Fabrication of 3D microstructure by localized electrochemical deposition with image feedback distance control and five-axis motion platform

The localized electrochemical deposition (LECD) process has been used to fabricate 3D microproducts. We combine the LECD process with a real-time 3D image feedback distance control system to improve the quality and conformational design complexity of 3D microproducts. Analyses of microproducts show that the main factor for designing complex 3D microproducts is the deposition direction angle that can be controlled in a 2D fabrication method. The deposition direction angle was the angle between the normal direction of the substrate surface and deposition direction. The normal direction of the substrate surface was determined 0°.We investigate two methods to improve the deposition direction angle in this study. The first method makes use of a new type of micro anode with asymmetric tip. By using this asymmetric micro anode, the deposition direction angle is found to range between-12.0° and 107.9°. This range is only to display the performance of the anode that proposed in this study. The second method is to redesign the moving mechanism and increase actuators and axes. By employing these two methods, we demonstrate high quality fabrication of two types of microstructures: helical springs with low pitch angle and inverted tripods.