Handling Characteristics of Mems-Tweezers with Contact Surface Fabricated by Deep-Rie

Abstract

Methods for enhancing the gripping ability of microtweezers are examined in terms of friction force. Two aspects are investigated experimentally. One is a method for increasing the coefficient of friction of the handling part of the microtweezers. We examined the effect of the etching time on the surface roughness of surfaces processed by the Bosch process and the coefficient of friction. The coefficient of friction increased with increasing etching time. The other aspect we investigated is the optimum handling force. In tweezers-based handling, it is not clear whether the friction force is proportional to the handling force in accordance with Coulomb's law of friction. We performed measurements and found that the friction force is approximately proportional to the handling force. Using this knowledge, the optimum handling force can easily be determined.

Keywords

• micro-mechanics
• handling system
• friction
• surface roughness
• deep-rie
• bosch process