USA | FOCUS
<< Figure 3: SEM images of approximately 14 μm wide channels carved in 20 μm thick 304 stainless steel. >>
The industrial membership includes Agilent, Honeywell, Ricoh, Stryker and Texas Instruments. In the past several years, WIMS2 has built prototypes for member companies, performed joint and sponsored research projects, helped companies obtain IP licenses, and helped member companies recruit new employees. WIMS2
with process and technology knowhow so that they can develop their own products. WIMS2
micro systems programmes in the world. During 2012, the research expenditures were around 8 million US dollars.
entirely new family of products, inspired by research projects developed at WIMS2
One example of interaction between WIMS2 and industry is an , created at one of our member companies.
Another member company asked the centre to teach its engineers the basics of design and fabrication of micro machines. Several member companies use the relationships developed through the centre to create joint proposals to government agencies. Other firms seek assistance in recruiting new employees. Many of these interactions take place at twice yearly research reviews. Other interactions take place at the special events such as a recent workshop on Nano and Micro Manufacturing or an
August workshop on biomedical electronics and devices. Others take place at facilitated visits to campus. An additional benefit of WIMS2
membership is advanced notice of patent licensing opportunities and the rights to use WIMS2
also provides informal consulting to member companies is one of the largest and oldest (1972)
intellectual property without charge. To facilitate these interactions, WIMS2 has a full
time dedicated industrial liaison as well as other administrative staff.
Another example of how WIMS2 works with companies is a joint project between WIMS2
and Agilent Corporation on the micro
electrical discharge machining (EDM) of stainless steel. Agilent brought a need for micrometer sized stainless steel structures to WIMS2
, which has expertise and previous experience in bulk micro machining and micro EDM.
The advantage of EDM is that it is a parallel process that can form multiple features at the same time. For this project, deep reactive ion etching of a silicon substrate was used to form the EDM electrode. While silicon has a lower thermal conductivity and melting point than common EDM tool materials such as tungsten, it can be easily micro machined into large intricately patterned electrodes with sub micrometer resolution. These electrodes are
>> Continued on page 12 10 | commercial micro manufacturing international Vol 6 No.5
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