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

无论是在传统领域还是在物联网（IoT）、智能手机、电动汽车等新兴应用领域，对微机电系统（MEMS）器件的需求都在不断增长。新兴应用领域正在推动新的MEMS发展。同样受快速变化的市场驱动，研发周期需要比以前更短。此外，越来越多的定制和/或个性化产品的需求经常要求中小型生产。 MEMS器件的设计、原型制作和制造在很大程度上受到常规微/纳米制造设计规则和/或工艺以及用于器件组装和封装的技术的限制。此外，目前MEMS器件的材料选择仅限于那些传统的基于微/纳米制造工艺的材料。因此，迫切需要开发出更加通用和强大的MEMS器件制造新技术，更重要的是，这将能够制造更复杂的3D MEMS器件并实现更多的材料选择。 该申请的目的是开发一种“自由形式”的3D共打印技术，为单片MEMS器件的设计、制造、组装和封装提供新的选择，并为器件的结构和功能材料提供更多的选择。该计划的长期目标是开发基于增材制造概念的整体解决方案，用于某些类型MEMS器件的中小规模生产，并开发一类新的MEMS器件。 该计划也是HQP培训的优秀计划，为年轻一代的工程师和科学家提供了学习和实践先进制造和MEMS新兴领域前沿技术的机会。

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.