Integrated silicon-PDMS process for microrobot mechanisms

The first MEMS process integrating soft elastomers in a standard silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer without assembly has been demonstrated for use in microrobotic mechanisms. This process allows silicon and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) features to be defined in-plane with feature sizes down to 2 µm. Test structures have been used to characterize the Young's modulus of the resulting PDMS at 1.4 MPa along with adhesion to silicon structures. In addition, compliant flexures have been designed, fabricated and characterized for eventual use in microrobot legs. Test structures have been mechanically folded 180° out of plane over 60 times without failure.

[1]  Kristofer S. J. Pister,et al.  Elastomer-Based Micromechanical Energy Storage System , 2006 .

[2]  B.R. Donald,et al.  An untethered, electrostatic, globally controllable MEMS micro-robot , 2006, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[3]  Robert J. Wood,et al.  Microrobotics using composite materials: the micromechanical flying insect thorax , 2003, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.03CH37422).

[4]  K.S.J. Pister,et al.  Robot leg motion in a planarized-SOI, two-layer poly-Si process , 2005, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[5]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Rapid Prototyping of Microfluidic Systems in Poly(dimethylsiloxane). , 1998, Analytical chemistry.

[6]  K.S.J. Pister,et al.  Bidirectional inchworm motors and two-DOF robot leg operation , 2003, TRANSDUCERS '03. 12th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems. Digest of Technical Papers (Cat. No.03TH8664).

[7]  Isao Shimoyama,et al.  Design and performance of micromolded plastic butterfly wings on butterfly ornithopter , 2008, 2008 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[8]  Ulrike Wallrabe,et al.  Mechanical properties of silicones for MEMS , 2008 .

[9]  K. Pister,et al.  Single mask, large force, and large displacement electrostatic linear inchworm motors , 2001, Technical Digest. MEMS 2001. 14th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (Cat. No.01CH37090).

[10]  P. Renaud,et al.  Microfabrication of ceramic components by microstereolithography , 2004 .

[11]  Kristofer S. J. Pister,et al.  Design of an Autonomous Jumping Microrobot , 2022 .

[12]  J. Garra,et al.  Dry etching of polydimethylsiloxane for microfluidic systems , 2002 .

[13]  Novel Encapsulation Method for Flexible Organic Light-Emitting Diodes using Poly(dimethylsiloxane) , 2008 .

[14]  Kristofer S. J. Pister,et al.  Design of low-power silicon articulated microrobots , 2001 .

[15]  Elisabeth Smela,et al.  Patterning PDMS using a combination of wet and dry etching , 2009 .

[16]  Robert J. Wood,et al.  The First Takeoff of a Biologically Inspired At-Scale Robotic Insect , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.