PFI:AIR - TT: Micro and Nanofabricated Semiconductor and Ceramic Blade Arrays for Surgical and Hair Removal Applications

PFI:AIR - TT：用于手术和脱毛应用的微纳制造半导体和陶瓷刀片阵列

• 批准号: 1445097
• 负责人: M Saif Islam
• 金额: $ 19.99万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-15 至 2015-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1445097&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; AIR; TT; Micro; Nanofabricated

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on translating atomically sharp disposable surgical blades through standard semiconductor processing techniques used by the microelectronics industries in Silicon Valley. The technology will address the need for low cost blades used in cataract surgery, tissue cutting and hair removal applications. The project will enable high-throughput manufacturing of ultra-sharp semiconductor and ceramic based cutting tools with associated safety features and potential integration of a variety of electrical, optical and mechanical sensors that are not possible in metal based blade platforms. Conventional metal blades used in surgical or hair removal applications experience oxidation and become blunt over time due to micro-chipping, rusting and burr formation. In cataract surgery, a single-use blade is desirable. However, surgeons in most countries re-use them on several patients due to their high cost (around US$50 per blade) emanating from a serial manufacturing process. Such practice may lead to a risk of compromising patient safety. This project will result in massively parallel blade manufacturing processes to produce several thousand identical blades from a single wafer with atomic level sharpness and ultra-long durability at a fraction of the cost of their existing counterparts. Further, the cutting edge profile, sharpness, size and angles of such blades can be fine-tuned and controlled using matured micro/nano-fabrication techniques. Blade technologies developed in this project could dramatically reduce the cost of disposable ophthalmic surgical blades and offer improved shaving experience with integrated sensors for skin and hair condition monitoring. Atomic sharpness achieved via micro-fabrication processes will play a key role in breaking the status quo in the saturated hair removal blades market.This project will pursue micromachining of silicon and ceramics to fabricate micro-ridges with atomically sharp cutting edges. Unlike the sequential polishing process using harsh chemicals for the fabrication of current blades, this project will develop and employ a massively parallel microfabrication process commonly used by the semiconductor industry. Commercialization of such blades will depend on addressing several technology gaps that this project will address. These include the (a) development of high-throughput fabrication protocol based on a combination of wet and dry etching of thick silicon and ceramic wafers along with conformal thin film coating processes with tightly controlled composition, thickness and hardness, (b) establishment of manufacturing device design space and yield geometrical window, (c) development of an early stage prototype by integrating handles to blades and packaging them cost-effectively, (d) conducting lab tests for mechanical and maneuvering stability, and (e) process development for large-scale production. Semiconductor and ceramics are rust-free, more biocompatible, micro-machinable and their applications in blade fabrication are enabled by highly matured, inexpensive and green micro-nanofabrication technology. A graduate student and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) will have the opportunity to be educated in the immersive transdisciplinary nature of this project, uniquely preparing them with training in technology translation to solve important problems in the engineering marketplace and succeed in today?s highly competitive entrepreneurship and industrial environments. The project engages a Co-PI from Graduate School of Management of UC Davis to guide this technology translation effort from research discovery toward commercial reality.

该PFI：空气技术翻译项目的重点是通过硅谷的微电子行业使用的标准半导体处理技术翻译原子上的一次性手术刀片。该技术将满足白内障手术，组织切割和脱毛应用中使用的低成本刀片的需求。该项目将实现具有相关安全功能的超级半导体和基于陶瓷的切割工具的高通量制造，以及在基于金属的叶片平台中不可能的各种电气，光学和机械传感器的潜在集成。用于手术或脱毛应用中的常规金属叶片会经历氧化并随着时间的推移而变成钝的，由于微片，生锈和毛刺形成。在白内障手术中，需要一次使用刀片。但是，大多数国家的外科医生由于串行制造过程散发出的高成本（每刀片50美元），重新使用了几名患者。这种做法可能导致损害患者安全的风险。该项目将导致巨大的平行叶片制造工艺，从一个具有原子水平清晰度和超长耐用性的单个晶圆产生数千个相同的叶片，其成本的一小部分。此外，可以使用成熟的微/纳米制作技术对这种叶片的尖端轮廓，清晰度，大小和角度进行微调和控制。该项目中开发的刀片技术可以大大降低一次性眼科手术叶片的成本，并通过用于皮肤和头发状况监测的集成传感器提供改进的剃须体验。通过微型制作过程实现的原子清晰度将在打破饱和的脱毛叶片市场中的现状中发挥关键作用。该项目将追求硅和陶瓷的微加工，以制造具有原子尖锐切割边缘的微型钢铁。与使用苛刻的化学物质制造当前叶片的顺序抛光过程不同，该项目将开发并采用半导体行业常用的大量平行微加工过程。这种刀片的商业化将取决于解决该项目将解决的几个技术差距。其中包括（a）基于厚硅和陶瓷蜡的干燥和干燥蚀刻的组合以及具有紧密控制的组成，厚度和硬度的结合，（b）建立制造设备设计空间和产量的型号的开发（c），（c）在建立工具（c），（c）布置（c）布料（C）实验室测试机械和机动稳定性，以及（e）大规模生产的过程开发。半导体和陶瓷是没有生锈的，更具生物相容性的，可微观的，可通过高度成熟，廉价和绿色的微型纳米化技术来实现刀片制造。加利福尼亚大学戴维斯分校（UC戴维斯）的研究生和博士后研究员将有机会接受该项目的沉浸式跨学科性质的教育，为他们在技术翻译中的培训中为他们提供了独特的准备，以解决工程市场中的重要问题，并在当今的工程市场中取得了成功。该项目与加州大学戴维斯分校管理研究生院的Co-PI参与，以指导从研究发现到商业现实的技术翻译工作。