A review: additive manufacturing for active electronic components

Fabrication of fully functional devices is one of the ultimate goals of additive manufacturing technology. In order to achieve this goal, a critical step is to fabricate electronic components using fully additive methods. Although there are still numerous roadblocks that need to be overcome towards this goal, research activities in the field of additive manufacturing for electronic components in general, and for active components in particular, are progressing at a considerable pace and have been achieving significant successes. The purpose of this review is, therefore, to consolidate recent developments in this exciting field. Such developments include fully additive manufacturing methods for active components such as transistors, light-emitting diodes, and batteries. We discuss and compare the advantages, as well as disadvantages, of these methods. We also discuss major challenges that need to be addressed in the roadmap for additive manufacturing of active components.