Fabrication of three-dimensional electrical patterns by swollen-off process: An evolution of the lift-off process

We present a novel process to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) metallic patterns from 3D printed polymeric structures utilizing different hygroscopic swelling behavior of two different polymeric materials. 3D patterns are printed with two different polymers as cube shape. The surface of the 3D printed polymeric structures is plated with nickel by an electroless plating method. The nickel patterns on the surface of the 3D printed cube shape structure are formed by removing sacrificial layers using the difference in the rate of hygroscopic swelling between two printing polymer materials. The hygroscopic behavior on the interfaced structure was modeled with COMSOL Multiphysics. The surface and electrical properties of the fabricated three-dimensional patterns were analyzed and characterized.