrade of the experiment, 3D Systems was honored with the 2019 LHCb Industry Award.

  Achieving -40˚C Cooling in Limited Space

  Particle collisions within the LHC happen inside detectors, which are extremely sophisticated systems that make it possible to gather information about fundamental particle properties. Modern detectors include layers of subdetectors, among which are tracking devices like the LHCb SciFi tracker – short for scintillating fibers – that reveal the path of a particle. Through other subdetector systems it is also possible to measure a particle’s energy and radiation.

  

  The performance requirements and space limitations for the cool-bars required the highest design efficiency possible.

  Antonio Pellegrino works at Nikhef and is a leader on the SciFi tracker project at CERN under the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment. He explains that the complexity of the cooling system was the result of several unavoidable factors: the incredibly limited space in which the cool-bars are required to fit, the heat that needs to be dissipated within that short space, the temperature uniformity required over the length of the entire photon-detection strip, and the flatness of the cool-bars necessary to preserve the detector efficiency and resolution. “The effect of this is that you have to be very efficient in how you construct your cooling,” he says.

  Nikhef project engineer Rob Walet began developing the cool-bar by designing a part that perfectly answered performance requirements. “This design was so beautiful,” says Pellegrino, “but it was not producible in the usual ways.” One major issue that complicated manufacturability through conventional means was the required wall thinness. For maximum efficacy, it was important to have minimal material between the coolant and the surface to be cooled. For the length of the part (263 mm), this thinness could not be machined.

  After early experimentation with manual prototyping, CERN quickly determined a manual approach to production was not practical. Not only was it labor intensive, but it was not easy to make in a reproducible way. With this awareness the team began to research other options and explore capabilities in metal 3D printing.

  Collaborating to Optimize for Production with Additive Manufacturing

  Although CERN optimized its cool-bar design for final function, it was not yet optimized for additive manufacturing (AM). Awareness of this shortcoming informed CERN’s choice of manufacturing partner. “Out of a few possible companies, we chose 3D Systems because it seemed to me that the engineers there were capable of actually transforming our design into something that could be produced,” says Pellegrino.

  CERN leveraged the application engineering expertise housed within 3D Systems’ Customer Innovation Center (CIC) in Leuven, Belgium, to accelerate its path forward with additive manufacturing. 3D Systems CICs are global facilities equipped with the experience and technology to support additive manufacturing applications in the high technology, aerospace, healthcare, transportation and motorsports markets. 3D Systems CICs can advise and assist on projects at any stage, from application development and frontend engineering, to equipment validation, process validation, part qualification, and production.

  As both a manufacturer and user of additive manufacturing solutions, 3D Systems is home to a unique feedback loop between application engineers and machine engineering groups. This open communication fuels constant refinement of 3D Systems’ software, hardware, materials, and printing processes to enable better equipment and better outcomes.

  Through a collaborative iterative process of design, printing, and testing, the engineering teams at CERN and 3D Systems worked together to modify the cool-bar design to meet the requirements for manufacturing as well as final function.

  Performance requirements included:

  • Wall thickness. A major specification of the part was a wall thickness of 0.25mm. This was achieved through the high dimensional accuracy of 3D Systems’ DMP machines as well as through 3D Systems’ in-house expertise to adjust laser parameters with respect to the stability and width of the titanium powder melt pool. 
  • Leak-tightness. The requirement for leak-tightness guided the choice of LaserForm® TiGr23 material, a high strength titanium alloy. The custom parameter set 3D Systems developed for the project also enabled this goal.
  • Flatness. It was necessary for the flatness to have a precision of 50 microns over the length of the 263 mm part. This was achieved through various design for additive manufacturing strategies applied by 3D Systems’ application engineers, as well as build strategy recommendations like a vertical print orientation.

  

  3D Systems was honored with the 2019 LHCb Industry Award for its contribution to the successful upgrade of the LHCb Experiment.

  Enabling Reliable Manufacturing with Metal AM

  Optimizing the cool-bar design for production was critical to effectively achieving the final order of more than 300 precision units. According to Pellegrino, the major value of using 3D printing for production was the cost-efficiency of the process relative to the extreme complexity of the components, as well as the ability to achieve the uncommon tolerances that were necessary for the success of the final application. “We needed a reliable way to get both the part and the performance we were after,” says Pellegrino.

  In addition to having ISO 9001, ISO 13485 and AS/EN9100 certified facilities, 3D Systems is partner to hundreds of critical applications across industries where quality and performance are paramount. 3D Systems’ systematized approach to transitioning and scaling from prototyping to production ensured a streamlined path to qualified AM parts.

  Manufacturing guidance included:

  • Design strategy. The final cool-bar was designed as a set of mirrored A and B components that are welded together to form a complete part. This enabled CERN to get the features, dimensions, and quality it required with minimal assembly.
  • Print orientation. With additive manufacturing, the orientation of a part on the build platform can impact the support requirements. Based on the geometry of CERN’s design, 3D Systems’ engineers recommended a vertical orientation so the part could be as self-supporting as possible.
  • Part cleaning. The cool-bar was designed with parallel cooling channels, which can pose a challenge in controlling and ensuring complete powder removal. From its extensive post-processing experience 3D Systems was able to assign a cleaning protocol to ensure thorough material evacuation from the parts.

  Based on stress testing, the cool-bars are predicted to last a minimum of ten years. Although Pellegrino says only time will tell, he believes the cool-bars will prove more reliable due to the limited assembly enabled by AM, and the ability to build an optimized form in a single material.

  Exploring future opportunities for AM production

  According to Pellegrino, the problem-solving additive manufacturing enabled was a major benefit to the team at CERN, and the success of this project has sparked interest in AM from colleagues who have not used it before. “3D printing really brings in new possibilities,” says Pellegrino. “You can really push it.”

  In terms of his own experience working with 3D Systems, Pellegrino says he has already engaged the company’s application experts on new projects.

  Develop and produce reliable, leak-tight custom cool-bars to achieve -40˚C temperatures within Large Hadron Collider detector.

  Solution

  Collaboration with 3D Systems application engineers to optimize ideal design for additive manufacturing and fulfill limited production series with 3D printing in titanium.

  Results

  • Wall thickness of 0.25mm with confirmed leak-tightness
  • Flatness with 50-micron precision over length of part
  • Design and production strategy to enable cost-effective production of high complexity part
  • 2019 LHCb Industry Award winner

  One hundred meters beneath the mountains of Switzerland and France sits the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator ever built. This impressive construction is used by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to conduct high-energy physics research under four key experiments.

  Stretching a full 27 kilometers to allow particle acceleration to get up to speed, the observable reactions take place at four beam-crossing points, instrumented with large particle detectors. Within the detection volume of the LHCb Experiment, a long and extremely narrow photon-detector strip must be cooled to -40˚C in order to preserve the reaction for study. This strip runs roughly 140 meters in length, is less than two millimeters wide, and is attached to 3D printed titanium cool-bars that perform 100% of the cooling operation.

  These cool-bars are the result of a collaboration between Nikhef, the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics, and 3D Systems Customer Innovation Center, and were produced using 3D Systems’ direct metal printing (DMP) technology. For its contribution to the successful upgrade of the experiment, 3D Systems was honored with the 2019 LHCb Industry Award.

  Achieving -40˚C Cooling in Limited Space

  Particle collisions within the LHC happen inside detectors, which are extremely sophisticated systems that make it possible to gather information about fundamental particle properties. Modern detectors include layers of subdetectors, among which are tracking devices like the LHCb SciFi tracker – short for scintillating fibers – that reveal the path of a particle. Through other subdetector systems it is also possible to measure a particle’s energy and radiation.

  

  The performance requirements and space limitations for the cool-bars required the highest design efficiency possible.

  Antonio Pellegrino works at Nikhef and is a leader on the SciFi tracker project at CERN under the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment. He explains that the complexity of the cooling system was the result of several unavoidable factors: the incredibly limited space in which the cool-bars are required to fit, the heat that needs to be dissipated within that short space, the temperature uniformity required over the length of the entire photon-detection strip, and the flatness of the cool-bars necessary to preserve the detector efficiency and resolution. “The effect of this is that you have to be very efficient in how you construct your cooling,” he says.

  Nikhef project engineer Rob Walet began developing the cool-bar by designing a part that perfectly answered performance requirements. “This design was so beautiful,” says Pellegrino, “but it was not producible in the usual ways.” One major issue that complicated manufacturability through conventional means was the required wall thinness. For maximum efficacy, it was important to have minimal material between the coolant and the surface to be cooled. For the length of the part (263 mm), this thinness could not be machined.

  After early experimentation with manual prototyping, CERN quickly determined a manual approach to production was not practical. Not only was it labor intensive, but it was not easy to make in a reproducible way. With this awareness the team began to research other options and explore capabilities in metal 3D printing.

  Collaborating to Optimize for Production with Additive Manufacturing

  Although CERN optimized its cool-bar design for final function, it was not yet optimized for additive manufacturing (AM). Awareness of this shortcoming informed CERN’s choice of manufacturing partner. “Out of a few possible companies, we chose 3D Systems because it seemed to me that the engineers there were capable of actually transforming our design into something that could be produced,” says Pellegrino.

  CERN leveraged the application engineering expertise housed within 3D Systems’ Customer Innovation Center (CIC) in Leuven, Belgium, to accelerate its path forward with additive manufacturing. 3D Systems CICs are global facilities equipped with the experience and technology to support additive manufacturing applications in the high technology, aerospace, healthcare, transportation and motorsports markets. 3D Systems CICs can advise and assist on projects at any stage, from application development and frontend engineering, to equipment validation, process validation, part qualification, and production.

  As both a manufacturer and user of additive manufacturing solutions, 3D Systems is home to a unique feedback loop between application engineers and machine engineering groups. This open communication fuels constant refinement of 3D Systems’ software, hardware, materials, and printing processes to enable better equipment and better outcomes.

  Through a collaborative iterative process of design, printing, and testing, the engineering teams at CERN and 3D Systems worked together to modify the cool-bar design to meet the requirements for manufacturing as well as final function.

  Performance requirements included:

  • Wall thickness. A major specification of the part was a wall thickness of 0.25mm. This was achieved through the high dimensional accuracy of 3D Systems’ DMP machines as well as through 3D Systems’ in-house expertise to adjust laser parameters with respect to the stability and width of the titanium powder melt pool. 
  • Leak-tightness. The requirement for leak-tightness guided the choice of LaserForm® TiGr23 material, a high strength titanium alloy. The custom parameter set 3D Systems developed for the project also enabled this goal.
  • Flatness. It was necessary for the flatness to have a precision of 50 microns over the length of the 263 mm part. This was achieved through various design for additive manufacturing strategies applied by 3D Systems’ application engineers, as well as build strategy recommendations like a vertical print orientation.

  

  3D Systems was honored with the 2019 LHCb Industry Award for its contribution to the successful upgrade of the LHCb Experiment.

  Enabling Reliable Manufacturing with Metal AM

  Optimizing the cool-bar design for production was critical to effectively achieving the final order of more than 300 precision units. According to Pellegrino, the major value of using 3D printing for production was the cost-efficiency of the process relative to the extreme complexity of the components, as well as the ability to achieve the uncommon tolerances that were necessary for the success of the final application. “We needed a reliable way to get both the part and the performance we were after,” says Pellegrino.

  In addition to having ISO 9001, ISO 13485 and AS/EN9100 certified facilities, 3D Systems is partner to hundreds of critical applications across industries where quality and performance are paramount. 3D Systems’ systematized approach to transitioning and scaling from prototyping to production ensured a streamlined path to qualified AM parts.

  Manufacturing guidance included:

  • Design strategy. The final cool-bar was designed as a set of mirrored A and B components that are welded together to form a complete part. This enabled CERN to get the features, dimensions, and quality it required with minimal assembly.
  • Print orientation. With additive manufacturing, the orientation of a part on the build platform can impact the support requirements. Based on the geometry of CERN’s design, 3D Systems’ engineers recommended a vertical orientation so the part could be as self-supporting as possible.
  • Part cleaning. The cool-bar was designed with parallel cooling channels, which can pose a challenge in controlling and ensuring complete powder removal. From its extensive post-processing experience 3D Systems was able to assign a cleaning protocol to ensure thorough material evacuation from the parts.

  Based on stress testing, the cool-bars are predicted to last a minimum of ten years. Although Pellegrino says only time will tell, he believes the cool-bars will prove more reliable due to the limited assembly enabled by AM, and the ability to build an optimized form in a single material.

  Exploring future opportunities for AM production

  According to Pellegrino, the problem-solving additive manufacturing enabled was a major benefit to the team at CERN, and the success of this project has sparked interest in AM from colleagues who have not used it before. “3D printing really brings in new possibilities,” says Pellegrino. “You can really push it.”

  In terms of his own experience working with 3D Systems, Pellegrino says he has already engaged the company’s application experts on new projects.

• 3D Systems to Drive Adoption of Additive Manufacturing in Production Environments with the Acquisition of Oqton (20211004)

  ROCK HILL, South Carolina, and GHENT, Belgium, September 8, 2021 – 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) today is pleased to announce an agreement to acquire Oqton, a software company that is a leader in the creation of a new breed of intelligent, cloud-based Manufacturing Operating System (MOS) platform. This best-in-class platform is tailored for flexible production environments that increasingly utilize a range of advanced manufacturing and automation technologies, including additive manufacturing (AM) solutions, in their production workflows. The cloud-based solution leverages the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning technologies to deliver a new and powerful way for customers to automate their digital manufacturing workflows, scale their operations and enhance their competitive position. The use of these tools along with an agile platform will allow for rapid adoption of even the most challenging production workflows such as those for dentistry, healthcare, biotech, aerospace, and automotive.

  “Customers across our industrial and healthcare segments are accelerating the adoption of additive manufacturing into production environments,” said Dr. Jeffrey Graves, president and CEO, 3D Systems. “They have increasingly identified the need for a manufacturing software platform that can easily and intelligently incorporate not only the printers themselves but all digital production systems and key enterprise software to optimize the entire workflow, from raw material to finished and inspected components. The system must be flexible enough to accommodate not only today’s manufacturing technologies but also be easily adaptable to future platform changes. The Oqton MOS fills this market need by seamlessly leveraging enterprise information and data in the customer's current ERP, MES, PLM, and CRM systems, as well as the full range of shop floor manufacturing operations and software. The use of APIs to create ease of linkage between these systems is a distinctive attribute of the Oqton MOS. This allows customers to use their choice of manufacturing and automation equipment on the shop floor to meet their unique factory needs. Oqton’s cloud-based MOS solution, with its embedded AI and machine learning capabilities, then optimizes and automates these manufacturing elements in a manner that is not available today. This solution lowers the barrier to adopt AM in a transformative way - through the integration of the solution AND the optimization of the production workflow."

  Availability of the Oqton MOS addresses a critical industry need by optimizing customers’ use of 3D printing and other advanced manufacturing technologies, including robotic welding, machining, finishing, and inspection operations, in full production environments. To fill this need most effectively, Oqton will operate as an independent organization and solution platform within 3D Systems with data confidentiality and security protocols assured through third-party verification.

  With the acquisition of Oqton and the commitment to continue its focus on transforming and optimizing digital manufacturing systems, 3D Systems will also expand availability to the entire additive manufacturing industry and customer base its most advanced software platforms - 3DXpert®, 3D Sprint®, its Geomagic® portfolio, and Additive Works’ Amphyon™ - as optional add-ons to the Oqton MOS platform. With 3D Systems’ continued investment in these market-leading additive manufacturing tools, the company is confident they can be instrumental in advancing the use of AM across all markets, to the benefit of all stakeholders in this rapidly evolving industry.

  Commenting on this transaction, Dr. Ben Schrauwen, CEO and co-founder of Oqton, said, “We are excited about joining with 3D Systems and look forward to leveraging their knowledge, resources, and ability to continue to innovate and deliver solutions that help companies accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing in production environments. At the same time, we bring our deep expertise in artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, and machine learning, which will help our customers and partners to scale and connect different manufacturing processes in a wide range of healthcare, bio-tech and industrial market verticals.”

  Based on available data, it is estimated that spending in smart manufacturing is $1.5 billion today with an expected expansion to $6 billion by 2025. The purchase consideration for this transaction totaled $180 million, comprising cash and 3D Systems’ stock. With the addition of Oqton, 3D Systems expects the run rate revenue from software to exceed $100 million by the end of 2025. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021 following required regulatory approvals.

  3D Systems Acquisition of Oqton Conference Call Details

  Executives from 3D Systems and Oqton will provide further details in a conference call Thursday, September 9, 2021, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Interested participants can join the call by dialing 201-689-8345 or joining the webcast via the Investor Relations page on the 3D Systems website.

  Forward-Looking Statements

  Certain statements made in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including the ability of Oqton and 3D Systems to consummate the transaction as expected. In many cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "may," "will," "estimates," "intends," "anticipates" or "plans" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are based upon management’s beliefs, assumptions, and current expectations and may include comments as to the company’s beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company. The factors described under the headings "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other factors, could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected or predicted in forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not, and should not be relied upon as a guarantee of future performance or results, nor will they necessarily prove to be accurate indications of the times at which such performance or results will be achieved. The forward-looking statements included are made only as of the date of the statement. 3D Systems undertakes no obligation to update or review any forward-looking statements made by management or on its behalf, whether as a result of future developments, subsequent events or circumstances or otherwise.

  About 3D Systems

  More than 30 years ago, 3D Systems brought the innovation of 3D printing to the manufacturing industry. Today, as the leading additive manufacturing solutions partner, we bring innovation, performance, and reliability to every interaction - empowering our customers to create products and business models never before possible. Thanks to our unique offering of hardware, software, materials, and services, each application-specific solution is powered by the expertise of our application engineers who collaborate with customers to transform how they deliver their products and services. 3D Systems’ solutions address a variety of advanced applications in healthcare and industrial markets such as medical and dental, aerospace & defense, automotive, and durable goods. More information on the company is available at www.3dsystems.com.

  About Oqton

  Founded in 2017, Oqton is a global SaaS company founded by experts in the field of manufacturing & AI that combine years of industry experience to deliver increased productivity. Factories of the future will be powered by humans and machines working seamlessly together. The Oqton MOS platform, launched in 2017, enables this and provides scalable, sustainable, and efficient manufacturing for any size of company. Our agnostic cloud-based manufacturing operating system automates the end-to-end workflow across & beyond the production floor. Specific vertical sectors can benefit greatly from Oqton, including: healthcare, industrial and additive manufacturing & robotic welding. Founded in San Francisco, Oqton is based in Ghent, Belgium, with over 90 global employees (two-thirds of which are dedicated to research and development) and offices in the U.S., China and Denmark. More information on the company is available at www.oqton.com, follow us on LinkedIn (Oqton).

  • Oqton’s unique cloud-based, AI-enabled Manufacturing Operating System accelerates deployment and automation of digital manufacturing in production environments to improve efficiencies and reduce cost
    • Oqton will operate as independent organization and solution platform company, ensuring data security and confidentiality for customers
    • 3D Systems expands availability of 3DXpert®, 3D Sprint®, Geomagic®, and Additive Works’ Amphyon™ simulation software to entire additive industry
    • The combination allows customers to accelerate adoption and productivity of additive manufacturing in existing production environments
    • Companies to host a conference call and webcast tomorrow, September 9, 2021, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time