Microassembly of complex and three-dimensional microstructures using holographic optical tweezers

Abstract

In this paper we investigate a flexible method for the fabrication of complex microstructures using binding microparticles. Utilizing optical forces, micro-objects are caught, positioned and used as building blocks to form defined structures, analogous to assembling processes in the macroscopic world. Durable linkage between the individual particles is realized using biomolecules with high affinities applied as particle coatings. Planar structures can be assembled employing optical manipulation as well as three-dimensional patterns by stacking the generated layers. Even the properties of the generated structures can be locally designed as desired by using building blocks from diverse materials exhibiting different properties. This method benefits from its simplicity and the potential extensibility of the fabricated structure at any time of the experiment.

In-liquid MEMS assembly by optical trapping

“…Moreover, the growing demand of hybrid MEMS systems creates new challenges in micro-assembly, where optical techniques are a promising candidate for rapid prototyping and manufacturing. Along this line, assembly of micrometer size beads has recently been reported by Dawood et al [3] as well as by Gharidi et al [4] using photo-polymerization and biomolecular coatings, respectively. However, the 3D manipulation and assembly of non-spherical MEMS with sizes > 30µm, an important scale in MEMS, has not yet been reported.…”

3D Nanophotonic device fabrication using discrete components

“…The generated force can be the optical force from the beam itself or an induced force at an interface. The main variants of LDA include techniques such as opto-electronic tweezers (OET) [82][83][84][85], opto-thermophoretic tweezers (OTT) [86][87][88][89][90][91][92], bubble pen lithography (BPL) [93][94][95][96], and optical tweezers (OT) [97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111]. The first three listed techniques-OET, OTT, and BPL-rely on the presence of a substrate to generate the required force.…”

“…OT are a versatile manipulation technique, as they can be used to trap and assemble a variety of objects with different shapes, sizes, and material compositions, including dielectric microspheres [99,101,102,106,125,127,128], metallic nanoparticles [126,129] nanowires, [110,[130][131][132][133][134][135], and biological media [104,124,[136][137][138][139]. While OT can effectively position a diverse array of objects in 3D, it is necessary to immobilize these objects in the absence of the optical trap to form self-standing structures.…”

Optical tweezers as manufacturing and characterization tool in microfluidics

“…Second, the use of chemicals can lead to inadvertent reactions or toxic chemicals can impede working with biological samples. However, to ensure a stable binding between particles without these negative effects a biochemical approach is used [12]. The particles are either coated with Streptavidin (SA) or Biotin (B).…”