Development Of EFAB Set-up And Related Basic Experiments

Micro-electroforming technology is one of the micro-machining technology which is developed in recent years. It is based on traditional electroforming technology and combines with integrated circuit technology. Electrochemical Fabrication (EFAB) technology is a newly developed micro-electroforming technology which can produce MEMS metal device. It is a novel, high-aspect-ratio true 3D micro-fabrication process for rapid, low-cost desktop micromachining of MEMS.By analyzing the features of EFAB process, an improvement is introduced to the part of selective electroforming: separating the anode and cathode to improve the flowing of solution and ion diffusion. The author designs a set-up based on this idea. Two steps which are selective electroforming and blanket planting will be performed on this set-up. A wire cutting machine will finish the step of planarization.A double vertical column style is chosen as the main mechanical structure, which has the advantage of excellent structure rigidity as well as good maneuverability. The set-up has three axis which all use lead screw and guide as their transmission mechanism. Structural design and improvement are carried on in this part. Two sets of fluid supply system are used on this set-up. The one is used as the supply of entire set-up, the other is used as the supply of inlaying column.A series of structures are designed to solve the problems, such as the poor attaching between the anode and cathode which affects the quality of electroforming. It is proved by the results of the following experiment that they work in some extent. Other steps of EFAB process are also performed.