Towards Personal Fabricators: Tabletop Tools for Micron and Sub-Micron Scale Functional Rapid Prototyping
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Towards Personal Fabricators: Tabletop tools for micron and sub-micron scale functional rapid prototyping. Saul Griffith B.Met.E. University of NSW, 1997. ME, University of Sydney, 2000. Submitted to the Program in Media Arts and Sciences School of Architecture and Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology February 2001 ©2000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved Written by Saul Griffith Program in Media Arts and Sciences September 30, 2000 Certified by Joseph Jacobson Assistant Professor Program in Media Arts and Sciences Department of Mechanical Engineering Thesis Advisor Accepted by Stephen Benton Chair of Departmental Committee on Graduate Students Program in Media Arts and Sciences 1 Towards Personal Fabricators: Tabletop tools for micron and sub-micron scale functional rapid prototyping. Saul Griffith Abstract Three tools for the rapid prototyping of micron and sub-micron scale devices are presented. These tools represent methods for the manufacture of PEMS, or Printed micro Electro Mechanical Systems, and are enabled because they exploit the novel properties of nanocrystalline materials and their interactions with energetic beams. UV contact mask lithography was used to directly pattern metallic nanocrystals on glass and polyimide surfaces without vacuum or etching processes or the use of photoresist layers. Direct electron beam lithography of nanocrystalline metals was used to pattern multiple layer, multiple material, structures with minimum feature sizes of 100nm. Finally a micro-mirror array based selective laser sintering apparatus was built for the rapid, maskless patterning of PEMS. This tool was used to directly pattern metal structures, and for the rapid manufacture of elastomeric stamps for "nano embossing". Minimum feature sizes under 10 microns were achieved and routes to 2 micron features described. Processing time was reduced to hours from the weeks for traditional photomask / photolithography based systems. These tools are examined in the greater context of rapid prototyping technologies. Thesis Advisor: Joseph Jacobson Assistant Professor Program in Media Arts and Sciences Department of Mechanical Engineering 2 Towards Personal Fabricators: Tabletop tools for micron and sub-micron scale functional rapid prototyping. Saul Griffith Thesis Committee Joseph Jacobson Assistant Professor Program in Media Arts and Sciences Department of Mechanical Engineering Thesis Advisor Neil Gershenfeld Professor Program in Media Arts and Sciences MIT Media Laboratory Thesis Reader Hiroshi Ishii Associate Professor Program in Media Arts and Sciences MIT Media Laboratory Thesis Reader 3 Towards Personal Fabricators: Tabletop tools for micron and sub-micron scale functional rapid prototyping. Table of Contents Certification ............................................................................................................................1 Abstract ...................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents...................................................................................................... 4 Table of Figures.......................................................................................................... 6 1 – Introduction .............................................................................................................9 2 - The Printing of things..............................................................................................13 Printing over orders of magnitude ........................................................................ 13 10-9m – The STM ........................................................................................................ 15 10-8m – The AFM....................................................................................................... 16 10-7m – Electron beams, Ion beams, deep UV lithography, microstamping.. 19 10-6m – Optical lithography, MEMS and IC’s ....................................................... 20 10-5m – Ink Jets, laser printers, and the desktop.................................................. 21 10-4m – Stereolithography and rapid prototyping .............................................. 22 10-3m – NC machining – Milling and turning........................................................ 24 10-1m – Laser and Water jet cutting...................................................................... 24 100m – Large objects and specialized printers for industrial niches. ................ 26 101m and beyond – The printing of truly big things: architectural structures. 27 10allm Matter compilers and DE-compilers. ......................................................... 30 3 – PEMS: Printed Electro-Mechanical Systems ........................................................32 Current state of the art........................................................................................... 33 Alternative Routes to MEMS prototyping and manufacture ............................ 34 Decomposition of organometallics ...................................................................... 34 Direct laser based processing. .............................................................................. 35 Photo-Electroforming.............................................................................................. 36 Stamping. ................................................................................................................. 37 Ink Jet ........................................................................................................................ 38 Electroplating........................................................................................................... 38 Summary................................................................................................................... 39 4 - Working with nanoparticles..................................................................................40 Melting point depression.............................................................................................40 Depositing colloidal solutions......................................................................................42 Thin Film Properties - Grain size ...................................................................................44 5 – Early experimental work - Nanoparticles and Energetic beams......................47 Serial scanning of IR diode laser ........................................................................... 47 Experimental .................................................................................................................48 Results ....................................................................................................................................48 Gaussian Beam Effects and line morphology. .................................................................49 Multiple layers.......................................................................................................................51 Serial limitations. ...................................................................................................................51 Thermal vs. photo-cleavage curing. .................................................................................51 Through mask patterning utilising broadband UV.............................................. 52 Experimental .................................................................................................................53 Electron Beam Lithography ................................................................................... 55 4 Background ..................................................................................................................55 This work.........................................................................................................................56 Multiple layer fabrication. ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Minimum features. ...............................................................................................................60 Multiple materials and properties. .....................................................................................61 Registration techniques.......................................................................................................62 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 63 6 – A Laser based rapid prototyping tool for MEMS .................................................65 Optical limitations of apparatus.................................................................................66 Digital Apodisation:......................................................................................................67 Patterning of nanocrystalline colloids: ................................................................. 70 Patterning of photoresists and spin glasses: ........................................................ 71 Rapid prototyping of elastomeric stamps for ‘nanoembossing’. .................... 72 Summary and further work..................................................................................... 74 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................77 References