Silicon-processed overhanging microgripper

Author

Kim, Chang-Jin ; Pisano, Albert P. ; Muller, Richard S.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA

Volume

1

Issue

1

fYear

1992

fDate

3/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

31

Lastpage

36

Abstract

A silicon-processed microgripper, suitable for mounting on a micropositioner, has been designed and fabricated by combining surface and bulk micromachining. The microgripper consists of a silicon die (7 mm×5 mm), a 1.5 mm long support cantilever, made from boron-doped silicon substrate material (protruding from the die), and a 400 μm long polysilicon overhanging gripper extending from the end of the support cantilever. The microgripper is electrostatically driven by flexible, interdigitated comb pairs and has significantly smaller feature sizes than have been reported previously for overhanging microstructures. Problems addressed successfully in the microgripper fabrication include the protection of surface-micromachined fine structures during bulk-silicon etching and rinsing. The microgripper has successfully seized several microscopic objects in laboratory experiments

Keywords

electric actuators; electrostatic devices; industrial robots; micromechanical devices; silicon; sputter etching; 400 micron; 7 mm; Si; bulk micromachining; cantilever; electrostatically driven; fabrication; interdigitated comb pairs; laboratory experiments; micropositioner; microscopic objects seizure; overhanging microgripper; surface-micromachined fine structures; Arm; Etching; Fabrication; Grippers; Laboratories; Micromachining; Microscopy; Microstructure; Protection; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/84.128053

Filename

128053