Why is the demand for Semiconductor Laser is linked to the advent of 3D Printing?

Image via Digikey

The global semiconductor laser market seems to be another key performance indicator of the market’s growth and to a certain extent to the increasing use of 3D printing.

The main reason of this interest would be the growth in demand for consumer devices. Indeed, reality shows that the more the demand for consumer devices is increasing, the more the demand for semiconductor lasers is increasing as they are being exploited in many fabrication processes. The integration of OLED technology in smartphones for instance drives the semiconductor laser technology sector. However, this does not explain the link with the 3D printing technology.

Image via Digikey

The semiconductor laser market and 3D printing

Over the years, additive manufacturing has proven to be an energy saving and environment-friendly technology that combines both efficiency and minimal consumption of materials. According to the technology research company Technavio, the key advantage relies on techniques such as FDM that enable material deposition at specified target surfaces by delivering energy on them.

Lasers play an effective role here as they can instantly transfer a large amount of energy into a micro level focus area to solidify or cure materials in air, thus allowing high-precision and high-throughput manufacturing for a wide range of materials,” says a senior analyst at Technavio for research on semiconductor equipment.

Furthermore, it should be noted that there are several applications of semiconductor laser technology: data communication, computer mice, and LIDAR system for automobiles. Yesterday for instance, we learned from Neuvition that the LiDAR system always needs to be dynamically adjusted in order to use different resolution, power, scan density, distribution pattern, etc. This argument might explain the constant need to adapt the manufacturing and to a certain extent the use of 3D technology.

Even though the market seems promising, it is essential to be aware of the impact on several parts of the market such as landscape and sizing. That’s the goal of Technavio’s research.

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