Authors: Emily Larsen
A mechanical engineering capstone team at Washington State University worked with Micron Technology to design a new sample holder for efficiently imaging cross sections of semiconductor wafers.
The existing sample holder featured an accordion-style clamping mechanism which experienced fatigue failure and warping after repeated tightening and untightening. Redesigning the sample holder required reimagining the entire clamping concept to eliminate these challenges while ensuring manufacturability at the millimeter scale to meet space constraints. The student team—Tyler Kazen, Craig Bauman, Lindsey Lundgren, Kyler Martindale, and Kacey Gavin—rose to the challenge and produced an innovative design that met or exceeded all specifications.
In developing their final design, the students built more than 20 prototype iterations, beginning with cardboard and hot glue, progressing to 3D printed plastic, and eventually using machined aluminum components. The team embraced the iterative nature of design, testing functionality, ease-of-use, sample alignment, and capacity at each stage to inform their next iteration.
Their final design features a U-shaped frame with two parallel guide rails that secure 12 sliding spacers to hold the samples. A screw running through the center of the spacers threads into the last slider, which pulls the spacers together in tension to clamp the samples in place when tightened. With this design, the frame is not susceptible to bending or buckling, requires only simple machining, and it holds 3 times as many samples as the original design, enabling more efficient testing.
This project allowed the team of graduating engineers to experience the entire design process and practice working with a professional client while producing a cutting-edge solution that is currently under evaluation for sampling efficiency improvement by Micron Technology.