ABOUT - Mesomorph

The project

Mesomorph is a 3 year project, it will be concluded in October 2023 and will deliver a TRL6 demo of a new generation of all-in-one machine integrating three disruptive technologies.

Femtolaser micro ablation
Two-Photon Polymerization (2PP)
Atomic layer 3D nanoprinting (Selective Area Direct Atomic Layer Processing, SADALP process).

In a small self-contained white room, implemented with a new, smart, micro-manipulation and bonding system.

The machine will implement a new, flexible, fully automated hybrid process chain, compliant with the submicron accuracy targets of the new generation of micro systems, scalable to achieve throughput targets that compete against the high-volume scale manufacturing of high valued-added optoelectronics.

Moreover, each process step may be operated in reverse mode creating a very automated disassembly process useful to recover, or to remanufacture, any defective micropart.

To exploit this new manufacturing concept Mesomorph will deliver a specific Design/Manufacturing-to-Lifevalue Platform to guide the design, the engineering and production of microbots and microsystems with unprecedented dimensions, capabilities and carbon-footprint.

Finally, to ensure competitiveness and avoid the obstacles of high capital investments, a new business model based on “Manufacturing as a Service – MaaS” concept will be developed and proposed to end users for future industrial exploitation.

Product related expeted impact and explotable results

Mesomorph product solutions will result from a fully automated compact process chain ensuring:

lead-time for a new product < 4 weeks;
scrap rate < 0.01%.

They will present enhanced performances as a consequence of the ability to reach:

50000 parts/year throughput;
300 nm x,y resolution;

The number of technologies available on board and the number of materials that can be processed will widely enlarge the opportunities for:

rapid evolution of products;
quick and automated industrialization and ramp up < 1 week

The challenge

The industrialization of micromanufacturing processes cannot be achieved by downsizing of conventional technologies, limited by the physics of the micro/nano scale. Mesomorph strategy is to limit the number of micromanipulation tasks by integrating, all-in-one-machine, new processes for the direct creation of functions (electronic, fluidic, optic) directly on a substrate, with high resolution, by combining multi-material addition (Two-Photon Polymerization, Atomic Layer 3D nano printing) or subtraction (femtolaser micro-ablation). All in a self-contained white room, implemented with smart micro-manipulation.

Microscale products cannot be anymore conceived by integrating the design of subcomponents due to the difficult to design an accurate manufacturing and assembly process at this scale. Mesomorph strategy is to incorporate knowledge in a Design/Manufacturing-to-Lifevalue Platform to guide the development of newly designed microsystems fully exploiting the potential of the new technologies integrated.

Productivity cannot be achieved by sequencing many short steps, due to the slowness of physical processes at micro/nano scale. Mesomorph strategy is to scaleup throughput by parallelization and batch processing, scaling up the speed of new processes such as Selective Area Direct Atomic Layer Processing or high power femtolaser beam splitting

The exploitation of innovations in this sector cannot be any more limited and slowed by the financial risk of the high capital investment needed. Mesomorph strategy is to implements a new “Manufacturing as a Service - MaaS” business model where all the actors of the value chain will benefit from positive net cash flow since the start of production, zeroing entry barrier for innovators.

Concept and methodology

The Mesomorph concept is based on the modular integration of 5 basic unit process operations: POSITION, ADD, SUBTRACT, JOIN, CHECK, in one machine and one control connected to a distributed, sensing system. A numerical model of the processes involved is part of a digital platform including tools to support product design and production planning and implementing a business model based on offering the use of the machine as a service – Manufacturing as a Service – MaaS.

Mesomorph basic unit process operations