Magnetically actuated micromechanical tweezers

Two planar actuators with magnetic thin films are used for magnetic tweezers. The planar actuators consisting of a pair of a 75 × 0.8 × 0.3 μm³ silicon oxide beam and a 72 × 13 × 0.3 μm³ silicon oxide plate deposited with a 65 × 4 × 0.1 μm³ Ni magnetic thin film are successfully fabricated and successfully gripped to a single NPC-tw01 cell consisting of Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles under a vertical magnetic field. The planar actuator bends under an external magnetic field because of the high shape magnetic anisotropy of the Ni magnetic thin film and a highly sensitive microcantilever. NPC-tw01 cells, which are adherent cells, are cultivated in a culture solution. The two planar actuators are placed in water to move and grip a living cell.