Microfabricated grippers could be useful for the manipulation of nanoscopic and microscopic samples. A survey is presented of the force requirements for a microgripper to complete pick-and-place nanomanipulation tasks. We then demonstrate in situ pick-and-place operations of nanowires inside a scanning electron microscope using microfabricated electrostatically actuated grippers, and compare the theoretically estimated force requirements with the results of experimental tests of picking up nanowires to evaluate how grippers and strategies for nanomanipulation can be optimized.

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Yellow single crystals of (NO 2 )[Au(NO 3 ) 4 ] (monoclinic, P2 1 /n, Z ) 2, a ) 775.1(2) pm, b ) 810.2(2) pm, c ) 898.7(2) pm, β ) 112.67(3)°, wR2 ) 0.0622) were obtained from the reaction of elemental gold with N 2 O 5 . In the crystal structure complex [Au(NO 3 ) 4 ]ions are present with the Au 3+ ions being in square planar coordination of four oxygen atoms of just as many monodentate nitrate groups. Charge compensation is achieved by linear NO 2 + ions. (NO 2 )[Au(NO 3 ) 4 ] decomposes between 363 and 423 K in a complex process yielding elemental gold. Solutions of (NO 2 )[Au(NO 3 ) 4 ] in N 2 O 5 were used to build contamination free structures of elemental gold onto a silica surface by electron beam initiated decomposition of the compound.

Current research work on the development of different depth-detection methods for supporting pick-andplace manipulations of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is presented. A nanorobot station capable of performing this manipulation task in the SEM's vacuum chamber has been developed, consisting of two cooperating nanorobots. One robot carries an electrothermal microgripper and also performs the coarse approach between microgripper and CNT. The second robot serves as sample holder and realizes the fine positioning of the CNT sample. For a reliable fine approach between microgripper and CNT as well as an intended future automation of handling tasks, depth-detection methods are required in order to precisely measure and align the zposition of microgripper and CNT. Two different methods for z-position estimation are proposed. The depth from focus method uses the focusing information of SEM images whereas the touchdown sensor concept relies on a bimorph piezo bending actuator. The feasibility of both approaches is shown and first experimental results are discussed. Future work has to show how the proposed methods will increase the efficiency of nanorobotic manipulation and how these methods can advance the automation of nanohandling tasks.

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