This book, authored by a relatively large team of experts in the field, has an ambitious goal: covering a new and exciting set of technologies as well as some of their key precursors. It starts with an excellent overview of various traditional electronics technologies, from printed circuit boards to integrated circuits. For each technology, the authors review the principles, with copious illustrations and a truly extensive list of references, and summarize with a brief list of the pros and cons.
The core of the book is its most extensive chapter, on the most recent 3D-printing techniques, following the same format (overview, pros and cons). This chapter is notable because, for each technology, the authors dive in and review key companies involved. For each company, they overview key products and systems, along with key specs for each system (for example, materials used, operating ranges, etc.) Several of the key figures are in color. The chapters include a small number of equations describing the operation of some of the systems presented. The final chapters of the book focus in turn on materials, substrates, sintering techniques, simulations and applications.
The book is an excellent reference for professionals; it also includes end-of-chapter problems that make it suitable for use as a textbook. Given the nature of the coverage, the problems tend to be high-level, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages presented in the chapters. Notable is that the book includes not only an index of terms but also an index of companies mentioned, along with contact information.
Review by Bogdan Hoanca, University of Alaska Anchorage, USA.
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or its publisher, Optica (formerly OSA).