SBIR Phase I: High-throughput manufacturing of silicon blades with smart cutting edges

The broader commercial potential of this project is in the realization of atomically sharp disposable blades through standard semiconductor processing techniques used by the microelectronics industries. The technology will address the need for low cost blades used in cataract surgery, tissue cutting and hair removal applications. In cataract surgery, a single-use blade is desirable. Conventional metal blades experience oxidation and become blunt over time due to micro-chipping, rusting and burr formation. However, surgeons in most countries reuse them on several patients due to their high cost (around US$50 per blade) resulting from a serial manufacturing process. Such practice may lead to a risk of compromising patient safety. This project will result in massively parallel blade manufacturing processes to produce several thousand identical blades from a single wafer with atomic level sharpness and ultra-long durability at a fraction of the cost of their existing counterparts. Similarly, existing shaving blades technologies rely mainly on increasing the metallic blade count in a single shaver for improved shaving experience. Silicon based blades offer exceedingly high levels of shaving precision and closeness, all with a single blade unit. Atomic sharpness achieved via micro-fabrication processes will play a key role in breaking the status quo in the saturated hair removal blades market. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will pursue electrochemical micromachining of silicon and ceramics to fabricate micro-ridges with atomically sharp cutting edges. Unlike the sequential polishing process using harsh chemicals for the fabrication of current blades, this project will develop and employ massively parallel microfabrication processes commonly used by the semiconductor industry. Commercialization of such blades will depend on addressing several technology gaps that this project will address. These include the (a) demonstration of full scale versions of the prepared models using high-throughput fabrication protocol based on a combination of wet and (photo)electrochemical etching techniques along with thin film coating processes, (b) establishment of blade manufacturing processes, (c) obtaining initial data from mechanical testing to establish the integrity of the microfabricated blades, (d) developing functional photo(electrochemical) etching equipment to perform deep anisotropic cuts on semiconductors, (e) conducting lab tests for mechanical and maneuvering stability, and (f) process development for large-scale production. The project will enable high-throughput manufacturing of ultra-sharp semiconductor and ceramic based cutting tools with associated safety features and potential integration of a variety of electrical, optical and mechanical sensors that are not possible in metal based blade platforms.