SBIR Phase I: An Agile Microfabrication Platform for High-Mix, Low-Volume Microchip Production

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是创造快速制造和按需微芯片微制造能力。这是通过快速制造平台实现的，该平台旨在满足微机电系统（MEMS），物联网（IoT）和生物应用中的MEMS（bioMEMS）开发人员的需求。这一创新将使物联网开发人员能够以当今典型成本和时间的一小部分创建新的基于MEMS的产品。这将有助于开发高价值、大规模定制的物联网设备，进一步刺激制造业、安全和其他众多领域的增长。 该项目将首次为MEMS社区提供真正的低成本快速制造能力，从而解决该行业长期存在的挑战。该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将解决与微电子制造到桌面形状因子的可行性和可扩展性相关的关键技术问题。制造平台所需的能力是晶片键合系统。在桌面规模上开发这一关键能力需要将复杂系统（包括精密运动控制器、摄像头、运动夹具、致动器和加热器）精确设计成紧凑的模块。此外，这些复杂的模块必须支持和维护敏感的环境，如真空压力和振动隔离的要求。关键问题仍然存在，例如如何在系统模块之间移动时保持晶片对准，如何通过多轴移动保持晶片位置的精确对准，以及如何利用边缘安装的光学器件而不是自下而上或自上而下地获得对准标记的微米级光学分辨率，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的知识产权评估的支持。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to create a rapid manufacturing and on-demand microchip microfabrication capability. This is enabled by a rapid-manufacturing platform that is targeted at serving the needs of micro-electromechanical system (MEMS), Internet of Things (IoT), and MEMS in biological applications (bioMEMS) developers. The innovation will enable IoT developers to create new MEMS-based products at a fraction of the cost and time typical today. This will enable development of high-value, mass-customized IoT devices that will further stimulate growth in manufacturing, security, and a multitude of other areas. This project will enable for the first time, a true low-cost rapid manufacturing capability for the MEMS community, thus addressing a long standing challenge in the industry.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will address key technical questions related to the feasibility and scalability of microelectronics manufacturing to tabletop form factors. A capability required for the manufacturing platform is a wafer bonding system. Development of this key capability on a tabletop scale requires precise engineering of a complex system including precision motion controllers, cameras, kinematic fixtures, actuators, and heaters into compact modules. Furthermore, these complex modules must support and maintain sensitive environments with requirements like vacuum pressures and vibration isolation. Key questions remain such as how to maintain wafer alignment while moving between system modules, how to preserve precise registration of wafer positions through multi-axis movements, and how to attain micron-level optical resolution of alignment marks with edge-mounted optics rather than bottom-up or top-down optics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.