A prototyping and microfabrication CAD/CAM tool for the excimer laser micromachining process

A CAD/CAM tool for prototyping and small-scale production of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) devices based on the excimer laser ablation process has been developed. The system’s algorithms use the 3D geometry of a microstructure, defined as an STL file exported from a CAD model, and paramete...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of advanced manufacturing technology Vol. 30; no. 11-12; pp. 1076 - 1083
Main Authors Mutapcic, Emir, Iovenitti, Pio, Hayes, Jason P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Heidelberg Springer Nature B.V 01.10.2006
Subjects
Algorithms
CAD/CAM
CAM
Computer aided manufacturing
Design of experiments
Error reduction
Excimer lasers
Excimers
Fluence
Laser ablation
Laser machining
Lasers
Masks
Mechanical systems
Microelectromechanical systems
Micromachining
Microstructure
Polycarbonate resins
Process parameters
Prototyping
Pulse repetition frequency
Stitching
Taguchi methods
Workpieces
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Summary:A CAD/CAM tool for prototyping and small-scale production of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) devices based on the excimer laser ablation process has been developed. The system’s algorithms use the 3D geometry of a microstructure, defined as an STL file exported from a CAD model, and parameters that influence the process (laser fluence, pulse repetition frequency, number of shots per area, wall angle, stitching errors) to automatically generate a precise NC part program for the excimer laser machine. The performance of the system has been verified by NC part program generation for several 3D microstructures and subsequent machining trials. An initial stitching error of 23.4±2.2-μm wide and 3.4±1.5-μm high was observed when the overlap size between adjacent volumes was zero, when ablating 100×100-μm features in polycarbonate (PC) at a fluence of 0.5 J/cm2 using a workpiece-dragging technique. When the size of the overlap was optimised by a system based on optimal process parameters determined by the Taguchi design of experiment method (DOE), and incorporated in the mask design, the maximum stitching error was reduced to 13.4±2.2-μm wide and 1.4±0.9-μm high under the same conditions. By employing a hexagonal-shaped mask with incorporated size of the image overlap, reduced horizontal-stitching errors of 2.4±0.2-μm wide and 1.4±0.2-μm high were observed. The system simplifies part program creation and is useful for excimer laser operators who currently use a tedious trial and error process to create programs and complex masks to generate microstructure parts.
ISSN:0268-3768
1433-3015
DOI:10.1007/s00170-005-0147-1