Computer-Aided Micro-Mechanism Design

Elisha Sacks Computer Science Department Purdue University West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA James Allen Integrated Micromachine Technology Department Sandia National Laboratory Albuquerque, NM 87185

Abstract
This paper describes computer-aided design tools for micro-mechanisms that help designers validate correct function, detect design aws, and assess the effects of part clearances. The domain characteristics of curved geometry, joint play, and higher pairs render traditional software inappropriate. Our software uses conguration spaces to model the kinematic function of micro-mechanisms. It uses the conguration spaces to perform real-time simulation, to compute functional kinematic tolerances, and to support parametric design. Designers can visualize system function under a range of operating conditions, can nd and correct design aws, and can optimize dynamical function. The software is demonstrated on a surface micromachined counter meshing gear discrimination device developed at Sandia National Laboratory.

program, called HIPAIR, that supports micro-mechanism design. HIPAIR automates kinematic analysis via a novel conguration space computation code [5], performs fast dynamical simulation [7], computes worst-case and statistical kinematic tolerances [6], and supports functional parametric design. Designers can visualize system function under a range of operating conditions, can nd and correct design aws, and can optimize dynamical function. HIPAIR handles planar systems of curved, rigid parts with custom pairs, open and closed kinematic chains, and contact changes.

Micro-mechanism fabrication
Fabrication technologies for micro-electro-mechanical systems can be broadly categorized into three groups: bulk micro-machining, LIGA, and surface micro-machining. Bulk micro-machining technologies make use of the differential etch rates between crystal planes of a bulk material, such as single crystal silicon. These techniques can create high aspect-ratio geometry that is useful as seismic mass, diaphragms, or vibrating elements in inertial or pressure sensors. LIGA is a micro-machining process that can form high aspect-ratio metallic parts with small features. LIGA processes involve making molds using lithographic patterning and etching. The molds are used in electro-plating processes to form the individual parts. Surface micro-machining uses the same tool set as the semiconductor industry, which enables high volume batch fabrication, integration with microelectronics, and denition of mechanical parts with small feature size. Surface micro-machining fabrication involves the repeated deposition, patterning and etching of materials such as poly crystalline silicon (polysilicon), silicon dioxide, and silicon nitride. Most fabrication methods use polysilicon as the mechanical structural material, silicon dioxide as the sacricial material removed at the end of the process to release the mechanical layers, and silicon nitride as an electrical insulating layer. Surface micro-machining is the only process that can batch fabricate a system. Bulk and LIGA processes produce components that need further assembly, which is

Introduction
This paper describes computer-aided design tools for micro-mechanisms. Recent advances in fabrication technology make possible the synthesis of complex micromechanisms, such as gears, ratchets, and transmissions [8]. Designers need to analyze candidate micro-mechanisms to validate correct function, to detect design aws, and to assess the effects of part clearances. Traditional computeraided design software is inappropriate for these tasks. VLSI design software is not meant for moving parts. Finite element analysis is difcult and slow due to the large number of parts, the curved geometry, and the many part contact changes. It is computational overkill for designs that can be modeled as rigid-body systems. Mechanical system simulators offer an efcient alternative to nite element codes, but are limited to systems with permanent part contacts, such as pin joints, prismatic joints, and involute gears. These conditions are unrealistic for micro-mechanisms because the fabrication process cannot produce ideal joints and because changing contacts play a major role in microdesign. We have developed an interactive computer-aided design

very difcult at these scales. The Sandia SUMMiT process is a surface micromachining process that can fabricate micro-mechanical devices with four mechanical layers, uses silicon nitride as ground plane isolation, and used silicon dioxide as the sacricial material. Figure 1 is a schematic cross-section of a pinion gear that has a hub and a pin-joint connection to a linkage. The shape of the mechanical elements is dened via lithography. The reticle for this part is shown at the top of the gure. The color of the closed contours indicates their mechanical levels. The minimum feature size is dictated by the line width/space limitations of the lithography process, which is 1 micron for the SUMMiT process. The formation of a hub and pin-joint is a key element of the process to facilitate the fabrication of movable mechanical linkages. A 0.5 micron layer of sacricial oxide is used to dene the spacing in the hub and pin-joint. A detailed description of the SUMMiT process can be obtained at http://www.mdl.sandia.gov/Micromachine.

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(b) Figure 2: (a) Photograph of surface micro-machined counter-meshing gear discriminator; (b) Detail of indexing assembly CAD model. machined counter meshing gear discrimination device [3] (Figure 2). The mechanism is a lock based on gears and ratchets. We will focus on the function of the indexing assembly. The pinion and gear rotate on xed axes, the pawl is attached to the frame by an L-shaped spring, and the anchor is xed to the frame. The designer intends for the pinion to rotate clockwise and to advance the gear by one tooth per rotation. Counter-clockwise rotation is prevented by the pawls blocking against the anchor. Clockwise rotation is limited to one tooth per cycle by the damping effect of the strut, which bends as the pawl follows the gear prole.

pawl

Figure 1: Pinion gear cross-section. Surface micro-machining enables the fabrication of complex mechanical elements, which has been demonstrated for a number of applications. However, it raises design issues that are different from traditional mechanical design. Since surface micromachining is a batch fabrication method, the mechanical elements must be fabricated in place, which subjects their clearances and tolerances to the limitations of the fabrication process. The clearance and tolerance effects are of three categories: line width/space rules of the lithography, sacricial oxide space in the hub and pin-joint, and size tolerance (one sided) of the mechanical elements due to release processing.

Conguration space
We represent the kinematic function of the micromechanism with conguration spaces [2, 1]. We work with the conguration spaces of pairs of planar parts. Conguration space is a parameter space whose points specify the spatial conguration (position and orientation) of the parts. The part geometry is encoded by partitioning the congurations into three disjoint classes: blocked space where the

Design example
We will illustrate HIPAIR on a prototype micro-mechanism developed at Sandia National Laboratory: a surface micro-

parts overlap, free space where they do not touch, and contact space where they touch without overlap. Blocked space represents the illegal congurations, free space represents the independent part motions, and contact space represents motion constraints induced by part contacts. The spaces have useful topological properties. Free and blocked space are open sets whose common boundary is contact space. Contact space is a closed set comprised of algebraic patches that represent contacts between part features. We illustrate these concepts on the gear/pinion pair of the indexing assembly (Figure 3). We assume for the moment that the joints have no play, hence that each part has one, rotational degree of freedom. The conguration space coordinates are the part orientations. Free space is white, blocked space is grey, and contact space is black. Contact space consists of many short contact curves that represent contacts between the pinion and the gear teeth (more precisely, between the geometric features that form the parts). The left part of the conguration space consists of narrow, slanted channels in which the part motions are coupled. As the pinion rotates clockwise, the conguration moves horizontally left until it reaches the nearest channel boundary then follows the boundary up, meaning that the the gear rotates counter-clockwise. The right part of the conguration space represents the rotation of the pinion from when it exits the channel on the left (breaks contact with the gear) until it reaches the right side of the channel above.

hub, one micron of vertical translation, and unrestricted rotation. We need three-dimensional conguration spaces to model this situation. The conguration space coordinates are the position u; v  and orientation of the gear relative to the pinion. Figure 4 shows 1/64 of the gear/pinion conguration space. The shaded surface is contact space, the exterior is free space, and the interior is blocked space. Each of the 3664 contact patches is shaded a different color. Although this gure is extremely complicated, we can derive a complete kinematic analysis from it.

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Figure 4: Small portion of gear/pinion conguration space with play.

pinion

Design tools
We can validate the indexing assembly function with HIPAIR through kinematic analysis of the interacting pairs, simulation, and visualization. We illustrate this process on the gear/pinion pair. The rst step is to check the conguration space for correct kinematic function. The desired function is that the pinion advance the gear by one tooth per cycle. The contact space shape is consistent with this function. As the pinion rotates, the conguration enters a channel (engagement), follows it (coupled motion), and exits (disengagement) after one gear tooth. Kinematic simulation provides an alternative way of studying kinematic function. We use HIPAIR to compute the gear motion induced by constant, clockwise rotation of the pinion. The simulator computes part motions due to contacts, but ignores dynamical effects,

Figure 3: Gear/pinion conguration space. This analysis ignores a crucial aspect of microfabrication: the 0.5 micron play in every joint. This means that the pinion and the gear each has three degrees of freedom: one micron of horizontal translation relative to its

such as friction and inertia [4]. We can animate the simulation to validate the kinematic function or can examine the motion path in conguration space. The next step is to assess the effects of joint play on the function. We start by examining cross-sections of the conguration space, which quantify the play in key part orientations (Figure 5). The circles mark the range of motion due to joint play. The part play is too small to cause unintended contacts. In the disengaged orientation, the circle lies in free space, which rules out other contacts that could cause chatter, vibration, and wear. In the engaged conguration, the circle center lies on the nominal contact curve and the circle does not intersect any other contact curves, which rules out backlash and jamming. The next steps are to evaluate the mechanism dynamics via simulation and to study the functional effects of part tolerances. Although we omit these steps for lack of space, they are supported by HIPAIR. Acknowledgments Sacks is supported in part by NSF grants CCR-9617600 and CCR-9505745 and by the Purdue Center for Computational Image Analysis and Scientic Visualization. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

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References
[1] Latombe, J.-C. Robot Motion Planning . (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991). [2] Lozano-P erez, T. Spatial planning: A conguration space approach. in: IEEE Transactions on Computers, volume C-32, pages 108120. IEEE Press, 1983. [3] Polosky, M. A., Garcia, E. J., and Allen, J. J. Surface micromachined counter-meshing gears discrimination device. in: Proc. SPIE Smart Electronics and MEMS, San Diego, CA, 1998. [4] Sacks, E. and Joskowicz, L. Automated modeling and kinematic simulation of mechanisms. Computer-Aided Design 25 (1993) 106118. [5] Sacks, E. and Joskowicz, L. Computational kinematic analysis of higher pairs with multiple contacts. Journal of Mechanical Design 117 (1995) 269277. [6] Sacks, E. and Joskowicz, L. Parametric kinematic tolerance analysis of planar mechanisms. ComputerAided Design 29 (1997) 333342. [7] Sacks, E. and Joskowicz, L. Dynamical simulation of planar systems with changing contacts using conguration spaces. Journal of Mechanical Design (1998). to appear.

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Figure 5: Cross-sections of the three-dimensional gear/pinion conguration space.

[8] Sniegowski, J. J., Miller, S. M., LaVigne, G. F., et al. Monolithic geared-mechanisms driven by a polysilicon surface-micromachined on-chip electrostatic microengine. in: Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, pages 178182, Hilton Head Is., South Carolina, 1996.