Voltera: Print Multilayer Flexible And Stretchable Circuits With NOVA

Today, Voltera is announcing NOVA software update v1.16, which unlocks multilayer printing and print job editing. This feature is in direct response to requests from NOVA users who are frequently printing multilayer or multi-material designs.

What is Plan?

To understand Plan, it’s important to first understand NOVA. NOVA uses direct ink writing (DIW) technology to print circuits on soft, stretchable, and conformable substrates. Its free software is what enables users to interact with NOVA. You can choose different workflows to perform different operations: 

• Dispense: Dispense a selected material on a selected substrate.
• Materials: Browse, create, modify, and delete material profiles.
• Calibrate: Figure out print settings for a new material or nozzle.

And now, we are adding another tile — Plan. 

Workflows in the NOVA software

Here is how Plan makes your printing process smoother:

• Multilayer printing
  • View and set up complete multilayer designs in one step.
  • Identify print errors before dispensing, ensuring repeatable results.
  • Generate smart probe points, taking into account subtle height changes each subsequent layer creates.
  • Create a detailed height map while minimizing height mapping time.
• Print job editing 
  • Easily visualize design features such as toolpaths and probe points.
  • Adjust the print order of design features to achieve repeatable results.
  • Delete unwanted design features to simplify the print process.
  • Save print jobs with the same settings, allowing for easy reprints with consistent results.

If you're curious about NOVA’s specifications and how they tie into printing multilayer designs, here’s what you need to know:

* Designs with more than 4 stack-up layers are achievable but depend on a number of factors. For more information, contact Support at [email protected].

What you can do with Plan

Now that we’ve covered Plan’s features, let’s take a closer look at the multilayer flexible circuits we’ve completed.

Flexible membrane keyboard

This flexible membrane keyboard consists of a control board and a 10-number keypad printed on PET using ACI Materials’ silver ink, insulating ink, and T4 solder paste. Read the white paper to learn more.

Flexible membrane keyboard on PET

Electroluminescent circuit

This is an electroluminescent display printed on PET and paper using Saralon’s conductive inks, phosphor ink, and dielectric ink. Read the white paper to learn more.

Electroluminescent circuit on paper

Flexible LED roulette circuit

For this project, we took a LED roulette circuit we had previously developed as a rigid PCB on FR4, and then converted it for printing on PET. Read the white paper to learn more.

Flexible LED roulette circuit on PET

The possibilities are endless. Explore more multilayer projects by checking out our other white papers.

What makes Plan different?

Unlike other software solutions for multilayer electronics printing, Plan is designed to be beginner-friendly, focusing on ease of use and efficient printing. Nick Levinski, a MASc student in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo, shared his experience after using Plan to prototype flexible and stretchable sensors for wearable electronics:

“The plan feature has definitely simplified a lot of my regular workflows. For my research, a lot of it involves developing sensors. With the Plan feature multilayer deposition, I can now relax a lot of constraints by separating different sensor elements, traces, or components to different layers and removing toolpaths that I don’t want.”

What’s next?

Now that you’ve seen how Plan works and the possibilities it unlocks, here’s how to get started:

If you have NOVA

Update the software:

1. Connect your NOVA to your computer and the internet. 
2. Visit www.myvoltera.io and log into your account. 
3. The NOVA software update (v1.16) will download automatically. Once the update is complete, the Plan tile will appear as a new workflow on your home screen. 

Offline users

Offline use of Plan is not available in this release. An internet connection is required. Offline functionality is on our roadmap to be available in a future release.

Don’t have a NOVA yet? 

If you’re printing multilayer flexible or stretchable circuits and don’t have a NOVA yet, contact us at [email protected] or book a demonstration with our technical team. 

In the meantime, check out these resources for additional information:

• Designing Multi-Layer Artworks
• Working with Custom Inks
• Electronics That Bend the Rules: The Benefit of Flexible Multilayer Designs