Developing a 3D Co-printing Technology for Fabrication of Monolithic Microelectromechanical Systems

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Demands for Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) devices have been continuously increasing in both the traditional fields and emerging fields of applications such as Internet of Things (IoT), smart phones, electric vehicles, etc. The emerging fields of applications are driving new MEMS developments. Also driven by the fast changing market, the R&D cycles need to become shorter than before. In addition, small to mid-scale productions are frequently demanded by more and more requests for customized and/or personalized products. Design, prototyping and manufacturing of MEMS devices are largely limited by the conventional micro/nanofabrication design rules and/or processes, as well as the techniques for device assembly and packaging. In addition, the current choices of materials for MEMS devices are limited to those traditional micro/nanofabrication processes based materials. It’s highly desirable to develop more versatile and robust new technologies for fabrication of MEMS devices, more importantly, which should enable fabrication of more complex 3D MEMS devices and enable more material selections. The objective of this application is to develop a “free-form” 3D co-printing technology that offers new options for design, fabrication, assembly and packaging of monolithic MEMS devices, and offers more choices for the structural and functional materials of the devices. The long-term goals of this program are to develop a total solution based on the additive manufacturing concept for small to mid-scale productions of some types of MEMS devices, and to develop a new class of MEMS devices. The proposed program is also an excellent program for HQP training that provides opportunities for the young generation of engineers and scientists to learn and practice the leading-edge technologies in the emerging fields of advanced manufacturing and MEMS.