Tool-based nanofinishing and micromachining

Abstract

There is a growing demand for industrial products not only with increased number of functions but also of reduced dimensions. Micromachining is the most basic technology for the production of such miniaturized parts and components. Since miniaturization of industrial products had been the trend of technological development, micromachining is expected to play increasingly important roles in today's manufacturing technology. Micromachining based on lithography has many disadvantages unlike tool-based micromachining technology such as micro-turning, grinding, EDM and ECM have many advantages in productivity, efficiency, flexibility and cost effectiveness. However, difficulties, as the machining unit reduced, are yet to be solved to utilize the tool-based machining technology for micromachining. In this paper, recent achievements in some important areas of tool-based micromachining are introduced. Electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID) grinding and ultraprecision machining using single point diamond tool are two most widely applied techniques to produce nanosurface finish on hard and brittle materials. Recently these techniques are also being applied for nanosurface generation on silicon wafers and it is hoped that this process will be able to replace the current technique, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. Micro-electro-discharge machining (micro-EDM) and micro-turning technology are widely used to produce miniaturized parts and features. Usually hybrid machining is carried out to fabricate microcomponents with high precision. Usually multi-purpose miniature machine tools are used to produce such components. Recent achievements on the development of such machines are also discussed in this paper.