Microneedle Arrays For In-Situ Diagnosis of Electronic Systems (MAIDENS)

The Microneedle Arrays For In-Situ Diagnosis of Electronic Systems (MAIDENS) program is an SBIR Phase 2 adoption to further develop microneedle array technology to allow in-situ diagnostics of electronic circuits embedded on flexible substrates. In order to enable rapid placement of a diagnostic array without total disassembly of the devices under test, the microneedle arrays will need to adhere to the existing bend radius and make contact with the underlying conductors, without shorting, even up to a skew of 10 degrees and/or a shift of 100 mil from some reference point on the diagnostic device to a point on the circuit under test. Because a wide range of circuits may be targeted for diagnostic testing, the arrays must have a high areal density of needles and be able to support a conformal reconfigurable computing and communication network to allow the array fabric to map to the topology of the underlying circuit. Flexible flat cables are generally constructed with multiple parallel copper conductors encased in Kapton, with a total thickness of 3 to 10 mil. The microneedles will have to pierce at least 2 mil of Kapton to make contact with the conductors. Typical conductor spacings range from 0.125mm to 2.54mm (5mils to 100mils). The microneedle array will need to self-adhere (through needle geometry) or be embedded on a lightly adhesive substrate that can maintain contact for the duration of the test and then be removed without impairing the function of the existing cable. The skew allowance requirement will permit the diagnostic tape to be adhered quickly without requiring exact alignment to the cable conductors. DoD and commercial of the MAIDENS technology use will allow technicians to better diagnose intermittent faults in flexible elements that occur when flexed. The capability for rapid diagnostics will save time, personnel, and equipment that might otherwise have to be discarded and replaced. The end result of this project is to produce hardware demonstrating flex circuit surface contouring and integrated diagnostic viability.