JPH08168979A - Microgripper and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a low-cost microgripper of good controllability that is machined in submicron order by the application of semiconductor fabrication techniques and a method for manufacturing the same. CONSTITUTION: This microgripper 2 comprises two arm portions 2a and grip portions 3a, 3b formed integral with the ends of the arm portion 2a, the grip portions 3a, 3b being almost as thick as subjects to be gripped.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microgripper and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a novel structure of a microgripper for holding cells and microscopic objects of several μm to several 100 μm and a method of manufacturing the same. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally,
A gripper having a metal gripping portion is used for mounting an IC chip on a substrate and gripping an object having a size of several 100 μm or more. As such a gripper,
As shown in FIG. 17, a metal micro gripper (Micros
Cience Group, Inc., US Pat. No. 4,652,095) 30 is commercially available.

Since this device is made for the purpose of gripping an IC chip or an object having a size of several hundred μm or more, when the object to be gripped is several tens of μm or less, it is gripped as compared with the object to be gripped. The tip structure is too large. Therefore, in a microscope field of view of about 50 times or more, it is impossible to focus on the object to be grasped and the tip of the grasping portion at the same time, and it is difficult to perform an appropriate grasping operation.

Further, when grasping an object having a diameter of several tens of μm or less, it is necessary to adjust the positions of both ends of the grasping portion in units of μm in order to obtain good operability. However, in the above-mentioned device, since the pair of gripping parts are separately mounted on the tips of the two arms connected to the driving part, it is extremely difficult to align the positions of both tips of the gripping parts in units of μm. . Due to these problems, at present, the function of gripping an object of several tens of μm has not been realized.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides an inexpensive and easy-to-operate microgripper processed in the submicron order by applying semiconductor manufacturing technology, and a manufacturing method thereof. It is a thing.

[0006]

According to the present invention, it is composed of two arm portions and a grip portion integrally formed at the tip of the arm portion, and the thickness of the grip portion is about the same as that of the object to be gripped. There is provided a microgripper formed to have a thickness of. The micro gripper according to the present invention has a grip portion integrally formed with the arm portions at the tips of the two arm portions, and the thickness of the grip portion is formed to be approximately the same as the thickness of the grip target. It has been done. This micro gripper
Usually, it is preferably formed of metal, but may be formed of ceramic or plastic. The metal is not particularly limited, but examples thereof include nickel. Further, in order to easily grasp a small object such as a cell or a semiconductor device, it is preferable that the width thereof gradually decreases toward the tip. The size of this micro gripper can be appropriately adjusted depending on the object to be gripped, but the length of the arm portion is usually 5 to 5.
It is preferable that the width of the arm portion is about 20 mm, the width of the arm portion is about 0.2 to 5 mm, and the thickness of the arm portion is about 0.5 to 5 mm.
Further, a grip portion is formed integrally with the arm portion at the most distal end portion of the arm portion. The thickness of the boundary portion between the arm portion and the grip portion may be changed rapidly, or may be changed gradually or stepwise. The size of the grip portion can be appropriately adjusted depending on the magnification of the microscope used during the grip operation, the field of view, and the object to be gripped. Specifically, the length is about 0.1 to 0.5 mm and the width is 0.02 to 0.3.
The thickness is preferably about mm and the thickness is about 0.01 to 0.05 mm.

Further, according to the present invention, the above micro gripper is (i) after forming a material to be processed on a substrate, processing the material to be processed into a female mold having a shape corresponding to an arm portion, ii) A part of the surface layer of the material to be processed is directly etched, or a resist is further applied onto the material to be processed, and then the resist is patterned to form a mold having a shape corresponding to the gripping portion. There is provided a method for producing a micro gripper, which is formed integrally with a female die, and (iii) by using the integrally formed female die to mold a micro gripper forming material.

In the step (i), the substrate used is, for example, a metal substrate such as copper or stainless steel. The material to be processed formed on the substrate is, for example, P
Plastic such as MMP, X-ray resist, photosensitive glass, etc. can be used, and the film thickness is 0.3 to 0.5 m.
About m is preferable. As a method of processing the material to be processed into a female mold having a shape corresponding to the arm portion, a mask having a shape corresponding to the arm portion is used to perform ultrasonic processing, exposure and development by synchrotron radiation, and ultraviolet irradiation. It can be performed by exposure and development, ordinary photolithography process and etching process. For example, ultrasonic processing when plastic is used, synchrotron radiation and development when X-ray resist is used, and ultraviolet exposure and development or photolithography step and etching step when photosensitive glass is used. And the like are preferable.

In the step (ii), when a part of the surface layer of the material to be processed is directly etched, the material to be processed is preferably an X-ray resist and includes both an arm portion and a gripping portion. It can be formed by using a mask having a shape in the same manner as the processing method for forming the female die. The etching of the surface layer at this time is preferably about 0.02 to 0.3 mm so as to correspond to the thickness of the grip portion.
When the resist is further patterned on the material to be processed, the resist is patterned by embedding a resin or the like in a female mold made of the material to be processed in order to smoothly perform the resist coating and patterning steps. It is preferable.
In this case, a step of removing the resin embedded in the subsequent step is required. As the resist applied on the material to be processed, a positive or negative resist used in a normal photolithography process can be formed with a film thickness of about 0.02 to 0.03 mm. Thereafter, this resist may be patterned by using a mask having a shape including both the arm portion and the grip portion.

In step (iii), by using a female die integrally formed with a shape corresponding to the grip portion and the arm portion,
As a method of molding the micro gripper forming material, there is a known method, for example, a method of electroforming a metal or the like as the micro gripper forming material into an integrally formed female die. Furthermore, when a material other than metal is used as the material of the microgripper, sintering of ceramics or injection molding of plastics can be performed using a female mold.
When ceramic or plastic is used as the micro gripper, the female material is preferably heat resistant.

Further, in the present invention, step (ii)
The female mold integrally formed in i) may be used to form a molded product of the microgripper-forming material, the molded product may be a male mold, and the male mold may be used to form a female mold. In such a case, the following steps (iv) ~
It is preferable to carry out the step (v). (iv) The side surface of the male mold made of the micro gripper forming material is made of an insulating or conductive material, and the bottom surface of the male mold is hardened by an insulating or conductive material, and then the male mold is separated from the insulating or conductive material. To form a female mold made of insulating or conductive material,
(v) A microgripper forming material is molded using the female mold. Examples of the insulating material in step (iv) include insulating plastics, and examples of the conductive material include conductive plastics. Here, when forming the female mold, the side surface and the bottom surface may be the same insulating material or may be a conductive material. Further, the side surface may be formed of a conductive material and the bottom surface may be formed of an insulating material, and vice versa. When the material of the side surface or the bottom surface is formed of the same insulating material, it is preferable to perform electroconductivity treatment by electroless plating or the like. The film thickness of these insulating or conductive materials is
The film thickness is not particularly limited as long as it is a film thickness capable of forming a female mold. The method in step (v) can be performed in the same manner as the step in step (iii).

[0012]

According to the micro-gripper of the present invention, since the gripping portion is formed to have the same thickness as the object to be gripped and is integrally formed with the arm portion, the length of both arm portions of the micro-gripper and The position of the grip is adjusted accurately. Further, according to the method of the present invention, a female mold is formed by using a microfabrication technique such as a photolithography process, and a microgripper is molded using the female mold, so that microfabrication on the order of μm can be performed accurately. Will be seen.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The microgripper of the present invention and its manufacturing method will be described with reference to the drawings. Example 1 The micro gripper of the present invention is made of nickel, for example, and has two arm portions 2a and 2b as shown in FIG.
And the grip portions 3a and 3b integrally formed at the tips of the arm portions 2a and 2b. In the vicinity of the base of the arm portion, there is a projection 4 for positioning and fixing when it is mounted on the drive portion 10 shown in FIG. 3, and both arm portions 2 a and 2 b are connected by a hinge 5. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the arm portions 2a and 2b have a thickness of about 0.3 mm and a substantially constant thickness.
The width is formed to be gradually smaller toward the tip. Further, the grip portions 3a and 3b are formed with a thickness of about 0.03 mm, and are different from the arm portions 2a and 2b in FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), the thickness changes abruptly.

A method of manufacturing the above micro gripper will be described below. First, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a plastic film 12 having a thickness of about 0.3 mm is formed as a material to be processed on the metal substrate 11. Then, this plastic film 12 is formed into a female die 13 having a shape corresponding to the arm portion by ultrasonic processing.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), resin 14 (for example, TPF14 of Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd .: high-purity water-soluble resin solution) is added to the female mold 13 formed above. And the surface of the female die 13 is flattened. Subsequently, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, AZ-LP1015 manufactured by Hoechst Co., Ltd. is formed on the surface of the flattened female die 13.
(High-precision plating positive resist) is applied to a thickness of about 0.03 mm, and this resist 15 is processed into a mold having a shape corresponding to the grip portion at the arm tip portion by a photolithography process.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the resin 14 filled in the female mold 13 is removed,
A female die 16 is integrally formed with a female die 13 having a shape corresponding to the arm portion and a die having a shape corresponding to the grip portion. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, a male die 17 to which the shape of the female die 16 is transferred is formed by electroforming using nickel.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the metal substrate 1
1, the plastic film 12 and the resist 15 are removed, and the side surface of the male die 17 is hardened with the insulating plastic 18. Then, as shown in FIG. 10, the conductive plastic 19 is formed so as to completely cover the bottom of the male die 17.
Are formed on the bottom of the male mold 17 and the insulating plastic 18.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the male mold 17 is separated from the insulating plastic 18 and the conductive plastic 19 to form a female mold 20 made of the insulating plastic 18 and the conductive plastic 19. Next, as shown in FIG. 12, the female die 20 is transferred by electroforming using nickel, and the micro gripper 2
1 is formed.

In the case of this embodiment, the male gripper 17 shown in FIG. 8 may be formed into a desired shape to directly form the micro gripper. Example 2 Another method of manufacturing the microgripper of the present invention will be described below. First, as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, an X-ray resist 32 having a thickness of about 0.3 mm is applied as a material to be processed on the metal substrate 31. Then, the X-ray resist 32 is subjected to deep exposure using synchrotron radiation and is developed to form a female die 33 having a shape corresponding to the arm portion.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 15 (a) and 15 (b), the female mold 33 formed as described above is exposed to the synchrotron radiation by using the mask 34 including the shapes of the arm portion and the grip portion. I do. The exposure amount at this time is, for example,
The X-ray resist 32 is adjusted so that the exposure is limited to a depth of several tens of μm. Subsequently, by developing the X-ray resist 32, as shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, a female mold having a shape corresponding to the arm portion and a mold having a shape corresponding to the grip portion. Forms a female mold 35 integrally formed with and.

Hereinafter, using the female die 35, Example 1
The micro gripper is formed by performing the manufacturing process corresponding to FIGS. In the case of this embodiment, the micro gripper can be obtained by directly electroforming nickel or the like on the female die 35 shown in FIG.

[0022]

According to the micro-gripper of the present invention, since the gripping portion is formed to have the same thickness as the gripping target and is integrally formed with the arm portion, both gripping portions of the micro-gripper are provided. It is possible to accurately adjust the length and the position of the grip portion, and it is possible to obtain a micro gripper having a grip function with good operability.

Further, according to the method of the present invention, since the female mold is formed by using the fine processing technique such as the photolithography process, and the micro gripper is molded by using the female mold, the fine processing on the order of μm is accurately performed. In addition, since the micro grippers can be manufactured by a batch process, mass production is possible, which is advantageous in reducing the manufacturing cost per piece. In fact, it becomes possible to manufacture a low-priced microgripper that can be disposable when manipulating cells and the like. Furthermore, to mold the micro gripper using a female mold,
It is possible to manufacture the microgripper using not only metal but also any material such as ceramic or plastic.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of the micro gripper shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of a driving unit for using the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining an embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining an embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a manufacturing process diagram for describing an example of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining an embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining an embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a manufacturing process diagram for describing an example of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining an embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a manufacturing process diagram for describing an example of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining an embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining an embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining another embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining another embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining another embodiment of the manufacturing process of the micro gripper of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view showing a conventional micro gripper.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 2 micro grippers 2a, 2b arm portions 3a, 3b gripping portions

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A two-arm portion and a grip portion integrally formed at a tip of the arm portion, wherein the grip portion is formed to have a thickness approximately equal to that of an object to be gripped. Characteristic micro gripper. 2. The micro gripper according to claim 1,
(i) After forming the work material on the substrate, the work material is processed into a female mold having a shape corresponding to the arm portion, (ii)
After directly etching a part of the surface layer of the material to be processed or further applying a resist on the material to be processed, patterning the resist to form a mold having a shape corresponding to the gripping portion with the female mold. Integrally formed with (iii)
A method of manufacturing a micro gripper, which is formed by molding a micro gripper forming material using the integrally formed female die.