IDR: Manufacturing Functional Laminated Composite Structures on Patterned Uneven Three-Dimensional Surface

Threedimensional (3D) microscale devices can be found in a wide range of applications, such as artificial human implant, insertable medical devices and wearable electronics. In spite of their extensive demands, however, 3D devices suffer from severe manufacturability limitations, specifically in the type of materials being used and their 3D microforming techniques. Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) is one type of microscale devices that is built on lithographybased micromanufacturing technology adopted from integrated circuits (IC) industry, which is only capable to provide quasi3D structures, in that the structures are based on projections of parallel sets of twodimensional patterns. As a result, there has been very limited success in manufacturing MEMS onto 3D surfaces. There is an urgent need to develop lowcost, highyield, fastshaping techniques that produce MEMS devices in 3D forms, and that can utilize a wide spectrum of materials, including elastic and ductile materials (e.g., polymers and metals), as well as brittle materials (e.g., Silicon, Silicon Dioxide and ZnO). This proposal will investigate an innovative and potentially transformative means to directly manufacture MEMS on 3D surface based on a newly developed 3D forming process, namely laser dynamic forming (LDF). The goal of this study is to arrive at an indepth understanding of the LDF process of laminated composite structures, and to implement it for highperformance fabrication of micro/nano devices on 3D surfaces. More specifically, the research objectives are: a) To study the processing mechanism of 3D LDF for multilayer laminated structures; b) To develop controlled fabrication of laminated structures on uneven 3D surfaces, c) To fabricate functional laminated composite structures; d) To characterize the physical properties of formed multilayer structures; and e) To provide the manufacturability of 3D LDF process and optimize it. The interdisciplinary nature of the proposal: As an interdisciplinary study, 3D manufacturing of microscale functional devices requires expertise from areas in microfunctional devices, micro manufacturing, and material and structure mechanics. The research team is composed of three faculties with different, yet complementary backgrounds. The proposed work is based on techniques developed by Dr. Yu for flexible MEMS devices, Dr. Cheng for 3D laser dynamic forming, and Dr. Jiang for plasticity at microscale and mechanics of flexible and stretchable electronics. This interdisciplinary research team has had previous successes in these closely related fields. Their collaborative preliminary studies, combined with the unique infrastructures available at Arizona State University and Purdue University lend high feasibility to the proposed research. Intellectual merit: The proposed research carries deep scientific knowledge and significant potential to realize an innovative and potentially transformative means for 3D manufacturing on micro or even nanoscale with high throughput, low cost and high yield capabilities. Specifically, a) this research will develop a universal 3D micromanufacturing technology, and potential breakthroughs in MEMS fabrication and the general area of micromanufacturing; b) a fundamental understanding of using LDF techniques to manufacture functional laminated composite materials on 3D surface for MEMS applications will be developed; c) a novel MEMS flexible temperature, pressure and shear stress sensor will provide a platform to utilize this manufacturing approach on real MEMS fabrication, which fuses the gaps between manufacturing, mechanics and device engineering. Broader impact: The successful development of the proposed manufacturing technology will have significant impact on the general area of flexible and stretchable MEMS devices, such as on various clinical and healthcare applications, flexible displays and smart textiles. This project will meet the c