INDUSTRY NEWS

Worker on the chain gang

This ant's head rests on a minuscule nickel chain made with a revolutionary electrochemical fabrication (EFAB) process developed by an engineer at the University of Southern California. Adam Cohen of USC's School of Engineering Information Sciences Institute says the EFAB process produces complex, three-dimensional micromechanical and microelectronic structures without the need for a cleanroom. Because the process operates at approximately 120° F, it is ideal for making sophisticated systems on a chip, according to Cohen. The fully articulated chain in this colorized SEM photo measures 290 µm wide. The EFAB team made the entire 14-link device in a single process. Each of the chain's 12 layers is approximately 7 µm thick. The method is based on an industrial process called rapid prototyping, which stacks up a series of thin layers that stick to each other. An automated EFAB process could produce devices with thousands of submicron layers, Cohen says.

Photo by Adam Cohen.

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