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

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是创建快速制造和按需微芯片微制造能力。这是由一个快速制造平台实现的，该平台旨在满足微电子机械系统(MEMS)、物联网(IoT)和生物应用(BioMEMS)中的MEMS开发人员的需求。这项创新将使物联网开发人员能够以当今典型产品的一小部分成本和时间创造基于MEMS的新产品。这将使高价值、大规模定制的物联网设备的开发成为可能，从而进一步刺激制造业、安全和许多其他领域的增长。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外形尺寸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对复杂系统进行精确设计，包括将精密运动控制器、摄像头、运动夹具、执行器和加热器集成到紧凑的模块中。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片对齐，如何通过多轴移动保持晶片位置的精确对准，以及如何使用边缘安装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别的对准标记光学分辨率。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.