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A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "E：Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 26290

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Dr. Nikolaos Tapoglou

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Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, School of Engineering, International Hellenic University, Sindos Campus, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: manufacturing and processing; manufacturing simulation; cloud manufacturing; machine tools; gear manufacturing
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Special Issue Information

Dear Collegues,

In recent years, the field of micro machining has gained a lot of traction owing to the drive towards lightweighting, electrification, and sustainability. Industrial sectors that have shown increasing interest in micromachining include the medical, space, aerospace, and consumer electronics fields.

Research in academia has focused on the experimental investigation of micro machining processes such as micro milling, micro turning, and micro grinding. In addition, numerical and finite element models have been developed to predict the performance of micro-machined parts. Over the last few years, a series of manufacturing processes have emerged in the macro manufacturing sector that have shown great potential in the improvement of said processes; however, their use in the micro scale has not been thoroughly modeled and understood.

Therefore, we invite contributions to showcase recent advances in novel and emerging manufacturing technologies and applications on the micro scale. Papers in all areas of micromachining technologies will be considered, including, but not limited to, micro-cutting, micro-milling, micro-grinding, polishing, laser micromachining, simulation and modeling in the micro scale, and hybrid micromachining. Original research papers and review articles are all welcome.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to the Special Issue.

Thank you very much.

Dr. Nikolaos Tapoglou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

machining
micro machining
emerging technologies
simulation
3D printing
micro cutting
micro gears

Related Special Issue

Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications, 2nd Edition in Micromachines (6 articles)

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

3 pages, 174 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Editorial for the Special Issue on Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications

by Nikolaos Tapoglou

Micromachines 2023, 14(6), 1248; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14061248 - 14 Jun 2023

Viewed by 675

Abstract

In recent years, the field of micromachining has gained a lot of traction owing to the drive towards lightweighting, electrification, and sustainability [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

16 pages, 4831 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization of Fatigue Performance of FDM ABS and Nylon Printed Parts

by Andrey Yankin, Gaini Serik, Saniya Danenova, Yerassyl Alipov, Ali Temirgali, Didier Talamona and Asma Perveen

Micromachines 2023, 14(2), 304; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14020304 - 24 Jan 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1594

Abstract

This research work aims to proceed with the optimization of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing parameters for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polyamide (Nylon) to improve fatigue resistance. For that purpose, the methodology of the paper involves two main approaches: experimental study and finite element analysis. The experimental part of the paper used the Taguchi method to find the effects of printing internal geometry, printing speed, and nozzle diameter on the fatigue life of ABS and Nylon plastic materials. ANCOVA multiple linear regression and sensitivity analysis was used to investigate the effects of printing parameters on the fatigue life of materials. The analysis of the results revealed: Nylon performed better than ABS, but had a higher slope; the ‘tri-hexagon’ structure resulted in the highest fatigue life, but the effect was statistically significant only for ABS material; the fatigue life of both materials increased with decreasing the nozzle diameter; the printing speed had no statistically significant influence neither on ABS nor Nylon. The experimental results then were validated by numerical simulations and the difference between the values was within ±14% depending on the experiment. Such differences might occur due to numerical and experimental errors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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17 pages, 8885 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Bronze Electrode in Electrical Discharge Coating Process for Copper Coating

by JagadeeswaraRao Maddu, Buschaiah Karrolla, Riyaaz Uddien Shaik, Hassan Elahi and Krishnaiah Arkanti

Micromachines 2023, 14(1), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14010136 - 04 Jan 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1290

Abstract

One of the widely used non-traditional machines for machining of hard materials into complex shapes and different sizes is the electrical discharge machine (EDM). Recently, the EDM has been used for deposition by controlling the input parameters (current and duty cycle). This work was carried out to evaluate the readily available bronze (88% Cu + 12% Sn) electrode for deposition of copper material on titanium alloy. Experiments were conducted according to Taguchi experimental design considering the input parameters of current, Ton, Toff and preheating temperature of substrates. Titanium alloy was further hardened by preheating at temperatures of 100 °C, 300 °C and 500 °C and quenching in brine, castor oil and vegetable oil in order to avoid workpiece erosion. After this treatment, hardness, grain area, grain diameter and number of grains were characterized to compare with pretreated substrates. Then, the treated substrates were taken for copper deposition with the EDM. Output parameters such as material deposition rate (MDR), electrode wear rate (EWR), coating thickness (CT), elemental composition and surface crack density (SCD) were found. Material characterization was carried out using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and optical microscopy. Output parameters were optimized with technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to find optimum parameters. A sixth experiment with parameter values of Ton of 440 µs, Toff of 200 µs, preheating temperature of 300 °C and quenching medium of castor oil was optimum with MDR of 0.00506 g/m, EWR of 0.00462 g/m, CT of 40.2 µm and SCD 19.4 × 10⁷ µm². Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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Graphical abstract

15 pages, 5135 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fabrication of Three-Dimensionally Deformable Metal Structures Using Precision Electroforming

by Seitaro Kumamoto, Souichiro Fukuyama, Seiya Nagano, Keiichiro Yasuda, Yusuke Kitamura, Masaaki Iwatsuki, Hideo Baba, Toshihiro Ihara, Yoshitaka Nakanishi and Yuta Nakashima

Micromachines 2022, 13(7), 1046; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13071046 - 30 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1706

Abstract

It is difficult to fabricate three-dimensional structures using semiconductor-process technology, because it is based on two-dimensional layered structure fabrication and the etching of thin films. In this study, we fabricated metal structures that can be dynamically deformed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional shapes by combining patterning using photolithography with electroforming technology. First, a resist structure was formed on a Cu substrate. Then, using a Ni sulfamate electroforming bath, a Ni structure was formed by electroforming the fabricated resist structure. Finally, the resist structure was removed to release the Ni structure fabricated on the substrate, and electroforming was used to Au-plate the entire surface. Scanning-electron microscopy revealed that the structure presented a high aspect ratio (thickness/resist width = 3.5), and metal structures could be fabricated without defects across the entire surface, including a high aspect ratio. The metallic structures had an average film thickness of 12.9 µm with σ = 0.49 µm, hardness of 600 HV, and slit width of 7.9 µm with σ = 0.25 µm. This microfabrication enables the fabrication of metal structures that deform dynamically in response to hydrodynamic forces in liquid and can be applied to fields such as environmental science, agriculture, and medicine. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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8 pages, 3131 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Deposition of Very-Low-Hydrogen-Containing Silicon at a Low Temperature Using Very-High-Frequency (162 MHz) SiH₄ Plasma

by Ki Seok Kim, You-Jin Ji, Ki-Hyun Kim, Ji-Eun Kang, Albert Rogers Ellingboe and Geun Young Yeom

Micromachines 2022, 13(2), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13020173 - 24 Jan 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2546

Abstract

Low-hydrogen-containing amorphous silicon (a-Si) was deposited at a low temperature of 80 °C using a very high frequency (VHF at 162 MHz) plasma system with multi-split electrodes. Using the 162 MHz VHF plasma system, a high deposition rate of a-Si with a relatively high deposition uniformity of 6.7% could be obtained due to the formation of high-ion-density (>10¹¹ cm⁻³) plasma with SiH₄ and a lack of standing waves by using small multi-split electrodes. The increase in the radio frequency (RF) power decreased the hydrogen content in the deposited silicon film and, at a high RF power of 2000 W, a-Si with a low hydrogen content of 3.78% could be deposited without the need for a dehydrogenation process. The crystallization of the a-Si by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation showed that the a-Si can be crystallized with a crystallinity of 0.8 and a UV energy of 80 J without dehydrogenation. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy showed that the a-Si deposited by the VHF plasma was a very small nanocrystalline-like a-Si and the crystalline size significantly grew with the UV irradiation. We believe that the VHF (162 MHz) multi-split plasma system can be used for a low-cost low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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10 pages, 1760 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Fabrication of Needle-Like Silicon Nanowires by Using a Nanoparticles-Assisted Bosch Process for Both High Hydrophobicity and Anti-Reflection

by Zengxing Zhang, Guohua Liu and Kaiying Wang

Micromachines 2021, 12(9), 1009; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12091009 - 25 Aug 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2389

Abstract

In this work, a modified Bosch etching process is developed to create silicon nanowires. Au nanoparticles (NPs) formed by magnetron sputtering film deposition and thermal annealing were employed as the hard mask to achieve controllable density and high aspect ratios. Such silicon nanowire exhibits the excellent anti-reflection ability of a reflectance value of below 2% within a broad light wave range between 220 and 1100 nm. In addition, Au NPs-induced surface plasmons significantly enhance the near-unity anti-reflection characteristics, achieving a reflectance below 3% within the wavelength range of 220 to 2600 nm. Furthermore, the nanowire array exhibits super-hydrophobic behavior with a contact angle over ~165.6° without enforcing any hydrophobic chemical treatment. Such behavior yields in water droplets bouncing off the surface many times. These properties render this silicon nanowire attractive for applications such as photothermal, photocatalysis, supercapacitor, and microfluidics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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15 pages, 9376 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on Manufacturing Technology of Ag-8.5Au-3.5Pd Fine Alloy Wire

by Jun Cao, Junchao Zhang, Baoan Wu, Huiyi Tang, Changchun Lv, Kexing Song, Guannan Yang, Chengqiang Cui and Yangguang Gao

Micromachines 2021, 12(8), 938; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12080938 - 09 Aug 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1852

Abstract

The performance of Ag-8.5Au-3.5Pd alloy wire after cold deformation and annealing were analyzed by SEM (scanning electron microscope), strength tester and resistivity tester. The processing process and performance change characteristics of Ag-8.5Au-3.5Pd alloy wire were studied. The results show that alloy wire grains gradually form a fibrous structure along with the increase in deformation. The strength of the wire increases with the increase in deformation rate, but the increase trend becomes flat once the deformation rate is higher than 92.78%; the resistivity of Ag-8.5Au-3.5Pd alloy wire decreases with the increase in annealing temperature, reaching minimum (2.395 × 10⁻⁸ Ω·m) when the annealing temperature is 500 °C; the strength of Ag-8.5Au-3.5Pd alloy wire decreases with the increase in annealing temperature. When the annealing temperature is 500 °C, the strength and elongation of the φ0.2070 mm Ag-8.5Au-3.5Pd alloy wire are 287 MPa and 25.7%, respectively; the fracture force and elongation of φ0.020 mm Ag-8.5Au-3.5Pd alloy wire are 0.0876 N and 14.8%, respectively. When the annealing temperature is 550 °C, the metal grains begin to grow and the mechanical performance decrease; the φ0.020 mm Ag-8.5Au-3.5Pd alloy wire have good surface quality when the tension range is 2.5–3.0 g. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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19 pages, 5611 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Simulation of Effect of Different Initial Morphologies on Melt Hydrodynamics in Laser Polishing of Ti6Al4V

by Kai Li, Zhenyu Zhao, Houming Zhou, Hao Zhou, Jie Yin, Wei Zhang and Guiyao Zhou

Micromachines 2021, 12(5), 581; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12050581 - 20 May 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1917

Abstract

As a surface finishing technique for rapid remelting and re-solidification, laser polishing can effectively eliminate the asperities so as to approach the feature size. Nevertheless, the polished surface quality is significantly sensitive to the processing parameters, especially with respect to melt hydrodynamics. In this paper, a transient two-dimensional model was developed to demonstrate the molten flow behavior for different surface morphologies of the Ti6Al4V alloy. It is illustrated that the complex evolution of the melt hydrodynamics involving heat conduction, thermal convection, thermal radiation, melting and solidification during laser polishing. Results show that the uniformity of the distribution of surface peaks and valleys can improve the molten flow stability and obtain better smoothing effect. The high cooling rate of the molten pool resulting in a shortening of the molten lifetime, which prevents the peaks from being removed by capillary and thermocapillary forces. It is revealed that the mechanism of secondary roughness formation on polished surface. Moreover, the double spiral nest Marangoni convection extrudes the molten to the outsides. It results in the formation of expansion and depression, corresponding to nearby the starting position and at the edges of the polished surface. It is further found that the difference between the simulation and experimental depression depths is only about 2 μm. Correspondingly, the errors are approximately 8.3%, 14.3% and 13.3%, corresponding to Models 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The aforementioned results illustrated that the predicted surface profiles agree reasonably well with the experimentally measured surface height data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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11 pages, 5579 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cavity-BOX SOI: Advanced Silicon Substrate with Pre-Patterned BOX for Monolithic MEMS Fabrication

by Marta Maria Kluba, Jian Li, Katja Parkkinen, Marcus Louwerse, Jaap Snijder and Ronald Dekker

Micromachines 2021, 12(4), 414; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12040414 - 08 Apr 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3533

Abstract

Several Silicon on Insulator (SOI) wafer manufacturers are now offering products with customer-defined cavities etched in the handle wafer, which significantly simplifies the fabrication of MEMS devices such as pressure sensors. This paper presents a novel cavity buried oxide (BOX) SOI substrate (cavity-BOX) that contains a patterned BOX layer. The patterned BOX can form a buried microchannels network, or serve as a stop layer and a buried hard-etch mask, to accurately pattern the device layer while etching it from the backside of the wafer using the cleanroom microfabrication compatible tools and methods. The use of the cavity-BOX as a buried hard-etch mask is demonstrated by applying it for the fabrication of a deep brain stimulation (DBS) demonstrator. The demonstrator consists of a large flexible area and precisely defined 80 µm-thick silicon islands wrapped into a 1.4 mm diameter cylinder. With cavity-BOX, the process of thinning and separating the silicon islands was largely simplified and became more robust. This test case illustrates how cavity-BOX wafers can advance the fabrication of various MEMS devices, especially those with complex geometry and added functionality, by enabling more design freedom and easing the optimization of the fabrication process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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6 pages, 6943 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Anti-Reflection Nanostructures on Tempered Glass by Dynamic Beam Shaping

by Petr Hauschwitz, Jan Brajer, Danijela Rostohar, Jaromír Kopeček, Tomáš Mocek, Martin Cimrman, Michal Chyla and Martin Smrž

Micromachines 2021, 12(3), 289; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12030289 - 09 Mar 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2483

Abstract

Reflectivity and surface topography of tempered glass were modified without any thermal damage to the surroundings by utilizing 1.7 ps ultrashort pulsed laser on its fundamental wavelength of 1030 nm. To speed up the fabrication, a dynamic beam shaping unit combined with a galvanometer scanning head was applied to divide the initial laser beam into a matrix of beamlets with adjustable beamlets number and separation distance. By tuning the laser and processing parameters, reflected intensity can be reduced up to 75% while maintaining 90% of transparency thus showing great potential for display functionalization of mobile phones or laptops. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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Review

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24 pages, 6255 KiB

Open AccessReview

Research Progress on Bonding Wire for Microelectronic Packaging

by Hongliang Zhou, Yingchong Zhang, Jun Cao, Chenghao Su, Chong Li, Andong Chang and Bin An

Micromachines 2023, 14(2), 432; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14020432 - 11 Feb 2023

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4805

Abstract

Wire bonding is still the most popular chip interconnect technology in microelectronic packaging and will not be replaced by other interconnect methods for a long time in the future. Au bonding wire has been a mainstream semiconductor packaging material for many decades due to its unique chemical stability, reliable manufacturing, and operation properties. However, the drastic increasing price of Au bonding wire has motivated the industry to search for alternate bonding materials for use in microelectronic packaging such as Cu and Ag bonding wires. The main benefits of using Cu bonding wire over Au bonding wire are lower material cost, higher electrical and thermal conductivity that enables smaller diameter Cu bonding wire to carry identical current as an Au bonding wire without overheating, and lower reaction rates between Cu and Al that serve to improve the reliability performance in long periods of high temperature storage conditions. However, the high hardness, easy oxidation, and complex bonding process of Cu bonding wire make it not the best alternative for Au bonding wire. Therefore, Ag bonding wire as a new alternative with potential application comes to the packaging market; it has higher thermal conductivity and lower electric resistivity in comparison with Cu bonding wire, which makes it a good candidate for power electronics, and higher elastic modulus and hardness than Au bonding wire, but lower than Cu bonding wire, which makes it easier to bond. This paper begins with a brief introduction about the developing history of bonding wires. Next, manufacturability and reliability of Au, Cu, and Ag bonding wires are introduced. Furthermore, general comparisons on basic performance and applications between the three types of bonding wires are discussed. In the end, developing trends of bonding wire are provided. Hopefully, this review can be regarded as a useful complement to other reviews on wire bonding technology and applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micro Manufacturing Technologies and Applications)

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