Exploring the benefits of MEMS for micro assembly tasks Available to Purchase

An alternative way of performing micro‐assembly tasks is by means of product‐internal assembly functions. After a coarse alignment step, the parts are fine positioned relative to each other by functionality that is integrated with the product. This functionality includes part actuation, position sensing and part freezing. They replace expensive machinery and delicate manual labour, and are aimed to result in lower total production costs. Micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) technology has important benefits to be used as supporting technology, because it allows for cost reduction (batch production), and structures can be made with small dimensions and high accuracy. The objective of this paper is to develop a reliable and reproducible interconnection technology using MEMS‐based product‐internal assembly functions, by which packaging cost is reduced and yield is improved. The considered case is the packaging of optical fibre to chip couplings.