The ability to control the rotational direction of tethered motile bacteria such as Escherichia coli offers an alternative to power micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) devices. This paper describes our effort in the development of a micro-fluidic system for small but precise liquid delivery that uses the motility of tethered cellular motors as the driving force for fluidic transport. Based on CFD simulation, micro channels of various cross-sectional areas are fabricated on a 5″ × 5″ × 0.9″ quartz wafer. Integration of the cellular motors is done by bonding the micro channel wafer to a glass slide, which consists of a single layer of cellular motors previously tethered on the slide. With this system, rotation of the cellular motors will be initiated and the resulting volumetric fluid flow in the micro channel will be measured.

Since the trend for electronic systems now requires more functional density not only per unit area, hut also per unit volume, and as electronic systems become smaller and thinner, the next logical step is to thin the integrated circuit (IC). This paper looks at the mechanical and morphological effects of the thinning process on the IC, and discusses thermal management schemes used to operate the t h i i e d IC at higher power levels. The methods used for thinning the chips in this study are plasma etching and mechanical polishmg. The chips were thinned to a thickness of approximately 50 -80 microns. This paper compares the effects of these two thinning processes on the chip's surface morphology and mechanical properties. In addition to the physical analysis of the chip, different thermal management schemes are also investigated in order to help increase the chip's operating power in both the flip chip and wire bond configurations. Polyimide is a desirable substrate for conformal circuitry because of its mechanical flexibility, yet it is a poor conductor of heat. Therefore, the thermal management schemes must be inteegrated into the polyimide substrate in order to increase the flow of heat away from the chips. The investigated schemes are thermal vias and micro heat channels. Finite element analysis was used to model these thermal management schemes.