One of the challenges facing microrobotic manufacturing is the ability to sense interactions for force-guided assembly of small devices. There is a need for a force transducer with the ability to sense forces in multiple degrees-of-freedom in the mN range with resolution on the order of 10 μN for microassembly applications. This paper presents theoretical studies for developing a surface micromachined piezoresistive force transducer that can measure normal force in the z-direction and moments about the x and y-axes. The devices proposed here are based on a compliant platform design with integrated piezoresistive sensing elements fabricated in a modified SUMMiT process. Various configurations and sensor element layouts are explored to determine the relationship of the applied forces and moments experienced during assembly and the corresponding strain. Structural and finite element analysis is used to determine the elastic response of the device and establish the best locations and orientations of the sensing elements to effectively utilize the piezoresistive effect of the polysilicon sensors. Initial experiments show the polysilicon piezoresistors to have a gauge factor of approximately 25. The expected sensitivities for these devices are presented.

1.
Bustillo
J. M.
,
Howe
R. T.
and
Muller
R. S.
, “
Surface Micromachining for Microelectromechanical Systems
,”
Proceedings of the IEEE
, Vol.
86
, No.
8
, August
1998
, pp.
1552
1574
.
2.
Kovacs
G. T
,
Maluf
N. I.
, and
Peterson
K. E
, “
Bulk Micromachining of Silicon
,”
Proceedings of the IEEE
, Vol.
86
, No.
8
, August
1998
, pp.
1536
1551
.
3.
Rogner
A.
,
Eicher
J.
,
Munchmeyer
D.
,
Peters
R.
, and
Mohr
J.
, “
The LIGA Technique— What are the New Opportunities
,”
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
, Vol.
2
, pp.
133
140
,
1992
.
4.
Menz
W.
, “
LIGA and Related Technologies for Industrial Application
,”
Sensors Actuators
, Vol.
54
. pp.
785
789
,
1996
.
5.
Nelson
B. J.
,
Zhou
Y.
and
Vikramaditya
B.
, “
Sensor-Based Microassembly of Hybrid MEMS Devices
,”
IEEE Control Systems
, Vol.
18
, No.
6
, pp.
35
45
, Dec.
1998
.
6.
S.E. Rose, J.F. Jones, and E.T. Knikov, “Development of a High Sensitivity Three-Axis Force/Torque Sensor for Microassembly,” Proceedings of ASME-IMECE, 2005.
7.
Jones
J. F.
,
Kozlowski
D. M.
, and
Trinkle
J. C.
, “
Microscale Force-Fit Insertion
,”
Journal of Micromechanics
, Vol.
2
, No.
3–4
, pp.
185
200
,
2004
.
8.
J.W. Feddema, and R.W. Simon, “Visual Servoing and CAD-driven Microassembly,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, pp. 18–24, December 1998.
9.
M.B. Cohn, K.F. Bo¨hringer, J.M. Noworolski, A. Singh, C.G. Keller, K.Y. Goldberg, and R.T. Howe, “Microassembly Technologies for MEMS,” Proceedings of 1998 SPIE Conf. on Micromachining and Microfabrication Process Technology IV, Vol. 3511, pp. 2–16, Santa Clara, CA, Sept. 1998.
10.
A. Sulzmann, J.-M. Breguet, and J. Jacot, “Micromotor Assembly using High Accurate Optical Vision Feedback for Microrobot Relative 3D Displacement in Submicron Range,” IEEE International Conf. on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators, Transducers ’97, pp. 279–282, Chicago, June 16–19, 1997.
11.
G. Yang, J.A. Gaines, and B.J Nelson, “A Flexible Experimental Workcell for Efficient and Reliable Wafer-Level 3D Microassembly,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Seoul, Korea, pp. 133–138, May 21–26, 2001.
12.
Van Brussel
H.
,
Peirs
J.
,
Reynaerts
D.
,
Delchambre
A.
,
Reinhart
G.
,
Roth
N.
,
Week
M.
, and
Zussman
E.
, “
Assembly of Microsystems
,”
Annals of the CIRP
, Vol.
49
, No.
2
, pp.
451
472
.
2000
.
13.
S. Fahlbusch, and S. Fatikow, “Force Sensing in Microrobotic Systems - An Overview,” Proceedings of the IEEE International conference on Electronis, Ciruits and Systems, pp. 259–262, 1998.
14.
Fahlbusch
S.
, and
Fatikow
S.
, “
Implementation of Self-Sensing SPM Cantilevers for Nano-Force Measurement in Microrobotics
,”
Ultramicroscopy
, Vol.
86
, pp.
181
190
,
2001
.
15.
Fatikow
S.
,
Seyfried
J.
,
Fahlbusch
S. T.
,
Buerkle
A.
, and
Schmoeckel
F.
, “
A Flexible Microrobot-Based Microassembly Station
,”
Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems
, Vol.
27
, pp.
135
169
,
2000
16.
Domanaski
K.
,
Janus
P.
,
Grabiec
P.
,
Perez
R.
,
Chailet
N.
,
Fahlbusch
S.
,
Sill
A.
,
Fatikow
S.
, “
Design, Fabrication and Characterization of Force Sensors for Nanorobot
,”
Microelectronic Engineering
, Vol.
78–79
, pp.
171
177
,
2005
.
17.
Enns
J.
, and
Lawrence
P.
, “
An Investigation of Methods for Determining Depth from Focus
,”
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
. Vol.
15
, No.
2
, pp.
97
108
, February,
1993
.
18.
Nayar
S. K.
, and
Nakagawa
Y.
, “
Shape from Focus
,”
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
, Vol.
16
, No.
8
, pp.
824
831
, March,
1994
.
19.
Subbarao
M.
, and
Choi
T.
, “
Accurate Recovery of Three-Dimensional Shape from Image Focus
,”
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
, Vol.
17
, No.
3
, pp.
266
274
, March,
1995
.
20.
Whitney
D. E.
, “
Quasi-Static Assembly of Compliantly Supported Rigid Parts
,”
Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control
, Vol.
104
, pp.
65
77
, March
1982
.
21.
ATI Industrial Automation, http://www.atia.com/sensors.htm, February 21, 2005.
22.
Sun
Y.
,
Nelson
B. J.
,
Potasek
D. P.
, and
Enikov
E.
, “
A Bulk-Fabricated Multi-Axis Capacitive Cellular Force Sensor using Transverse Comb Drives
.”
Journal Micromechanics and Microengineering
, Vol.
12
, pp.
832
840
,
2002
.
23.
D.V. Dao, T. Toriyama, J. Wells, and S. Sugiyama, “Six-Degree of Freedom Micro Force-Moment Sensor for Applications in Geophysics,” The 15th Annual IEEE Conference on MEMS, Las Vegas, NV, USA, pp. 312–315, Jan. 20, 2002.
24.
Dao
D. V.
,
Toriyama
T.
,
Wells
J.
, and
Sugiyama
S.
, “
Silicon Piezoresistive Six-Degree of Freedom Force-Moment Micro Sensor
,”
Sensors and Materials
, Vol.
15
, No.
3
, pp.
113
135
,
2002
.
25.
Stalford
H. L.
,
Apblett
C.
,
Mani
S. S.
,
Schubert
W. K.
, and
Jenkins
M.
, “
Sensitivity of Piezoresistive Readout Device for Microfabricated Acoustic Spectrum Analyzer
,”
Proceedings of SPIE
, vol.
5344
, pp.
36
43
.
26.
S.D. Senturia, Microsystem Design, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA, 2001.
27.
Wittwer
J. W.
,
Gomm
T.
, and
Howell
L. L.
, “
Surface Micromachined Force Gauges: Uncertainty and Reliability
,”
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
, Vol.
12
, pp.
13
20
,
2002
.
28.
Sandia National Laboratories, http://www.sandia.gov/mstc/technologies/micromachines/techinfo/technologies/summit5.html, February 10, 2005.
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.