Mechanical and Adhesional Manipulation Technique for Micro-assembly under SEM

In recent years, techniques for micro-assembly with high repeatability under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) are required to construct highly functional micro-devices. Adhesion phenomenon is more significant for smaller objects, because adhesional force is proportional to size of the objects while gravitational force is proportional to the third power of it. It is also known that adhesional force between micro-objects exposed to Electron Beam irradiation of SEM increases with the elapsed time. Therefore, mechanical manipulation techniques using a needle-shaped tool by adhesional force are often adopted in basic researches where micro-objects are studied. These techniques, however, have not yet achieved the desired repeatability because many of these could not have been supported theoretically. Some techniques even need the process of trial-and-error. Thus, in this paper, mechanical and adhesional micro-manipulation are analyzed theoretically by introducing new physical factors, such as adhesional force and rolling-resistance, into the kinematic system consisting of a sphere, a needle-shaped tool, and a substrate. Through this analysis, they are revealed that how the micro-sphere behavior depends on the given conditions, and that it is possible to cause the fracture of the desired contact Interfaces selectively by controlling the force direction in which the tool-tip loads to the sphere. Based on the acquired knowledge, a mode diagram, which indicates the micro-sphere behavior for the given conditions, is designed. By referring to this mode diagram, the practical technique of the pick and place manipulation of a micro-sphere under an SEM by the selective interface fracture is proposed.