Microsystem technology and microrobotics

Publication date 22 June 1997

The authors offer the following remarks in their introduction: The goal of future MST (microsystem technology) is integration of miniaturized control units, such as sensors and actuators, and fabrication of chips that can include controls comprised of miniaturized components, which are sensing, making decisions and actuating. They point out that technology exists to produce multi-purpose micro-robots. Clearly, availability of micro-robotic systems will revolutionize all modern manufacturing, maintenance of appliances, the medical, environmental, and bio-technology and other fields, and, in particular, the development of new and radically improved smart materials. The present book is an attempt to introduce the readers to the present state of technology that can be used in micro-robotics, and MST. Students of this field may be required to have training in several fields (physics, computer science and technology, chemistry, applied mechanics, perhaps biology, or medical training) to initiate significant new ideas. The first chapter consists of reporting on the world-wide advances in MST. Germany has several projects, generally with predominantly industrial cooperation. German Federal Ministry for Education (BMFB) has contributed 180 million dollars. Within the Institutional Sponsorship of German Research Foundation (DFG), fundamental research is conducted at Karlsruhe (FZK) and Munich (FhG), while several German states set up their own research programs. Switzerland is singled out as one of the strongest European research countries in this field, with outstanding fundamental research on design of silicon sensors and micro-actuators carried out in Neuchatel. A long list of French institutes engaged in this research is given, such as IMFC, LAAS and LETI. In Netherlands most significant progress is made at the University of Twente. In Belgium it is the University of Leuven, in England Oxford, Cambridge, and the Imperial College of Science plus a group of over 100 companies called Common Interest Group. Italy, and Sweden have some involvement, although Sweden curtailed government financing after a banking consortium issued an unfavorable report regarding the future of MST. Russia has enormous MST potential, but not much is happening at this time. Japan and United States are most active in MST. In US important research facilities exist at University of California at Berkeley, MIT, Case Western Reserve, Carnegie-Mellon, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, North Carolina State and Louisiana Tech, and Institute for Molecular Manufacturing at Palo Alto, California. Some projects related to MST are conducted by ARPA and NASA. However, the heavy investment in this field is made primarily by computer giants (IBM, Hewlett-Packard, AT\&T, Texas Instruments, Honeywell, \dots etc). This is a very competitive research, surrounded by great secrecy, and therefore hard to evaluate. However, such lack of cooperation must handicap efficiency of this research when compared to the MITI sponsored cooperative research in Japan. MST applications to medical field bring about 30 million per year from the government alone. Besides it, the Japanese industry cooperates with public institutions to maintain the lead in microrobotics, and related fields. More patents were obtained for microsensors in Japan in the last 10 years than in all other countries combined. The authors report that Nissan, Hitachi Toyota and other companies spent between 45 and 70 million dollars per year. Universities of Tokyo, Nagoya, Tohoku also report a wide range of MST activities. Remainder of this book is devoted to description of existing devices that are or can be used in applications to MST. The authors discuss possibilities of minimizing invasive surgery in replacing present day small opening techniques with microrobotics, whereby remotely controlled microinstruments reach the sick organs and perform required operations. Radiation therapy can be delivered by implantable fiber optical dosimeters. Experimental procedure of this type fitted into a catheter was reported by \textit{W. Mokwa} in Duisenburg University Report in 1993. Many applications are suggested for car and aircraft industries. The sensor-actuator technology may comprise production of structural layers of materials. A specific LIGA technique in which the authors were personally involved is described in considerable detail. LIGA is a German acronym for lithography, galvano-forming and molding. It is particularly suited for making parts of very small size. It uses x-ray lithography for masking and galvano-forming by producing parts in the nanometer range, that could not be produced with the more commonly used silicon based technology. As the authors comment, LIGA process is now well developed, but no serious efforts have been made for optimizing it. Many microscopic devices are discussed. The micro-actuator pile, imitating the action of a muscle, the electrostatic micropump, the electrostatic micropositioner that has been used for aligning of optical microfibers are examples of devices described. A section on piezoelectric microactuators gives a satisfactory introduction to this topic, but the reviewer would have preferred a more extensive discussion of the drawbacks to this technology, and perhaps a simple introduction to the theory of control using these elements. This remark is prompted by a large volume of reports and papers produced on smart materials which rely almost exclusively on the piezoelectric effect for altering the material response. The problem which had to be overcome in use of piezoelectric ceramics was relatively small strain (or simply expansion per unit length) which is usually a few nanometers per volt. Yet the resulting expansion is very precise, and very rapid. With several piezodisks in a stack such displacements add, and attainment of larger displacements is possible. Several possible designs of piezoactuators are discussed for operations in a voltage range up to 1 kV. Possibilities of inventing better (larger deflection per volt) piezoelectric materials have not been sufficiently exploited. It is known that crystals exhibit the piezoelectric effect due to the lack of symmetry in the crystalline structure. In manufacture of ceramics, artificial creation of strong anisotropy is necessary to produce piezoelectric property. Another very popular control device used in several control-theoretic papers is the use of shape memory materials (SMM). The material first demonstrating shape memory was the so-called silly putty, popular as a toy in the 1950s. Also in the 1950s some copper alloys were discovered with shape memory. Some alloys can be deformed and frozen in that shape, retaining it until the temperature is raised, when they return to their original shape. Also the strength and other properties of the material change with its change of state. An alloy may remember two states corresponding to different temperatures and assumes different shapes as the temperature changes. Thus, as the temperature goes up or down, it assumes respectively each of the two remembered shapes. Large forces are exerted as the material alters its shape. The disadvantage is the rather slow rate of response. Some such devices based on SMM were described in Yamaguchi report at IEEE conference in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, in 1993. The authors describe also the uses of electro-rheological fluids for microactuators, and offer a detailed description of acceleration microsensors. Chemical sensors, biosensors and very sensitive temperature sensors are described in some detail. The book concludes with a chapter on information processing in microsystems, a chapter on drive principles, and microassembly using microrobots. This book contains many more topics than are mentioned in this review, and choice of topics and length of discussion were limited by reviewer's preference and experience, and do not reflect their possible future importance in this fast advancing technology. For engineers, physicists and mathematicians working in control theory, some of the information contained in this book may be essential if they consider practical applications of their theories in this constantly changing technology. They should at least browse through this book before writing another article on smart materials or electromechanical control systems.

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