A Novel Protective Cover in Assembling of Micro Components in a SEM Chamber

This paper presents a novel approach to assembly of micro components in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) chamber. A new set, called protective cover for micro components, allows their quick positioning on the platform inside the SEM chamber without gluing. It is well known that the vacuum pumps, especially turbo one, which evacuated a SEM chamber, are highly sensitive to foreign object damage. This is the reason why the micro components are glued on the specimen holder in the SEM chamber. On the other hand, the grippers that have to pick, lift and place the micro components in a desired system (position, orientation) are very fragile. They can not overcome the adhesive force of the glue and remove the particle from the specimen holder. The presented system is standardized and can be mounted without additional time, modification or expenses into the SEM chamber. It enables, on the one hand, easier manipulation of the micro components that do not need to be glued on the specimen holder and, on the other hand, introduces further automation in the manipulation process in the SEM chamber since it creates thus a necessary basis for modular assembling system. Furthermore, it is very important for the automated assembly process that the micro components are exactly positioned. The standardisation in the micro world becomes more and more essential. The uniformity of parts, operations and tools strongly supports an automatic assembly system