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[July 2003]
Microstructure Technology Challenge - Ceramitec Exhibitors Respond
Ceramitec organiser Messe Mnchen says that visitors in September can look forward to seeing many new solutions and products in the field of ceramic nano and microstructure technology.
Not far from the exhibition centre in Munich, at the Fraunhofer-Institut f2r Mikroelektronische Schaltungen und Systeme (IMS), a micropump has been developed that is about the size of a one cent piece and with a casing entirely of silicon. Mounted on the membrane is a tiny piezoceramic disc which is made to oscillate by electrical pulses output by the external control module.
At up to 100 beats per minute, the pump draws in a maximum of 2ml/min of fluid or gas through a valve and expels it again through a second valve. It can operate against an excess pressure of a maximum of 0.5 bar.
Meanwhile, currently in development at a special research establishment in Germany is a microplanetary gear with an outer diameter of 2mm. The technology of microelectronic systems combines ceramic materials with semiconductors, metals and polymers - an interesting new direction for the use of ceramics.
Ceramics also play their part in microcomponents. One aim has been to achieve reaction control in the tiniest dimensions, for example with minipumps, minimixers, absorbers, microreactors etc. This has several advantages over traditional reaction processes in chemistry. For example, previous periodical processes can be transformed into continuous ones.
Also attractive is the low cost and the flexibility of such 'minifactories' that take up only as much space as a cigarette box. It is here that the benefit of ceramic materials, in terms of resistance to high temperatures and corrosion, come to the fore. A reactor type with internal components that can be exchanged with each other, for example, enables adaptation in process optimisation; it can be used to venture into niche production and try out new avenues for synthesis.
In order to build these systems, reliable technologies for the production of ministructures have to be created. The dimensions spanned by microtechnology are surprisingly wide: it ranges from pore diameters of a catalytic layer of 0.5nm up to a width and length of such a layer (10mm). Now there are also computerised production systems with which such microsystems can be assembled with great precision, down to micrometer level.
The great sensitivity of the individual components can easily lead to damage and so a high level of automation is required, not least in the mass production phase. In the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in Germany a flexible microassembly system - called 'Mimose' - has been developed. This operates in a clean-room box. The process steps such as adding, bringing together, measuring and adjusting cover a large part of the possible assembly requirements.
Materials and technologies in this field will be featured at Ceramitec as well as at MATERIALICA which runs alongside it from 16-20 September 2003.
www.ceramitec.de
ENDS