ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

School of Mechanical, Chemical & Materials Engineering

Department of Mechanical Design &
Manufacturing Engineering

Assignment of Precision manufacturing I

Summary of Micro- manufacturing

Prepared by: Kebebe Urgie ID: A/PE20988/12

Sub to: Dr, Guteta

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 Summary of Micro- manufacturing

Introduction
Recent innovations in the area of micro fabrication have created a unique opportunity for manufacturing
Structures in the nanometer–millimeter range. We can fabricate novel electronic, optical, magnetic,
mechanical, and chemical/biological devices with applications ranging from sensors to computation and
control. A micro-factory can be defined as a small manufacturing system conceived as a means of achieving
higher throughput with less space and reduced consumption of both resources and energy via downsizing
of production processes. This means that all of the equipment has necessarily to be reduced to the micro-
scale (micro-machines) which could, in-turn, reduce the energy consumptions, preliminary and overhead
costs, and material requirements, along with reducing pollutions and creating a more user-friendly
production environment. As the scale of the equipment is reduced, the mass of the equipment itself can be
reduced dramatically and this will lead to the increasing of tool speed and at the same time will result in
improvement of the production rates by the reduction of the manufacturing cycle.
The trend of micro-miniaturization of the products and its parts has already become forceful in industry,
especially in field of micro electromechanical system (MEMS) or micro system technology (MST).

Figure 1. Classification of micro manufacturing techniques.

Micro manufacturing is the process of fabrication of micro part/product or creating micro feature on a large
surface or component using different scaled down manufacturing processes. Miniaturized products/systems
have a huge demand for
1. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS),
2. Micro-optical electronics systems (MOES),
3. Micro-reactors, fuel cells,
4. Micro-mechanical devices,
5. Micromedical components and so on.

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Micro manufacturing methods and processes

The trend for micro-manufacturing at the present time is more focused on miniaturizing or down-scaling
both conventional and non-conventional methods to produce micro-products. Additionally, there are also
emerging methods, such as the hybrid manufacturing methods, which combine two or more processes
together. Manufacturing processes can be categorized according to the type of energy used in the process
itself, such as mechanical, chemical, electrochemical, electrical and laser processes. The working principles
behind each process include consideration of mechanical forces, thermal effects, ablation, dissolution,
solidification, re-composition, polymerization /lamination, and sintering. According to the way in which
components/products are to be made, general manufacturing processes can also be classified into
subtractive, additive, forming, joining and hybrid processes. The classification is equally applicable to
micromanufacturing. Typical manufacturing methods against the way of producing components/products
are show in Table 1.

Table 1: Typical methods/processes in micro-manufacturing.

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 Fig 2: Typical methods of micro-manufacturing

Micromachining Techniques

Micromachining is a specific technique applied to micro scale parts. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems
(MEMS) are microscopic devices processed, designed, and used to interact with or modify the local
environment. They can be referred as microstructures, microsystems, mechatronics and microstructure
technology. MEMS can also be referred to devices with moving parts (smaller than human hair) containing
both mechanical and electrical components on silicon. With rapid growth of MEMS a greater attention is
given to traditional methods and developing non-conventional machining methods. The most important
techniques are used for micromachining are photolithography, laser, micro-EDM and micromechanical
machining (micro-cutting and micro-milling).

Lithographic Process:
It is a traditional technique of micromachining on silicon based on lithographic approach, by etching and
deposing process used in microelectronics. Silicon wafers are machined with chemical or physical etch and
parts are realized layer by layer from silicon wafer. This noncontact method is based on masking and light
exposure.

Laser Micromachining:
Laser uses light radiation with high energy as a machine tool. High precision can be achieved and material
removal is obtained by ablation. Ceramics and metal layers can be machined with higher laser densities.
Focused beam could allow real 3D shaping by correct motion control.

Micro Electronic Discharge (EDM) Machining:

The erosive action of an electric discharge between conductive tool and work piece is used to remove
material. Electro-thermal erosion creates small craters in the piece during machining process. The tool

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shape is copied in the work piece with a no contact system. EDM machining process is able to machine
both hard materials like steels and carbides and semi-conductors and conductive ceramics.

Micro Ultrasonic Machining:

Micro ultrasonic machining is a process that uses micro tool ultrasonic vibration to create accurate holes in
brittle materials like silicon, glass and ceramics. Abrasive slurry is interposed between tool and work piece
and the tool is used as a micro-mill to obtain drills or pattern on the work piece surface. The vibrating tool
impacts abrasive grains into the work piece producing a mechanical removal of the material.

Mechanical Micromachining Technology:

Mechanical micromachining technology is a new field in micromachining that is achieved by optimization
of cutting process for micro-milling, turning and grinding process for a wide range of materials.

Figure 3. Key aspects in micromachining

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 Fig. 4. Micromachining precision over time

Applications
Many diverse strategies and methodologies are being developed to manufacture micro products/features.
Miniaturized products are widely used in:

1. Automobiles, 5. Computers and laptops,

2. Aircrafts components, 6. Home appliances,
3. Telecommunication, 7. Medical devices and
4. Mobiles applications
Fabrication using hard and difficult-to-machine materials such as tool steels, composites, super alloys,
ceramics, carbides, heat resistant steels and complex geometries for demanding aerospace, mechanical or
biomedical applications requires alternative novel methods. Micro manufacturing has received great
attention of researchers in the recent years because of various merits in the miniaturized products, namely,

1. low material consumption,

2. low energy consumption,
3. lightweight and portable,
4. high sensitivity (less energy requirement for actuation of a micro-component/product) and
Comparatively low cost-to-performance ratio

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 References
1. Journal of the Balkan Tribological Association Vol. 16, No 2, 161—179 (2010) Overall tribology
2. A Review on Micro-manufacturing, Micro-forming and their KeyIssues Akhtar Razul Razaliª*, Yi
Qinb
3. Micromachining: A New Trend in Manufacturing Prof. Farzin Heidari, Texas A&M University,
Kingsville
4. Southwest Center for Microsystems Education (SCME) Fab_MicroM_PK00_PG_June2017.docx
Micromachining Primary Knowledge (PK
5. DR, Guteta Kebata lecture onIntroduction to Micro- manufacturing.