High-performance surface-micromachined inchworm actuator

This work demonstrates a polycrystalline silicon surface-micromachined inchworm actuator that exhibits high-performance characteristics such as large force (/spl plusmn/0.5 millinewtons), large velocity range (0 to /spl plusmn/4.4 mm/sec), large displacement range (/spl plusmn/100 microns), small step size (/spl plusmn/10, /spl plusmn/40 or /spl plusmn/100 nanometers), low power consumption (nanojoules per cycle), continuous bidirectional operation and relatively small area (600 /spl times/ 200/spl mu/m/sup 2/). An in situ load spring calibrated on a logarithmic scale from micronewtons to millinewtons, optical microscopy and Michelson interferometry are used to characterize its performance. The actuator consists of a force-amplifying plate that spans two voltage-controlled clamps, and walking is achieved by appropriately sequencing signals to these three components. In the clamps, normal force is borne by equipotential rubbing counterfaces, enabling friction to be measured against load. Using different monolayer coatings, we show that the static coefficient of friction can be changed from 0.14 to 1.04, and that it is load-independent over a broad range. We further find that the static coefficient of friction does not accurately predict the force generated by the actuator and attribute this to nanometer-scale presliding tangential deflections.     

Single crystal silicon nanopillars, nanoneedles and nanoblades with precise positioning for massively parallel nanoscale device integration

Arrays of precisely positioned single crystal silicon nanopillars, nanoneedles, and nanoblades with minimum feature sizes as small as 30 nm are fabricated using entirely scalable top-down fabrication techniques. Using the same scalable technologies, devices consisting of electrically connected silicon nanopillars with multiple addressable electrodes for each nanostructure are realized. The arrays of nanopillars, nanoneedles, and nanoblades are shown to exhibit Raman signal enhancement on 1,2-benzenedithiol monolayers, opening a path to nanodevices that manipulate, position, detect and analyze molecules.     

Morphological,Electrical, and Chemical Changes in Cyclically Contacting Polycrystalline Silicon Surfaces Coated with Perfluoroalkylsilane Self-Assembled Monolayer

The evolution of morphology, electrical properties, and chemical composition has been studied in cyclically contacting polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) surfaces coated with perfluoroalkylsilane self-assembled monolayer (SAM). The microinstrument used is a MEMS cantilever that is repeatedly actuated out-of-plane to impact a landing pad and is then moved in-plane to enable nondestructive in situ inspection of the impacted area. Analyses show that a device with a monolayer coating exhibits signs of surface degradation after a much higher number of cycles than its uncoated counterpart. A sharp increase in contact resistance between the cantilever and landing pad is observed at ~10 billion cycles for a coated device, versus ~25 million cycles for an uncoated device. Likewise, the onset of grain fracture in the landing pad occurs at ~25 billion cycles for the SAM-coated device, versus ~3 billion cycles for its uncoated counterpart. The effectiveness of the monolayer coating diminishes after more than 100 billion contact cycles as the SAM layer is removed, and the polysilicon substrate becomes susceptible to adhesive wear.     

Nonenzymatic glucose sensing based on deposited palladium nanoparticles on epoxy-silver electrodes

A new approach for nonenzymatic glucose sensing, based on a simple modification of epoxy-silver surfaces deposited on the tip of commercial copper electric wires, is presented. Palladium was galvanically displaced on the surface of the epoxy-silver surface in order to obtain metal nanoparticles that act as catalyst for the direct oxidation of glucose. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the formation of the metal nanoparticles. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the metallic nature of the formed nanostructures on the surface. Electrochemical characterization and calibration of the palladium-modified epoxy-silver electrode is reported, obtaining a linear range of 1–20 mM for the detection of glucose with low interference of ascorbic acid and uric acid. A simple 3-step coulometry was used as the detection technique. The developed sensing material is believed to be a great candidate for integration in small devices for clinical essays, due to the simplicity and cost effectiveness of the presented approach, compared to the state-of-the-art devices reported recently in the literature. Simplicity in the coulometry determinations makes these Pd-modified epoxy-silver sensors a good candidate for easy glucose determinations.     

Functionalization of Scanning Force Microscopy Cantilevers via Galvanic Displacement Technique

A galvanic displacement technique is used to coat silicon scanning force microscopy cantilevers with copper. The copper coating is characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning force microscopy, contact angle measurements, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. This coating technique results in uniform, reflective and conformal films and hence, no stress-induced bending of the cantilever is observed. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach for tribological studies, the coated cantilevers are chemically modified with alkanethiol monolayers in order to functionalize the cantilevers. The effect of changed surface energy are detected with adhesion measurements in water and ethanol.     

Two meta-heuristics for three-stage assembly flowshop scheduling with sequence-dependent setup times

In this paper, we consider a three-stage assembly flowshop scheduling problem with bi-objectives, namely the mean flow time and maximum tardiness. This problem can be considered as a production system model consisting of three stages: (1) different production operations are done in parallel, concurrently and independently, (2) the manufactured parts are collected and transferred to the next stage, and (3) these parts are assembled into final products. In this paper, sequence-dependent setup times and transfer times are also considered as two important presumptions in order to make the problem more realistic. We present a novel mathematical model for a production system with a new lower bound for the given problem. Obtaining an optimal solution for this type of complex, large-sized problem in reasonable computational time by using traditional approaches and optimization tools is extremely difficult. Thus, we propose two meta-heuristics, namely simulated annealing and tabu search, to solve a number of test problems generated at random. Finally, the computational results are illustrated and compared in order to show the efficiency of the foregoing meta-heuristics.     

Tribological Impact of SiC Encapsulation of Released Polycrystalline Silicon Microstructures

A method for coating released polysilicon microstructures with thin, uniform and conformal coatings of SiC derived from the single source precursor, 1,3-disilabutane (DSB) has been developed. This coating method has been successfully applied to micromechanical test devices which allow evaluation of friction and wear properties of the coating. Here, data on the coefficient of static friction of SiC coatings produced from DSB is presented. Also, a comparative wear study for devices which have been oxidized, treated with an anti-adhesion coating, and SiC coated is shown. Wear is examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on devices which have been cycled repetitively under a nominal load. It is found that the application of a few nanometers-thin SiC coating provides exceptional wear resistance as well as significant reduction in friction on the microscale.     

Graphene decoration with metal nanoparticles: towards easy integration for sensing applications

A simple and versatile method for the decoration of CVD grown graphene with metal nanoparticles is presented. The mechanism of nanoparticle formation is galvanic displacement resulting in physically adsorbed clusters. The single layer graphene obtained by this method can be easily transferred. Integration onto a gas sensing transducer is presented as proof of concept.     

Stiction reduction processes for surfacemicromachines

We present a review of surface micromachining technology with anemphasis on polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon)microstructures. The problems of release-related and in-usestiction are then introduced along with a brief review ofvarious approaches developed for reducing them. These includesurface roughening and chemical modification of the siliconsurfaces. The constraints that post-release back-end processessuch as assembly and packaging place on surface treatments aredescribed in general. Finally, we briefly outline some of theimportant scientific and technological issues that remain to be clarified in stiction phenomena in micromechanical structures.