Keynote Papers

Keynote Papers
Presented at the Opening Session

Assembly of Microsystems
H. Van Brussel l)l,J. Peirs, D. Reynaertsl,A. Delchambre2,G. Reinhart M3,N. Roth M. Weck lI5, E. Zussman (216
Division Production engineering. Machine design and Automation, Dept. of Mechanical ngineering,
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
2Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Faculte des Sciences Appliquees, Campus du Solbosch, Brussels, Belgium
3Technische Universitat Munchen, iwb-Lehrstuhl fur Montagesystemtechnik und Betriebswissenschaften,
Garching, Germany
4SiemensAG, CorporateTechnology/Production Processes, Section of Mechatronics Production, Munchen, Germany
5University ofTechnology (RWTH) Aachen, Chair of MachineTools, Lab. of MachineTools and Prod. Eng. (WZL),
Aachen, Germany
6Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,Technion - Israel Institute ofTechnology, Haifa, Israel

Abstract
In the microworld, as well as in the macroworld, assembly is a crucial operation in the genesis of a product.
This keynote paper focusses on the assembly problems occurring in the manufacturing cycle of
microsystems. Scaling effects make that the assembly problems are different in the microworld. The different
assembly operations and techniques, like manipulation by physical contact, non-contact manipulation, smart
assembly techniques, and joining methods are thoroughly discussed. Finally, some relevant examples of
micro-assembly systems and of assembled microproducts are given.

Keywords: Assembly systems, Miniaturisation, Micro-electromechanicalsystems

1 TERMS OF REFERENCE
Where natural creatures grow from a single cell, man-
made artifacts, like industrial products, are mostly
assembled from different components. Assembly is
therefore a very important process in the genesis of a
product.
There are many reasons why products may consist of
different parts. Different functions require different
materials in one and the same device. In mechanisms,
pivots require flexible materials while the links themselves
must be stiff. Electrical actuators are made of conducting
as well as isolating materials. The rotor and the stator of a
motor are different parts by their very nature. Products
may be too complex to be produced as a single part.
Some parts are wearing out and must be regularly
replaced.
The abovementioned arguments are true for macro- as
well as for microproducts. This keynote paper focusses
on assembly problems occurring in the manufacturing
cycle of microsystems. For our considerations,
microproducts have dimensions in the millimetre range
and below. We do not include structures in the nanometre
range. Miniaturisation of electromechanical systems is a
hot issue in modern technology. The resulting products,
called micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), are
claimed to have a vast - yet virtually untapped -
potential. Although the field is still to mature, a multibillion
dollar market is predicted [l]. It therefore belongs to the
mission of a scientific organisation like CIRP to closely
monitor the evolution of this emerging technology.
A quick survey of past publications, in the ClRP Annals,
on manufacturing issues of MEMS yields only a small
harvest [65,66,76,95,97,98,100].The many contributions,
from ClRP members, to this keynote paper however
indicate a vivid interest in microsystems technology
(MST) within the ClRP community.
To miniaturise a product it is not sufficient to simply
reduce its dimensions. A lot of new problems emerge,
related to scaling effects, manufacturing problems and, of
course, assembly problems. One of those problems has
to do with the fact that, up to now, nearly all production
techniques for microsystems have their origin in the
microelectronics technology, and are essentially 2D-
processes. Assembly is required to realise 3D-parts out of
parts made by those 2D manufacturing methods.
Assembly further allows the manufacture of objects
consisting of parts requiring incompatible technologies.
For instance, processing of GaAs is not compatible with
Si processing, especially with the high-temperature
oxidation and dopant diffusion steps that destroy the
GaAs material and contaminate the Si circuitry and
furnaces. Through an assembly step, GaAs
optoelectronic devices can be integrated on Si VLSl
circuitry. Assembly also allows the choice of the most
optimal production method for each part. For instance, it
is difficult to produce high-quality-factor coils on-chip,
mainly due to the difficulty to create the third dimension
on-chip. By producing these coils by conventional winding
and by assembling coil and actuator afterwards, both
quality and production cost can be improved.
The paper is organised as follows. The typical features of
assembly in the microworld are outlined in section 3.
Section 4 classifies the assembly systems relevant for
microsystems. Manipulation issues are crucial to
assembly ; manipulation with physical contact is
explained in section 5, while section 6 deals with non-
contact manipulation. Some so-called ‘smart’ assembly
techniques, particular for microsystems, are dealt with in
section 7. Joining of microparts is considered in section
8. Some industrial examples of micro-assembly systems
and of assembled microproducts are given in sections 9
and 10 respectively. Some closing remarks conclude the
paper.
2 MARKET PROSPECTS FOR MEMS AND MST [2]
In 1998,NEXUS (The European Network of Excellence in
Multifunctional Microsystems) established a task force
entitled ‘Market Analysis MST’ to prepare an applications-
oriented in-depth analysis of MST markets from 1996
through the year 2002. The total world market for

Annals of the ClRP Vol. 49/2/2000 45 1

 microsystems is expected to grow fiom 14.4 billion Euro
in 1996, to 38 billion Euro by the year 2002. This reflects
growth rates of 18% per year.
The top seven markets in 2002 are predicted to be:
0 Hard disk drive heads (12 billion Euro)
0 lnkjet printer heads (10 billion Euro)
0 Heart pace makers (3.7 billion Euro)
0 In-vitro diagnostic devices (2.8 billion Euro)
0 Hearing aids (2 billion Euro)
Pressure sensors (1.3 billion Euro)
0 Chemical sensors (0.8 billion Euro)
Six main application domains have been identified:
0 IT peripherals
0 Medicalhiomedical applications
0 Industry and automation (including aerospace)
0 Automotive applications
0 Environmental monitoring
Products that have a high probability of being on the
market by 2002 are found to be:
0 Drug-delivery systems
0 Optical switches
0 Lab-on-chipsystems (DNA, HPLC, ..)
0 Magneto-optical heads
0 Projection light valves
0 Coil-on-chip
0 Micro-relays
0 Micromotors
Integratingsilicon micromachining with CMOS technology
remains difficult, while hybrid (multichip) microsystems
have gained in importance. Microstructuring, not only in
silicon, but also in polymers, metals, and ceramics has
been enabled by advances in microfabrication
techniques. These latter include laser machining, high-
aspect ratio microreplication based on lithographic
patterning, electrodischarge machining (EDM), diamond
milling and other precision mechanical removal
processes. There is a need for fully-3D batch production
micromachining processes. Micro-EDM, combined with
micro die casting may provide a solution.
3 ASSEMBLY PROBLEMS IN THE MICROWORLD
The main difference between macro- and micro-assembly
is the required positional accuracy of automatic assembly
machines. In the macroworld, a precision of a few
hundred microns is typical for serial link robotic
manipulators with four to six axes. In the microworld,
submicron precision is often required, comparable to
wafer stepper precision. This degree of precision is
beyond the calibration range of conventional open-loop
precision assembly devices used in industry. Closed-loop
strategies are required to compensate for poor kinematic
models and thermal effects. Real-time vision feedback is
perfectly suited for this application. Moreover, a
manipulator should have a 3D workspace instead of the
wafer stepper's 2D workspace, making the manipulation
problem considerably harder. Obtaining accurate sensor
information to close the loop is also difficult as sensors
can be too bulky to be placed on tiny precision
instruments and they have to be extremely sensitive as
forces and displacements are very small. The alternative
of image processing has its problems too: it is slow,
costly, difficult to program, and susceptible to reflection,
light condition, colour changes, ... Moreover, the view
may be obstructed by tools that are orders of magnitude
larger than the parts being handled, or the lenses,
cameras and other optical instruments may obstruct
proper manipulation of the object, especially as multiple
optical axes are required for real 3D manipulation. Thus
452
to enable micromanipulation, miniature sensitive sensors
and extremely accurate 3D robotic manipulators have to
be built.
A second major difference between assembly in micro-
and macrodomains is the mechanics of object
interactions. In the macroworld, the mechanics of
manipulation are predictable, e.g. when a gripper opens,
gravity causes the part to drop. In the microworld, forces
other than gravity dominate due to scaling effects.
Surface-related forces, such as electrostatic, van der
Waals and surface tension forces become dominant over
gravitational forces. Mass decreases with L3 while
stiffness for bending and tensile strength are proportional
to L and L2 respectively. Due to this unevenly scaling
behaviour, manipulation in the microworld is completely
different from manipulation in the macroworld.
Manipulation in this 'strange' world, therefore, requires
training of the human operator.
A difficult problem in manual handling in the microworld
is the loss of direct hand-eye co-ordination. The
microscopes and tools limit the ability to directly see and
sense the objects to be handled. The tools used to
manipulate the objects have less degrees of freedom
than the human hand and there is no force feedback. The
operator's view is restricted for a number of reasons.
First, the high magnification restricts the view to a very
small area, such that the operator lacks global
information about the object. Therefore, variable
magnification in a wide range is indispensable. Second, in
an optical microscope with very high magnification, the
depth of focus is often very short in comparison with the
width of the field of view. The limited depth of view
impedes clear images of non-planar objects or moving or
vibrating structures because the structure moves in and
out the focussed plane. Third, the working distance (the
distance between objective lens and object) also tends to
be short. This hinders manipulation of objects and tools.
Weck et al. [3] built an assembly system in the vacuum
chamber of a large-chamber scanning electron
microscope, with a volume of nearly 2 m3. The main
disadvantages of this solution are its high price and the
long evacuation time.
A big issue is also the trade off between field of view and
resolution. An elegant solution of this problem is the so
called 'eye on the hand', i.e. a camera is mounted on the
arm of the robot [IOO] or in the gripper [3]. The main
advantage of this solution is that the tool centre point is
always in focus. The main challenge is then to fabricate a
small-sized camera with a lean structure. Weck et al. [3]
solved this problem by integrating a miniature endoscope
into the gripper.
Finally also the cost of the manipulation has to be
considered. Most microparts are produced in batch
processes, with hundreds or thousands of them on a
single wafer. This massively parallel production mode is
the main factor for cost reduction. This cost reduction is
one of the major reasons for microsystems to replace
their macroscale counterparts. When assembly of these
microsystems is performed one by one, be it manually or
automated, it will considerably increase the production
cost. Therefore, massively parallel micro-assembly
systems may be required.
4 MICRO-ASSEMBLY SYSTEMS
The dimensional and physical mismatch between the
'micro- and macroworld and the required precision,
operator stress and eye strain associated with
assembling minute parts under a microscope ask for
advanced micro-assembly tools.
 Keynote Papers

4.1 Master-slave systems system is 2 pm. It is used to assemble micro-optical

As the assembly and grasping forces are too small to be duplexers, which consist of two 0.9 mm spherical lenses,
sensed by a human operator, manual assembly with a 3 x 3 ~ 1mm3wavelength filter, and a glass fibre cable.
tweezers is performed purely based on visual feedback.
In the macroscopic world a human operator uses vision
for coarse and non-contact servoing and combines it with
force feedback for accurate positioning under contact. A
good micro-assembly system should measure these
extremely small forces with microsensors and feed it back
to the human operator. A master-slave macro-micro tele-
operation system has been built and tested by Kaneko et
al. [4]. The position of the master arm, manipulated by the
operator, is scaled down and used to control the position
of the slave. The forces measured by the slave are
amplified and applied to the master arm through some
transfer function. How to set up these transfer function
gains to provide the operator with a natural sensation
remains to be investigated. From an intuitive point of view
however, force scaling should not be dynamic as this
introduces lead or lag between input and output signals. Figure 2: Modular micro-assembly system [ 81.
This would make it difficult for the operator to tele-
manipulate the objects with real-time sensation, and 4.3 Assembly by microrobots
could cause the slave to break or damage the objects. As tolerances in micromechanics lie in the nanometre
Figure 1 illustrates the layout of a tele-micro-surgical range, assembly robots should be very precise. The
system used in an experiment of suturing an artificial manipulation accuracy of conventional robots is
blood vessel of 1 mm diameter [ 5). mechanically limited, since disturbing influences which
Internet 700km
are often negligible in the macroworld, such as fabrication
Okayama Tokyo defects, friction, thermal expansion or computational
acccSS point access point
errors, play an important role in the microworld.
Furthermore, these robots are subject to mechanical
wear, and must undergo regular maintenance and
calibration, which makes them expensive.
As an alternative, Fatikow [9][10] proposes micro-
assembly with microrobots. Figure 3 illustrates the
approach. The microrobots, 50 to 80 mm in size, stand on
piezoelectric legs and move based on the stick-slip
principle. This allows very fine resolution down to 10 nm,
while speeds up to 30 mmls can be obtained. The robots
move on a glass plate with three degrees of freedom (two
translational and one rotational degree of freedom). They
Surgcry site Operation room
are equipped with a gripper which has three rotational
Figure 1: Tele-micro-surgical system [5]. degrees of freedom, such that the robots can reach any
point in the workspace. The tools can be easily
4.2 Automatic assembly machines exchanged.
To reduce the assembly cost, automatic micro-assembly
machines might be a good solution. Zhou et al. [6] use a
combination of visual and force feedback to control the
grasping force. Visual servoing allows for controlled
motion at mm/s speeds and submicron repeatability.
However, nanometre repeatability cannot be achieved
with visual feedback alone. Force sensing yields much
higher resolution, but works only when in contact with the
object. A combination of both force and visual feedback
allows fast movement in free space without the danger of
large impact forces when the contact is made. Contact
forces of 2 nN with impact forces of 9 nN were achieved
for micropart approach velocities of 80 pm/s. Feddema et
al. [7] use a CAD-driven technique, where the objects,
their position and orientation are recognised by I ________________
comparison with a synthetic image from CAD. Diffraction
and out-of-focus effects are added to the synthetic image Figure 3 Micro-assembly with microrobots [ 101.
to make it more resemble the expected real image. The glass plate is mounted on an x-y positioning table
A modular micro-assembly system with 4 degrees of such that each assembly cell can be brought in the field
freedom is shown in figure 2 [8]. It consists of an x-y of view of a microscope. A camera mounted on the
positioning table, above which an overhead manipulator microscope forms a sensor system for fine positioning.
and a stereomicroscope with a CCD camera are located. Coarse positioning of the robots is supervised by a
The overhead manipulator can move along the z-axis and second camera and a laser measurement system.
rotate around this axis; it can be equipped with different The power of this system lies in the flexibility of the
grippers or applicators by an automated turret tool
microrobots. Different robot types can operate on the
changer. The positioning accuracy of the micro-assembly
same platform at the same time, each with its own

453
specialisation. One robot can transport parts while
another performs assembly, or they can cooperate during
an assembly. Furthermore, the robots and their tools can
be easily exchanged.
5 MANIPULATION BY PHYSICAL CONTACT
Typical problems in assembly are related to the way the
part can be picked up, how it can be positioned and how
it can be released.
5.1 Sticking effects in microparts handling
When parts to be handled are less than one millimetre in
size, adhesive forces between gripper and object can be
significant compared to gravitational forces. These
surface forces can be used in grippers as an adhesive
force to pick up the object, but as these forces are almost
not controllable, they are more likely to disturb the
process rather than to help it. As the gripper approaches,
the object can jump off the surface into the gripper, with
an orientation depending on the initial charge distribution.
When the part is placed at the desired location, it may
adhere better to the gripper than to the substrate,
preventing accurate placement. These adhesive forces
arise primarily from electrostatic attraction, van der Waals
forces and surface tension. The balance between these
forces depends on the environmental conditions, such as
humidity, temperature, surrounding medium, surface
condition, material, and relative motion. Tsuchitani et al.
[11,12] have studied the surface forces in
microstructures. They concluded that the dominant
surface force in usual microstructures is (1) the liquid
bridge force due to the capillary condensation of the
water when the humidity of the atmosphere around the
two contacting surfaces is high (over 60% RH); (2) the
hydrogen bonding force between water molecules
adsorbed on the two surfaces when the humidity is
relatively low; and (3) the van der Waals force when
adsorbed water molecules on the surface have almost
disappeared.
Sticking effects are not only problematic for assembly,
they also create problems during production of
microstructures. For instance, surface machined
cantilever beams can stick to the substrate after removal
of the sacrificial layer. The surface tension of the rinse
liquid is sufficiently strong to pull the suspended
cantilever in contact with the substrate, leading to
permanent adhesion by van der Waals bonding.
Electrostatic force
The electrostatic forces arise from charge generation
(triboelectrification)or charge transfer during contact. The
force per unit area (pressure) for parallel plates is:
with E is the permittivity of the dielectric, E the electric
field strength and os the surface charge density. At
atmospheric pressure and centimetre-size gaps, the
breakdown strength of air (about 30 kV/cm) limits the
maximum charge density to about 3 x C/m2, or peak
pressures of about 50 Pa. However, at very small gaps of
the order of 1 pm (less than the mean free path of an
electron in air), fields of two orders of magnitude higher
have been observed. With good insulators such as
smooth silica and mica, the charge density can rise up to
10 mC/m2 with pressures in the order of 1 MPa at 1 pm
distance [ 131.
When two materials with different contact potentials are
brought in contact, charge flows between them to
454
equalise this potential. Consider two metal spheres
(insulated from their surroundings) brought into contact,
then slowly separated. With a contact potential of 0.5 V,
the initial charge density will be about 4 mC/m2, with field
strengths of 5 MV/cm [13]. For small gaps (order 1 nm),
electron tunneling and field emission will transfer charge,
and for larger gaps (order 1 pm) air breakdown can occur.
In principle, using conductive grippers can reduce static
charging effects. However, the objects to be handled,
such as silicon parts, may be covered with insulators,
such as native oxides. On silicon, up to 1 nm of native
oxide can build up after several days in air at room
temperature. This native oxide is a very good insulator
and can withstand a maximum field strength of up to 30
MV/cm [13]. This implies that significant amounts of
charge can be stored in the oxide. With the permittivity of
silicon (E = 3.9 EO),peak pressures are of the order of 100
MPa. When a grounded gripper grasps an initially
charged object, charges will be induced in the regions of
the dielectric that are not in contact. Surface roughness
can prevent charge neutralisation through intimate
contact of oppositely charged regions. The residual
charges can cause adhesion.
Van der Waals force
The van der Waals force (sometimes called London's or
dispersion force) is the force that holds together the inert
gas crystals and many plastics. It is a much weaker bond
than ion and covalent bonds. Many molecules that are too
stable to become an integral part, interact with each other
through the van der Waals force. Van der Waals forces
are due to instantaneous polarisation of atoms and
molecules when they are set close. The force between a
sphere and a flat gripper can be approximated by [ 141:
Hr
Fwlw =-
62 *
with H the Hamaker constant, z the distance between the
surfaces, and r the radius of the sphere. When the atomic
distance goes to zero, the attractive forces change into
strongly repulsive forces. Therefore, the minimum
distance between the surfaces is commonly assumed to
be approximately 0.2 nm. For example, the force between
a SiO2 sphere 100 pm in diameter and a silicon gripper
equals 2.3 pN [15]. Of course, this formula assumes
atomically smooth surfaces as the van der Waals forces
fall off very rapidly with distance. For that reason, F. Arai
et al. [16] cover the gripper surface with small pyramids.
The pyramids are made by anisotropic etching of Si and
are placed at intervals of 10 pm and are a few micrometre
wide and high. A second advantage of the pyramids is the
self-discharge possibility due to the high electric field
strength at the tips. Sharp tips enhance discharge and
reduce contact area but may damage the surface. Small
particles scraped off by the micropyramids can
contaminate the environment. The micropyramids are
coated with a thin metal layer to enhance the effect.
Surface tension
When an object is exposed to the environment, a thin film
of water is formed on its surface by adsorption of
moisture. When two objects are brought together very
closely, the films touch first and melt together. Due to the
surface tension, the objects are pulled together. High
humidity, large radii of curvature, long contact times and
hydrophilic surfaces increase the adhesion force.
The Kelvin equation (171 gives a measure for the
minimum distance that should be kept between surfaces
as a function of the relative humidity in order to prevent
the formation of a stable layer of water between the two
objects.

This moisture layer causes several problems: the
surfaces are pulled together prohibiting proper functioning
of mechanisms or the release of objects from grippers,
electric short circuits occur, and friction increases. The
solution consists of removing the water by drying
techniques such as critical point drying and freeze-drying.
Also dimples and sharp corners on the contact surfaces
can be used to reduce sticking. But this can only remove
moisture due to fabrication methods, for instance after
rinsing in sacrificial layer removal techniques. When the
microstructure is not enclosed in a sealed container,
water vapour can also condense on it during use as the
native oxide layers of silicon and other non-precious
metals are hydrophilic. An effective way to avoid in-use
sticking is the application of hydrophobic coatings. The
droplets will then exert a repulsive force instead of an
attractive force. To be effective, the contact angle
between water and coating should be greater than 90".
Several hydrophobic coatings have been studied such as
the self-assembled monolayer coating (SAM), silicon-
hydrogen bonds using ammonium fluoride treatment and
plasma polymerisation of fluorocarbon films.
A more detailed overview of several surface forces can be
found in [ 181.
Comparison
Figure 4 shows the different sticking forces and the
gravitational force as a function of the object radius. It is
assumed that the object is a silicon sphere picked up by a
gripper with flat jaw surfaces. For accurate placement,
adhesion forces should be an order of magnitude less
than gravitationalforces. Surface tension forces dominate
and must be avoided. Van der Waals forces can become
significant below about 100 pm radius and generated
electric charges from contacts could prevent reliable
manipulation for parts less than 10 pm in size. While
figure 4 shows electrostatic forces to be the least
significant adhesion force, it can be argued that it is
actually the most significant force for grasping and
manipulation of 10 pm to 1 mm parts. First, the van der
Waals force is only significant for gaps less than about
100 nm. Unless the objects are very smooth, the effective
distance between the object and the gripper will be large
except at a few points of contact. Second, actual contact
with a fluid layer needs to be made for surface tension to
be significant, and a dry or vacuum environment could be
used to eliminate surface tension effects. As the
electrostaticforces can be active over ranges of the order
of the object radius, surface roughness is much less
influential for electrostatic forces than for van der Waals
forces.
lE-03 ~
- on microstructures
Forces acting
1E-04 -
1E-10 -
-x-Ftens
0.001 0.01 0.1
Radius (mm)
Figure 4 : Adhesion forces acting between spherical
object and gripper compared to gravitational force [ 19).
Keynote Papers
Conclusions
By making the proper choice for the gripper materials and
geometry, adhesion can be reduced. The following rules
can be derived from the above discussion [ 131:
Use materiais with a small contact potential
difference between gripper and object.
Use conductive materials which do not easily form
highly insulating native oxides.
Keep the contact area small. Therefore, spherical
fingertips are preferred above planar ones. The
contact area can also be reduced by increasing the
roughness of the gripper. This will considerably
reduce the van der Waals forces.
High contact pressures, caused by the adhesion
forces, can cause local deformations at the contact
site (Hertzian deformations). This deformation will
increase the contact area and hence the net
adhesive force. Therefore, hard materials are
preferable.
The surface tension effect can be reduced with a dry
atmosphere and hydrophobic coatings. An attractive
alternative is assembly while immersed in a fluid,
which eliminates electrostatic and surface tension
effects [20]. The surface tension effect can also be
used to help parts adhere better to the target location
than the gripper.
Free charges such as in ionised air can combine with
and neutralise exposed surface charges.
5.2 Releasing
To release an object from the gripper, if the gravitational
forces are dominant, the object will drop by itself on the
right place. Otherwise, there are several methods that
can be used [21]:
Glueing the part to the substrate on the right place
[21I.
Releasing the component by positive mechanical
engagement [21][22].
Injection of gas: a small puff of gas pushes the object
while removing the grippers[21][23]. This technique is
especially suited for vacuum grippers.
Mechanical release mechanism with needle: the
needles push the object and since the contact
surface between the object and the needles is very
small, the gravity becomes dominant again and the
object will stay in place when removing the needles.
[211[231.
Destruction of the gripping mechanism. For instance,
with a gripper using the surface tension force to pick
an object, the object can be released by heating the
gripper and evaporating the adhesive liquid. Another
example is the ice microgripper described in [ 241.
Vibration of the gripper [25].
Mechanical release by stripping off against a sharp
edge [23].
Using the adhesion effects described above: the
(N) adhesion between the substrate and the
microcomponent must be greater than that between
the microcomponent and the gripper [ 231.
1 To remove the object from the gripper, the gripper
can make a rolling motion as shown in figure 5. To
pick up the object, the tool is brought into contact
with the object with its flat side. If the adhesion forces
between tool and object are larger than those
between object and surface, the object will adhere to
the tool. To release the object from the tool after
455
 positioning it on the surface, the' tool makes a rolling
motion such that the object makes contact with the
tool's edge. The reduced contact area causes less
adhesion force such that the object remains on the
surface.
1 I........ .............I l... -. - ........J . ..... ..............
Pick up POsitMn
Figure 5 : Releasing an object by rolling motion.
5.3 Mechanical grippers
Mechanical grippers are traditionally used for
manipulating large, macroscopic objects. In the
microworld, mechanical grasping induces a number of
problems: too high forces damage the object or the object
may jump away and get lost: too low forces may also lead
to lost parts. Therefore, the force applied by the gripper
should be precisely controlled.
The best way to grasp micro-objects is to use a
microgripper where grasping forces and jaw size match
the requirements. Many kinds of microgrippers have been
built. Figure 6 shows an electrostatically driven gripper
which has a total length of 400 pm and a thickness of 2.5
pm [26]. The gripper closes completely by applying a
voltage of 45 V. Theoretically, a maximum force of 0.1 pN
is obtained at 50 V. The gripper has been used to seize
various microscopic objects including 2.7 pm diameter
polystyrene spheres, dried red blood cells, and various
protozoa. Sticking problems have been observed.
Microgrippers are very fragile and should be used, stored
and transported with care. The gripper in figure 6 for
instance can already break by air movements stronger
than those of normal handling.
Figure 6: Electrostatic microgripper [ 261.
Hydraulically or pneumatically driven grippers are found
in Suzumori et al. [27] and Peirs et al. [28]. In the first
one, one of the jaws is a flexible pressure chamber that
bends when pressurised, pressing against the other, rigid
jaw. The prototype is 8 mm wide, 18 mm long and has a
gripping force of 2N. The gripper of Peirs et al. [28]
consists of a piston driving both jaws simultaneously via
linkages. The prototype has a diameter of 5 mm, is 18
mm long and generates a gripping force of 5 N at 10 bar.
456
It has a Hall sensor incorporated to measure the gripper
opening.
Other designs use a kind of chop sticks attached to a
piezoelectric Stewart platform. Tanikawa et al. [29] use
two six-degrees-of-freedom Stewart platforms. Each
platform drives one stick, which is in fact a glass needle.
Glass balls having a size of 2 pm can be picked up,
placed down and rotated with a positioning accuracy of
0.1 pm. Kallio et al. [30] use a three-degrees-of-freedom
Stewart platform.
i i !
Release
In [31], Weck proposes two types of microgrippers. They
consist of two 0.2 mm-thick arms made out of copper-
beryllium alloy and holding the two jaws achieving the
gripping. Those arms are fixed to a plate made of non-
magnetic high-quality steel. The jaws can be designed in
different shape and material. For instance, in [31] they
used 50 pm wide and 10 pm thick tweezers fixed to the
arms by use of a resin adhesive. The material for those
tweezers can be either titanium or high-qualitysteel. A U-
shaped spring is placed between the two arms and
causes the opening of the jaws. The deformation of the
spring was made through a force applied exactly in the
centre of the "U" stripe in order to obtain a symmetrical
opening of the jaws. The force is obtained either byTg
piezoelectric disk translator or a piezoelectric Picomotor
(New Focus) (see figure 7). A - non-magnetic - CuBez
alloy was chosen for the jaws.
Figure 7 : Top, gripper with disk translator as drive:
Bottom, gripper with PicomotorTM as drive [31].
Carrozza et al. [32] and Ando et al. [33] built parallel jaw
grippers driven by a piezoelectric element of which the
motion is amplified through lever mechanisms with
flexible hinges. Breguet et al. [34] cut the whole gripper
out of a piezoceramic plate as shown in figure 8. The
electrodes are designed to render active only the parts of
the piezo which are underneath them. A piezoelectric
force sensor can be easily integrated in one of the jaws.
The gripper is about 3 cm long and opens f 18 pm at the
tip for a voltage of 150 V.
A similar approach is followed by Bellouard et al. [35] for
the design of a SMA gripper. The whole gripper structure
is cut out of a single SMA plate. One prototype uses two-
way shape memory effect, the other, which is shown in
figure 9, uses the elasticity of the structure itself as bias
spring. The latter prototype uses local heating with a laser
beam to actuate one part of the arm. The rest of the arm
remains unaffected and acts as a bias spring.
Hesselbach et al. [36] use two antagonistic SMA wires to
deform an elastic structure with flexible notch hinges. The
elastic structure is made of superelastic material. The

Figure 8 : Piezoelectric microgripper [34].
resistance of the SMA wire is used as a feedback sensor.
By using an antagonistic design, a short closelopen time
of 0.5 s is obtained. lkuta [37] uses a cantilevered finger
driven by antagonistic SMA springs. By measuring the
electric resistance and the position of the finger, the
applied force can be determined without the use of a
force sensor. The gripper has a size of 30 x 40 x 14 mm
and has a minimum response time of 0.7 sec. An
alternative design uses a SMA wire embedded in rubber
[38]. As the wire is located eccentrically in the rubber, the
rubber bends when the wire is heated.
Figure 9: Monolithic SMA gripper [35].
Other thermal grippers, based on differential thermal
expansion, are made by Greitmann et al. [40] and Keller
et al. [41]. Greitmann et al. use a thermal bimorph
actuator for one jaw, while the other jaw is not actuated
but contains piezoresistive sensors to measure forces.
The gripper is about 1.5 mm long (bimorph only), has a
maximum tip displacement of 0.8 mm, generates gripping
forces up to 1 mN and measures forces with a resolution
of 0.2 pN. The microtweezers of Keller et al. use a
Figure 10: Thermal microtweezers [39].
Keynote Papers
longitudinally expanding beam element that drives and
elastic structure to enlarge the motion as shown in figure
1Ob. Figure 1Oa shows a variant that can be provided with
different types of tweezer tips, depending on the
application. The structure is about 2 mm wide and 9 mm
long.
5.4 Adhesive gripper
The disturbing sticking forces discussed in section 5.1
can also be used to build grippers. The van der Waals
force is difficult to control and its influence should be kept
as small as possible. The electrostatic force on the other
hand, is relatively easy to control, but is not good for the
manipulation of charge-sensitive lC devices. Surface
tension forces due to air humidity can be controlled by
incorporating a microheater in the gripper [15]. In the cold
condition, an object can be picked up simply by touching
it. To release the object, the heater evaporates the water
in the contact.
Although the above principle may work, most adhesive
grippers have a dispenser in the gripper that forms a
small drop at the gripper's surface, instead of using
natural moisture layers. When brought in contact with the
object, the capillary forces act perpendicularly to the
gripping surface while the surface tension offers
automatic centring of the component to the surface of the
gripper. Besides the self-centring effect, the liquid bridge
offers also compliance in the horizontal plane during
assembly while stiffness in the vertical direction is large,
quite similar to the SCARA-type robots. The adhesive
gripper of Westkamper et al [42] uses alcohol and
achieves position tolerances better than k 20 pm for 4.2 x
4.2 mm2 chips, without any active tolerance
compensation. Figure 11 shows the different phases in
the operation of an adhesive gripper.
1 Approach 2 Dispense
3 Establish contact
4 Centre
5 Hold 6 Release
I -
tl _ _ - i -
I
&,ha - ,
- . .
.-
Figure 11: The different phases in the operation of an
adhesive gripper [42].
Gripping is a dynamic process. Especially the spreading
of the drop takes some time. This causes a difference in
pulling force between approach and departure of the
gripper as the wetting angle differs during the dynamic
spreading and retracting of the liquid [43]. Quickly
spreading fluids have greater, retracting liquids have
lower wetting angles as in the static case. Even static
457
wetting angles can be influenced in that way. In most
cases wetting angles are larger after spreading than after
retracting. When the two surfaces come so close together
that the fluid brims over, the meniscus changes from
concave to convex and a pressure is generated instead of
a pulling force.
5.5 Vacuum gripper
A vacuum gripper is very simple as it consists mainly of a
thin tube or pipette connected to a vacuum pump. This
makes this kind of gripper cheap and easy to replace.
This is important as microtools are fragile and have to be
replaced frequently [23].
A particular problem when manipulating microparts is that
the tube has to be very thin and, therefore, is easily
obstructed by small particles. An interesting alternative is
to generate the vacuum in the gripper itself as presented
in [44].The surface of the tip is covered by microholes of
10 or 15 pm diameter. The holes are made by isotropic
etching of Si. Before contacting the object, the tip is
heated. After contacting the object, the temperature is
decreased and pressure drops inside the microholes with
0.18 bar according to calculations. The measured
adhesion force was higher (= double), probably due to the
contribution of other surface forces. To release the object,
the temperature of the holes is raised again. This system
realises quick response due to its small dimension. The
gripper and the parts require smooth surfaces to prevent
air leakage.
5.6 Ultrasonic travelling waves
Objects can be transported on a travelling wave
generated on a flat surface. Two types of waves are used:
Lamb and Rayleigh waves. Lamb waves cause bending
of the plate over its whole thickness (the substrate
thickness is inferior to the wavelength), while Rayleigh
waves only propagate in the surface layer of the plate.
Objects placed on the surface move in the opposite
direction of the travellingwave.
The plate consists of a piezoelectric material on which
interdigital transducer (IDT) electrodes are patterned
which generate the travelling wave. Care has to be taken
to avoid reflections at the plate border. The construction
and working principle is identical to the linear ultrasonic
travelling wave motor.
Helin et al. [45] tested prototypes of Lamb and Rayleigh
wave microconveyors working at respectively 10 and 20
MHz. A speed of 18 cm/s is reported. Motion control is
obtained by adjusting IDT driving time. A driving time of
100 ps moves the object 20 nm, while a driving time of 50
ms moves the object 1 mm.
Figure 12: Non-tactile transport using ultrasonic waves
[461.
According to Reinhart et al. [46], microcomponents can
be positioned and manipulated within a standing wave
field, while a non-tactiletransfer system can be conceived
458
through the use of near-field levitation. Figure 12 shows
non-tactile single wafer transport using ultrasonic
travelling waves.
5.7 Distributed micromotion
Distributed micromotion systems use arrays of tiny simple
actuators that co-operate to move objects over relatively
large distances and possibly in different directions and
orientations. The actuators are often thermally activated
cantilevers a few 100 pm in length. These actuators are
called cilia in analogy to their biological counterparts
which can be found for instance in the human respiratory
tract. Cilia arrays can move small objects placed on them
by synchronous vibrations of the tiny hairs. Figure 13a
shows an array of thermal cilia capable of generating
motion in one direction (both senses). Half of the cilia are
oriented in one sense, the other half in the other sense.
Both groups of cilia are driven with a phase difference of
90" as shown in figure 13b. The last two steps both
generate a small displacement. Speeds of 27 pmls and
operating frequencies of 1 Hz are obtained. To move
objects in X- as well as in Y-direction, four cilia, one for
each direction and sense, are grouped in motion pixels.
The motion system consists then of an array of these
motion pixels. Appropriate control allows motion in any
direction.
fa1 Ib)
Figure 13: Ciliary micro-actuator system for locomotion
(University of Tokyo, Institute of Industrial Science).
Besides thermal cilia, also other actuation principles are
used. Coutinho et al. [47] use cilia driven by Lorentz
forces. Suh et al. [48] use a combination of thermal and
electrostatic actuation of the cilia. Thermal actuation
provides the initial large-angle movement of each
actuator and transition to electrostatic actuation (70 V)
allows a low power hold-down mode. The capacitor plates
also allow sensing and feedback control capability. Lifting
forces of 70 pN/mm2, maximum step sizes of 9 pm per
cycle, and speeds of 200 pm/s [49] are demonstrated.
Bohringer et al. [50] use electrostatic torsional resonators
generating a force of 28 pN/mm2. Each resonator
consists of a plate suspended on two torsional beams
and resonated in the high kHz range. In the system
developed by Konishi et al. [51], each motion pixel
contains four micronoules, one for each direction. The
air flow is not only used to drive the objects but also for
levitation. This avoids friction which is normally an
important problem in micromechanics. Motion is fast but
hard to control because of lack of damping. The nozzles
can be selectively closed by electrostatic force. With a
multi-layer method, it is possible to integrate micro-
actuators, sensors and circuits.
More control on the object is obtained when the motion
array is divided into zones which are driven
independently. By driving one side of the object in one
direction and another side in another direction, the object
can also rotate. Most control on the object is obtained
when each motion pixel is controlled indet>endentlv.

Several modes which correspond to specific tasks of the
conveyance system can be generated as shown in figure
14: (1) transporting mode, (2) aligning mode, (3)
positioning mode and (4) rotating mode. If the system is
able to detect the position of the objects, the system
could move several objects at the same time into different
directions.
When all actuators have to be controlled independently,
wiring becomes a limitation to the scale of the device.
Therefore, Mita et al. [52] propose an autonomous
distributed system concept: the behaviour of the total
system is decided mainly by interactions of local
controllers. Since micro-actuators are very fragile, the
micro conveyance system must be robust against local
defects. For that reason, fault recovery or fault avoidance
logic is added.
B6hringer et al. [49][50] derived and tested actuator
control strategies to orientate and position parts from an
arbitrary initial position and orientation. With their theory
of programmable vector fields, vector fields can be
cascaded into multi-step strategies, allowing unique
sorting and positioning of objects without sensor
feedback.
Figure 14: Different operation modes of a motion array
151I.
5.8 STM
The scanning tunneling microscope (STM), originally
developed to image atomically sized objects, becomes
more and more regarded as the ultimate in manipulation
technology. In principle, it can manipulate single atoms.
However, it can neither handle microparts as large as 100
nm nor can it correct microdefects of a VLSl mask [53].
Manipulatingsingle atoms appears promising for building
small structures or store massive amounts of data, but we
must realise that diffusion processes may destroy the
structure quite rapidly. It is not expected that STM
technology is a valuable candidate for assembly of
microparts in the near future.
6 NON-CONTACT MANIPULATION
6.1 Aerostatic gripper
Many components used in microsystem technology are
highly sensitive to mechanical handling forces. Examples
are thin, fracture-sensitive GaAs wafers or contact-
sensitive, surface-structured components. Therefore,
Hohn et al. [54] developed an aerostatic gripper for
contactless manipulation. The part is retained by suction
nozzles in the gripper on the one hand and - similar to an
-
air bearing separated from the gripper surface by an air
cushion. The equilibrium of the forces holds the part in a
suspended state without any mechanical contact.
Keynote Papers
Laterally mounted stops on the gripper head prevent
lateral slipping of the part from the gripper.
6.2 Optical trap or laser tweezers
The optical pressure that occurs when light is refracted,
absorbed or reflected by an object, can be used to
manipulate objects with sizes ranging from a few
micrometre to a few hundred micrometres.
Figure 15a shows the forces that occur due to refraction
in a microparticle. To trap the object, a focussed laser
beam with a spot diameter of a few micron is aimed at the
object. When the object moves away from the beam, the
optical forces result in a restoring force. It works as well in
liquid as in gas or vacuum. A liquid has the advantages
that viscous damping increases the trap’s stability and
that the buoyancy force helps to levitate the object. For
metallic objects, which have a high density, an additional
levitating electrostatic force is best used, otherwise the
required laser power will cause heating effects [55].
Disadvantages of a liquid medium are the disturbing
forces due to fluid motion. Besides Brownian motions,
fluid motions can also be generated by thermal gradients
caused by absorbed laser light. Manipulation of the
objects can also be disturbed by van der Waals forces
which are orders of magnitude larger than the optical
forces. This causes the objects to stick to other objects or
to the recipient wall.
Figure 15: Optical pressure on a microparticle caused by
refraction (a) levitation and trapping, (b) rotation [ 561.
Morishima et al. [57] successfully used laser tweezers to
trap single Escherichia coli bacteria, while the rest of the
bacteria are carried off by dielectrophoretic forces.
Rotation of the object can be obtained by asymmetry of
that object geometry. In the example given in figure 15b,
the laser beam enters the object in the centre and
perpendicular to the paper. The optical pressure on
surface 1 generates a torque as indicated, while the
resultant force on surface 2 goes through the object’s
centre and generates no resultant torque. No rays reach
surface 3. Torques of lo-’’ Nm at rotational speeds of
500 rpm are reported for 3 pm diameter glass rods, 10
pm long [56]. Rotation can also be obtained by circularly
polarised [58] or rotating higher-order mode laser beams
[59], but reported rotational speeds are low: 0.7 rpm and
6 rpm respectively.
Multiple objects can be trapped or manipulated by
scanning the different objects. At high enough scanning
frequencies, disturbances have not enough time to
change the object’s position.
6.3 Magnetic fields
The objects to be manipulated must be intrinsically
magnetic. If not, small magnetic particles can be attached
to the objects to be manipulated. For this purpose,
459
superparamagnetic particles can be used with high
magnetic susceptibilities and saturation magnetisation but
a very weak magnetic hysteresis [60]. Such particles
become magnetic dipoles when placed in a magnetic field
but lose their magnetism when the field is turned off.
Hence, individual particles can be readily removed and
resuspended after exposure since no permanent
magnetic dipoles are sustained in these particles.
For separating particles from solutions, magnetic
separation techniques provide one of the most rapid and
convenient methods. A micromachined magnetic particle
separator is built by C. H. Ahn et al. [60].
6.4 Electric fields
A particle in an electric field is subject to two forces: the Figure 17: Polarisation of DNA molecule and
Coulomb force and the dielectrophoretic force. The dielectrophoretic force [ 621.
Coulomb force is caused by the attraction of a charged
object to the oppositely charged electrode. This effect, DNA will be cut in different ways. The distance each of
called electrophoresis, only occurs with charged objects. the DNA particles travels through the gel by the
The dielectrophoretic force on the other hand, works also electrophoretic effect, depends on their length, and is
with uncharged objects and is based on the polarisation thus characteristic for the original DNA molecule.
of the object by the electric field. The object does not Morishima et al. use an electrode configuration as shown
have the same electric properties as the surrounding in figure 17 to transport Escherichia Coli bacteria [57] and
medium, its electrical conductivity and dielectric constant DNA molecules [62]. Voltages of 10 to 100 V peak-to-
are different. Therefore, charges are induced on the peak are applied at frequencies of 1 MHz. Between the
boundary between the particle and the medium. The angled electrodes the electric field is not uniform but has
object has now the characteristics of an electric dipole. In a gradient in the vertical direction of the picture. The
a uniform field, the forces working on these poles cancel selected bacteria are trapped by a laser, and the other
out, but in a non-uniform field they result in a net force bacteria are driven away by the dielectrophoretic effect to
acting on the object. The dielectrophoretic force is the small exit. The DNA molecules on the other hand are
proportional to the gradient of the square of the electric too small to be trapped by laser. They are separated by a
field and acts in the direction of this gradient. As third electrode located at the middle of the exit of the two
illustrated in figure 16, the particles move to or away from angled electrodes.
places with high field line densities. This allows the Particles can be transported by travelling waves. Figure
transportation of particles and trapping them at spots with 18 shows a junction of two travelling wave tracks. Each
high or low field line densities. track contains four electrode groups, energised by
For the electrophoretic effect, the direction of the force sinusoidal voltages that are separated 90" in phase. The
depends on the sense of the field. Therefore, in AC electrodes are typically 5 to 10 pm in width. The
electric fields above 1 kHz the particle's inertia causes the frequency of the travelling fields on the two tracks is
electrophoretic effect to become vanishingly small. The chosen differently, each according to the dielectric
dielectrophoretic force on the contrary, does not depend properties of the particles to be separated or mixed
on the sense of the field. Therefore, it can exert its together.
influence up to frequencies of 50 MHz and beyond. Thus
also charged particles can be manipulated by
dielectrophoresis without disturbance of the
electrophoretic effect. The high-frequency electric fields
have also the advantage that no electrolysis of the
medium, generally water, occurs.
n

Figure 18: Travelling wave dielectrophoresis junction [63).

Figure 16: Two different particles in a non-uniform electric
field. The particle on the left is more polarisable than the
surrounding medium and is attracted towards the strong
field at the pin electrode, whilst the particle of low
polarisabilityon the right is directed away from the strong
field region [61].
Electrophoresis and dielectrophoresis are used in
biotechnology to separate, trap and classify cells,
bacteria, viruses and DNA. Electrophoresis is for instance
used to produce DNA fingerprints. The DNA is broken up
in several particles by enzymes and put in a gel. Different
Non-uniform fields can sometimes induce a torque on a
particle, causing it to rotate. However, the controlled way
to induce spin is to subject the particle to a rotating
electrical field [63]. Depending upon the phase angle of
the induced dipole moment, the rotational torque acting
on the particle will be in the same or opposite direction of
the field rotation.
7 SMART ASSEMBLY TECHNIQUES
Despite the large amount of research in microtechnology,
assembly of microsystems is still immature. Furthermore,
assembly is a costly process. Therefore, most designs
avoid assembly by producing monolithic systems and

460
 Keynote Papers

using sacrificial layer techniques. On the other hand,

techniques are developed that simplify or automate the
assembly procedure: on-the-machine assembly, folding
techniques inspired by origami, flip-up mechanisms,
batch assembly, preadjusted assembly magazines, and
even self-assembly.
7.1 Sacrificial layer technique
w
Techniques have been developed that enable the t lil t
production of complete microsystems with actuator, . . .
sensor and mechanisms consisting of different materials a) Micro-EDM b) Insert c) Twist d) Micro-EDM
and parts without any assembly. They are mainly
implemented on silicon and include deposition Figure 20: On-the-machine assembly [65].
techniques, doping and sacrificial layers. A large number
of materials can be deposited ranging from simple metal 7.3 Folding, origami, flip-up mechanisms
and oxide layers to piezoelectric, magnetic, shape
memory and biosensing materials. Several techniques Out of plate-like material, a flat structure consisting of
are used: sputtering, chemical vapour deposition, plates and hinges is manufactured, e.g. by etching, and
electroplating, surface oxidation. subsequently folded into a 3D structure, similar to a flat
sheet of paper that is folded into a 3D object. When the
hinges have little stiffness, the folded parts can be locked
together by snap fits [70].This folding technique allows
the creation of large motions out of the plane and
rotational joints under any angle.
Folding is performed manually or by integrated micro-
actuators, or by a physical effect, like e.g. surface
tension. A layer of solid solder is deposited on the hinges
during manufacturing. During the assembly step, the
(a) (b) structure is heated above the melting temperature of the
Figure 19: (a) Part of a mechanism produced by the solder such that the surface tension in the solder pulls the
sacrificial layer technique, (b) Cross-section of the central parts together into a programmable angle [68][69]. The
joint prior to removal of the sacrificial layers (black) [ 641. flexible hinges can even be omitted when the molten
solder itself acts as a hinge.
By using sacrificial layers the different parts can be made An example is the construction shown in figure 21,
together in the assembled state and only at the end of the developed by Yeh et al. [70] as a single link for a multiple-
process they are separated by etching away the sacrificial degree-of-freedom manipulator. A hollow beam is created
layers. Figure 19a shows part of a mechanism produced by three plates that click together by snap fits. Also the
by surface micromachining with sacrificial layers. A cross- lever arm is fixed to the beam by snap fits.
section of the central joint is shown in figure 19b prior to
removal of the sacrificial oxide layers (coloured black).
After removal of these black layers, the grey part
belonging to the upper link can rotate freely around the
white part belonging to the horizontal link.
7.2 On-the-machine assembly
When a microproduct is dismounted from the machine on
which it is produced, information about its position is lost.
This makes subsequent assembly difficult. On-the-
machine assembly, as presented by Langen et al. [65], is
one of the solutions for this problem. The idea is to
assemble the product directly on the production machine,
and even to produce the tools on the same machine [66].
Figure 20 shows how this can be realised on an electro-
discharge machine (EDM). First, a part is produced with
W EDG (wire-electro-discharge grinding). The pin at the
bottom of the part is then used to drill a hole by micro-
EDM into the underlying plate (a). The pin is inserted into
the hole while applying ultrasonic vibration to the
worktable until the force reaches a threshold value (b).
Then the pin is twisted to break the neck (c). In the final
step, the remains of the neck are removed by micro-EDM
(d). The resulting part can be used as a workpiece, tool or
a (sub)assembly setup.
Since the space required for micromachining itself is
usually small, the machine table can accommodate
several modules on which tool-making, machining,
product storage and assembly can take place.

Figure 22: Flip-up microscanner [ 671.

46 1
Another example is the out-of-plane mirror shown in holes. The side alignment pedestal bumps improve
figure 22. The assembly can be performed manually planar alignment of the chip and the substrate.
[71][72], but automatic assembly by integrated micro- Another example is a rate gyroscope shown in figure 24
actuators is preferred when batch fabrication is [75]. The dynamic element which includes a proof mass
envisaged. Reid et al. [73] use on-chip actuators attached to a rotating frame by an elastic beam is bonded
controlled by a CMOS controller. One of the problems is to a CMOS chip. A metal plate is placed on the chip, and
to generate the initial out-of-plane motion as all another plate is placed on the side of the proof mass
mechanisms and actuators lie in the same plane. This is facing the chip, forming an air capacitor (as shown in
solved by adding additional vertical actuators which lift figure 24b). Bonding is carried out by using indium bumps
parts of the mechanism out of the plane after which a technology. This method assures the appropriate
horizontal actuator drives this mechanism to assemble electrical and mechanical connectivity between the chip
the mirror. The comb actuator visible in figure 22 is not and the dynamical element. Aluminum stoppers are
used for assembly, but drives the mirror after it has been deposited to guarantee an even gap between the chip
assembled. and the substrate.
One of the problems with this flip-up technique is that the
pre-assembled mechanism and the actuators performing
the assembly, take up a large wafer area.
7.4 Flip-chip wafer-to-wafer transfer
One of the technical problems in MEMS is to integrate
sensors and actuator processes with existing electronics
and packaging technology. A common approach is to
fabricate the MEMS and electronics on the same
substrate in an integrated monolithic process. Even
though this approach has been shown to improve device
performance, it usually results in a large number of
process steps, thus increasing process complexity and
reducing yield. Hybrid packages, on the other hand, are
expensive and may not be compatible with MEMS due to
stray parasitics. Flip-chip bonding is a hybrid technology
that combines the advantages of monolithic and hybrid
MEMS and can integrate MEMS into electronics to meet
new specifications.
Flip-chip is defined as mounting the chip on a substrate
using various interconnected materials and methods (e.g.
tape-automated bonding, fluxless solder bumps) as long
as the chip surface (circuit) is facing (oriented in the
direction of) the substrate. The interconnect materials and
methods and their related geometrical and physical
properties dictate the planar alignment and vertical gap
between the chip and the substrate. When all bonding
process and manufacturing parameters are within
variation limits, this feature makes it possible, to adhere
to passive alignment, in contrast to active alignment
where each chip has to be manipulated individually.
Figure 24: Schematic view of the rate gyroscope (a) top-
view (b) side view [75].
Based on the model developed by Salalha et al. [76], it
was found that the yield of solder flip-chip assemblies is

/' 1 '~.
'~
Top MOEMS
substrate
Figure 23: Schematic diagram of a prototype MEMS
structure for optical I/O couplers which is composed of a
flip-chip photonic device and a MEMS substrate [74].
A schematic diagram of a MEMS device where
hybridisation consists of flip-chip bonding is shown in
figure 23. The optical I/O coupler is composed of three
components: photo-detectors, integrated electrical
multichip modules, and optical waveguide/fibre patterns
and micromachined mirrors. The three components are
independently fabricated, and then assembled to
construct the optical I/O coupler using flip-chip bonding
techniques. The interconnect materials used are
micromachined conductive polymer bumps. The top
MEMS substrate includes contact metal pads, electrical
metal lines, side alignment pedestal bumps, and through
related to the following: dimensional variation of the
interconnect solder bumps, the non-flatness of the
chip/substrate, dimensional variations of the connecting
pads, and the initial misalignment of the chip relative to
the substrate. In addition, physical parameters related to
the bonding process; non-simultaneous solidification of
the joints, and variable surface tension can affect the final
location of the chip.
A modified flip-chip method for the transfer and assembly
of MEMS using sacrificial-layer micromachining has been
proposed by Singh et al. [78] and Irwin et al. [77]. The
approach to low-cost and high-performance packaging
has been to shift from chip (die) to wafer scale methods.
Wafers enable a high degree of parallelism (100 or more
devices per wafer). The wafer-to-wafer transfer of a
surface micromachined structure is depicted in figure 25.
Lid structures are fabricated in 4 pm polysilicon on top of
a PSG (phosphosilicate glass) sacrificial layer. Gold
break-away tethers hold the lids in place. Gold bumps
patterned on the polysilicon enable bonding and transfer
to a target substrate. Then, donor and target substrates
are aligned and compressed at room temperature and

462

Figure 25: Transfer and assembly of a microstructure
using sacrificial-layermicromachining and flip-chip
bonding [78].
separated. Released structures separate at the donor's
substrate-gold interface or at the polysilicon tethers. The
transfer method seems to be relatively insensitive to
imperfections up to 500 nm in size. Defects in one feature
will not severely impact overall transfer yield as each
bump compresses and bonds independently.
7.5 Preadjusted assembly magazines
This method is especially suited for moulded microparts.
A mould generally contains a multitude of cavities in
which the products are formed. In this method (791, a
common base plate is added to the microparts such that
they form one single structure with relatively large size.
The form and size of the base plate facilitates
demoulding, handling, storage, and assembly. The
position of the parts on the base plate corresponds to
their assembled position. Figure 26 shows the different
steps in the assembly process. After the plate has been
removed from the mould, the microstructures are
embedded by an appropriate resin. Then the superfluous
filling material and the base plate are removed by milling,
grinding, and polishing. The result is a polymer magazine
in which the microstructures are fixed laterally. The resin
features a rather weak adhesion to the component
material such that the parts remain movable in the axial
direction. In a final step, the magazine is positioned
above the microsystem and the microparts are pushed
out, right in place. This technology additionally allows the
simultaneous assembly of groups of microstructures at
predefined locations.
Thus no complex tools like microgrippers are required.
With the use of specific macroscopic grabbing tools the
magazine can be handled and positioned. The assembly
embedding of removing of structuresole
microstmctures and supeffluous filling
compound
Figure 26: Assembly using a common base plate [ 791.
Keynote Papers
process can be carried out with simple tube-liketools.
7.6 Self-assembly
The concept of self-assembly is inspired by biological
processes in which antigens on viruses and bacteria bind
to antibodies in a serum through the matching of
biochemicals. In the non-biological world, objects can be
assembled in a similar way, not necessarily based on
chemical receptors but also simply based on geometry.
The advantage of self-assembly is that it is a batch
process, in which hundreds, thousands or even more
objects are assembled at a time. When the interface is
well designed, the objects are also self-aligned. Also
different types of objects can be assembled
simultaneously by using different interfaces. According to
Yeh et al.[80], self-assembly maximises also the amount
of useful devices that can be integrated on a wafer. It
allows also optimal use of material in comparison with
flip-chip methods. When for instance small GaAs LEDs
have to be placed on top of large Si circuits, then, with
flip-chip assembly, the LEDs have to be positioned at the
mirror position of the circuits. As the LEDs are much
smaller, most of the expensive GaAs material is unused.
With an assembly method, the LEDs cover the whole
GaAs wafer, are cut and distributed over the target Si
wafer. The self-assembly method can position the parts
directly on the target substrate, or the objects can be
positioned on an intermediate, reusable template which is
then used to transfer the objects in parallel to the target,
like during a flip-chip operation.
Based on geometry
An experiment is performed by Yeh et al. [80], in which
trapezoidal GaAs LEDs were placed in an array of
trapezoidal pockets on a Si wafer by a self-assembly
process. The LEDs are suspended in a fluid that is
dispensed over the Si wafer. The selection mechanism is
based purely on the geometry of object and pocket.
Before evaporation of the fluid, 90 Yo of the holes are
correctly filled with LEDs. However, during evaporation,
surface tension pulls some objects out of the holes,
reducing the yield to 30% to 70% locally. This problem
can be addressed by using liquids with lower surface
tension or by using supercritical drying methods.
Electrostatic attraction
The attractive force to the target and the selection
mechanism can also be provided by electrostatic fields.
Cohn [81] and Bohringer et al. [82] use a template
consisting of a pair of oppositely charged planar
electrodes. The upper electrode contains a multiplicity of
apertures. In the vicinity of the apertures, the electric field
emerges at the template surface. Dielectric material is
attracted to these regions with high electric field strength.
At first, the template is vibrated strongly such that the
objects move randomly. With time, the vibration
amplitude is gradually reduced and the objects are
attracted to the apertures and trapped thereat. The
preadjusted mounting of gear
assembly wheels in a batch
magazine process
463
particle’s bottom surface is coated with a conductive film
which has the same pattern as the aperture. When the
particles pattern fits on the aperture, the conductive film
stops the field lines at the surface, so only one particle is
trapped at the aperture. Discrimination between different
types of particles and orientation is obtained by the shape
of the pattern. Trap of the wrong particle or bad
orientation result in a smaller energy decrease than when
the correct particle is trapped in the correct orientation.
These local minima are avoided by slowly decreasing the
vibration amplitude. An excess of particles helps to cover
all sites.
Magnetic attraction
In analogy to the electrostatic attraction and selection
mechanism, also magnetic templates can be used [81].
One method is to use a magnetic medium such as a
floppy disk on which a magnetic pattern is created. The
particles are then coated with a corresponding permalloy
pattern. Patterns on the template may be rapidly,
economically and microscopically created in arbitrary
planar configurations by means of a magnetic recording
head.
Hydrophobic or hydrophilic attraction [ S l ]
When particles with mating surfaces, suspended in water,
are coated with a hydrophobic film (e.g. oil), the mutual
attraction of the oily surfaces causes them to assemble
together, minimising surface area. The oil provides both
attractive force and lubrication, which reduces friction,
accelerating the self-assembly process and making it
more accurate. Analogously, the particles may be coated
or permeated with water, and suspended in a
hydrophobic medium.
These self-assembly methods look tempting because of
the simplicity and automatism of the process. However,
none of them is 100 % reliable which limits their practical
use.
8 JOINING OF MICROPARTS
Once the parts have been put into place, the next step is
to securely lock them into position by a process called
joining. At the microlevel, joining parts is as difficult a job
as the assembly step itself. Joints occupy space, are
often less strong than the bulk material, require additional
production steps and parts, and are often difficult to
realise on these small scales. Although avoiding
assembly and joining is the best solution, it is often
impossible due to technological and economical reasons.
Special techniques have been developed to join parts
made by silicon microtechnology, like e.g. anodic and
fusion bonding, but also more traditional methods are
Figure 27: Bonding of two wafers by electroplating
microrivets [831.
464
being miniaturised like bolting, riveting, welding, glueing,
etc. Of course, each joining method has a size limit of
applicability, and often changes are needed to the
macrotechnology to make it applicable on a microscale.
8.1 Mechanicalfasteners
Miniature screws
Screws and bolts belong to the most frequently used
joining methods in today’s macroscale production. Down
to a size of 1 mm diameter, they are still easy to find.
Smaller ones, down to a diameter of 0.3 mm, can be
found in the watch industry. To tap holes that small, great
care has to be taken not to break the taps.
Micronvets
Shivkumar et al. [83] developed a micro-riveting
technique for packaging of MEMS. Tapered holes
300x300 pm or 1300x1300 pm in size are etched through
the covering wafer by anisotropic etching. After
evaporating a seed layer on the base wafer, both wafers
are clamped together and nickel is plated through the
holes of the covering wafer as shown in figure 27. No
plating occurs in the gap between the wafers as no
potential gradient is present between the seed layer and
the electrolyte trapped between the two wafers. The
tapered form of holes and rivets prevents the wafers to
separate. An advantage over anodic and fusion bonding
is that this technique allows packaging at low
temperatures and low electric fields which could damage
ICs. Also surface preparation and mating are more
relaxed. It is a simple process, allowing batch processing
of the rivets and the bonded wafers can be diced with
normal wafer dicing saws without rivet failure. Highest
strength was obtained under shear: 350 MPa. Under
normal load, the rivets failed by rivet deformation between
1 and 3 MPa for rivets respectively 30 and 70 pm thick.
Thicker rivets would further increase normal strength.
Snap fit
Yeh et al. [70]use silicon micromachined snap fits to
assemble 3D structures from planar plate-and-hinge
structures, as the one shown in figure 21. Plates and
hinges are produced by a planar silicon process, after
which the 3D structure is assembled by folding the hinges
and clicking the structure together with the snap fits
shown in figure 28a. Although the technique looks simple,
the folding and locking of the parts is a manual job,
performed on each structure separately. The backlash
and reduced stiffness in the joints and snap fits, cause
lower stiffness, strength and accuracy of the final
structure than when the connections would be rigid.
Figure 28b shows snap fits with less backlash.
Figure 28: Snapfits [70].
A variant to the snap fit is a kind of micro-Velcro [84]. It
consists of a two-dimensional array of mushroom-like
Structures placed on both mating surfaces. The
‘mushrooms’ have a pitch of 22 pm. When pressed

together, the hoods of the 'mushrooms' hook behind each
other. Unlike real VelcroTM,the bond cannot be broken
without damaging the structures. A tensile strength of 240
kPa is obtained and could increase to 1.1 MPa when 100
% of the microstructures would latch and bear the load
evenly.
Mating parts
Gonzalez et al. (851 developed micromechanical
connections similar to the ones used in wood
constructions: dovetail joints, slot joints, dado or rabbet
joints, diamond joints, finger joints, and mortise and tenon
joints. The mating parts of the joints are produced by
anisotropic etching and with a dicing saw. However, LlGA
and micromilling are also possible machining techniques.
Depending on the tolerance set on the mating parts,
these joints can be used to rigidly fix parts or to constrain
the movements in one or more degrees of freedom. The
technique also allows quick and reversible connection
and disconnection of parts. This makes it possible to have
modular parts that can be built together in different
configurations to fulfil different functions. An example of a
finger joint connection is shown in figure 29. A fluidic
microconnector based on mortise and tenon joints is
depicted in figure 30.
Figure 29: Connection using Figure 30: Mortise and
finger joints [85]. tenon microfluidic
interconnection [85].
8.2 Press fit
The parts to join are machined on their joining faces with
high accuracy and a small overlap. To join them, the parts
are pressed together and the elastic joint stresses keep
them together. Press fits are often used for joining
cylindrical parts. In macro-applications, one of the parts is
cooled or heated to let it shrink or expand, such that the
part can easily be assembled without force. When the
part has returned to environmental temperature, thermal
expansion or shrinkage presses both parts together
(shrink fit). For the assembly of microparts, shrink fits are
not realistic because of the small thermal time constants
of the parts.
The main advantage of a press fit is that no additional
parts are needed, what is favourable for miniaturisation. It
is often also a very simple operation that can be easily
automated. However, tolerances on product size are
close and may increase cost. As relative accuracy of
micromachining techniques is generally lower than that of
macromachining, producing press-fits becomes more
difficult with miniaturisation.
8.3 Sillcon-related bonding techniques
Anodic bonding
Anodic bonding of silicon to glass is an important method
for encapsulating sensors. It allows the silicon chip itself
to be used as a package because it is hermetically sealed
from the surrounding environment. A polished glass wafer
is placed on the silicon wafer and a cathode electrode is
held against the outer surface of the glass wafer. The
whole assembly is placed on a hot plate heating it up to
300 - 400 "C (861. A potential of 200 to 1000 V is applied
Keynote Papers
between the electrode and the hot plate, which acts as
anode. At the elevated temperatures, the glass becomes
slightly conductive and opposite charges accumulate at
the Si-glass interface. These charges pull both wafers
together into close contact forming a strong bond.
Electrostatic pressures of 34 GPa are reported [87]. A
disadvantage of this method are the thermal stresses,
although the thermal expansion coefficients of silicon and
the glasses that are used are fairly close to each other.
Figure 31 shows the principle of the anodic bonding
process [88].
Figure 31: The anodic bonding process [ 881.
Fusion bonding
Fusion bonding involves bonding of two or more silicon
wafers. As each of these wafers can be patterned,
complex microstructures can be produced. The basic
principles of wafer fusion bonding include pretreatment,
room temperature mating, and thermal annealing,
typically at 1000 "C. Fusion bonding techniques require
well-polished and particle-freesurfaces (i.e. a clean room
environment). In addition, due to its high-temperature
nature and high sensitivity to wafer strain, fusion bonding
must be performed as early as possible in the process
sequence. Since the wafers are made from the same
material, no thermal stress is expected.
8.4 Glueing
Glueing has a number of advantages: no additional parts
are needed, enhancing miniaturisation and production
cost, materials with very different chemical composition
can be bonded, tolerances can be larger as the gap is
filled with glue, the connecting forces are spread over a
relatively large surface, and a hermetic sealing of the
connection is possible.
The many parameters influencing quality and strength of
the bond make glueing a difficult operation. Important
factors are surface cleanliness, surface roughness, glue
viscosity, wettability and material type. To get a surface
free of any contamination, soap or solvents are not
sufficient. The remaining contamination, a few atom
layers thick, can be removed with a UV/ozone or a
plasma treatment [89].
Important families of glues are acrylates and epoxies.
Among the acrylates, there exist cyanoactylates, well
known as 'superglue', and anaerobic glues.
Cyanoacrylates are one-component glues that cure due
to moisture absorbed on the substrate. Due to the low
viscosity, the glue penetrates well into the pores and a
strong bond is created on nearly every material.
Due to their sensitivity to humidity, temperature, shocks
and peeling, they should not be used where high
durability is required. Their fast curing, from seconds to
minutes, may be interesting in many cases, but it
impedes accurate positioning of the parts.
Another kind of acrylates are the anaerobic ones. These
have also a low viscosity and harden when excluded from
air. They withstand well humidity and some withstand
temperatures up to 250 "C. Drawback for the assembly of
465
miniature parts is that the depth of the gaps is not
sufficient to exclude the air, such that the glue does not
cure. Placing the parts in a vacuum chamber solves this
problem but is quite expensive and cumbersome.
Epoxies are two-component glues available in different
forms: paste, film, powder. The properties can be adapted
to the application: viscosity, high shear strength, high
peeling strength, shock resistance, heat resistance and
durability. Compared to other glues, epoxies fill gaps very
well and their shrinkage is low. Epoxies are often used for
their high strength, filling capacity and the large
positioning time.
Glueing small objects is a problem for a number of
reasons. Application of liquid glue with a dropper is
impossible due to the relatively large size of a drop
compared to the miniature objects. To apply smaller
quantities, needles or capillaries should be used. An
interesting way to apply small amounts of glue, is to use a
microdrop dispenser, similar to the systems used in some
ink jet printers. This way, Eberhardt et al. [go] could
dispense 50 pm diameter adhesive drops with a
reproducibility of 1 % on the volume.
Also the inclusion of air bubbles is a large problem [91].
These bubbles are introduced during mixing or during
application, for instance when glue is inserted into a
narrow blind hole.
Despite all the knowledge and the use of finite element
programs, the design of an optimal bond still requires
tests, experience and accurate control of conditions.
Figure 32 shows an automatic glueing station for the
assembly of microgenerators for kinetic watches at
Kinetron Systems B.V., the Netherlands.
Figure 32: Automatic glueing station for the assembly of
microgenerators (Kinetron Systems B.V.).
8.5 Welding
Laser welding
With laser welding, as well metals as plastics can be
joined. Which type of laser is most suited for the process
at hand depends on the materials that have to be welded
together, because the absorption ratio depends on the
frequency of the laser light and the material itself. In this
respect, there is a large correspondence with laser
cutting. The main difference with macroscopic-size
welding is that a higher positioning accuracy and a
smaller spot size are required. Another difference is that
masks can be used, a technique often applied in
microtechnology.
466
Friction welding (wire bonding, ultrasonic welding)
Ultrasonic bonding is often used for wire bonding of chips.
The wire and bonding surface (pad or frame) are forced
together. The tool and ultrasonic vibration are used to
compress the surfaces together to achieve the desired
bond. Ultrasonic bonding can be used when the device
cannot or should not be heated.
8.6 Soldering
Flip-chip solder bonding is a well established method for
performing simultaneous interconnection and mechanical
mounting of microelectronic components. The process is
explained in figure 33. First, an array of solder spheres is
created on one of the components to be joined. The
solder is constrained to defined areas by first depositing
”wettable metal” pads over otherwise non-wettable
surfaces. Solder is deposited over the wettable metal and
then melted, whereupon surface tension forces shape the
solder into perfect spherical caps.
The mating component is similarly prepared with a
spatially matching array of wettable pads. These are
roughly aligned with the solder spheres and the assembly
is heated to re-melt the solder. As the solder wets,
surface tension provides a restorative force that precisely
aligns the components. The energy balance of the
surface energy of the solder joint, the potential energy of
the solder joint, and the wetting energy controls the
relative horizontal and vertical locations.
The normal force is an order of magnitude higher than the
lateral force, making the joint more susceptible to lateral
misalignment compared to the axial displacement [92].
Under normal circumstances, the alignment tolerance
achieved between components is f 2 pm in the horizontal
plane and f 0.5 pm in the vertical direction [93]. The
reason for the relatively poor alignment in the horizontal
plane is because the restoring force goes very fast to
zero when the parts become aligned. Alignment better
than 0.25 pm can be achieved by deliberately misaligning
the pairs of wettable metal pads, as illustrated in figure 34
[93]. Then, the equilibrium position is a balance of
opposing forces.
The magnitude of the alignment force in lateral and axial
direction reduces with increase in solder volume [92].
Precision alignment in the vertical direction is thus
obtained by maximising the number of interconnects of
the smallest possible diameter. This combination provides
the highest surface tension force and internal pressure in
the solder spheres, and allows vertical alignment to f 0.2
&a
Watabb meld
As deposilea SddOr md1.d
Rwph l p n m M l Solder n.1l.d AYg”M W M
Figure 33: Flip-chip solder bonding [93].
Figure 34:Enhanced component alignment by
deliberate misalignment of the wettable pads [ 93).

pm [93]. According to Patra et at. [92], the axial
misalignment is primarily dictated by the accuracy of the
solder deposition height.
The components can thus be joined with sub-micron
precision and repeatability in three orthogonal directions.
State-of-the-art processes have been developed capable
of making over 100,000 interconnects simultaneously with
a 30 pm pitch [93].
9 EXAMPLES OF MICRO-ASSEMBLY SYSTEMS
SPI (Scientific Precision Instruments) commercialises a
modular assembly robot. The basis is an orthogonal
three-axial system driven by hybrid stepper motors and
precision micrometre spindles, having a resolution of 10
nm. The gripper consists of two elastomer fingers, a
passive one fixed to the basic three-axial robot, and an
active finger driven by a compact three-axial system fixed
to the basic three-axial robot. This allows not only
gripping of the part, but also rotating it between the
fingers. Assembly is monitored through two camera
microscopes giving a top and side view. The camera
system is mounted on a separate three-axial positioning
system. By moving the cameras synchronously with the
assembly robot, the gripper and parts can be observed
over large distances from the storage area to the
assembly place. A general overview is obtained from a
stationary camera with lower magnification.
At the Technical University of Vienna [94] a prototype
system with manipulation, assembly and testing
capabilities of microparts has been developed. All
operations can be performed either under normal air
(optical microscope) or under vacuum conditions (in a
SEM chamber under remote control). The system
includes one gripper and a pair of tweezers driven by a
single control unit. They are mounted on a three-axial
table to perform an XYZ-movement. The ranges are 20
mm in X and Y and 5 mm in Z-direction. The gripper is
controlled by one piezo-actuator. The arms of the
tweezers are independently controlled by two piezo-
elements.
A similar system was built at IPT, Aachen [31] for use in a
large-chamber SEM. Two independent Z-slides are
Figure 35: Micro-assembly system operating in ultrahigh
vacuum with tools for surface activated bonding [ 961.
Keynote Papers
provided with microgrippers driven by piezoactuators
(figure 7). An XY-plus-rotation table carries the products
to be assembled. This arrangement allows to keep the
focus of the LC-SEM system on the gripper jaws all the
time. A small gear pump has been assembled as a case
study.
Hatamura et al. [95] developed a three-dimensional
fabrication and assembly system, consisting of three
chambers: a shaping, a handling and a buffer chamber.
The shaping chamber contains a fast neutral atom beam
and optical microscopes. The handling chamber contains
several manipulators and a multi-view SEM. The part
remains fixed on a pallet which travels between the three
chambers. This avoids loss of coordinate information
between the different production and assembly steps.
The manipulators are arranged spherically around a
single point and make spherical movements, such that
the endeffector stays at a single point in the view. The
process table and manipulators are based on coarse-fine
motion, with the coarse motion generated by pulse
motors and ultrasonic motors, and the fine motion by
piezo devices. Each manipulator is equipped with a multi-
axis force sensor. Image data is used to compute the
relative positions of the parts.
A micro-assembly system for MEMS, using the surface
activated bonding (SAB) technique has been developed
at RCAST, University of Tokyo [96]. The basic concept of
SAB is that two atomically clean solid surfaces under
contact can develop a very strong adhesive force.
Atomically clean surfaces can be obtained by energetic
particle bombardment in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). The
micro-assembly system developed for this purpose is
shown in figure 35. It consists of an UHV chamber, a
multi-axis manipulator, a SEM, and an Ar-FAB source.
The two parts to be bonded together are brought in each-
other's vicinity by the multi-axial stage (14 degrees of
freedom (dofs)) and the manipulator (3 dofs). Their
positions are monitored by the SEM. The surface of the
specimen is then sputter-cleaned by Ar-FAB irradiation of
about 1-2 keV for several minutes. After the native oxide
or contamination layer is removed, they are brought into
contact under slight pressure. A powerful graphical user
interface (virtual manipulation system) has been
developed to operate the system.
Feldmann [97][98] has developed several robotised
assembly systems for 3D-assembly of SMDs (surface
mounted devices) in products made according to the MID
(Moulded Interconnect Device) technology. Figure 36
shows an assembly robot and a few examples of
assembled products.
Figure 36: Robotised 3D-assembly of SMDs in MID
products (FABS, Univ. of Erlangen, Germany).
467

Figure 37: Microfabrication process centre with its main
challenges [99j.
In (991, a microfab for the micro-assembly of optical
lenses for endoscopes is described. The microfab
concept was developed to provide innovative medium-
size companies with a customised concept for the
commercially viable introduction of microfabrication
technology. The microproduction process centre consists
of a number of tools, one or more handling units, and
standardised input/output interfaces for wafers,
substrates and semi-finished components. The control is
decentralised and the modular tools are capable of
working separately as well as working in linear or cluster-
like arrangements (figure 37). The assembly of
microcomponents onto a preprocessed substrate can be
decomposed into a series of operations like picking
components, dispensing adhesives, positioning,
assembly and inspection steps at chip level. The main
challenges, apart from developing suitable processing
steps, for a successful development of such processing
centres are contamination control, standard mechanical
and software interfaces, process control, production
(c) Assembly of the modules and the wet circuit board.
Figure 38: Assembly of the pTAS [ 1021.
468
planning, and feeding/handling/assembling.
A pilot plant for the assembly of the miniature gear trains
used in modern radio-controlled wrist-watches has been
developed by Reinhart [loo]. The required assembly
accuracy is in the region of 20 pm. The assembly is
performed with a SCARA robot with passive tolerance
compensation using a compliance in both the gripper and
the workpiece carrier. The gripper tool has integrated
solid-state joints free of backlash and friction, which
permit one rotary and three translatory compensating
movements. The workpiece carrier is mounted on an air
bearing which is also free of friction and allows two
translations and one rotation. The resetting force which is
needed to centre the workpiece carrier is realised in a
contactless way with four pairs of permanent magnets.
The sensitive gears are protected against damage and
contamination in gel packs, where they are retained in
position by adhesive forces. A stationary camera roughly
locates the gears at low resolution. In a second stage, a
camera mounted on the robot, operating with a reduced
field of view but at higher resolution, determines the
precise position and orientation of the components.
Weule et al. [ l o l l use a coarse-fine manipulator for the
handling of microparts produced by powder injection
moulding. The manipulator consists of an industrial 6-
axes robot (needed for large distances) combined with an
ultraprecise hexapod robot (needed for very small
distances). A batch-suction-gripper is used, able to grip 9
microparts at the same time.
A spin-off company of the University of Twente, 3T, has
developed a modular assembly technology (MATAS) for
hybrid micro total analysis systems (pTAS) [102]. These
latter systems are used for DNA analysers, online blood
or water analysis, medicine dosage systems, etc. The
essence of MATAS technology is a series of modules
designed to fit a class of sensor types that fit into holes in
a printed circuit board PCB). Electrical and mechanical
connections are made by soldering, fluidic
interconnections are realised by O-rings. Figure 38 a,b
and c illustrate the technology. The assembly technology
for surface mounted devices (SMD) can be used for
assembling the modules on the PCB.
In [103], an assembly system for beam transformation
systems of high-power laser diode bars for material
processing is described. Laser diode bars of 1 cm width
are formed from 20 to 50 high-power diode lasers
(HPDL). A beam transformation system circularises the
Figure 39: Beam transformation system for high-power
laser diode bars [ 1031.
 Keynote Papers

beam by means of an actively aligned fast-axis

collimation (FAC) lens, as shown in figure 39. The central
part of the assembly system is a 6-axis positioning
system. The most critical step in the assembly process is
the adjustment and fixing of the FAC lens. To give an
idea, for a 200 pm fibre coupled system a 1 pm FAC
height decentring results in about 50% excess loss. mg
F&iS&r(- *)
Assembly is carried out in closed loop with feedback from
an intensity profile measurement. In its final position, the F
leNW
i BO1w
- 1-
lens is glued to the heat sink while the laser operates at tmzBiImm
maximum output power.
Figure 41: Close-up view of the heart of the microrelay,
illustrating the flip-chip assembly [ 1041.
10 EXAMPLES OF ASSEMBLED MICROPRODUCTS
Siemens developed a small-signal relay fabricated by
silicon micromachining and using an electrostatic actuator
[I 051. The actuator consists of a variable capacitor with
two electrodes, a first flat and fixed electrode on an
insulating carrier chip and a second in the form of a bent
silicon leaf fixed at one side to a silicon chip forming a
'moving wedge' in between. The actuator size is about 1.5
mm2 and low pull-in voltages below 24V are achieved.
Figure 40 shows a double make relay with a three-chip
structure consisting of a glass carrier chip, a silicon chip
with etched spring blades and a glass cover chip fitted
together by anodic bonding without any organic adhesive.
A hermetically sealed contact chamber can be formed,
evacuated or filled with protective gas to provide long
electrical life times. Figure 42: Pacemaker electronics [ 1061.
In [104], the fabrication of a fully integrated Consequently, a completely different assembly system
electromagnetically actuated micromachined relay, technology is needed. Furthermore, a whole array of
enclosed in ceramic and plastic packages, is described. A alternative assembly techniques emerge, like the
multi-layer Cu coil is used to actuate a movable NiFe sacrificial layer technique, folding, flip-chip wafer-to-wafer
armature, thereby closing the Au contacts. With the transfer, self-assembly.
current design, magnetic forces of around 1 mN can be The MEMS technology, and its associated manufacturing
achieved. The fabrication process starts with two chips, technologies are still in their infancy. The industrial
which, after processing, are flip-chip bonded together potential is enormous however. Some sources predict
using a low-temperature ( ~ 3 5 0"C) soldering process. growth figures that are higher than those of the
The electrical contacts are housed in a hermetically microelectronics market. It is therefore a challenge for the
sealed cavity with a predetermined atmosphere. The relay CIRP community to adopt the MEMS technology as one
size is about 5 x 4 ~ 1mm3, excluding the package. Figure of its key research areas. The three keynote
41 shows the heart of the microrelay, illustrating the flip- presentations on MEMS-related subjects at this year's
chip assembly. The assembly process is based on the ClRP General Assembly indicate that the STCs start to
eutectic bonding between electroplated SnPb and gold. realise that something important is emerging here. It
Figure 42 shows the electronics of a pacemaker, should be seriously considered whether there is a need to
developed at IPK, Berlin [106]. The multi-chip module is establish a new STC on MEMS technology within CIRP.
completely automatically assembled on a flexible As is clear from this keynote paper the technologies
substrate. involved are so different from the mainstream
technologies considered in the present STCs that
grouping them in a separate STC might be justified.

12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks are due to following colleagues who
contributed valuable material : Prof. H. Makino, Prof. H.
Weule, Prof. T. Arai, Prof. G. Seliger, Prof. K. Feldmann,
Prof. H.K. Tonshoff, Dr. K. Baert, Prof. D. Milutinovic.

13 REFERENCES
Figure 40: Double make relay with three-chip structure Wechsung, R., Unal, N., Eloy, J.C., Wicht, H.,
[105]. October 1998, Market Analysis for Microsystems
-
1996 2002, NEXUS Task Force Report, Berlin.
11 CLOSING REMARKS N., 1998, Market analysis for microsystems 1996-
2002, mst news 3:38-41.
One of the main conclusions to be drawn from this
keynote paper is that, compared to the macroworld, the Weck, M., Petersen, B., 1999, High Precision
solution of assembly problems in the microworld requires Positioning Stage for Micro Assembly Purposes,
a fundamentally new approach to the different Symposium on Design, Test, and Microfabrication of
technological problem areas of the assembly sequence: MEMS and MOEMS, SPIE 3680:734-739.
gripping and grippers, manipulation, joining.

469
[4] Kaneko, K., Tokashiki, H., Tanie K., Komoriya, K.,
1997, Impedance Shaping based on Force
Feedback Bilateral Control in macro-Micro
Teleopeation System, Proc. ICRA, 710-717.
[5] Mitsuishi, M., lizuka, Y., Watanabe, H., Hashizume,
H., Fujiwara, K., 1998,Remote operation of a micro-
surgical system, Proc. ICRA, Int. Conf. on Robotics
and Automation, 1013-1019.
[6] Zhou, Y., Nelson, B.J., Vikramaditya, B., 1998,
Fusing Force and Vision Feedback for
Micromanipulation, Proc. ICRA, Int. Conf. on
Robotics an Automation, 1220-1225.
[7] Feddema, J.T., Simon, R.W., 1998, CAD-Driven
Microassembly and Visual Servoing, Proc. ICRA,
1212-121 9.
[8] Gengenbach, U., et al., 1995, Ein System zur
automatischen Montage von Mikrosystemen, 2.
Statuskolloquium des Projektes Mikrosystemtechnik,
Tagungsband, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, pp.
62-66.
[9] Fatikow, S., 1997, Microrobots Take On
Microassembly Tasks, mst news, 22:20-26.
[lo] Fatikow, S., 1998, Microrobot-Based Assembly of
Microsystems, NEXUS Research News, 1 :12-14.
[ll] Tsuchitani, S., et al., 1994, Measurement of the
Surface Force in Micro Structures and Its Reduction,
Trans. of the Society of Instrument and Control
Engineers, 30/2:136-142 (in Japanese).
[12]Tsuchitani, S.,Suzuki, S., et al, 1996,Theoretical
Study on the Surface Force in Microstructures,
Trans. of the Society of Instrument and Control
Engineers, 32/5:637-645(in Japanese).
[13] Fearing, R.S., 1995,Survey of Sticking Effects for
Micro Parts Handling, Proc. IROS '95,IEEE/RSJ Int.
Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2:212-217.
[14] Drexler, K.E., 1992, Nanosystems, Molecular
Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation, pp. 65,
John Wiley & Sons.
[I51 Arai, F., Ando, D., Fukuda, T., Nonoda, Y., Oota, T.,
1995,Micro Manipulation Based on Micro Physics -
Strategy Based on Attractive Force Reduction and
Stress Measurement, Proc. IROS '95,2:236-241.
[16]Arai, F., Andou, D., Nonoda, Y., Fukuda, T., Iwata,
H., Itoigawa, K., 1996,Micro Endeffector with Micro
Pyramids and Integrated Piezoresistive force
Sensor, Proc. IROS '96,2:842-849.
[17]Adamson, A.W., 1990, Physical Chemistry of
Surfaces, Fifth edition, pp. 58-59,Wiley&Sons.
[18] Maboudian, R., Howe, R.T., 1997, Critical Review:
Adhesion in surface micromechanical structures, J.
Vac. Sci. Technol. B, 15/1:I-20.
[19] Fearing, R.S., 1995, Grasping for Macro-scale and
Micro-scale, IROS '95,Workshop on "Working in the
micro-world: Systems to enable the manipulation
and machining of micro-objects", 13-40.
[20] Yeh, H., Smith, J.S., 1994,Fluidic self-assembly for
the integration of GaAs light-emitting diodes on Si
substrates, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters,
6/6:706-708.
[21] Bark, C., Binnenboese, T., 1998,Gripping with low
viscosity fluids, IEEE Int. Workshop on MEMS, 301-
305.
[22] Bbhringer, K.F., Prasad, R., McDonald, N.C., 1995,
Design, fabrication and characterization of single
crystal silicon latching snap fasteners for micro
assembly, Proc. of ASME Int. Mech. Eng. Congress
and Exposition (IMECE95).
470
[23]Zesch, W., Brunner, M. , Weber, A., 1997,Vacuum
tool for handling micro-objects with a nano-robot,
Proc. ICRA, 1761-1766.
[24]El-Khoury, M., 1998,Ice gripper handles micro-sized
components, Design News, September, pp. 8.
[25]Bbhringer, K.F., Fearing, R.S., Golgberg K.Y., 1998,
Chapter Micro-assembly, to appear in The
Handbook of Industrial Robotics, Second Edition,
Wiley & Sons.
[26]Kim, C.-J., Pisano, A.P., Muller, R.S., 1992,Silicon-
Processed Overhanging Microgripper, Journal of
MicroelectromechanicalSystems, 1/1:31-36.
[27]Suzumori, K., likura, S., Tanaka, H., 1991,Flexible
Microactuator for Miniature Robots, Proc. IEEE
MEMS workshop, 204-209.
[28]Peirs, J., Reynaerts, D., Van Brussel, H., A Micro
Robotic Arm for a Self Propelling Colonoscope,
1998,Proc. Actuator '98,576-579.
[29]Tanikawa, T., Arai, T., Masuda, T., 1996,
Development of Micro Manipulation System with
Two-Finger Micro Hand, Proc. IROS, 2:850-855.
[30]Kallio, P., Lind, M., Zhou, Q., Koivo, H.N., 1998,A 3
DOF Piezohydraulic Parallel Micromanipulator, Proc.
ICRA, 1823-1828.
[31]Weck, M., Hummler, J., Petersen, B., 1997,
Assembly of hybrid micro systems in a large-
chamber electron microscope by use of mechanical
grippers, Proc. of SPIE, Micromachining and
Microfabrication Process Technology 111, 3223:223-
229.
[32] Carroua, M.C., Dario, P., Menciassi, A., Fenu, A.,
1998,Manipulating Biologicaland Mechanical Micro-
Objects Using LIGA-Microfabricated End-Effectors,
Proc. ICRA, 181 1-1816.
[33]Ando, Y., 1992, Micro Grippers, J. Robotics
Mechatronics, 2:214-217.
[34]Breguet, J.-M., Henein, S., Mericio, R., Clavel, R.,
1997, Monolithic Piezoceramic Flexible structures
for Micromanipulation, Proc. of the gthInt. Precision
Engineering Seminar, 397-400.
[35]Bellouard, Y., Clavel, R., Gotthardt, R., Bidaux J.-E.,
Sidler, T., 1998,A New Concept of Monolithic Shape
Memory Alloy Micro-devices used in Micro-robotics,
Proc. Actuator 98,499-502.
[36] Hesselbach, J., Pittschellis, R., Hornbogen, E.,
Mertmann, M., 1997,Shape memory alloys for use
in miniature grippers, Proc. SMST, Int. Conf. On
Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies, 251 -
256.
[37] Ikuta, K., 1990,Micro/Miniature Shape Memory Alloy
Actuator, Proc. ICRA, 2156-2161.
[38] Furuya, Y., Shimada, H., 1990, Shape Memory
Actuators for Robotic Applications, in Engineering
Aspects of Shape Memory Alloys, Buttennrorth-
Heinemann, 338-355.
[39]http://bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu/,Berkeley Sensor &
Actuator Center web page.
[40]Greitmann, G., Buser, R.A., 1996, Tactile
microgripper for automated handling of microparts,
Sensors and Actuators, A53:410-415.
[41] Keller, C.G., Howe, R.T., 1997,Hexsil Tweezers for
Teleoperated Micro-Assembly, IEEE Workshop on
Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 72-73.
[42]Westkiimper, E., Schraft, R.D., Bark, C., V6gele, G.,
Weisener, T., 1996, Adhesive Gripper -a new

approach to handling MEMS, Proc. Actuator 96,
100-103.
[43] Grutzeck, H., Kiesewetter, L., 1998, Downscaling of
Adhesive and Capillary Grippers for Micro
Assembly, Micro System Technologies 98, 6‘h Int.
Conf. On Micro Electro, Opto, Mechanical Systems
and Components, 237-242.
[44] Arai, F., Fukuda, T., 1997, Adhesion-type Micro
Endeffector for Micromanipulation, Proc. ICRA,
1472-1477.
[45] Helin, P., Druon, C., Sadaune, V., 1996, A
Microconveyor Using Surface Acoustic Waves in the
HF Band, Proc. Mecatronics ’96, 580-582.
[46] Reinhart, G., Hoppner, J., 1999, Beruhrungslose
Handhabung mit Leistungsschall, Werkstattstechnik,
89191429-432.
[47] Coutinho, M.G., Will, P.M., Viswanathan, P.S., 1997,
The Intelligent Motion Surface: A hardware/software
tool for the assembly of meso-scale devices, Proc.
ICRA, 1755-1760.
(481 Suh, J.W., Glander, S.F., Darling, R.B., Storment,
C.W., Kovacs, G.T.A., 1996, Combined Organic
Thermal and Electrostatic Omnidirectional Ciliary
Microactuator Array for Object Positioning and
Inspection, MEMS Workshop, 168-173.
[49] Bohringer, K.-F., Suh, J.W., Donald, B.R. Kovacs,
G.T.A., 1997, Vector Fields for Task-level
Distributed Manipulation: Experiments with Organic
Micro Actuator Arrays, Proc. ICRA, 1779-1786.
[50] Bohringer, K.-F., Donald, B.R., Mihailovich, R.,
MacDonald, N.C., 1994, A Theory of Manipulation
and Control for Microfabricated Actuator Arrays,
IEEE MEMS, 102-107.
[51] Konishi, S., Fujita, H., 1996, Two-dimensional
Conveyance System using Cooperative Motions of
Many Microactuators, Proc. IROS ‘96, 2:988-992.
[52] Mita, Y., Konishi, S., Fujita, H., 1996,
Implementation of a micro conveyance system
controller, Proc. of the 3rd France-Japan Congress
& 1st Europe-Asia Congress on Mechatronics,
2:583-588.
[53] Sato, T., 1996, Micro/Nano Manipulation World,
Proc. IROS ‘96, 2:834-841.
[54] Hohn, M., Jacob, D., 1999, Montagetechnik fur
Mikrosysteme, iwb-newsletter 7,1/2:2-3.
[55] Rambin, C.L., Warrington, R.O., 1994, Micro-
assembly with a focused laser beam, Proc. IEEE
MEMS, 285-290.
[56] Higurashi, E., Ukita, H., Tanaka, H., Ohguchi, O.,
1994, Rotational control of anisotropic micro-objects
by optical pressure, Proc. IEEE MEMS, 291-296.
[57] Morishima, K., Arai, F., Fukuda, T., Matsuura, H.,
Yoshikawa, K., 1998, Bio-Micromanipulation System
for High Throughput Screening of Microbes in
Microchannel, Proc. ICRA, 1198-1203.
[58] Sugiura, T., Kawata, S., Minami, S., 1990, Optical
rotation of small particles by a circulary-polarized
laser beam in an optical microscope, J. Spectrosc.
SOC.Jpn., 39:342.
[59] Sato, S., Ishigure, M., Inaba, H., 1991, Optical
trapping and rotational manipulation of microscopic
particles and biological cells using higher-order
mode Nd:YAG laser beams, Electron. Lett.,
27: 1831.
[60] Ahn, C.H., Allen, M.G., 1994, A Fully Integrated
Micromachined Magnetic Particle Manipulator and
Separator, Proc IEEE MEMS, 91-96.
Keynote Papers
[61] http://www.sees.bangor.ac.uk/-rslee/biochip/paged
science/dep.htm, 2000, Internet pages of the
Institute of Molecular & Biomolecular Electronics,
University of Wales, United Kingdom.
[62] Morishima, K., Fukuda, T., Arai, F., Yoshikawa, K.,
1997, Manipulation of DNA Molecule Utilizing the
Conformational Transition in the Higher Order
Structure of DNA, Proc. ICRA, 1454-1459.
[63] http://www.sees.bangor.ac.uk/-rslee/biochip/mainpa
ges/frontframe.htm, lntemet pages of the Institute of
Molecular & Biomolecular Electronics, University of
Wales, United Kingdom.
[64] Sniegowski, J.J., 1996, Multi-level polysilicon
surface-micromachining technology: applications
and issues, ASME Int. Mechanical Engineering
Congress and Exposition, Proc. ASME Aerospace
Division, AD-Vol. 52:751-759.
[65] Langen, H.H., Masuzawa, T. , Fujino, M., 1995,
Modular Method for Microparts Machining and
Assembly with Self-Alignment, Annals of the CIRP,
44/1:173-176.
[66] Masuzawa, T., Tonshoff, H.K., 1997, Three-
Dimensional Micromachining by Machine Tools,
Annals of the CIRP, 46/2:621-628.
[67] Muller, R.S., Lau, K.Y., 1998, Surface-
Micromachined Microoptical Elements and Systems,
Proc. of the IEEE, Special Issue: Integrated
Sensors, Microactuators, & Microsystems (MEMS),
86/8: 1705-1720.
[68] Syms, R.R.A., 1995, Equilibrium of Hinged and
Hingeless Structures Rotated Using Surface
Tension Forces, Journal of Microelectromechanical
Systems, 4/4:177-184.
[69] Green, P.W., Syms, R.R.A., Yeatman, E.M., 1995,
Demonstration of Three-Dimensional Microstructure
Self-Assembly, Journal of Microelectromechanical
Systems, 4/4:170-176.
[70] Yeh, R., Kruglick, E.J.J., Pister, K.S.J., 1996,
Surface-Micromachined Components for Articulated
Microrobots, Journal of Microelectromechanical
Systems, 511:10-17.
[71] Kiang, M.-H., Solgaard, O., Lau, K.Y., Muller, R.S.,
1998, Electrostatic Combdrive-Actuated
Micromirrors for Laser-Beam Scanning and
Positioning, Journal of Microelectromechanical
Systems, 7/1:27-37.
[72] Kiang, M.-H., Solgaard, O., Lau, K.Y., Muller, R.S.,
1998, Polysilicon optical microscanners for laser
displays, Sensors and Actuators, A70: 195-199.
[73] Reid, J.R., Bright, V.M., Butler, J.T., 1998,
Automated assembly of flip-up micromirors, Sensors
and Actuators, A66:292-298.
[74] Oh, K.W., Ahn, C.H., Roenker, K.P., 1999, Flip-Chip
packaging using micromachined conductive polymer
bumps and alignment pedestals for MOEMS, IEEE
J. of selected topics in quantum electronics,
5/11119-126.
[75] Seter, D.J., Degani, O.B., Klador, S., Scher, E.,
Nemirovsky, Y., 1999, Characterization of a novel
micromachined optical vibrating rate gyroscope,
Review of scientific instruments, 70:2.
[76] Salalha, W., Zussman, E., Kaldor, S., 2000,
Prediction of yield for flip-chip packaging, Proc. of
the CIRP design seminar.
[77] Irwin, R., Zhang, W., Harsh, K., and Lee, Y.C., 1999,
Quick prototyping of flip-chip assembly with MEMS,
47 1
 Technical Report, Department of Mechanical Eng.,
University of Colorado at Boulder.
[78] Singh, A., Horsley, D.A., Cohn, M.B., Pisano, A.P.,
and Howe, R.T., 1999, Batch transfer of
microstructures using flip-chip solder bonding, IEEE
J. of microelectromechanical systems, 8/1:27-33.
[79] Begemann, M., Ehtfeld, W., Michel, R., Weber, L.,
Berg, U., 1998, Preadjusted Assembly Magazines,
Micro System Technologies 98, 6Ih International
Conference on Micro Electro, Opto, Mechanical
Systems and Components, 676-678.
[80] Yeh H.-J.J., Smith, J.S., 1994, Fluidic Self-Assembly
of Microstructures and its Application to the
Integration of GaAs on Si, Proc. IEEE MEMS, 279-
284.
[81] Cohn, M.B., 1994, Method and Apparatus for the
Assembly of Microfabricated Devices, US Patent nr.
5 355 577.
[82] Bohringer, K.-F., Goldberg, K., Cohn, M., Howe, R.,
Pisano, A., 1998, Parallel Microassembly with
Electrostatic Force Fields, Proc. ICRA, 1204-1211.
[83] Shivkumar, B., Kim, C.-J., 1997, Microrivets for
MEMS Packaging: Concept, Fabrication, and
Strength Testing, Journal of Microelectromechanical
Systems, 6/3:217-225.
[84] Han, H., Weiss, L.E., Reed, M.L., 1992,
Micromechanical Velcro, Journal of
Microelectromechanical Systems, 1/1:37-43.
[85] Gonzalez, C., Smith, R.L., Howitt, D.G., Collins,
S.D., 1998, MicroJoinery: concept, definition, and
application to microsystem development, Sensors
and Actuators, A66:315-332.
[86] Lapadatu, A.C., 1999, Anodic Bonding for the
Fabrication of Self-Testable pressure Sensors, PhD
thesis, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium.
[87] Schulze, S., 1995, Silicon bonding in microsystem
technology, Proc. of the NEXUS-Workshop on
Micro-Machining.
[88] Madou, M., 1997, Fundamentals of Microfabrication,
p. 389, CRC-Press.
[89] Poulis, J.A., Cool, J.C., Logtenberg, E.H.P., 1994,
Lijmen van kleine onderdelen (2), UV/ozon en
andere reinigingsmethoden vergeleken, Mikroniek
1:24-29.
[go] Eberhardt, R., Scheller, T., Menzel, E.-M., Doring,
M., Lenhardt, K., Kopp, H., 1998, Automated
assembly of Microcomponents supported by a 3D-
inspection system , Micro System Technologies 98,
6'h Int. Conf. On Micro Electro, Opto, Mechanical
Systems and Components, 249-255.
[91] Poulis, J.A., Cool, J.C., Logtenberg, E.H.P., 1993,
Lijmen van kleine onderdelen (l), Mikroniek 5140-
147.
[92] Patra, S.K., Sritharan, S.S., Lee, Y.C., 1995,
Quantitative Characterisation of a Flip-Chip Solder
Joint, Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Applied
Mechanics, 62:390-397.
[93] Humpston, G., 1997, Flip-Chip Solder Bonding for
Microsystems, IEE Colloquium on assembly and
connections in microsystems, 3:l-3.
[94] Brenner, W. , Petrovic, D., Chatzitheodoridis, E.,
Popovic, G., Haddad, G., Kukla, C., Vujanic, A.,
1998, A new Manipulation System for use under
SEM Observation, Micro System Technologies 98,
6th Int. Conf. on Micro Electro, Opto, Mechanical
Systems and Components, 728-730.
472
[95] Hatamura, Y., Nakao, M., Sato, T., 1997,
Construction of an Integrated Manufacturing System
for 3D Microstructure - Concept, Design and
Realization, Annals of the CIRP, 46/1:313-318.
[96] Suga, T., Ishii, Y., Hosoda, N., 1997, Microassembly
System for Integration of MEMS Using the Surface
Activated Bonding Method, IEICE Trans. on
Electronics, E80-C/2:297-302.
[97] Feldmann, K., Krimi, S., 1998, Alternative
Placement Systems for Three-Dimensional Circuit
Boards, Annals of the CIRP,47/1:23-26.
[98] Feldmann, K., Brand, A., 1994, Analytical and
Experimental Research on Assembly Systems for
Molded Interconnection Devices (3D-MID), Annals of
the CIRP, 43/1:15-18.
[99] Schuenemann, M., Grimme, R., Kaufmann, T.,
Schwaab, G., Bader, U., Schaefer W., Dorner, J.,
1997, Manufacturing Concepts and Development
Trends in the Industrial Production of
Microelectromechanical Systems, Proc. of SPIE:
Microrobots and Microsystem Fabrication, 3202:l-
12.
[IOOIReinhatt, G., Hohn, M., 1997, Growth into
Miniaturisation - Flexible Microassembly
Automation, Annals of the CIRP, 46/1:7-10.
[101]Weule, H., Spath, D., Blessing, A., Peles, T., 2000,
Handling of miniaturized components by sensor-led
hybrid kinetics, Proc. IAS6.
[I 021Wissink, J.M., 2000, MATAS: A modular assembly
technology for hybrid pTAS, mst news, 1:20-22.
[103]Gattner, C., Blumel, V., Kraplin, A., PoOner, T.,
2000, Micro-assembly processes for beam
transformation systems of high-power laser diode
bars, mst news, 1:23-24.
104]Tilmans, H.A.C., Fullin, E., Ziad, H., Van de Peer,
M.D.J., Kesters, J., Van Geffen, E., Bergqvist, J.,
Pantus, M., Beyne, E., Baert, K., Naso, F., 1999, A
fully-packaged electromagnetic microrelay, MEMS
'99,25-30.
105]Schlaak, H.F., Arndt, F., Hanke, M., 1997, Silicon-
microrelay - a small signal relay with electrostatic
actuator, 45Ih Annual Int. Relay Conf.
[106]Schaldach, M., 1999, Synergetic Engineering -
Entwicklung eines neuen Integrations- und
Fertigungskonzeptes anhand mikroelektronischer
Implantate, PhD thesis, Technical University Berlin.