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

SBIR 第一阶段：用于多品种、小批量微芯片生产的敏捷微加工平台

• 批准号: 2036272
• 负责人: Mitchell Hsing
• 金额: $ 25.6万
• 依托单位: INCHFAB INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-02-01 至 2022-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2036272&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Agile; Microfabrication; Platform

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.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是创建快速制造和按需微芯片微制造能力。这是通过一个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）开发者的需求。这一创新将使物联网开发人员能够以目前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，从而进一步刺激制造业、安全和众多其他领域的增长。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。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将解决与微电子制造到桌面形式因素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圆键合系统。在桌面规模上开发这一关键能力需要对复杂系统进行精确的工程设计，包括精密运动控制器，摄像机，运动学夹具，致动器和加热器到紧凑的模块中。此外，这些复杂的模块必须支持和维护具有真空压力和隔振等要求的敏感环境。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圆对准，如何通过多轴运动保持晶圆位置的精确配准，以及如何使用边缘安装的光学元件而不是自下而上或自上而下的光学元件获得微米级对准标记的光学分辨率。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。