Contacts

Raphaël Pugin CSEM SA – Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de MicrotechniqueRue Jaquet-Droz 1CH-2002 Neuchâtel, Suisse

T +41 32 720 5042E raphael.pugin@csem.ch

Stéphane DessorsPEP – Centre Technique de la Plasturgie et des Composites2 Rue Pierre & Marie CurieFR-01100 Bellignat, France

T +33 4 74 81 92 60E stephane.dessors@poleplasturgie.com

Philippe VuillermozVUILLERMOZ Philippe SAS5 rue du TomachonFR-39200 Saint-Claude, France

T +33 3 84 45 34 40E pv-vuillermoz@orange.fr

Pierre-François ChauvyMICROPAT SACôtes-de-Montbenon 30CH-1003 Lausanne, Suisse

T +41 21 311 0964E pf@micropatterning.ch

PIMENTManufacturing of High-added Value Micro-/

Nano-structured Plastic Components

The transnational Interreg IVa project Piment is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (European Commission), the OFES (Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science) and by the cantons of Neuchâtel and Vaud, the Franche-Comté region and the Rhône-Alpes region. CSEM, Micropat SA, PEP and Vuillermoz SAS thank them for their support.

Acknowledgment

“ “PIMENT is offering you a unique entry point & technological platform meeting together with high expertise and facilities in tooling, micro- and nano-technology and plastic processing

Partners

Project objectives

The transnational Interreg pro-ject PIMENT (Plastic Injection Micro & Nano Technologies) relies on a multi-disciplinary partnership between 2 research centers, the CSEM SA – Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Mi-crotechnique, the PEP – Centre Technique de la Plasturgie et des Composites, and 2 SMEs MICROPAT SA and VUILLERMOZ SAS. The main goal of PIMENT is to foster innovation in the field of micro/nano-manufacturing and injection molding. It brings together specialists from these fields with the goal of producing high-added value two and three dimensional micro-nanostruc-tured plastic parts. One of the

key challenges addressed within this project is the development of new tooling solutions to pro-duce micro-nanostructured in-jection-molds. To be compatible with the plastics manufacturing standards, the processes de-veloped need to be cost-effective in micro- and nano-structuring of steel mold cavities. A direct processing of such alloys allows an easy integration of mold cavit-ies into the mold manufacturing chain and it increases their ser-vice time. Another challenge is to improve the replication process at the sub-micron and nano-scale, which is performed using state of the art hot embossing and injection molding platforms.

VUILLERMOZ SAS succeeded to fabricate very high precision molds by pushing back the frontiers of micro-machining techniques such as wire electron discharge machining or micro-milling. Electrochemical micromachining (ECMM) has the ability to combine the flexibility of laser writing with the surface finish quality of an electropolishing process. This metal engraving technology developed by MICROPAT SA allows the direct micro-structuring of two and three dimensional steel mold cavities. To produce metal mold cavities with smaller structures (sizes down to 100 nm) CSEM is combining self-assembly based patterning with microelectronics standard dry or wet etching processes.

MOLD CAVITIES MICRO-/NANO-STRUCTURING

The technologies

At PEP replication processes have been developed and optimized with full technological injection platform dedicated to the manufacturing of micro and nano-structured plastic parts. The platform integrates several modules specifically designed for nanoreplication: pressure and temperature sensors, rapid mold heating and cooling, vacuum system, CO2 mold cleaning as well as process intelligence and characterization tools for on-line metrology.

NANOREPLICATION BY INJECTION MOLDING

Injection molding platform for micro-/nano-replication

The demonstrators

The micro-/nano-manufacturing platform developed in PIMENT aims to foster innovation and enhance the competitiveness of local industry. To demonstrate the potential economic impact of the platform the project includes the fabrication of several industry driven demonstrators.

The different markets requiring the fabrication of high performance micro-/nano-structured plastic components will directly benefit from the PIMENT platform.

3D plastic part with molded optically active microstructures: a new approach to watch decoration

Optically active micro-structures have been replicated by injection onto watch glasses for anti-counterfeiting and decorative purposes.

STRUCTURED CURVED POLYMERIC WATCH PART

By integrating micro- and nano-structures within microfluidic channels, a bioanalytical chip with improved performance has been produced.

HIGH PERFORMANCE BIOANALYTICAL CHIP

Micro-/nano-structured fluidic chip for diagnostics

Micro-/nano- structured mold cavities produced by micro-machining, ECMM and Self-Assembly

Confocal images of microstructured mold cavity and associated replicated plastic part