Highly parallel mass fabrication and assembly of microdevices

Abstract

 A process sequence for highly parallel manufacture and assembly of microdevices was developed and proven experimentally. By means of moulding or embossing a multitude of microstructures is built up on a common base plate in the first step. Subsequently, a plate-shape magazine with embedded microstructures is generated by a combination of casting and mechanical machining processes where the common base plate is removed. In this way, the microstructures become separated from each other by remain fixed and precisely positioned in the embedding material layer. Parallel assembly is now simply possible by pushing pins, which eject the microstructures from the magazine onto defined mounting positions of the microdevice to be assembled. The capacity of this process has been demonstrated by the manufacture of micro gear systems.