We introduce powder blasting using a pressurised nozzle and a metallic mask as a new promising technology for microsystem fabrication. We study basic parameters of this powder blasting erosion process as well as mask-geometry effects on the erosion rate. We Ž . demonstrate the application potential of this technique in three important fields of microsystems research: i the realisation of Ž . microfluidic chips for biochemical separations, ii the micropatterning of composite hard magnetic layers for mechatronic and magnetic Ž . sensor applications, and iii the realisation of inertial sensors in glass. We present for the first time a mechanical and electrical characterisation of powder-blasted accelerometer devices. q
We demonstrate the feasibility of a powder blasting micro-erosion process for the micromachining of accelerometer devices in glass. Using high-speed abrasive microparticles and a metal contact mask, we structure millimeter-size cantilever beams from simple glass slides. By metalizing one side of the glass substrate, we demonstrate both capacitive and piezoresistive/strain gauge detection of the vibrating cantilever mass and measure the frequency response of mechanically excited cantilever beams. We think that our approach opens new perspectives for manufacture of inertial sensing devices in a technology alternative to Si.[664]
Ž. We have developed a cheap and simple trilayer printed circuit board PCB -based technology, adapted for the fabrication of fluxgate magnetic sensors. The two outer layers of the PCB stack comprise the electrical windings of the fluxgate, while the inner layer is made of Ž . patterned amorphous magnetic core with extremely high relative magnetic permeability m f 100,000 . The output voltage and the r sensitivity of the fluxgate devices have been studied as a function of the external field and of the geometry of the magnetic core. We have found a relatively high sensitivity of 18 VrT at an excitation current frequency of 10 kHz. The results obtained clearly show the potential of this miniaturised fluxgate device for application as a magnetic field sensor. q 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved. w Ž .
We report on powder blasting as a promising technology for the three-dimensional structuring of brittle materials. We investigate the basic parameters of this process, which is based on the erosion of a masked substrate by a high-velocity eroding powder beam, using glass substrates. We study the effect of various parameters on the etching rate, like the powder velocity and the mask feature size, which induces geometrical effects to the erosion process. We introduce oblique powder blasting and investigate, in particular, sidewall effects of the micropatterned structures. A few examples of devices micromachined by powder blasting are also presented. q
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.