Fabrication of LIGA mold insert using Ni-PTFE composite micro-electroforming

Abstract

The LIGA process, which combines deep X-ray lithography with electroforming and polymer molding, is a main fabrication method for producing MEMS. And hot embossing is one of the main processing techniques for polymer microfabrication, which helps the LIGA (UV-LIGA) technology to achieve low cost mass production. And electroforming of LIGA mold insert with lower surface energy and friction coefficient is required for demolding process during hot embossing to obtain better polymer replicas. In this paper, the Ni-PTFE compound material mold inserts is fabricated by special treated galvanic bath and operation conditions. And the results show that it is a robust Ni-PTFE composite micro-electroforming and basically changes the interaction property when demolding for producing high quality polymer replicas. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.