Tether and joint design for microcomponents used in microassembly of 3D microstructures

A novel microassembly system has been developed to assemble surface micromachined micro-parts, into 3D microstructures. This work describes the tether and joint design of micro-parts used in the microassembly process. The process consists of (a) grasping a micro-part which is tethered to the substrate of a chip, (b) removing the micro-part from the substrate by breaking the tethers, (c) manipulating the micro-part from its original location of fabrication to the target assembly location, and (d) joining the micro-part to another micro-part. In this way, out-of-plane or in-plane microstructures can be assembled from a set of initially planar micro-parts. The tether design is an integral part of the grasping and removal process. The tethers provide restraint on the micro-parts while they are grasped by a passive, compliant microgripper, and are designed to break-away at pre-defined locations, after the grasping process. In addition, the tethers ensure that the micro-parts do not translate or rotate from their fabricated and released positions, during transportation of the carrier chip. The joint system used to join micro-parts together is called "snap-lock’ microassembly. It is based on the elastic deflection of a plug feature that forms an interference fit with a mating slot feature.

[1]  K. Jackson,et al.  Tensile testing of MEMS materials—recent progress , 2003 .

[2]  R. Howe,et al.  Batch transfer of microstructures using flip-chip solder bonding , 1999 .

[3]  Kenneth A. Goldberg,et al.  Microassembly technologies for MEMS , 1998, Photonics West - Micro and Nano Fabricated Electromechanical and Optical Components.

[4]  Nikolai Dechev,et al.  Microassembly of 3D MEMS structures utilizing a MEMS microgripper with a robotic manipulator , 2003, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.03CH37422).

[5]  Roberto Horowitz,et al.  Integrated micro-electro-mechanical sensor development for inertial applications , 1998, IEEE 1998 Position Location and Navigation Symposium (Cat. No.98CH36153).

[6]  R. L. Edwards,et al.  Measurements of Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, and tensile strength of polysilicon , 1997, Proceedings IEEE The Tenth Annual International Workshop on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. An Investigation of Micro Structures, Sensors, Actuators, Machines and Robots.

[7]  W. Cleghorn,et al.  Microassembly of 3-D microstructures using a compliant, passive microgripper , 2004, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[8]  N. C. MacDonald,et al.  DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SINGLE CRYSTAL SILICON LATCHINGSNAP FASTENERS FOR MICRO ASSEMBLY , 1995 .

[9]  Robert J. Wood,et al.  PROTOTYPING MILLIROBOTS USING DEXTROUS MICROASSEMBLY AND FOLDING , 2000 .