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Nature has inspired generations of people, offering a plethora of different materials for innovations. One such material is the molecule of the heritage, or DNA, thanks to its unique self-assembling properties. Researchers at the Nanoscience Center (NSC) of the University of Jyväskylä and BioMediTech (BMT) of the University of Tampere have now demonstrated a method to fabricate electronic devices by using DNA. The DNA itself has no part in the electrical function, but acts as a scaffold for forming a linear, pearl-necklace-like nanostructure consisting of three gold nanoparticles. The research was funded by the Academy of Finland.

The DNA itself has no part in the electrical function, but acts as a scaffold for forming a linear, pearl-necklace-like nanostructure consisting of three gold nanoparticles. Credit: the University of Jyväskylä

The DNA itself has no part in the electrical function, but acts as a scaffold for forming a linear, pearl-necklace-like nanostructure consisting of three gold nanoparticles. Credit: The University of Jyväskylä

The nature of electrical conduction in nanoscale materials can differ vastly from regular, macroscale metallic structures, which have countless free electrons forming the current, thus making any effect by a single electron negligible. However, even the addition of a single electron into a nanoscale piece of metal can increase its energy enough to prevent conduction. This kind of addition of electrons usually happens via a quantum-mechanical effect called tunnelling, where electrons tunnel through an energy barrier. In this study, the electrons tunnelled from the electrode connected to a voltage source, to the first nanoparticle and onwards to the next particle and so on, through the gaps between them.

“Such single-electron devices have been fabricated within the scale of tens of nanometres by using conventional micro- and nanofabrication methods for more than two decades,” says Senior Lecturer Jussi Toppari from the NSC. Toppari has studied these structures already in his PhD work.

“The weakness of these structures has been the cryogenic temperatures needed for them to work. Usually, the operation temperature of these devices scales up as the size of the components decreases. Our ultimate aim is to have the devices working at room temperature, which is hardly possible for conventional nanofabrication methods – so new venues need to be found.”

Modern nanotechnology provides tools to fabricate metallic nanoparticles with the size of only a few nanometres. Single-electron devices fabricated from these metallic nanoparticles could function all the way up to room temperature. The NSC has long experience of fabricating such nanoparticles.

“After fabrication, the nanoparticles float in an aqueous solution and need to be organised into the desired form and connected to the auxiliary circuitry,” explains researcher Kosti Tapio. “DNA-based self-assembly together with its ability to be linked with nanoparticles offer a very suitable toolkit for this purpose.”

Gold nanoparticles are attached directly within the aqueous solution onto a DNA structure designed and previously tested by the involved groups. The whole process is based on DNA self-assembly, and yields countless of structures within a single patch. Ready structures are further trapped for measurements by electric fields.

“The superior self-assembly properties of the DNA, together with its mature fabrication and modification techniques, offer a vast variety of possibilities,” says Associate Professor Vesa Hytönen.

Electrical measurements carried out in this study demonstrated for the first time that these scalable fabrication methods based on DNA self-assembly can be efficiently utilised to fabricate single-electron devices that work at room temperature.

The research builds on a long-term multidisciplinary collaboration between the research groups involved. In addition to the above persons, Dr Jenni Leppiniemi (BMT), Boxuan Shen (NSC), and Dr Wolfgang Fritzsche (IPHT, Jena, Germany) contributed to the research. The study was published on 13 October 2016 in Nano Letters. Collaborative travel funding was obtained from DAAD in Germany.

MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG)’s annual MEMS & Sensors Technology Showcase at MEMS & Sensors Executive Congress® 2016 (November 9-11, 2016 in Scottsdale, AZ) highlights some of the newest and most unique MEMS/sensors-enabled applications in the industry. MSIG today announced the shortlist of finalists who will compete for the title of winner at this year’s event.

i-BLADES’ Smartplatform
i-BLADES’ mobile Smartcase is a new modular accessory that dramatically accelerates time to market and reach for MEMS and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. It lets new technologies quickly reach mass-market mobile consumers through one integrated smartphone accessory — a mobile phone case. It not only provides protection but also a Smartplatform that forms a “hard-wired” smartphone connection, enabling add-on MEMS and IoT technologies. Developers can add new sensors to Smartcase directly or through snap-on Smartblade modules.

With i-BLADES, technologies can quickly go onto hundreds of millions of smartphones as an after-market opportunity, making smartphones “smarter.” i-BLADES partnered with Bosch to deploy successfully the BME680 sensor faster than via other routes. For more information, visit: www.i-blades.com or watch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVcOewMhopE&feature=youtu.be

Chirp Microsystems’ MEMS-Based Ultrasonic Sensing Solution
Today’s VR and gaming systems are limited by their reliance on complex computer vision techniques for controller tracking, resulting in higher cost, limited tracking area and lack of mobility due to high power consumption. Chirp Microsystems’ ultrasonic tracking technology addresses these limitations, offering solutions that enable truly mobile VR and AR systems at attractive price points suitable for multiple tiers of products.

Chirp Microsystems’ new ultrasonic time-of-flight (ToF) technology uses pulses of ultrasound to measure an object’s range with millimeter accuracy. This ultra-low power ultrasonic ToF technology enables low-latency, millimeter-accurate 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) inside-out controller tracking for VR/AR and gaming systems. This system solution is enabled by Chirp’s ultra-low power ultrasonic ToF sensor, which offers ultra-wide field-of-view, noise and light immunity, fast sample rate, and small package size. The ToF sensor is a system in package (SiP) that combines a MEMS ultrasound transducer with a power-efficient digital signal processor (DSP) on a custom integrated circuit. In wearable applications, Chirp’s ultrasonic SiP provides a transformative and intuitive touchless gesture interface. For more information, visit: www.chirpmicro.com

Integrated Device Technology’s Gas Sensor for Air Quality and Breath Detection
Integrated Device Technology’s (IDT’s) new highly sensitive gas sensor family based on the ZMOD3250 targets indoor air quality with a roadmap that includes environmental (outdoor) air quality and breath detection. The ZMOD3250 family detects total volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and odors, and can be used to selectively identify several VOCs, including formaldehyde, ethanol and toluene. The company is promoting several features and applications of this new gas sensor product line, including the off-gassing detection of chemicals from common home and office materials, odor detection, selective measurements among VOCs and detection of several breath components.

IDT’s flagship product, the ZMOD3250, features a unique silicon microhotplate with nanostructured sensing material that enables a highly sensitive measurement of gas. The accompanying ASIC provides a flexible solution for integration of the sensor with various consumer devices, including mobile phones, wearables and appliances. Packaged in a 12 pin LGA assembly (3.0 mm x 3.0 mm x 0.7 mm), the sensor emulates a sensor array with a single sensor element. Suitable for a wide range of applications, the sensor features programmable-measurement sequence and highly integrated CMOS design. To request more information about the ZMOD3250, visit: www.idt.com or watch video: http://www.idt.com/video/uv-sensor-and-gas-sensor-demonstration-idt

Valencell’s Biometric Gaming
Biometric input adds a new element to gaming. For example, fitness games can use heart rate as a key control measure, or action games can require users to hold their breath while their characters are swimming. Audio earbuds, headsets, armbands and wrist devices — all of which make good use of MEMS/sensors — are natural peripherals for gaming — and as well as for exercising.

Valencell has created a demonstration game that not only involves real-time biometric data to affect the gaming experience, but also collects meaningful health metrics in the background. This has implications not only for the gaming industry, but also for healthcare and medical markets. In fact, healthcare practitioners are integrating biometric game play into physical therapy and surgery recovery protocols to measure and manage recovery processes. Valencell will demonstrate the game as well as its biometric output and analysis. For more information, visit: www.valencell.com or watch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMTJP6OBmjA

Vesper’s Wake-on Sound MEMS Microphone
Always-listening MEMS microphones may signal a new era of ubiquitous sensors that can run indefinitely on small batteries. That’s good news for developers of TV remote controls, smart speakers, smartphones, intelligent sensor nodes, hearables and other electronic devices. It’s even better news for consumers who want to cut the power cord but end up incessantly charging devices or replacing batteries, even when those devices aren’t in regular use.

Vesper — developer of the world’s only piezoelectric MEMS microphones — will demonstrate VM1010, the first quiescent-sensing MEMS microphone, during MEMS & Sensors Technology Showcase. VM1010 alleviates the heavy power consumption typical of speech recognition–which consumes up to 1000 µW or more. Because it supports wake-on sound at practically zero power draw (a mere 3 µA of current while in listening mode), VM1010 reduces standby power by two orders of magnitude and can increase standby time by a factor of 100.

Vesper will also demonstrate the extremely fast response time of VM1010, showing how it can go to full power within microseconds, quick enough to record what a user is saying and capture keywords and other acoustic event triggers. For more information, visit: www.vespermems.com or watch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhFtrjbpffE

Scientists have created a material that could make reading biological signals, from heartbeats to brainwaves, much more sensitive.

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are designed to measure signals created by electrical impulses in the body, such as heartbeats or brainwaves. However, they are currently only able to measure certain signals.

Now researchers led by a team from Imperial College London have created a material that measures signals in a different way to traditional OECTs that they believe could be used in complementary circuits, paving the way for new biological sensor technologies.

Semiconducting materials can conduct electronic signals, carried by either electrons or their positively charged counterparts, called holes. Holes in this sense are the absence of electrons – the spaces within atoms that can be filled by them.

Electrons can be passed between atoms but so can holes. Materials that use primarily hole-driven transport are called ‘p-type’ materials, and those that use primarily electron-driven transport are called, and ‘n-type’ materials.

An ‘ambipolar’ material is the combination of both types, allowing the transport of holes and electrons within the same material, leading to potentially more sensitive devices. However, it has not previously been possible to create ambipolar materials that work in the body.

The current most sensitive OECTs use a material where only holes are transported. Electron transport in these devices however has not been possible, since n-type materials readily break down in water-based environments like the human body.

But in research published today in Nature Communications, the team have demonstrated the first ambipolar OECT that can conduct electrons as well as holes with high stability in water-based solutions.

The team overcame the seemingly inherent instability of n-type materials in water by designing new structures that prevent electrons from engaging in side-reactions, which would otherwise degrade the device.

These new devices can detect positively charged sodium and potassium ions, important for neuron activities in the body, particularly in the brain. In the future, the team hope to be able to create materials tuned to detect particular ions, allowing ion-specific signals to be detected.

Lead author Alexander Giovannitti, a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Iain McCulloch, from the Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics at Imperial said: “Proving that an n-type organic electrochemical transistor can operate in water paves the way for new sensor electronics with improved sensitivity.

“It will also allow new applications, particularly in the sensing of biologically important positive ions, which are not feasible with current devices. For example, these materials might be able to detect abnormalities in sodium and potassium ion concentrations in the brain, responsible for neuron diseases such as epilepsy.”

For more than a decade, engineers have been eyeing the finish line in the race to shrink the size of components in integrated circuits. They knew that the laws of physics had set a 5-nanometer threshold on the size of transistor gates among conventional semiconductors, about one-quarter the size of high-end 20-nanometer-gate transistors now on the market.

Some laws are made to be broken, or at least challenged.

A research team led by faculty scientist Ali Javey at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has done just that by creating a transistor with a working 1-nanometer gate. For comparison, a strand of human hair is about 50,000 nanometers thick.

This is a schematic of a transistor with a molybdenum disulfide channel and 1-nanometer carbon nanotube gate. Credit: Sujay Desai/Berkeley Lab

This is a schematic of a transistor with a molybdenum disulfide channel and 1-nanometer carbon nanotube gate. Credit: Sujay Desai/Berkeley Lab

“We made the smallest transistor reported to date,” said Javey, a lead principal investigator of the Electronic Materials program in Berkeley Lab’s Materials Science Division. “The gate length is considered a defining dimension of the transistor. We demonstrated a 1-nanometer-gate transistor, showing that with the choice of proper materials, there is a lot more room to shrink our electronics.”

The key was to use carbon nanotubes and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), an engine lubricant commonly sold in auto parts shops. MoS2 is part of a family of materials with immense potential for applications in LEDs, lasers, nanoscale transistors, solar cells, and more.

The findings will appear in the Oct. 7 issue of the journal Science. Other investigators on this paper include Jeff Bokor, a faculty senior scientist at Berkeley Lab and a professor at UC Berkeley; Chenming Hu, a professor at UC Berkeley; Moon Kim, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas; and H.S. Philip Wong, a professor at Stanford University.

The development could be key to keeping alive Intel co-founder Gordon Moore’s prediction that the density of transistors on integrated circuits would double every two years, enabling the increased performance of our laptops, mobile phones, televisions, and other electronics.

“The semiconductor industry has long assumed that any gate below 5 nanometers wouldn’t work, so anything below that was not even considered,” said study lead author Sujay Desai, a graduate student in Javey’s lab. “This research shows that sub-5-nanometer gates should not be discounted. Industry has been squeezing every last bit of capability out of silicon. By changing the material from silicon to MoS2, we can make a transistor with a gate that is just 1 nanometer in length, and operate it like a switch.”

When ‘electrons are out of control’

Transistors consist of three terminals: a source, a drain, and a gate. Current flows from the source to the drain, and that flow is controlled by the gate, which switches on and off in response to the voltage applied.

Both silicon and MoS2 have a crystalline lattice structure, but electrons flowing through silicon are lighter and encounter less resistance compared with MoS2. That is a boon when the gate is 5 nanometers or longer. But below that length, a quantum mechanical phenomenon called tunneling kicks in, and the gate barrier is no longer able to keep the electrons from barging through from the source to the drain terminals.

“This means we can’t turn off the transistors,” said Desai. “The electrons are out of control.”

Because electrons flowing through MoS2 are heavier, their flow can be controlled with smaller gate lengths. MoS2 can also be scaled down to atomically thin sheets, about 0.65 nanometers thick, with a lower dielectric constant, a measure reflecting the ability of a material to store energy in an electric field. Both of these properties, in addition to the mass of the electron, help improve the control of the flow of current inside the transistor when the gate length is reduced to 1 nanometer.

Once they settled on MoS2 as the semiconductor material, it was time to construct the gate. Making a 1-nanometer structure, it turns out, is no small feat. Conventional lithography techniques don’t work well at that scale, so the researchers turned to carbon nanotubes, hollow cylindrical tubes with diameters as small as 1 nanometer.

They then measured the electrical properties of the devices to show that the MoS2 transistor with the carbon nanotube gate effectively controlled the flow of electrons.

“This work demonstrated the shortest transistor ever,” said Javey, who is also a UC Berkeley professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences. “However, it’s a proof of concept. We have not yet packed these transistors onto a chip, and we haven’t done this billions of times over. We also have not developed self-aligned fabrication schemes for reducing parasitic resistances in the device. But this work is important to show that we are no longer limited to a 5-nanometer gate for our transistors. Moore’s Law can continue a while longer by proper engineering of the semiconductor material and device architecture.”

STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) today revealed its contributions to an intelligent toothbrush system from Oral-B. ST’s motion-sensing and control chip inside the toothbrush help develop healthier brushing habits.

Brushing incorrectly can negatively affect oral health. To help people brush like their dental professional recommends and avoid these common oral-health issues, the Oral-B GENIUS intelligent toothbrush system combines revolutionary Position Detection technology with Triple Pressure Control and a Professional Timer.

ST’s low-power 3-axis accelerometer captures permanently the orientation of the toothbrush handle while the user is brushing. ST’s 8-bit STM8 microcontroller performs pre-processing of the accelerometer data and other housekeeping functions on the GENIUS toothbrush and leverages ST’s advanced packaging technologies for miniaturization.

“Our contribution to improving personal healthcare through an electronic toothbrush that brushes like your dental professional recommends is yet another example of how semiconductor technologies help people get more from life,” said Kevin Gagnon, Vice President of Central Sales, Americas Region, STMicroelectronics. “A powerful demonstration of the exceptional creativity of the Oral-B technology team, the GENIUS smart electronic toothbrush is a testament to the variety of highly innovative products that ST’s solutions can be used to develop and bring to market.”

Leti, an institute of CEA Tech, announced today it has joined the Stanford SystemX Alliance, a network of 100 renowned Stanford University professors and 27 world-class companies, joining forces in a pre-competitive environment to define tomorrow’s research strategies. Leti’s participation bridges the gap between two worlds – academia and industry. 

The alliance is a collaboration between Stanford researchers and over two-dozen leading global technology companies – such as Google, Huawei, Xilinx, Intel, Qualcomm, Toshiba, Infineon, and many more – that focuses on hardware and software at all levels of the system stack. Topics range from materials and devices to systems and applications in electronics, networks, energy, mobility, bio-interfaces, sensors and other technological domains.

Together, the SystemX partners are working on research strategies that should lead to a wide range of next generation applications, including the highly anticipated self-driving car and future artificial-intelligence systems that will improve performance and operation of our mobile, medical, smart-home solutions and devices.

Following his recent visit to Leti, Stanford System X Director Rick Bahr said, “Leti’s extensive, advanced clean room facilities and expertise are truly impressive, and I can see now that Stanford and Leti are very complementary. It makes real sense for us to find more ways to work together on developing new technologies and their demonstrators.”

“The alliance provides an avenue for worldwide strategic discussions and, more importantly, allows both research partners and industry leaders to stay ahead of the game,” said Barbara De Salvo, Leti’s scientific director.

“Leti brings its scientific excellence and expertise on technology transfer, and will have access to Stanford’s top-notch upstream research and network,” she added. “Stanford’s dynamic culture will inspire Leti on the road to new scientific territories and lead to strong programs with the Silicon Valley ecosystem.”

Leti will share its innovative research results during several SystemX events and explore ambitious, innovative and collaborative projects together with other partners of the Alliance.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq:  CY) and Hackster today announced a global design competition that gives engineers the opportunity to prototype their innovative ideas that sense the world around us for use in the growing Internet of Things (IoT) market, home appliances, and consumer and industrial applications. The Sensing the World Challenge will use Cypress’s easy-to-use CY8CKIT-048 PSoC Analog Coprocessor Pioneer Kit as the development hardware platform. Hackster will select a winner from three regions—the Americas, Asia Pacific and Australia, and Europe and Africa—and each will receive an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and development kit. Designers can sign up and find more information at www.hackster.io/contests/cypress-sensing-the-world-contest.

“People generally associate the IoT with connectivity, but most next-gen applications start with the ability to sense real-world conditions,” said Adam Benzion, co-founder and CEO of Hackster. “This new design challenge unleashes the imaginations of the worldwide Hackster community. Thanks to the Cypress PSoC Analog Coprocessor, they can develop a huge range of innovative applications with its mix of sensor input combinations.”

“I can’t wait to see what the creative minds of the Hackster community will develop with the rich, flexible analog resources they have to work with in this design contest,” said John Weil, vice president of MCU marketing at Cypress. “The PSoC Analog Coprocessor allows engineers to simply create cost-effective systems with precise, highly sensitive analog sensors. And our intuitive PSoC Creator integrated design environment enables rapid prototyping and design iterations with hardware and software flexibility.”

Initial proposals for the Sensing the World Challenge will be accepted through 11:55 p.m. Pacific Time on October 30, 2016, and 100 entries will be selected to receive the PSoC Analog Coprocessor Pioneer Kit to create a prototype of their idea. Projects will be due by 11:55 p.m. Pacific Time on January 8, 2017 and the regional winners will be announced on January 18.

Cypress will be demonstrating its PSoC portfolio, including the PSoC Analog Coprocessor, at World Maker Faire from October 1-2, 2016 at the New York Hall of Science in booth number 3206 in Zone 3.

The PSoC Analog Coprocessor integrates efficient and powerful signal processing with an ARM® Cortex® M0+ core and programmable analog blocks, including a new Universal Analog Block (UAB) that can be configured with GUI-based software components. This combination simplifies the design of custom analog front ends for multiple sensor interfaces by allowing engineers to update sensor features quickly with no hardware or host processor software changes, while also reducing BOM costs. For example, in home automation applications, engineers can easily configure the device to continuously monitor multiple sensors, such as temperature, humidity, ambient light, motion and sound, allowing the host to stay in a standby low-power mode. Future design changes to support new sensor types can also be easily implemented by reconfiguring the programmable analog blocks. More information on the PSoC Analog Coprocessor is available at www.cypress.com/PSoCAnalog.

The design of custom sensor interfaces is enabled by Cypress’s free PSoC Creator Integrated Design Environment (IDE), which simplifies system design by enabling concurrent hardware and firmware development using PSoC Components—free embedded ICs represented by an icon in the IDE. Engineers can easily configure the programmable analog blocks in the PSoC Analog Coprocessor by dragging and dropping components on the PSoC Creator schematic and customizing them with graphical component configuration tools. The components offer fully engineered embedded initialization, calibration and temperature correction algorithms.

SiTime Corporation, a MEMS and analog semiconductor company and a wholly owned subsidiary of MegaChips Corporation (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6875), today introduced an innovative Elite Platform encompassing Super-TCXOs (temperature compensated oscillators) and oscillators. These precision devices are engineered to solve long-standing timing problems in telecommunications and networking equipment.

“Network densification is driving rapid deployment of equipment in uncontrolled environments such as basements, curbsides, rooftops, and on poles. Precision timing components in these systems must now operate in the presence of high temperature, thermal shock, vibration and unpredictable airflow. Service providers are questioning if quartz technology is up to this challenge,” said Rajesh Vashist, CEO at SiTime. “Customers have enthusiastically validated SiTime’s MEMS-based Elite Platform, as it uniquely solves such environmental issues. We believe that our new Elite solutions will transform the $1.5 billiontelecommunications and networking timing market.”

Elite timing solutions are based on an innovative DualMEMS architecture with TurboCompensation. This architecture delivers exceptional dynamic performance with three key elements:

  • Robust, reliable, and proven TempFlat MEMS that eliminates activity dips and enables 30 times better vibration immunity than quartz
  • DualMEMS temperature sensing with 100% accurate thermal coupling that enables 40 times faster temperature tracking, which ensures the best performance under airflow and rapid temperature changes
  • Highly integrated mixed-signal circuits with on-chip regulators, a TDC (temperature to digital converter) and a low-noise PLL that deliver 5 times better immunity to power-supply noise, 30 uK temperature resolution that is 10 times better than quartz, and support for any frequency between 1 and 700 MHz

“New telecom infrastructure uses 4G/5G small cells and Synchronous Ethernet to increase network data capacity; the high-power components that are used in such systems will have high and constantly changing heat loads,” said Joe Madden, founder and principal analyst at Mobile Experts. “The dynamic performance of precision timing components during rapid temperature change will become a critical requirement in such equipment. MEMS technology inherently performs better in the presence of dynamic environmental conditions, and has become a very interesting alternative to quartz technology.”

EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today announced that it is increasing its focus on bringing its high-volume manufacturing process solutions and services to the biotechnology and medical device market. EVG products supporting this market include the company’s substrate bonding, hot-embossing, micro contact printing and UV-based nanoimprint lithography (NIL) systems. In addition, EVG will offer its world-class applications support, rapid prototyping and pilot-line production services. Customers in the biotechnology and medical markets can now leverage these patterning and sealing solutions–which have been production-proven in other industrial markets such as semiconductors, MEMS and photonics–for volume production of next-generation biotechnology devices featuring micrometer or nanometer-scale patterns and structures on larger-format substrates.

EV Group nanoimprint lithography solutions enable parallel processing of biotechnology and medical devices on large-area substrates.

EV Group nanoimprint lithography solutions enable parallel processing of biotechnology and medical devices on large-area substrates.

Over the past several decades, miniaturization of biotechnology devices has significantly improved clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical research and analytical chemistry. Modern biotechnology devices–such as biomedical MEMS (bioMEMS) for diagnostics, cell analysis and drug discovery–are often chip-based and rely on close interaction of biological substances at the micro- and nanoscale. According to the market research and strategy consulting firm Yole Développement, an increasing number of healthcare applications are using bioMEMS components, while the bioMEMS market is expected to triple from US$2.7 billion in 2015 to US$7.6 billion in 2021. Microfluidic devices will represent the majority (86 percent) of the total bioMEMS market in 2021, driven by applications such as Point-of-Need testing, clinical and veterinary diagnostics, pharmaceutical and life science research, and drug delivery*.

Precise and cost-effective micro-structuring technologies are essential to successfully commercialize these products in a rapidly growing market that has stringent requirements and high regulatory hurdles. Traditional process approaches such as injection molding are often unable to produce the extremely small structures and surface patterns with the precision, quality and repeatability increasingly required for these demanding applications, or they require extensive effort in process development. At the same time, solutions are needed to scale up from discrete production of devices to batch processing of multiple devices on a single substrate in order to achieve the economies of scale required to commercialize these products.

NIL has evolved from a niche technology to a powerful high-volume manufacturing method that is able to produce a multitude of structures of different sizes and shapes on a large scale–such as highly complex microfluidic channels and surface patterns–by imprinting either into a biocompatible resist or directly into the bulk material. In addition to structuring technologies, sealing and encapsulation is a central process for establishing confined microfluidic channels. Thus, bonding of different device layers, capping layers or interconnection layers is a key process that can be implemented together with NIL in a cost-effective large-area batch process. As the pioneer as well as market and technology leader in NIL and wafer bonding, EVG is leading the charge in supporting the infrastructure and growth of the biotechnology market by leveraging its products for use in biotechnology applications.

EVG’s NIL solutions can produce a wide range of small structures (from hundreds of micrometers down to 20 nm) on a variety of substrate materials used in biotechnology applications, including glass, silicon and a variety of polymers (e.g., COC, COP, PMMA and PS). Each EVG NIL solution is uniquely suited for different production applications. For example, hot-embossing allows precise imprinting of larger structures as well as combinations of micro- and nanostructures, and is superior when replicating high-aspect ratio features or when using very-thin substrates. UV-NIL provides very-high precision, pattern fidelity and throughput in the nanometer-range. Micro contact printing, which is another NIL option, can transfer materials such as biomolecules onto a substrate in a distinct pattern.

With its established wafer-scale bonding equipment, EVG can also offer sealing and bonding processes that are well-aligned with NIL structuring technologies. A variety of different bonding options are available, ranging from advanced room-temperature bonding techniques to plasma activated bonding as well as high-quality hermetic sealing and vacuum encapsulation. Examples of typical solutions include EVG’s thermal bonding equipment for glass and polymer substrates, which provides excellent results by enabling high-pressure and temperature uniformities over large areas. EVG also offers its room-temperature selective adhesive transfer technology, which eases incorporation of bio-molecules prior to the encapsulation of the device.

“EVG has a long history of providing products and solutions for biomedical R&D, having installed the first hot embossing system for emerging bioMEMS and microfluidic research applications more than 15 years ago,” stated Dr. Thomas Uhrmann, director of business development at EV Group. “The knowledge that EVG has built up in this space coupled with our experience in bringing innovative technologies into volume production in other markets has positioned us well to provide proven high-volume manufacturing processes and services to the bio-medical industry to support the production of next-generation biotechnology devices.”

In addition to equipment and process solutions, EVG also offers prototyping and pilot-line production services to customers out of its cleanroom facilities at its corporate headquarters in Austria as well as its subsidiaries in North America and Japan.

From the printing press to the jet engine, mechanical machines with moving parts have been a mainstay of technology for centuries. As U.S. industry develops smaller mechanical systems, they face bigger challenges — microscopic parts are more likely to stick together and wear out when they make contact with each other.

To help make microscopic mechanical (micromechanical) systems perform reliably for advanced technologies, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are getting get back to basics, carefully measuring how parts move and interact.

For the first time, the NIST researchers have measured the transfer of motion through the contacting parts of a microelectromechanical system at nanometer and microradian scales. Their test system consisted of a two-part linkage, with the motion of one link driving the other. The team not only resolved the motion with record precision but also studied its performance and reliability.

(Top) Image showing the microelectromechanical linkage that converts translation (straight arrow) into rotation (curved arrow). The red box indicates the region of the rotating part that has fluorescent nanoparticles on it. (Bottom) Image showing the fluorescent nanoparticles on the rotating part of the linkage. Tracking the nanoparticles enables tests of the performance and reliability of the system. Credit: NIST

(Top) Image showing the microelectromechanical linkage that converts translation (straight arrow) into rotation (curved arrow). The red box indicates the region of the rotating part that has fluorescent nanoparticles on it. (Bottom) Image showing the fluorescent nanoparticles on the rotating part of the linkage. Tracking the nanoparticles enables tests of the performance and reliability of the system. Credit: NIST

Lessons learned from the study could impact the fabrication and operation of various micromechanical systems, including safety switches, robotic insects and manufacturing platforms.

The motion of micromechanical systems is sometimes too small — displacements of only a few nanometers, or one billionth of a meter, with correspondingly small rotations of a few microradians — for existing measurement methods to resolve. One microradian is the angle corresponding to the length of an arc of about 10 meters along the circumference of the earth.

“There has been a gap between fabrication technology and motion metrology — the processes exist to manufacture complex mechanical systems with microscopic parts, but the performance and reliability of these systems depends on motion that has been difficult to measure. We are closing that gap,” said Samuel Stavis, a project leader at NIST.

“Despite how simple this system appears, no one had measured how it moves at the length and angle scales that we investigated,” said researcher Craig Copeland of NIST and the University of Maryland. “Before commercial manufacturers can optimize the design of more complex systems such as microscopic switches or motors, it is helpful to understand how relatively simple systems operate under various conditions.”

The measurements, which the researchers report in Microsystems & Nanoengineering, rely on optical microscopy to track surface features on the moving parts. The manufacturer can build in the surface features during the fabrication process so that the system is ready for measurement right out of the foundry. Or, the researchers can apply fluorescent nanoparticles to the system after fabrication for improved precision. NIST researchers introduced this measurement method in a previous study and have used related methods to track the motion and interaction of other small systems. Importantly, the ability to simultaneously track the motion of multiple parts in a micromechanical system allowed the researchers to study the details of the interaction.

In their experiment, the researchers studied the transfer of motion through a mechanical linkage, which is a system of parts connected in order to control forces and movement in machines. The test system had two links that connected and disconnected through a joint, which is the point at which the links apply forces to each other. The electrical heating and thermal expansion of one link drove the rotation of the other link around a pivot. The researchers developed a model of how the system should move under ideal operating conditions, and used that model to understand their measurements of how the system moved under practical operating conditions. The team found that play in the joint between the links, which is necessary to allow for fabrication tolerances and prevent the parts from jamming, had a central role in the motion of the system. Specifically, the amount of play was an important factor in determining precisely how the links coupled and uncoupled, and how repeatable this transfer of motion could be.

As long as the electrical input driving the system was relatively free of noise, the system worked surprisingly well, transferring the motion from one part to another very consistently for thousands of operating cycles. “It was perfectly repeatable within measurement uncertainty,” said Copeland, “and reasonably consistent with our ideal model.”

That is important, he notes, because some researchers expect that the friction between small parts would degrade the performance and reliability of such a system. Many engineers have even abandoned the idea of making micromechanical systems out of moving parts that make contact, switching to micromechanical systems with parts that move by flexing to avoid making contact with each other.

The results suggest that micromechanical systems that transfer motion through contacting parts “may have underexplored applications,” said Stavis.

However, the researchers found that when they added a normal amount of electrical noise to the driving mechanism, the system became less reliable and did not always succeed in transferring motion from one link to the other. Further, exposure of the system to atmospheric humidity for several weeks caused the parts to stick together, although the researchers could break them loose and get them moving again.

These findings indicate that while micromechanical systems have the potential to transfer motion between contacting parts with unexpectedly precise performance, the driving signal and operating environment are critical to the reliable output of motion.

The team now plans to improve their measurements and extend their work to more complex systems with many moving parts.

“Micromechanical systems have many potential commercial applications,” said Stavis. “We think that innovative measurements will help to realize that potential.”