Abrasive jet micromachining of novel features in polymers and glass

磨料射流微加工（AJM）是一种利用小型高速空气射流将微小的磨料颗粒加速到目标材料的加工方法。通过用抗侵蚀掩模对目标表面进行图案化，可以机械地将各种微尺度特征（如微通道、微孔、v形槽等）蚀刻到目标表面。蚀刻可以通过不同的工艺参数来控制，如掩膜和颗粒材料的性能，射流的冲击角，以及射流内颗粒的速度和空间分布。AJM是一种相对较新的方法来制造硅、陶瓷和聚合物结构，用于微机电系统（MEMS）、光电、微燃料电池和微流体应用。与传统的微加工工艺相比，AJM的优点包括更高的材料去除率、更低的设备成本、环保（无化学品）以及在单一基板上蚀刻材料到不同深度的能力。因此，可以安装简单的低成本和环保系统，为新型微型元件的内部快速原型设计提供了一种方法。研究人员先前已经建立了工艺模型，可用于预测玻璃基板中常用的微尺度特征（通道、孔、平面区域）的蚀刻形状。拟议的研究建立在这项工作的基础上，建立并实验验证分析和数值过程模型，将AJM的应用扩展到材料（聚合物/弹性体和层状材料）的新型3D和多层特征的微加工中，这些材料将形成我们工业合作伙伴感兴趣的下一代微部件。这些工艺模型将纳入各种工艺参数（粒度、形状、速度、掩膜材料、几何形状、目标材料等）变化对预测蚀刻形状的影响。这项基础研究将为提高AJM作为低成本和快速周转技术平台的潜力奠定基础，该平台可用于微型燃料电池、微流控芯片实验室、光电子和MEMS行业的新型多级和3D组件的微制造。

Abrasive jet micromachining (AJM) uses a small high-speed air jet to accelerate microscopic abrasive particles toward a target material. By patterning the target surface with erosion resistant masks, various microscale features (e.g. microchannels, microholes, v grooves, etc) can be mechanically etched into it. The etching can be controlled by varying process parameters such as the mask and particle material properties, the jet impact angle, and the velocity and spatial distribution of particles within the jet. AJM is a relatively new approach to the fabrication of silicon, ceramic and polymeric structures for micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), optoelectronic, micro-fuel cell and microfluidic applications. Advantages of AJM over traditional microfabrication processes include a much higher material removal rate, a much lower equipment cost, environmental friendliness (no chemicals) and the ability to etch materials to different depths on a single substrate. As a result, simple low cost and environmentally friendly systems can be installed to provide a method for in house rapid prototyping of novel micro scale components. The investigators have previously established process models that can be used to predict the etched shape of commonly used microscale features (channels, holes, planar areas) in glass substrates. The proposed research builds on this work, to establish and experimentally verify analytical and numerical process models that will extend the application of AJM to the micromachining of novel 3D and multilevel features in the materials (polymers/elastomers and layered materials) that will form the next generation of micro components of interest to our industrial partners. These process models will incorporate the effect of changes in a wide variety of process parameters (particle size, shape, velocity, mask material, geometry, target material, etc.) on the predicted etched shape. This fundamental research will form the basis for improving AJM's potential as a low cost and rapid-turnaround technology platform for the microfabrication of novel multilevel and 3D components for the micro fuel cell, microfluidic lab-on-chip, opto-electronics, and MEMS industries in Canada.