| 1. |
- Bleiker, Simon J., et al.
(författare)
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Cost-Efficient Wafer-Level Capping for MEMS and Imaging Sensors by Adhesive Wafer Bonding
- 2016
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Ingår i: Micromachines. - Basel, Switzerland : Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). - 2072-666X. ; 7:10, s. 192-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Device encapsulation and packaging often constitutes a substantial part of the fabrication cost of micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) transducers and imaging sensor devices. In this paper, we propose a simple and cost-effective wafer-level capping method that utilizes a limited number of highly standardized process steps as well as low-cost materials. The proposed capping process is based on low-temperature adhesive wafer bonding, which ensures full complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatibility. All necessary fabrication steps for the wafer bonding, such as cavity formation and deposition of the adhesive, are performed on the capping substrate. The polymer adhesive is deposited by spray-coating on the capping wafer containing the cavities. Thus, no lithographic patterning of the polymer adhesive is needed, and material waste is minimized. Furthermore, this process does not require any additional fabrication steps on the device wafer, which lowers the process complexity and fabrication costs. We demonstrate the proposed capping method by packaging two different MEMS devices. The two MEMS devices include a vibration sensor and an acceleration switch, which employ two different electrical interconnection schemes. The experimental results show wafer-level capping with excellent bond quality due to the re-flow behavior of the polymer adhesive. No impediment to the functionality of the MEMS devices was observed, which indicates that the encapsulation does not introduce significant tensile nor compressive stresses. Thus, we present a highly versatile, robust, and cost-efficient capping method for components such as MEMS and imaging sensors.
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| 2. |
- Abbaszadehbanaeiyan, Amin, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Hydrodynamic Cell Trapping for High Throughput Single-Cell Applications
- 2013
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Ingår i: Micromachines. - : MDPI AG. - 2072-666X. ; 4:4, s. 414-430
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The possibility to conduct complete cell assays under a precisely controlled environment while consuming minor amounts of chemicals and precious drugs have made microfluidics an interesting candidate for quantitative single-cell studies. Here, we present an application-specific microfluidic device, cellcomb, capable of conducting high-throughput single-cell experiments. The system employs pure hydrodynamic forces for easy cell trapping and is readily fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using soft lithography techniques. The cell-trapping array consists of V-shaped pockets designed to accommodate up to six Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast cells) with the average diameter of 4 μm. We used this platform to monitor the impact of flow rate modulation on the arsenite (As(III)) uptake in yeast. Redistribution of a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged version of the heat shock protein Hsp104 was followed over time as read out. Results showed a clear reverse correlation between the arsenite uptake and three different adjusted low = 25 nL min−1, moderate = 50 nL min−1, and high = 100 nL min−1 flow rates. We consider the presented device as the first building block of a future integrated application-specific cell-trapping array that can be used to conduct complete single cell experiments on different cell types.
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| 3. |
- Afrasiabi, Roodabeh, et al.
(författare)
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Integration of a droplet-based microfluidic system and silicon nanoribbon FET sensor
- 2016
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Ingår i: Micromachines. - : MDPI AG. - 2072-666X. ; 7:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a novel microfluidic system that integrates droplet microfluidics with a silicon nanoribbon field-effect transistor (SiNR FET), and utilize this integrated system to sense differences in pH. The device allows for selective droplet transfer to a continuous water phase, actuated by dielectrophoresis, and subsequent detection of the pH level in the retrieved droplets by SiNR FETs on an electrical sensor chip. The integrated microfluidic system demonstrates a label-free detection method for droplet microfluidics, presenting an alternative to optical fluorescence detection. In this work, we were able to differentiate between droplet trains of one pH-unit difference. The pH-based detection method in our integrated system has the potential to be utilized in the detection of biochemical reactions that induce a pH-shift in the droplets.
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| 4. |
- Ainla, Alar, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Hydrodynamic Flow Confinement Technology in Microfluidic Perfusion Devices
- 2012
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Ingår i: Micromachines. - : MDPI AG. - 2072-666X. ; 3:2, s. 442-461
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hydrodynamically confined flow device technology is a young research area with high practical application potential in surface processing, assay development, and in various areas of single cell research. Several variants have been developed, and most recently, theoretical and conceptual studies, as well as fully developed automated systems, were presented. In this article we review concepts, fabrication strategies, and application areas of hydrodynamically confined flow (HCF) devices.
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| 5. |
- Akan, Rabia, et al.
(författare)
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Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching and Electroless Deposition for Fabrication of Hard X-ray Pd/Si Zone Plates
- 2020
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Ingår i: Micromachines. - : MDPI. - 2072-666X. ; 11:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Zone plates are diffractive optics commonly used in X-ray microscopes. Here, we present a wet-chemical approach for fabricating high aspect ratio Pd/Si zone plate optics aimed at the hard X-ray regime. A Si zone plate mold is fabricated via metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) and further metalized with Pd via electroless deposition (ELD). MACE results in vertical Si zones with high aspect ratios. The observed MACE rate with our zone plate design is 700 nm/min. The ELD metallization yields a Pd density of 10.7 g/cm3, a value slightly lower than the theoretical density of 12 g/cm3. Fabricated zone plates have a grid design, 1:1 line-to-space-ratio, 30 nm outermost zone width, and an aspect ratio of 30:1. At 9 keV X-ray energy, the zone plate device shows a first order diffraction efficiency of 1.9%, measured at the MAX IV NanoMAX beamline. With this work, the possibility is opened to fabricate X-ray zone plates with low-cost etching and metallization methods.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Bernardin, Evans K., et al.
(författare)
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Demonstration of a Robust All-Silicon-Carbide Intracortical Neural Interface
- 2018
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Ingår i: Micromachines. - : MDPI. - 2072-666X. ; 9:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Intracortical neural interfaces (INI) have made impressive progress in recent years but still display questionable long-term reliability. Here, we report on the development and characterization of highly resilient monolithic silicon carbide (SiC) neural devices. SiC is a physically robust, biocompatible, and chemically inert semiconductor. The device support was micromachined from p-type SiC with conductors created from n-type SiC, simultaneously providing electrical isolation through the resulting p-n junction. Electrodes possessed geometric surface area (GSA) varying from 496 to 500 K m(2). Electrical characterization showed high-performance p-n diode behavior, with typical turn-on voltages of 2.3 V and reverse bias leakage below 1 nArms. Current leakage between adjacent electrodes was 7.5 nArms over a voltage range of -50 V to 50 V. The devices interacted electrochemically with a purely capacitive relationship at frequencies less than 10 kHz. Electrode impedance ranged from 675 +/- 130 k (GSA = 496 mu m(2)) to 46.5 +/- 4.80 k (GSA = 500 K mu m(2)). Since the all-SiC devices rely on the integration of only robust and highly compatible SiC material, they offer a promising solution to probe delamination and biological rejection associated with the use of multiple materials used in many current INI devices.
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| 8. |
- Birkholz, Mario, et al.
(författare)
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Continuously operating biosensor and its integration into a hermetically sealed medical implant
- 2016
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Ingår i: Micromachines. - : MDPI AG. - 2072-666X. ; 7:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An integration concept for an implantable biosensor for the continuous monitoring of blood sugar levels is presented. The system architecture is based on technical modules used in cardiovascular implants in order to minimize legal certification efforts for its perspective usage in medical applications. The sensor chip operates via the principle of affinity viscometry, which is realized by a fully embedded biomedical microelectromechanical systems (BioMEMS) prepared in 0.25-μm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)/BiCMOS technology. Communication with a base station is established in the 402-405 MHz band used for medical implant communication services (MICS). The implant shall operate within the interstitial tissue, and the hermetical sealing of the electronic system against interaction with the body fluid is established using titanium housing. Only the sensor chip and the antenna are encapsulated in an epoxy header closely connected to the metallic housing. The study demonstrates that biosensor implants for the sensing of low-molecular-weight metabolites in the interstitial may successfully rely on components already established in cardiovascular implantology.
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| 9. |
- Bodé, William Naundrup, et al.
(författare)
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Microparticle acoustophoresis in aluminum-based acoustofluidic devices with PDMS covers
- 2020
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Ingår i: Micromachines. - : MDPI AG. - 2072-666X. ; 11:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a numerical model for the recently introduced simple and inexpensive micromachined aluminum devices with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) cover for microparticle acoustophoresis. We validate the model experimentally for a basic design, where a microchannel is milled into the surface of an aluminum substrate, sealed with a PDMS cover, and driven at MHz frequencies by a piezoelectric lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) transducer. Both experimentally and numerically we find that the soft PDMS cover suppresses the Rayleigh streaming rolls in the bulk. However, due to the low transverse speed of sound in PDMS, such devices are prone to exhibit acoustic streaming vortices in the corners with a relatively large velocity. We predict numerically that in devices, where the microchannel is milled all the way through the aluminum substrate and sealed with a PDMS cover on both the top and bottom, the Rayleigh streaming is suppressed in the bulk thus enabling focusing of sub-micrometer-sized particles.
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| 10. |
- Chang, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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Capillary Self-Alignment of Microchips on Soft Substrates
- 2016
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Ingår i: Micromachines. - : MDPI AG. - 2072-666X. ; 7:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soft micro devices and stretchable electronics have attracted great interest for their potential applications in sensory skins and wearable bio-integrated devices. One of the most important steps in building printed circuits is the alignment of assembled micro objects. Previously, the capillary self-alignment of microchips driven by surface tension effects has been shown to be able to achieve high-throughput and high-precision in the integration of micro parts on rigid hydrophilic/superhydrophobic patterned surfaces. In this paper, the self-alignment of microchips on a patterned soft and stretchable substrate, which consists of hydrophilic pads surrounded by a superhydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) background, is demonstrated for the first time. A simple process has been developed for making superhydrophobic soft surface by replicating nanostructures of black silicon onto a PDMS surface. Different kinds of PDMS have been investigated, and the parameters for fabricating superhydrophobic PDMS have been optimized. A self-alignment strategy has been proposed that can result in reliable self-alignment on a soft PDMS substrate. Our results show that capillary self-alignment has great potential for building soft printed circuits.
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