Chii Rong Yang

Ultrathick SU-8 mold formation and removal, and its application to the fabrication of LIGA-like micromotors with embedded roots

In this study, a novel method to completely remove crosslinked SU-8 without remnants of the resist or destroying the electroplated microstructures was utilized. The LIGA-like fabrication of a side-driven electrostatic micromotor was employed as an example to describe polymerized SU-8 resist removal. Using near-UV light, nickel components of the micromotor were electroplated 160 μm in a 300 μm-thick SU-8 mold. A comparison of various approaches based on a commercial remover was performed during the mold removal process. Experimental results showed that components having 1 μm-deep substructures embedded in the substrate could provide stronger structures to withstand the internal stress due to the photoresist deformation. In addition, when the height of the electroplated structure was below two-thirds of the photoresist mold thickness, the net clamping force on the resist could be effectively reduced to make the removal of SU-8 with heated remover successfully. The rotor and the stator with embedded roots were released cleanly and thereby, assembled to form a high-aspect-ratio micromotor. The technique of SU-8 removal and LIGA-like process presented herein can be applied to the fabrication of other high-powered microactuators.

Study on anisotropic silicon etching characteristics in various surfactant-added tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide water solutions

Three ion-typed surfactants, including anionic sodium dihexyl sulfosuccinate (SDSS), cationic ammonium salt of poly(ethylene glycol) (ASPEG) and non-ionic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), were added to 10 wt% tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide water (TMAHW) solutions to evaluate the silicon anisotropic etching properties of the (1 0 0) silicon plane without agitation and no isopropyl alcohol (IPA) additive. The results indicate that the wetting capacity of the etchants cause the efficacies of the etchants on the roughness reduction to follow the order cationic ASPEG, non-ionic PEG, pure solution and anionic SDSS in TMAHW solutions, especially at high etching temperatures. Moreover, the chemical activities of the etchants cause the efficacies of the etchants on the etching rates to follow the order anionic SDSS, pure solution, cationic ASPEG and non-ionic PEG in TMAHW solutions at a given etching temperature. The cationic ASPEG has a reasonable etching rate of 0.7 µm min−1 and the lowest surface roughness of 4 nm in TMAHW solutions at an etching temperature of 100 °C. ASPEG and PEG in TMAHW solutions markedly affect aluminum passivation. The undercutting of the convex corners in PEG-added TMAHW solutions can be drastically reduced without using corner compensation; the undercutting ratio obtained using a PEG surfactant is about 45% lower than that obtained in pure TMAHW solution. This finding reveals that non-ionic PEG should be added to TMAHW solutions when accurate profiles are required without extremely deep etching. This study also demonstrated that non-ionic PEG is more appropriate than IPA for anisotropic silicon TMAHW etching.

Tribological behavior of reciprocating friction drive system under lubricated contact

The dynamic friction and wear behaviors are investigated in reciprocating friction drive system using a 0.45% carbon steel pair. The effects of various operating parameters on the traction force, stick and slip time, and friction modes are examined under the lubricated contacts. Moreover, the critical operating conditions in classifying three friction modes are also established. Results show that the fluid friction induced by the shearing of lubricant dominates the variation of traction force and produces the positive slope γ at the first period of slip in the traction force–relative sliding velocity curve. The γ value decreases at higher driver speed during stick-slip motion due to the thicker fluid film and shear thinning effect. The γ value increases due to the asperity interactions as the friction region is transferred from stick-slip to sticking with normal load from 196 to 980 N. Furthermore, it is also found that the static friction force is independent of stick time for the tangential loading rate ranged from 1.12 to 16.8 s−1. The transition region produces the severest wear under the different driver speeds, but the wear is insensitive to the friction regions and the severe wear only occurs at higher normal load due to the action of Hertzian contact.

A procedure for evaluating the positioning accuracy of reciprocating friction drive systems

The dynamic characteristics of stick-slip motion in reciprocating friction drive systems are investigated under dry contact using a 0.45% carbon steel pair. Based on this dynamic analysis, the stick-slip motion can be eliminated under certain experimental conditions depending upon driver speed, normal load and spring constant. The effects of normal load, driver speed, and spring constant on the positioning accuracy of the reciprocating friction drive system are examined under harmonic oscillation without stick-slip motion. Results show that at very low spring constants, the slip increases with increasing driver speed such that higher normal load has better positioning accuracy or smaller slip than does lower normal load. However, at high spring constants and high normal loads, there exhibits severe wear or peak at two limit positions on the sliding region. As a result, smaller normal loads have a better positioning accuracy than larger normal loads due to severe wear at high normal loads.

Study on dynamic friction characteristics in reciprocating friction drive system

Abstract The dynamic friction characteristics of a reciprocating friction drive system are investigated under conditions of dry contact using 0·45% carbon steel pair. Three friction modes are found during the operation, i.e. stick-slip, sticking and a transition region. The critical operating conditions in classifying these three modes are examined under various driver speeds, normal loads and spring constants. The critical values of driver speed and normal load increase with increasing spring constant. Generally, in the friction drive system the disappearance of the stick-slip results in smooth rolling. It is also found that the slope at the first period of slip on the traction force–relative slip velocity curve would have a transition from negative to positive value when the friction mode of stick-slip changes into sticking. Moreover, results show that the sticking mode gives the best positioning accuracy with the least wear on the contact surfaces. In addition, a transition from severe wear to mild wear is found when the friction mode is transferred from stick-slip to sticking only.

Development of a multilayered polymeric DNA biosensor using radio frequency technology with gold and magnetic nanoparticles

This study utilized the radio frequency (RF) technology to develop a multilayered polymeric DNA sensor with the help of gold and magnetic nanoparticles. The flexible polymeric materials, poly (p-xylylene) (Parylene) and polyethylene naphtholate (PEN), were used as substrates to replace the conventional rigid substrates such as glass and silicon wafers. The multilayered polymeric RF biosensor, including the two polymer layers and two copper transmission structure layers, was developed to reduce the total sensor size and further enhance the sensitivity of the biochip in the RF DNA detection. Thioglycolic acid (TGA) was used on the surface of the proposed biochip to form a thiolate-modified sensing surface for DNA hybridization. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were used to immobilize on the surface of the biosensor to enhance overall detection sensitivity. In addition to gold nanoparticles, the magnetic nanoparticles has been demonstrated the applicability for RF DNA detection. The performance of the proposed biosensor was evaluated by the shift of the center frequency of the RF biosensor because the electromagnetic characteristic of the biosensors can be altered by the immobilized multilayer nanoparticles on the biosensor. The experimental results show that the detection limit of the DNA concentration can reach as low as 10 pM, and the largest shift of the center frequency with triple-layer AuNPs and MNPs can approach 0.9 and 0.7 GHz, respectively. Such the achievement implies that the developed biosensor can offer an alternative inexpensive, disposable, and highly sensitive option for application in biomedicine diagnostic systems because the price and size of each biochip can be effectively reduced by using fully polymeric materials and multilayer-detecting structures.

Photoablation characteristics of novel polyimides synthesized for high-aspect-ratio excimer laser LIGA process

The photoablation properties of two soluble polyimides DMDB/6FDA and OT/6FDA with thicknesses of over 300 µm, synthesized by the polycondensation of a hexafluoropropyl group contained in a dianhydride with two kinds of diamines, are investigated using a 248 nm krypton fluoride (KrF) laser. The incorporation of the hexafluoropropyl group into the chemical structure gives these two polyimides higher etching rates than Kapton (a commercial polyimide film which is difficult to dissolve). The etching rates of synthesized polyimides are about 0.1–0.5 µm/pulse over a fluence range of 0.25–2.25 J cm−2. The photothermal mechanism for DMDB/6FDA contributes about 19% of etching depth at a laser fluence of 0.82 J cm−2. Moreover, the number of laser pulses seriously affects the taper angle of microstructures, especially at low fluence. Near-vertical side-wall structures can be built at high fluence (~2 J cm−2). Fresnel patterns with a thickness of 300 µm and a linewidth of 10 µm were fabricated, with an attainable aspect ratio of around 30. After photoablation, the complementary metallic microstructures were also fabricated by a sequential electroplating procedure. Then, those two new polyimides could be dissolved easily in most common solvents (such as THF, DMSO, NMP and DMF). These results indicate that these two soluble polyimides are highly suitable for use in the KrF laser LIGA process.

Fabrication of a fuel cell electrode with a high-aspect-ratio nanostructure array

The study presents a combination of self-assembled nanosphere lithography (SANL) and photo-assisted electrochemical etching (PAECE) to cost-effectively form an arrayed nanostructure on the silicon wafer. The aspect ratio of the pores in this nanoarray fabricated through PAECE is around 22:1. Tuning the etching voltage can convert the nanopore array to a nanopillar array with an aspect ratio of about 20:1. Finally, a two-staged PAECE is used to produce a nanopillar arrays for the production of fuel cell electrodes. Its reaction current of 10.2 mA is 72.9 times higher than that obtained by a planar electrode.

DNA detection using a radio frequency biosensor with gold nanoparticles

This study presents a novel method for DNA detection with multi-layer AuNPs to enhance overall detection sensitivity. This essay achieves not only an innovative radio-frequency biosensor but also a critical signal amplification methodology. Results show that bandwidth change for multi-layer AuNP with hybridization of DNA exceeds that for the double-layer AuNP up to 0.5 GHz. Furthermore, the developed biosensor detection limit for the DNA set employed in this essay is currently 10 pM. A single base-pair mutation of the wild-type target DNA could be distinguished from the perfect match target DNA at the melting temperature of 47 degrees C with a temperature controlling system. Experimental results in this study indicate that the proposed biosensor and the developed amplification methodology are successful. As health care becomes much more essential in modern life, this biosensor has potential applications in a screening kit for recognizing, sensing, and quantifying biomolecules in real samples.

Microstructuring characteristics of a chemically amplified photoresist synthesized for ultra-thick UV-LIGA applications

The thick-film photoresists are essential to fabricate high-aspect-ratio microstructures by the UV-LIGA process. However, current thick-film photoresists have some weaknesses including a thickness of only up to 100 µm, a poor line-width resolution and difficulty in being stripped. Consequently, a new type of thick-film photoresist is required. This work presents a novel positive-tone MMA/TBMA photoresist, formed by combining copolymerization and chemically amplification (CA) for use in the ultra-thick UV-LIGA process. An MMA/TBMA photoresist film with a thickness of 500 µm is easily achieved. For MMA/TBMA photoresist layers with thicknesses from 100 µm to 500 µm, an exposure dose from 80 to 100 mJ cm−2 per micron is required to remove all of the exposed photoresist, revealing that the selectivity between radiated and non-radiated zones during a long development process is sufficiently high; the sidewall verticality and aspect ratio of the microstructure are excellent; stress-induced cracks are not observed in the non-radiated zones after development. MMA/TBMA photoresist is demonstrated to fabricate open microstructures with aspect ratios of at least 10 and close microstructures with aspect ratios of not more than 10, such values of aspect ratio are still sufficient for most ultra-thick mold applications. Moreover, MMA/TBMA photoresist can undergo erosion by acidic electrolyte and easily be stripped using usual organic solvents. These findings demonstrate that MMA/TBMA photoresist has the potential to replace SU-8 resist in the ultra-thick UV-LIGA process.