Big Stage For a Small Idea

Abstract

This review focuses on engineering initiatives in manufacturing submillimeter parts with micrometer-scale features. Conventional rapid prototyping is not very dimensionally accurate, but newer processes are closing the gap. New micromilling machines can produce an array of tiny features with accuracies measured in micrometers. The chapter highlights various efforts by different companies in the field of micromachining and other micromanufacturing processes. American Society of Mechanical Engineers member Dick DeVor and his team of researchers received a grant from the National Science Foundation to demonstrate a machine that could mill parts with micrometer-scale features. A three-year grant followed, enabling the researchers to improve the technology and probe the radical differences between micromachining and conventional milling. In addition, a microfactory has been developed by the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, which links several small delta robots that can assemble three parts per second with 5-micrometer accuracy.