EDM drills less than 10 μm holes

Optimation Inc. has developed a microEDM system, in the U.S.A., that drills down to less than 10μm diameter.

Optimation is a small company in Salt Lake City, Utah, that designed, developed and presently is using its Profile 24 and 24 P—and soon to be 24 PX—microEDM system.

We also designed and developed a Piezo X-Y stage with 4" x 8" travel and 50 nm resolution. This was done to attain zero backlash, which is important for micromachining. The system is a closed-loop servo with optical encoders for feedback. The electronics is RC type, with a Galil Corp. micromotion system incorporated. The Opti V. 2 software was developed by Optimation for 2-D/3-D profile, X-Y-Z true-vector control and is compatible with G-code and CAD/CAM packages, such as BobCAD V. 21.

We are also developing a Piezo micromilling system that adapts to our Profile microEDM system. It will have 30μm microchannelling capabilities.

We were chosen to supply microEDM apertures, in tungsten, for the JPL Mars Science Laboratory vehicle that is going to Mars in 2009.