To facilitate the accurate characterization of the mechanical behavior of micro-scale materials used in, e.g., microelectronics, experiments are required that mimic the actual loading conditions to which the material systems are subjected during fabrication and operation. Equally important is the recording of mechanical data in the form of multi-axial force measurements, and the measurement of kinematics by in-situ microscopic techniques. To this end, a relatively inexpensive, micro-mechanical testing rig is realized from commercially available piezoelectric actuators. It is shown that the setup measures forces with a resolution of ∼ 0.3 [mN] in the x- and y-directions, and ∼ 50 mN in the z-direction, over a range of 10 [N], yielding a high dynamic range in these directions,. Furthermore, displacements can be imposed with a resolution of ∼ 1 [nm] over a range of 200 [µm], in all three directions (x, y, z). The setup is compact, vacuum compatible, and specimens are loaded on top of the setup so that the viewing perspective is unobstructed, allowing for in-situ optical and scanning electron microscopy testing. A generic method is developed for measuring quasi-static forces by piezoelectric actuators. Furthermore, the challenges imposed by the use of commercial actuators, of which the technical specification are not fully known to the user, are overcome and the solution strategy is described. Proof-of-concept experiments on flexible, organic, light-emitting diodes demonstrate the potential of the setup to provide rich micro-mechanical data in the form of tri-axial force and displacement measurements. The commercial availability of the piezoelectric actuators, combined with the solutions to the associated problems constitute a generally accessible micro-mechanical test setup to investigate small-scale specimens under realistic loading conditions.

中文翻译：

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具有精确、三轴、压电力传感和定位的原位微机械装置

为了便于精确表征用于例如微电子学的微型材料的机械行为，需要模拟材料系统在制造和操作过程中所经受的实际负载条件的实验。同样重要的是以多轴力测量的形式记录机械数据，以及通过原位显微技术测量运动学。为此，从市售的压电致动器中实现了相对便宜的微机械测试台。结果表明，在 10 [N] 的范围内，该装置在 x 和 y 方向上以 ~ 0.3 [mN] 的分辨率和在 z 方向上以 ~ 50 mN 的分辨率测量力，产生高动态范围在这些方向，。此外，在所有三个方向 (x, y, z) 上，可以在 200 [μm] 的范围内以 ~ 1 [nm] 的分辨率施加位移。该装置结构紧凑，真空兼容，样品装载在装置顶部，因此观察视角不受阻碍，允许进行原位光学和扫描电子显微镜测试。开发了一种通用方法来测量压电致动器的准静态力。此外，克服了使用商用执行器所带来的挑战，用户并不完全了解其技术规范，并描述了解决方案策略。柔性有机发光二极管的概念验证实验证明了该装置以三轴力和位移测量的形式提供丰富的微机械数据的潜力。