INTEGRATED FABRICATION OF POLYSILICON MECHANISMS

The integrated fabrication of planar polysilicon mechanisms incorporating lower and higher kinematic pairs (or joints) is described. The two lower kinematic pairs (revolute and prismatic) commonly used in macrorobotic systems are compatible with silicon microfabrication technology. The mechanisms are fabricated by surface micromachining techniques using polysilicon as the structural material and oxide as the sacrificial material. Turbines with gear and blade rotors as small as 125 mu m in diameter and 4. 5 mu m in thickness were fabricated on 20- mu m-diameter shafts. A clearance as tight as 1. 2 mu m was achieved between the gear and the shaft. Gear trains with two or three sequentially-aligned gears were successfully meshed. A submillimeter pair of tongs with 400- mu m range-of-motion at the jaws was fabricated. This structure incorporates a single prismatic joint and two revolute joints, demonstrating linear-to-rotary motion conversion.