Design and microfabrication of a high-aspect-ratio PDMS microbeam array for parallel nanonewton force measurement and protein printing

High aspect-ratio micropillars are in strong demand for microtechnology, but their realization remains a difficult challenge, especially when attempted with soft materials. Here we present a direct drawing-based technique for fabricating micropillars with poly(dimethylsiloxane). Despite the material's extreme softness, our technique enables routine realization of micropillars exceeding 2,000 mm in height and 100 in aspect-ratio. It also supports in situ integration of microspheres at the tips of the micropillars. As a validation of the new structure's utility, we configure it into airflow sensors, in which the micropillars and microspheres function as flexible upright waveguides and self-aligned reflectors, respectively. Highlevel bending of the micropillar under an airflow and its optical read-out enables mm s À 1 scale-sensing resolution. This new scheme, which uniquely integrates high aspect-ratio elastomeric micropillars and microspheres self-aligned to them, could widen the scope of soft material-based microdevice technology.

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“…where T is the taper constant defined as d min /d max 25 . The three MSMPs in Table 1 were targeted for this characterization.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…MSMP-C, the longest one, however, was too flexible to be kept within the regime of d t /ho0. 25 9 . Obtaining such a high E Y value in bulk PDMS requires hours of high temperature curing 30 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microsphere-assisted fabrication of high aspect-ratio elastomeric micropillars and waveguides

Paek

Kim

2014

Nat Commun

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“…MEMS and NEMS arrays have successfully given birth to new technologies as in e.g. storage devices [27,46], parallel lithography processes [22], microcantilever biosensors [1] and mass detection [24], as opto-mechanical signal processing [6] and signal mixing devices [11], for fast mapping of surfaces via atomic force microscopy [2,32,36], and recently for protein printing [43]. In most operational cases of these arrays the dynamic response is governed by nonlinear effects [4,6,10,24,30] which directly influence their performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In most operational cases of these arrays the dynamic response is governed by nonlinear effects [4,6,10,24,30] which directly influence their performance. To date, the primary focus of microbeam array investigation has been experimental [6,32,43]. Theoretical investigations include lumped-mass derivation [4,9,30], which reveal the existence of in-and outof-phase periodic responses [30] and intrinsic energy localization of specific array modes [10], the widely used finite-element approach [50] and a continuumbased approach [16,18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear dynamic behavior of a microbeam array subject to parametric actuation at low, medium and large DC-voltages

Gutschmidt

Gottlieb

2010

Nonlinear Dyn

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The dynamic response of parametrically excited microbeam arrays is governed by nonlinear effects which directly influence their performance. To date, most widely used theoretical approaches, although opposite extremes with respect to complexity, are nonlinear lumped-mass and finite-element models. While a lumped-mass approach is useful for a qualitative understanding of the system response it does not resolve the spatio-temporal interaction of the individual elements in the array. Finite-element simulations, on the other hand, are adequate for static analysis, but inadequate for dynamic simulations. A third approach is that of a reduced-order modeling which has gained significant attention for single-element microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), yet leaves an open amount of fundamental questions when applied to MEMS arrays. In this work, we employ a nonlinear continuum-based model to investigate the dynamic behavior of an array of N nonlinearly coupled microbeams. Investigations focus on the array's behavior in regions of its internal one-to-one, parametric, and several internal three-to-one and combination resonances, which correspond to low, medium and large S. Gutschmidt ( ) DC-voltage inputs, respectively. The nonlinear equations of motion for a two-element system are solved using the asymptotic multiple-scales method for the weakly nonlinear system in the afore mentioned resonance regions, respectively. Analytically obtained results of a two-element system are verified numerically and complemented by a numerical analysis of a three-beam array. The dynamic behavior of the twoand three-beam systems reveal several in-and outof-phase co-existing periodic and aperiodic solutions. Stability analysis of such co-existing solutions enables construction of a detailed bifurcation structure. This study of small-size microbeam arrays serves for design purposes and the understanding of nonlinear nearestneighbor interactions of medium-and large-size arrays. Furthermore, the results of this present work motivate future experimental work and can serve as a guideline to investigate the feasibility of new MEMS array applications.

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“…On the microscale, optics are used to sense contact forces in [26,27]. For single cell study, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microbeams have been used to sense one dimensional micro-scale forces [28,29].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Magnetic Microrobot with in situ Force Sensing Capabilities

Jing

2014

Robotics

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This paper presents a proof-of-concept prototype of a micro force sensing mobile microrobot. The design consists of a planar, elastic mechanism serving as computer vision-based force sensor module, while the microrobot body is made from a magnetic layer driven by a magnetic field. From observing the deformation of the elastic mechanism, manipulation forces can be determined. The deformation is tracked by a CCD camera attached to an optical microscope. This design is validated through experimental tests with a micromachined prototype. The preliminary results verify this first microrobot prototype is indeed capable of in situ force sensing. This concept can be scaled down further for next generation designs and can be designed for real biomedical applications on microscale.

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Design and microfabrication of a high-aspect-ratio PDMS microbeam array for parallel nanonewton force measurement and protein printing

Cited by 64 publications

References 69 publications

Microsphere-assisted fabrication of high aspect-ratio elastomeric micropillars and waveguides

Microsphere-assisted fabrication of high aspect-ratio elastomeric micropillars and waveguides

Nonlinear dynamic behavior of a microbeam array subject to parametric actuation at low, medium and large DC-voltages

A Magnetic Microrobot with in situ Force Sensing Capabilities

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