A microgripper based on electrothermal Al-SiO₂ bimorphs

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Micro- and Nano-engineering
• Robotics and Automation

Background:

• Microgrippers are crucial for micro- and nano-scale manipulation in fields like microelectronics and biomedical engineering.
• Existing microgrippers require high precision, rapid response, reliability, and low power consumption for delicate object handling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize an electrothermal actuated microgripper with Al-SiO2 bimorphs.
• To evaluate the microgripper's performance in terms of deformability, response time, and gripping strength.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a microgripper utilizing Al-SiO2 bimorphs, leveraging residual stresses for a naturally closed state.
• Employing temperature control to actuate the microgripper between open and closed states via thermal expansion mismatch.
• Experimental validation using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) microbeads and solder beads for handling and pick-and-place tasks.

Main Results:

• The microgripper achieves over 100 degrees of bending at 5V with a response time under 10ms.
• Demonstrated secure gripping of a 400μm PMMA microbead, withstanding 35g during vibration and over 1600g in impact tests.
• Successfully completed pick-and-place tasks for 400μm solder beads on a silicon inductor chip.

Conclusions:

• The developed electrothermal microgripper offers exceptional precision, rapid response, and robust gripping capabilities.
• Its performance makes it highly suitable for micro-assembly and micromanipulation, particularly in electronic packaging applications.