Kick-Off SMTA International with the AME Track Keynote Presentation
*This opening track keynote presentation is only available to paid conference participants
Hybrid Electronics: Accelerating Innovation and Adoption
Presenter: Nick Morris, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Technology, NextFlex
Hybrid Electronics integrates additively manufactured electronic features including printed conductors, antennas, sensors, dielectrics, and passive components, with conventional electronics, semiconductor devices, advanced packaging, and surface mount technologies to enable electronic systems that cannot be realized through traditional manufacturing alone. By combining additive and conventional manufacturing approaches, Hybrid Electronics enables lightweight, conformal, multifunctional, and application-specific electronic systems for defense and commercial markets. As these technologies mature, the challenge is no longer demonstrating individual capabilities, but developing robust manufacturing processes that deliver the reliability, scalability, and cost needed for widespread adoption.
This keynote presents NextFlex's perspective on the current state and future direction of Hybrid Electronics manufacturing, drawing upon more than a decade of collaborative manufacturing innovation across industry, academia, and government. Through representative NextFlex-funded development efforts, the presentation will examine advances in printed and additive manufacturing processes, functional materials, hybrid integration, embedded and conformal electronics, and manufacturing approaches for sensors, RF structures, and advanced electronic assemblies. The discussion will highlight key manufacturing considerations including process characterization, design-for-manufacturing, inspection, qualification methodologies, reliability, and production readiness, illustrating how these technical elements influence successful technology transition.
The presentation will also explore how NextFlex's technology roadmaps identify the highest-priority manufacturing challenges facing the Hybrid Electronics community and guide collaborative investments that accelerate technology maturation. Case studies from both defense and commercial markets will demonstrate how ecosystem-driven development is reducing technical risk, improving manufacturing readiness, and enabling next-generation electronic systems. Lessons learned regarding manufacturing yield, qualification, cost-performance tradeoffs, and pathways to production will be discussed throughout.
Attendees will gain a strategic understanding of the Hybrid Electronics manufacturing landscape, the critical technology gaps limiting broader adoption, and the collaborative approaches being used to transition innovative technologies into qualified, production-ready manufacturing solutions.
