NANO ELECTROMECHANICAL

SYSTEMS & 3D METAL

PRINTING

GROUP 1

Amit, Fresly Clark T.

Anto, Eman Dominic L.
Arcilla III, Godofredo M.
Bacalso, Shane Michael
Barade, John Delton T.
 NANO ELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS
• Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are a class of devices integrating
electrical and mechanical functionality on the nanoscale. NEMS form the next
logical miniaturization step from so-called microelectromechanical systems, or
MEMS devices. NEMS typically integrate transistor-like nanoelectronics with
mechanical actuators, pumps, or motors, and may thereby form physical,
biological, and chemical sensors.
• The Nano mechanical components are fabricated using compatible
“micromachining” process.
• NEMS is the enabling technology allowing the development of smart products.
• Nano electro mechanical devices promise to revolutionize measurements of
extremely small displacement and extremely weak forces, particularly at the
molecular level
• NEMS devices can be so small that hundreds of them can be fir in the same
space as one single micro device that performs same function.

HISTORY OF NEMS
1959 - As noted by Richard Feynman in his famous talk “There's Plenty of Room at the
Bottom," there are many potential applications of machines at smaller and smaller sizes;
by building and controlling devices at smaller scales, all technology benefits. The
expected benefits include greater efficiencies and reduced size, decreased power
consumption and lower costs of production in electromechanical systems.
1960 - Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs fabricated the
first MOSFET with a gate oxide thickness of 100 nm.
1962 - Atalla and Kahng fabricated a nanolayer-base metal–semiconductor
junction transistor that used gold thin films with a thickness of 10 nm.
1987 - Bijan Davari led an IBM research team that demonstrated the first MOSFET with
a 10 nm oxide thickness
1989 - Multi-gate MOSFETs enabled scaling below 20 nm channel length, starting with
the FinFET. The FinFET originates from the research of Digh Hisamoto at Hitachi
Central Research Laboratory
1998 - At UC Berkeley, a group led by Hisamoto and TSMC's Chenming Hu fabricated
FinFET devices down to 17 nm channel length
2000 - he first very-large-scale integration (VLSI) NEMS device was demonstrated by
researchers at IBM. Its premise was an array of AFM tips which can heat/sense a
deformable substrate in order to function as a memory device. Further devices have
been described by Stefan de Haan
2007 - the International Technical Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) contains NEMS
memory as a new entry for the Emerging Research Devices section.
 BENEFITS OF NANO MACHINES
• The small mass and size of Nano machines gives them a number of unique
attributes that offer immense potential for new applications and fundamental
measurements.
• A second important attribute Nano machines is that they dissipate less
energy.
• Nano machines are extremely small.
• Nano machines are ultra-low power devices.
• Fundamental power scale is defined by the thermal energy divided by the
response time.

FABRICATION OF NEMS DEVICE

DEPOSITION PROCESSES
Three basic building blocks in NEMS technology
1. DEPOSITON PROCESSES
a) Depositions that happen because of a chemical reaction
• Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD): (Fig.1)
• Electrodeposition
• Epitaxy: (Fig 2)
• Thermal oxidation

b) Deposition that
happen because of a
physical reaction
• Physical Vapor
Deposition (PVD)
• Casting
LITHOGRAPHY
-typically the transfer of a pattern to a photosensitive material by selective exposure to a
radiation source such as light.
-is the principal mechanism for pattern definition in micromachining
-A photosensitive material is a material that experiences a change in its physical
properties when exposed to a radiation source
ALIGNMENT
• In order to make useful devices the patterns for different lithography steps that
belongs to a single structure must be aligned to one another.
• It is important for each alignment mark on the wafer to be labeled so it may be
identified, and for each pattern to specify the alignment mark to which it should
be aligned. By providing the location of the alignment mark it is easy for the
operator to locate the correct feature in a short time. Each pattern layer should
have an alignment feature so that it may be registered to the rest of the layers.
EXPOSURE
• This parameter is required in order to achieve accurate pattern transfer from the
mask to the photosensitive layer depend primarily on the wavelength of the
radiation source and the dose required to achieve the desired properties change
of the photoresist
• Different Photo resist exhibit different sensitivity to different wavelengths
ETCHING PROCESSES
• It is necessary to etch the thin films previously deposited or the substrate itself.
• There are 2 class of etching process.
1) Wet etching - where the material is dissolved when immersed in a
chemical solution
2) Dry Etching - where the material is sputtered or dissolved using reactive
ions or a vapor phase etchant
ADVANTAGES OF NEMS
• Cost effectiveness
• System integration
• High Precision
• Small size
• High sensitivity

APPLICATION OF NEMS
Accelerometer
• NEMS accelerometers are quickly replacing conventional accelerometers for
crash air-bag deployment systems in automobiles.
Nano nozzles
 • Another wide deployment of NEMS is their use as nano nozzles that direct the
ink in inkjet printers.
• They are also used to create miniature robots (nano-robots) as well as nano-
tweezers.
• NEMS have been rigorously tested in harsh environments for defense and
aerospace where they are used as navigational gyroscopes
NEMS in Wireless
• A 3G “smart” phone will require the functionality of as many as five radios – for
TDMA, CDMA, 3G, Bluetooth and GSM operation. A huge increase in
component count is required to accomplish this demand
Thermal Actuator
• Thermal actuator is one of the most important NEMS devices, which is able to
deliver a large force with large displacement.

3D METAL PRINTING
3D printing has been around for longer than most people think - the first 3D print was
made in 1981 by Hideo Kodama. But 3D printing has come a long way since then, with prints
being made at resolutions as low as two-hundredths of a millimeter. 3D printing is an innovative
method of production: a three-dimensional object is visualized in detail using computer software,
the data is sent to a 3D printer, and the printer creates it. Almost all consumer printers can only
print in plastic, but that won’t be true much longer.

Today’s metal fabrication processes involves both a huge amount of energy and a
substantial amount of waste: in the manufacture of some products, up to 90% of the metal used
is cut away. This involves excessive use of energy as well as metal, besides making the finished
product up to 60% heavier than it needs to be, the latter being an expensive handicap in the
aviation industry, for instance.

3D printing, in contrast, uses almost precisely as much material as is present in the actual
object, bringing wastage down to nothing whatsoever. But all this didn’t count until now, because
of the huge limiting factor that 3D printers could only work in plastic. But now, several companies
across the world are designing 3D printers that print in metal instead of plastic.

HOW DOES 3D METAL PRINTING WORK?

Conventional printers work by melting plastic and then depositing it, but obviously metal has
much too high a melting point for this kind of procedure. So, metal printing companies created
several different approaches. Only two of them are widely used. The first one is called binder
jetting. Binder jetting is more than ten times as material efficient as other metal printing
techniques.
 Binder Jetting is an additive
manufacturing process in which
an industrial printhead selectively
deposits a liquid binding agent
onto a thin layer of powder
particles — either metal, sand,
ceramics or composites — to
build high-value and one-of-a-
kind parts and tooling. The
process is repeated layer by layer,
using a map from a digital design
file, until the object is complete.

Initially developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1990s, ExOne
obtained the exclusive license to this inkjet-in-powder-bed method of 3D printing in 1996. Two
years later, ExOne launched the market's first commercial binder jet 3D printer for metals, the
RTS-300. In 2002, ExOne launched its first sand 3D printer, the S15, for printing sand molds and
cores for metalcasting industrial parts.

Binder jetting is unique in that it does not employ heat during the build process for metal
parts and it prints quickly entire layers of many parts using a wide gantry of printheads. The parts
are supported by the loose powder in the job box, eliminating the need for a build plate or
supports in most instances. Thus, binder Jetting has the ability to print a large number of parts
or large parts in a quick and cost-effective manner. Finally, parts printed in metal powder are
sintered together at one time after the shape has been formed, resulting in a high-quality
microstructure with superior grain isotropy. Because of its high-speeds and material flexibility,
binder jetting stands alone among 3D printing methods as a technology that could transform
traditional high-volume manufacturing and bring the design, cost and sustainability advantages
of 3D printing to the masses.
Advantages of Binder jetting

• Very large size capabilities

• Very high production speed
• Ability to process a wide range of materials

Disadvantages of Binder jetting

• High cost of systems

• No technical ceramics support
• Increased competition from HP, GE, Desktop Metal

Selective laser melting

(SLM), also called direct
metal laser melting (DMLM),
is a type of metal additive
manufacturing or 3D
printing.SLM is one of the
most exciting 3D printing
technologies available today
and is utilized both for rapid
prototyping and mass
production. The range of
metal alloys available is fairly
extensive. The end result has
properties equivalent to those manufactured via traditional manufacturing processes.

Selective laser melting uses a variety of alloys, allowing prototypes to be functional hardware
made out of the same material as production components. Since the components are built layer
by layer, it is possible to design organic geometries, internal features and challenging passages
that could not be cast or otherwise machined. DMLS produces strong, durable metal parts that
work well as both functional prototypes and end-use production parts.
The process starts by slicing the 3D CAD file data into layers, usually from 20 to 100
micrometers thick, creating a 2D image of each layer; this file format is the industry standard .stl
file used on most layer-based 3D printing or stereolithography technologies. This file is then
loaded into a file preparation software package that assigns parameters, values and physical
supports that allow the file to be interpreted and built by different types of additive
manufacturing machines.

With selective laser melting, thin layers of atomized fine metal powder are evenly
distributed using a coating mechanism onto a substrate plate, usually metal, that is fastened to
an indexing table that moves in the vertical (Z) axis. This takes place inside a chamber containing
a tightly controlled atmosphere of inert gas, either argon or nitrogen at oxygen levels below 500
parts per million. Once each layer has been distributed, each 2D slice of the part geometry is
fused by selectively melting the powder. This is accomplished with a high-power laser beam,
usually an ytterbium fiber laser with hundreds of watts. The laser beam is directed in the X and Y
directions with two high frequency scanning mirrors. The laser energy is intense enough to permit
full melting (welding) of the particles to form solid metal. The process is repeated layer after layer
until the part is complete.

Advantages of Selective laser melting

• Large range of metals available
• Ability to realize complex shapes or internal features
• Reduced lead times, due to no need for tooling
• Part consolidation, allowing the production of multiple parts at the same time

Disadvantages of Selective laser melting

• Expensive, especially if parts aren’t optimized or designed for the process
• Specialized design and manufacturing skills and knowledge needed
• Limited currently to relatively small parts
• Rough surface finish
• Lots of post-processing required

Rapid prototyping is the fast fabrication

of a physical part, model or assembly
using 3D computer aided design (CAD).
The creation of the part, model or
assembly is usually completed using
additive manufacturing, or more
commonly known as 3D printing.

Where the design closely matches the

proposed finished product, it is said to be
a high-fidelity prototype, as opposed to
a low fidelity prototype, where there is a
marked difference between the
prototype and the final product.

Rapid prototyping (RP) includes a variety of manufacturing technologies, although most

utilise layered additive manufacturing. However, other technologies used for RP include high-
speed machining, casting, moulding and extruding. While additive manufacturing is the most
common rapid prototyping process, other more conventional processes can also be used to
create prototypes.

These processes include:

 ➢ Subtractive - whereby a block of material is carved to produce the desired shape using
milling, grinding or turning.
➢ Compressive - whereby a semi-solid or liquid material is forced into the desired shape
before being solidified, such as with casting, compressive sintering or moulding.

Advantages of rapid prototyping

• Reduced design & development time
• Reduced overall product development cost
• Elimination or reduction of risk
• Allows functionality testing
• Improved and increased user involvement
• Ability to evaluate human factors and ergonomics

Disadvantages of rapid prototyping

• Lack of accuracy
• Added initial costs
• Some rapid prototyping processes are still expensive and not economical
• Requires skilled labour
• The range of materials that can be used is limited
• Overlooking some key features because it cannot be prototyped

HISTORY OF 3D PRINTING
• 1981 - Hideo Kodama of Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute published his
account of a functional rapid-prototyping system using photopolymers. A solid, printed
model was built up in layers, each of which corresponded to a cross-sectional slice in the
model.
• 1984 - Charles Hull made 3D-printing history by inventing stereolithography.
Stereolithography lets designers create 3D models using digital data, which can then be
used to create a tangible object.
• 1992 - Bill Clinton played sax on The Arsenio Hall Show and 3D Systems created the
world’s first stereolithographic apparatus (SLA) machine, which made it possible to
fabricate complex parts, layer by layer, in a fraction of the time it would normally take.
That same year, startup DTM produced the world’s first selective laser sintering (SLS)
machine—which shoots a laser at a powder instead of a liquid.
• 1999 - The original Beverly Hills 90210 entered its last season on the air but also because
the first 3D-printed organ was implanted in humans. Scientists at Wake Forest Institute
for Regenerative Medicine printed synthetic scaffolds of a human bladder and then
coated them with the cells of human patients. The newly generated tissue was then
implanted into the patients, with little to no chance that their immune systems would
reject them, as they were made of their own cells.
• 2006 - The first SLS machine became commercially viable in 2006, which opened the
door to on-demand manufacturing of industrial parts. 3D-printing startup built a
machine that could print in multiple materials, which allowed a single part to be
fabricated in different versions, with different material properties.
• 2011–Present Day
➢ The price of 3D printers has fallen rapidly and the accuracy of 3D printing has
improved, innovators are pushing the envelope in ways that Charles Hull could only
dream of. Designers are no longer limited to printing with plastic. Case in point: You
can now print the engagement ring of your dreams using gold or silver.
➢ 3D printing is now being used to manufacture affordable housing for the developing
world, and visionaries have begun to employ the technology to print everything from
smart robotic arms, bone replacements, and even particles just a few atoms thick.
➢ As of 2020, 3D printers have reached the level of quality and price that allows most
people to enter the world of 3D printing. In 2020 decent quality printers can be
found for less than US$200 for entry level machines. These more affordable printers
are usually fused deposition modeling (FDM) printers
REFERENCE:
➢ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoelectromechanical_systems#:~:text=length%20in
%201998.-,NEMS,described%20by%20Stefan%20de%20Haan.
➢ https://www.memsnet.org/mems/processes/deposition.html
➢ https://www.memsnet.org/mems/processes/lithography.html
➢ https://www.exone.com/en-US/Resources/case-studies/what-is-binder-jetting
➢ https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=15783
➢ https://all3dp.com/2/selective-laser-melting-slm-3d-printing-simply-explained/
➢ https://redshift.autodesk.com/history-of-3d-printing/