Printed electronics: a low-cost alternative to prototyping in the academic field

In this work a low-cost flexible PCB inkjet printing technique that can be used for rapid prototyping in the academia is presented. A flexible printed circuit board was developed and characterized. On this board, an atmospheric discharge circuit system was developed and its performance was compared with the same circuit in a standard FR4 printed circuit board. It is shown that the flexible circuit performs as an equivalent to the standard off-the-shelf system. The cost of producing the prototypes with a CNC router and by inkjet printing was evaluated; the comparison shows that inkjet printing has a great economic advantage.