Concurrently Fabricating Precision Meso- and Microscale Cross-Scale Arrayed Metal Features and Components by Using Wire-Anode Scanning Electroforming Technique

• Published in: Micromachines (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 5; p. 979
• Main Authors: Li, Shicheng, Ming, Pingmei, Zhang, Junzhong, Zhang, Yunyan, Yan, Liang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29.04.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Accuracy; cross-scale arrayed metal; Edge effect; Electric currents; Electric fields; Electroforming; Fluid flow; Inert anodes; Ion beams; Manufacturing; Mass transfer; Methods; Microstructure; Normal distribution; Plating; Scanning; thickness uniformity; Ultrafines; Wire; wire-anode scanning electroforming; wire-anode scanning electroforming; thickness uniformity; cross-scale arrayed metal
• ISSN: 2072-666X; 2072-666X
• DOI: 10.3390/mi14050979

In order to improve the thickness uniformity of the electroformed metal layer and components, a new electroforming technique is proposed-wire-anode scanning electroforming (WAS-EF). WAS-EF uses an ultrafine inert anode so that the interelectrode voltage/current is superimposed upon a very narrow ribbon-shaped area at the cathode, thus ensuring better localization of the electric field. The anode of WAS-EF is in constant motion, which reduces the effect of the current edge effect. The stirring paddle of WAS-EF can affect the fluid flow in the microstructure, and improve the mass transfer effect inside the structure. The simulation results show that, when the depth-to-width ratio decreases from 1 to 0.23, the depth of fluid flow in the microstructure can increase from 30% to 100%. Experimental results show that. Compared with the traditional electroforming method, the single metal feature and arrayed metal components prepared by WAS-EF are respectively improved by 15.5% and 11.4%.