Purdue researchers develop microtweezers for MEMS assembly

Purdue University researchers have created microtweezers capable of assembling microscale structures in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), a university news release announced Jan. 17.

The researchers have shown how the device can be used to assemble tiny polystyrene spheres, each with a diameter of 40 micrometers, at left, into three-dimensional shapes. The device also might be used to weigh tiny particles by placing them onto the tip of a structure called a microcantilever, at right. (Images courtesy Birck Nanotechnology Center.)

In addition, the microtweezers can manipulate objects to print coatings to make advanced sensors, and grab and position live stem-cell spheres for research.

While the microtweezers are suitable for manufacturing MEMS-based accelerometers and gyroscopes, Cagri Savran, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue, said the microtweezers could be used to make a wide variety of MEMS devices because the technology makes it possible to assemble components like microscopic Lego pieces moved individually into place with microtweezers.

The university's research findings were published in the December 2011 online edition of the Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.