A micro-EDM/assembly system unit for microparts fabrication

Abstract

A new method is introduced for the fabrication and assembly of high aspect ratio microparts. Pins with a diameter of 100 /spl mu/m are produced by wire electrodischarge grinding (WEDG) and connected into a thin plate. Defining such a pin/plate assembly as a workstation means that it can be used as tool workstation or subassembly workstation in a more compound assembly process. The tool workstation is used to machine the inside shape of a workpiece by reverse micro-EDM (RMEDM) to enable it for further assembly purposes. A more complicated assembly process is described, taking the fabrication of a micro ion beam emitter as an example. After the applicability of the assembly method is shown, the RMEDM process characteristics of the tool workstation is studied. The machining conditions are improved in order to produce a micropart with an inside shape with higher accuracy within reasonable machining time.<>