Development and prototype of a textured nanoimprinted air bearing system

Abstract

Silicon wafers and solar cells are delicate components used in the semiconductor industries and energy industries. Handling and transportation can easily damage these components. Conventional handling methods with mechanical contact can cause various damages to these delicate surfaces. Air bearings can provide a solution by enabling an almost frictionless support between two moving surfaces. With air bearings, a pressurised layer of air is present that eliminates mechanical contact. Textures on an air bearing surface can enhance the load capacity and stiffness of the system. In this report, an unconventional manufacturing method for a large, textured air bearing surface is proposed, which is nanoimprinting. Nanoimprinting is a manufacturing technique to pattern micro- and nanoscale textures with UV-curable resin. These textures can enhance the load capacity and stiffness of an air bearing. With nanoimprinting, a master (mould) is required, and from this master, copies are made. By creating a grid of these copies, a cost-effective upscaling step can be carried out. In this project, two functioning textured nanoimprinted air bearing demonstrators were realised. The first demonstrator is a one-to-one copy of the master. For the second demonstrator, an up-scaling step was carried out. Feature depths of 14 μm were realised with nanoimprinting, with a roughness between 1 and 2 μm. Stiffnesses in the air bearing film of 3000 N/m and 550 N/m were accomplished for the first and second demonstrators, respectively.