Abstract
The development of a SU-8-based microgripper that can operate in physiological ionic solutions is presented. The electrothermally activated polymer gripper consists of two "hot-and-cold-arm" actuators that are fabricated in a two-mask surface micromachining process. The high thermal expansion coefficient of SU-8 (52 ppm/°C) compared to silicon and metals, allows the actuation of the microgripper with small average temperature elevations (10 - 32 °C) at low voltages (1-2 V). The polymer microgripper can be used for the manipulation of single cells and other biological species in solution with minimal undesired interactions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 857-863 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2005 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Manuscript received May 5, 2004; revised October 28, 2004. This work was supported by DARPA under the BioFlips program. Subject Editor N. de Rooij. The authors are with the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA (e-mail: [email protected]). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JMEMS.2005.845445
Keywords
- Polymer MEMS
- Polymer microgripper
- SU-8 actuators
- Single cell manipulation