Due to the excellent mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties of third-generation semiconductor silicon carbide (SiC), pressure sensors utilizing this material might be able to operate in extreme environments with temperatures exceeding 300 °C. However, the significant output drift at elevated temperatures challenges the precision and stability of measurements. Real-time in situ temperature monitoring of the pressure sensor chip is highly important for the accurate compensation of the pressure sensor. In this study, we fabricate platinum (Pt) thin-film resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) on a SiC substrate by incorporating aluminum oxide (Al2O3) as the transition layer and utilizing aluminum nitride (AlN) grooves for alignment through microfabrication techniques. The composite layers strongly adhere to the substrate at temperatures reaching 950 °C, and the interface of the Al2O3/Pt bilayer remains stable at elevated temperatures of approximately 950 °C. This stability contributes to the excellent high-temperature electrical performance of the Pt RTD, enabling it to endure temperatures exceeding 850 °C with good linearity. These characteristics establish a basis for the future integration of Pt RTD in SiC pressure sensors. Furthermore, tests and analyses are conducted on the interfacial diffusion, surface morphological, microstructural, and electrical properties of the Pt films at various annealing temperatures. It can be inferred that the tensile stress and self-diffusion of Pt films lead to the formation of hillocks, ultimately reducing the electrical performance of the Pt thin-film RTD. To increase the upper temperature threshold, steps should be taken to prevent the agglomeration of Pt films.
{"title":"Pt thin-film resistance thermo detectors with stable interfaces for potential integration in SiC high-temperature pressure sensors.","authors":"Ziyan Fang, Xiaoyu Wu, Hu Zhao, Xudong Fang, Chen Wu, Dong Zhang, Zhongkai Zhang, Bian Tian, Libo Zhao, Tiefu Li, Prateek Verma, Ryutaro Maeda, Zhuangde Jiang","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00746-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00746-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Due to the excellent mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties of third-generation semiconductor silicon carbide (SiC), pressure sensors utilizing this material might be able to operate in extreme environments with temperatures exceeding 300 °C. However, the significant output drift at elevated temperatures challenges the precision and stability of measurements. Real-time in situ temperature monitoring of the pressure sensor chip is highly important for the accurate compensation of the pressure sensor. In this study, we fabricate platinum (Pt) thin-film resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) on a SiC substrate by incorporating aluminum oxide (Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) as the transition layer and utilizing aluminum nitride (AlN) grooves for alignment through microfabrication techniques. The composite layers strongly adhere to the substrate at temperatures reaching 950 °C, and the interface of the Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/Pt bilayer remains stable at elevated temperatures of approximately 950 °C. This stability contributes to the excellent high-temperature electrical performance of the Pt RTD, enabling it to endure temperatures exceeding 850 °C with good linearity. These characteristics establish a basis for the future integration of Pt RTD in SiC pressure sensors. Furthermore, tests and analyses are conducted on the interfacial diffusion, surface morphological, microstructural, and electrical properties of the Pt films at various annealing temperatures. It can be inferred that the tensile stress and self-diffusion of Pt films lead to the formation of hillocks, ultimately reducing the electrical performance of the Pt thin-film RTD. To increase the upper temperature threshold, steps should be taken to prevent the agglomeration of Pt films.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11427678/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142349952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Controllable droplet propulsion on solid surfaces plays a crucial role in various technologies. Many actuating methods have been developed; however, there are still some limitations in terms of the introduction of additives, the versatilities of solid surfaces, and the speed of transportation. Herein, we have demonstrated a universal droplet propulsion method based on dynamic surface-charge wetting by depositing oscillating and opposite surface charges on dielectric films with unmodified surfaces. Dynamic surface-charge wetting propels droplets by continuously inducing smaller front contact angles than rear contact angles. This innovative imbalance is built by alternately storing and spreading opposite charges on dielectric films, which results in remarkable electrostatic forces under large gradients and electric fields. The method exhibits excellent droplet manipulation performance characteristics, including high speed (~130 mm/s), high adaptability of droplet volume (1 μL-1 mL), strong handling ability on non-slippery surfaces with large contact angle hysteresis (CAH) (maximum angle of 35°), significant programmability and reconfigurability, and low mass loss. The great application potential of this method has been effectively demonstrated in programmable microreactions, defogging without gravity assistance, and surface cleaning of photovoltaic panels using condensed droplets.
{"title":"Universal droplet propulsion by dynamic surface-charge wetting.","authors":"Yifan Zhou, Jiayao Wu, Ge Gao, Yubin Zeng, Sheng Liu, Huai Zheng","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00745-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00745-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Controllable droplet propulsion on solid surfaces plays a crucial role in various technologies. Many actuating methods have been developed; however, there are still some limitations in terms of the introduction of additives, the versatilities of solid surfaces, and the speed of transportation. Herein, we have demonstrated a universal droplet propulsion method based on dynamic surface-charge wetting by depositing oscillating and opposite surface charges on dielectric films with unmodified surfaces. Dynamic surface-charge wetting propels droplets by continuously inducing smaller front contact angles than rear contact angles. This innovative imbalance is built by alternately storing and spreading opposite charges on dielectric films, which results in remarkable electrostatic forces under large gradients and electric fields. The method exhibits excellent droplet manipulation performance characteristics, including high speed (~130 mm/s), high adaptability of droplet volume (1 μL-1 mL), strong handling ability on non-slippery surfaces with large contact angle hysteresis (CAH) (maximum angle of 35°), significant programmability and reconfigurability, and low mass loss. The great application potential of this method has been effectively demonstrated in programmable microreactions, defogging without gravity assistance, and surface cleaning of photovoltaic panels using condensed droplets.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11427456/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142349955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-26DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00741-1
Jiayu Li, Boxun Liu, Mingyang Li, Yahui Li, Wangyang Ding, Guanlin Liu, Jun Luo, Nan Chen, Lingyu Wan, Wenjuan Wei
Research on outdoor, mobile, and self-powered temperature-control devices has always been highly regarded. These devices can reduce energy consumption for cooling and heating, and they have broad market prospects. On this basis, a rotary disc-shaped triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with a maximum open-circuit voltage of 6913 V, a maximum short-circuit current of 85 μA, and a maximum transferred charge of 1.3 μC was prepared. We synthesized a ferroelectric ceramic composed of 0.15PbTiO3-0.85PbSc0.5Ta0.5O3 (0.15PT-0.85PST), which exhibited excellent electrothermal effects at room temperature. By quenching, the electrothermal effect ( Tmax) and energy harvesting properties of the device were 1.574 K and 0.542 J/cm3, respectively. Then, for the first time, we proposed a self-powered temperature quantification control system with a rotary disc-shaped TENG. This device effectively harnessed wind and water energy, in addition to other types of energy. The system consisted of energy collecting cups, a rotating disc-shaped FEP-rabbit fur TENG, a circuit management module, and a ferroelectric ceramic chip array. Through the circuit management module, the system converted external wind energy into a high-voltage electric field at the two ends of the 0.15PT-0.85PST ceramic chip to fully stimulate the electrothermal effect. At a speed of 200 rpm, the temperature change in the insulated cup within 276 s was 0.49 K, and the volume of the insulated cup was 300 times greater than that of the 0.15PT-0.85PST ceramic chip. Compared with the results reported in previous work, the cooling and heating times were both reduced by 31%, and the temperature changes for both cooling and heating increased by 81%. Moreover, the heating and cooling temperatures of the device optimized on this basis were increased to 1.19 K and 0.93 K, respectively. The great improvement in the temperature variation performance confirmed the great potential of the device for commercialization. This research could serve as a reference for reducing energy consumption for cooling and heating, and it meets the international energy policies of carbon dioxide emission peaking and carbon neutrality.
{"title":"Self-powered temperature-changing system driven by wind energy.","authors":"Jiayu Li, Boxun Liu, Mingyang Li, Yahui Li, Wangyang Ding, Guanlin Liu, Jun Luo, Nan Chen, Lingyu Wan, Wenjuan Wei","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00741-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00741-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Research on outdoor, mobile, and self-powered temperature-control devices has always been highly regarded. These devices can reduce energy consumption for cooling and heating, and they have broad market prospects. On this basis, a rotary disc-shaped triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with a maximum open-circuit voltage of 6913 V, a maximum short-circuit current of 85 μA, and a maximum transferred charge of 1.3 μC was prepared. We synthesized a ferroelectric ceramic composed of 0.15PbTiO<sub>3</sub>-0.85PbSc<sub>0.5</sub>Ta<sub>0.5</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (0.15PT-0.85PST), which exhibited excellent electrothermal effects at room temperature. By quenching, the electrothermal effect ( <math><mi>Δ</mi></math> T<sub>max</sub>) and energy harvesting properties of the device were 1.574 K and 0.542 J/cm<sup>3</sup>, respectively. Then, for the first time, we proposed a self-powered temperature quantification control system with a rotary disc-shaped TENG. This device effectively harnessed wind and water energy, in addition to other types of energy. The system consisted of energy collecting cups, a rotating disc-shaped FEP-rabbit fur TENG, a circuit management module, and a ferroelectric ceramic chip array. Through the circuit management module, the system converted external wind energy into a high-voltage electric field at the two ends of the 0.15PT-0.85PST ceramic chip to fully stimulate the electrothermal effect. At a speed of 200 rpm, the temperature change in the insulated cup within 276 s was 0.49 K, and the volume of the insulated cup was 300 times greater than that of the 0.15PT-0.85PST ceramic chip. Compared with the results reported in previous work, the cooling and heating times were both reduced by 31%, and the temperature changes for both cooling and heating increased by 81%. Moreover, the heating and cooling temperatures of the device optimized on this basis were increased to 1.19 K and 0.93 K, respectively. The great improvement in the temperature variation performance confirmed the great potential of the device for commercialization. This research could serve as a reference for reducing energy consumption for cooling and heating, and it meets the international energy policies of carbon dioxide emission peaking and carbon neutrality.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11427466/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142349953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-20DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00721-5
Xiangyang Wang, Ruojiang Wang, Yuyang Zhang, You Wu, Xu Wu, Zihao Luo, Yu Chang, Xiansheng Zhang, Tingrui Pan
<p><p>Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a prevalent type of sexual dysfunction, and continuous monitoring of penile tumescence and rigidity during spontaneous nocturnal erections is crucial for its diagnosis and classification. However, the current clinical standard device, limited by its active mechanical load, is bulky and nonwearable and strongly interferes with erections, which compromises both monitoring reliability and patient compliance. Here, we report a wearable adaptive rigidity monitoring (WARM) system that employs a measurement principle without active loads, allowing for the assessment of penile tumescence and rigidity through a specifically designed elastic dual-ring sensor. The dual-ring sensor, comprising two strain-sensing rings with distinct elastic moduli, provides high resolution (0.1%), robust mechanical and electrical stability (sustaining over 1000 cycles), and strong interference resistance. An integrated flexible printed circuit (FPC) collects and processes sensing signals, which are then transmitted to the host computer via Bluetooth for ED assessment. Additionally, we validated the WARM system against the clinical standard device using both a penile model and healthy volunteers, achieving high consistency. Furthermore, the system facilitates the continuous evaluation of penile erections during nocturnal tumescence tests with concurrent sleep monitoring, demonstrating its ability to minimize interference with nocturnal erections. In conclusion, the WARM system offers a fully integrated, wearable solution for continuous, precise, and patient-friendly measurement of penile tumescence and rigidity, potentially providing more reliable and accessible outcomes than existing technologies. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a prevalent sexual dysfunction, and continuous monitoring of penile tumescence and rigidity during spontaneous nocturnal erections is crucial for its diagnosis and classification. However, the current clinical standard device, limited by its active mechanical load, is bulky, nonwearable, and creates pronounced interference with erections, which compromises both monitoring reliability and patient compliance. Here, we report a wearable adaptive rigidity monitoring (WARM) system (Fig. 1a) that employs a measurement principle without active loads (Fig. 1b), allowing for the assessment of penile tumescence and rigidity through a specifically designed elastic dual-ring sensor. The dual-ring sensor, comprising two strain-sensing rings with distinct elastic moduli, provides high resolution (0.1%), robust mechanical and electrical stability (sustaining over 1000 cycles), and strong interference resistance. Additionally, we validate the WARM system against the clinical standard device using both a penile model and healthy volunteers, achieving high consistency. Furthermore, the system facilitates the continuous evaluation of penile erections during nocturnal tumescence tests, with concurrent sleep monitoring, demonstrating its ab
{"title":"A wearable adaptive penile rigidity monitoring system for assessment of erectile dysfunction.","authors":"Xiangyang Wang, Ruojiang Wang, Yuyang Zhang, You Wu, Xu Wu, Zihao Luo, Yu Chang, Xiansheng Zhang, Tingrui Pan","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00721-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00721-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a prevalent type of sexual dysfunction, and continuous monitoring of penile tumescence and rigidity during spontaneous nocturnal erections is crucial for its diagnosis and classification. However, the current clinical standard device, limited by its active mechanical load, is bulky and nonwearable and strongly interferes with erections, which compromises both monitoring reliability and patient compliance. Here, we report a wearable adaptive rigidity monitoring (WARM) system that employs a measurement principle without active loads, allowing for the assessment of penile tumescence and rigidity through a specifically designed elastic dual-ring sensor. The dual-ring sensor, comprising two strain-sensing rings with distinct elastic moduli, provides high resolution (0.1%), robust mechanical and electrical stability (sustaining over 1000 cycles), and strong interference resistance. An integrated flexible printed circuit (FPC) collects and processes sensing signals, which are then transmitted to the host computer via Bluetooth for ED assessment. Additionally, we validated the WARM system against the clinical standard device using both a penile model and healthy volunteers, achieving high consistency. Furthermore, the system facilitates the continuous evaluation of penile erections during nocturnal tumescence tests with concurrent sleep monitoring, demonstrating its ability to minimize interference with nocturnal erections. In conclusion, the WARM system offers a fully integrated, wearable solution for continuous, precise, and patient-friendly measurement of penile tumescence and rigidity, potentially providing more reliable and accessible outcomes than existing technologies. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a prevalent sexual dysfunction, and continuous monitoring of penile tumescence and rigidity during spontaneous nocturnal erections is crucial for its diagnosis and classification. However, the current clinical standard device, limited by its active mechanical load, is bulky, nonwearable, and creates pronounced interference with erections, which compromises both monitoring reliability and patient compliance. Here, we report a wearable adaptive rigidity monitoring (WARM) system (Fig. 1a) that employs a measurement principle without active loads (Fig. 1b), allowing for the assessment of penile tumescence and rigidity through a specifically designed elastic dual-ring sensor. The dual-ring sensor, comprising two strain-sensing rings with distinct elastic moduli, provides high resolution (0.1%), robust mechanical and electrical stability (sustaining over 1000 cycles), and strong interference resistance. Additionally, we validate the WARM system against the clinical standard device using both a penile model and healthy volunteers, achieving high consistency. Furthermore, the system facilitates the continuous evaluation of penile erections during nocturnal tumescence tests, with concurrent sleep monitoring, demonstrating its ab","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11413319/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142291185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-19DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00776-4
Xin Tong, Yang Zou, Zhiwei Wen, Zesheng Liu, Tiancheng Luo, Jie Zhou, Huajun Liu, Yuqi Ren, Qinwen Xu, Wenjuan Liu, Yan Liu, Yao Cai, Chengliang Sun
The first-order antisymmetric (A1) mode lamb wave resonator (LWR) based on Z-cut LiNbO3 thin films has attracted significant attention and is widely believed to be a candidate for next-generation reconfigurable filters with high frequency and large bandwidth (BW). However, it is challenging for traditional interdigitated electrodes (IDTs) based LWR filters to meet the requirement of a clean frequency spectrum response and enough out-of-band (OoB) rejection. To solve the problem, we propose LWRs with checker-shaped IDTs for the design of filters that meet the Wi-Fi 6E standard. By taking advantage of checker-shaped IDTs with unparalleled boundaries, the fabricated 6-GHz resonators successfully suppress higher-order A1 spurious modes, demonstrating a spurious-free impedance response and a high figure-of-merit (FOM) up to 104. Based on the demonstrated checker-shaped electrode design, the filter features a center frequency (f0) of more than 6 GHz, a 3 dB BW exceeding 620 MHz, and an excellent OoB rejection >25 dB, consistent with the acoustic-electric-electromagnetic (EM) multi-physics simulations. Furthermore, through the capacitance-inductance matching network technology, the filter’s voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) is successfully reduced below 2, showing an excellent 50 Ω impedance matching. This study lays a foundation for ultra-high-frequency and ultra-wideband filters for the Wi-Fi 6/6E application.
{"title":"6 GHz lamb wave acoustic filters based on A1-mode lithium niobate thin film resonators with checker-shaped electrodes","authors":"Xin Tong, Yang Zou, Zhiwei Wen, Zesheng Liu, Tiancheng Luo, Jie Zhou, Huajun Liu, Yuqi Ren, Qinwen Xu, Wenjuan Liu, Yan Liu, Yao Cai, Chengliang Sun","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00776-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00776-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The first-order antisymmetric (A1) mode lamb wave resonator (LWR) based on Z-cut LiNbO<sub>3</sub> thin films has attracted significant attention and is widely believed to be a candidate for next-generation reconfigurable filters with high frequency and large bandwidth (<i>BW</i>). However, it is challenging for traditional interdigitated electrodes (IDTs) based LWR filters to meet the requirement of a clean frequency spectrum response and enough out-of-band (<i>OoB</i>) rejection. To solve the problem, we propose LWRs with checker-shaped IDTs for the design of filters that meet the Wi-Fi 6E standard. By taking advantage of checker-shaped IDTs with unparalleled boundaries, the fabricated 6-GHz resonators successfully suppress higher-order A1 spurious modes, demonstrating a spurious-free impedance response and a high figure-of-merit (<i>FOM</i>) up to 104. Based on the demonstrated checker-shaped electrode design, the filter features a center frequency (<i>f</i><sub><i>0</i></sub>) of more than 6 GHz, a 3 dB <i>BW</i> exceeding 620 MHz, and an excellent <i>OoB</i> rejection >25 dB, consistent with the acoustic-electric-electromagnetic (EM) multi-physics simulations. Furthermore, through the capacitance-inductance matching network technology, the filter’s voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) is successfully reduced below 2, showing an excellent 50 Ω impedance matching. This study lays a foundation for ultra-high-frequency and ultra-wideband filters for the Wi-Fi 6/6E application.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142249413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-18DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00762-w
Mengqiu Li, Zhiyuan Hu, Bo Yan, Jiaxiang Wang, Haodong Zhang, Fengming Ye, Bin Sun, Junshan Liu, Yahui Li, Guifu Ding, Faheng Zang, Zhuoqing Yang
Strain gauge plays vital roles in various fields as structural health monitoring, aerospace engineering, and civil infrastructure. However, traditional flexible strain gauge inevitably brings the pseudo-signal caused by the substrate temperature effect and determines its accuracy. Here, we present an anisotropic composite substrate designed to modify the thermal expansion performance via Micro-electro-mechanical System (MEMS) technology, which facilitates the development of strain gauges that are minimally affected by substrate temperature-induced effect. Compared to the isotropic flexible substrate, the simulated expansion displacement in the thermal insensitive direction is reduced by 53.6% via introducing an anisotropic thermal expansion structure. The developed strain gauge exhibits significantly reduced sensitivity to temperature-induced effect, with a temperature coefficient of resistance decreasing from 87.3% to 10%, along with a notable 47.1% improvement in TCR stability. In addition, the strain gauge displays a sensitivity of 1.99 and boasts a wide strain operational range of 0–6000 µε, while maintaining excellent linearity. Furthermore, stress response conducted on a model of an aircraft wing illustrates the rapid monitoring of the strain gauge, which can detect strain as low as 100 µε. This study strongly highlights the potential applicability of the developed strain gauge in the aircraft, ships, and bridges for monitoring stress.
{"title":"A flexible resistive strain gauge with reduced temperature effect via thermal expansion anisotropic composite substrate","authors":"Mengqiu Li, Zhiyuan Hu, Bo Yan, Jiaxiang Wang, Haodong Zhang, Fengming Ye, Bin Sun, Junshan Liu, Yahui Li, Guifu Ding, Faheng Zang, Zhuoqing Yang","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00762-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00762-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Strain gauge plays vital roles in various fields as structural health monitoring, aerospace engineering, and civil infrastructure. However, traditional flexible strain gauge inevitably brings the pseudo-signal caused by the substrate temperature effect and determines its accuracy. Here, we present an anisotropic composite substrate designed to modify the thermal expansion performance via Micro-electro-mechanical System (MEMS) technology, which facilitates the development of strain gauges that are minimally affected by substrate temperature-induced effect. Compared to the isotropic flexible substrate, the simulated expansion displacement in the thermal insensitive direction is reduced by 53.6% via introducing an anisotropic thermal expansion structure. The developed strain gauge exhibits significantly reduced sensitivity to temperature-induced effect, with a temperature coefficient of resistance decreasing from 87.3% to 10%, along with a notable 47.1% improvement in TCR stability. In addition, the strain gauge displays a sensitivity of 1.99 and boasts a wide strain operational range of 0–6000 µε, while maintaining excellent linearity. Furthermore, stress response conducted on a model of an aircraft wing illustrates the rapid monitoring of the strain gauge, which can detect strain as low as 100 µε. This study strongly highlights the potential applicability of the developed strain gauge in the aircraft, ships, and bridges for monitoring stress.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142249414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-12DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00755-9
Yun Zhang, Tong Jin, Yining Deng, Zijie Zhao, Rui Wang, Qiong He, Jianwen Luo, Jiawei Li, Kang Du, Tao Wu, Chenfang Yan, Hao Zhang, Xinchao Lu, Chengjun Huang, Hang Gao
Wearable ultrasound imaging technology has become an emerging modality for the continuous monitoring of deep-tissue physiology, providing crucial health and disease information. Fast volumetric imaging that can provide a full spatiotemporal view of intrinsic 3D targets is desirable for interpreting internal organ dynamics. However, existing 1D ultrasound transducer arrays provide 2D images, making it challenging to overcome the trade-off between the temporal resolution and volumetric coverage. In addition, the high driving voltage limits their implementation in wearable settings. With the use of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology, we report an ultrasonic phased-array transducer, i.e., a 2D piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (pMUT) array, which is driven by a low voltage and is chip-compatible for fast 3D volumetric imaging. By grouping multiple pMUT cells into one single drive channel/element, we propose an innovative cell–element–array design and operation of a pMUT array that can be used to quantitatively characterize the key coupling effects between each pMUT cell, allowing 3D imaging with 5-V actuation. The pMUT array demonstrates fast volumetric imaging covering a range of 40 mm × 40 mm × 70 mm in wire phantom and vascular phantom experiments, achieving a high temporal frame rate of 11 kHz. The proposed solution offers a full volumetric view of deep-tissue disorders in a fast manner, paving the way for long-term wearable imaging technology for various organs in deep tissues.
可穿戴超声成像技术已成为一种新兴模式,可用于持续监测深层组织生理机能,提供重要的健康和疾病信息。快速容积成像可提供内在三维目标的全时空视图,是解读内部器官动态的理想选择。然而,现有的一维超声波换能器阵列提供的是二维图像,因此要克服时间分辨率和容积覆盖之间的权衡问题具有挑战性。此外,高驱动电压也限制了它们在可穿戴设备中的应用。利用微机电系统(MEMS)技术,我们报告了一种超声相控阵换能器,即二维压电微机械超声换能器(pMUT)阵列,该阵列由低电压驱动,与芯片兼容,可实现快速三维容积成像。通过将多个 pMUT 单元组合到一个单一的驱动通道/元件中,我们提出了一种创新的单元-元件-阵列设计和 pMUT 阵列的操作方法,可用于定量表征每个 pMUT 单元之间的关键耦合效应,从而实现 5 V 驱动的三维成像。pMUT 阵列在线状模型和血管模型实验中展示了覆盖范围为 40 mm × 40 mm × 70 mm 的快速容积成像,实现了 11 kHz 的高时间帧频。所提出的解决方案可快速提供深层组织病变的全容积视图,为深层组织中各种器官的长期可穿戴成像技术铺平了道路。
{"title":"A low-voltage-driven MEMS ultrasonic phased-array transducer for fast 3D volumetric imaging","authors":"Yun Zhang, Tong Jin, Yining Deng, Zijie Zhao, Rui Wang, Qiong He, Jianwen Luo, Jiawei Li, Kang Du, Tao Wu, Chenfang Yan, Hao Zhang, Xinchao Lu, Chengjun Huang, Hang Gao","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00755-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00755-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Wearable ultrasound imaging technology has become an emerging modality for the continuous monitoring of deep-tissue physiology, providing crucial health and disease information. Fast volumetric imaging that can provide a full spatiotemporal view of intrinsic 3D targets is desirable for interpreting internal organ dynamics. However, existing 1D ultrasound transducer arrays provide 2D images, making it challenging to overcome the trade-off between the temporal resolution and volumetric coverage. In addition, the high driving voltage limits their implementation in wearable settings. With the use of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology, we report an ultrasonic phased-array transducer, i.e., a 2D piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (pMUT) array, which is driven by a low voltage and is chip-compatible for fast 3D volumetric imaging. By grouping multiple pMUT cells into one single drive channel/element, we propose an innovative cell–element–array design and operation of a pMUT array that can be used to quantitatively characterize the key coupling effects between each pMUT cell, allowing 3D imaging with 5-V actuation. The pMUT array demonstrates fast volumetric imaging covering a range of 40 mm × 40 mm × 70 mm in wire phantom and vascular phantom experiments, achieving a high temporal frame rate of 11 kHz. The proposed solution offers a full volumetric view of deep-tissue disorders in a fast manner, paving the way for long-term wearable imaging technology for various organs in deep tissues.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142193428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-12DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00747-9
Kihak Gwon, Ether Dharmesh, Kianna M. Nguyen, Anna Marie R. Schornack, Jose M. de Hoyos-Vega, Hakan Ceylan, Gulnaz Stybayeva, Quinn P. Peterson, Alexander Revzin
Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) represent an excellent cell source for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering applications. However, there remains a need for robust and scalable differentiation of stem cells into functional adult tissues. In this paper, we sought to address this challenge by developing magnetic microcapsules carrying hPSC spheroids. A co-axial flow-focusing microfluidic device was employed to encapsulate stem cells in core-shell microcapsules that also contained iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). These microcapsules exhibited excellent response to an external magnetic field and could be held at a specific location. As a demonstration of utility, magnetic microcapsules were used for differentiating hPSC spheroids as suspension cultures in a stirred bioreactor. Compared to standard suspension cultures, magnetic microcapsules allowed for more efficient media change and produced improved differentiation outcomes. In the future, magnetic microcapsules may enable better and more scalable differentiation of hPSCs into adult cell types and may offer benefits for cell transplantation.
{"title":"Designing magnetic microcapsules for cultivation and differentiation of stem cell spheroids","authors":"Kihak Gwon, Ether Dharmesh, Kianna M. Nguyen, Anna Marie R. Schornack, Jose M. de Hoyos-Vega, Hakan Ceylan, Gulnaz Stybayeva, Quinn P. Peterson, Alexander Revzin","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00747-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00747-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) represent an excellent cell source for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering applications. However, there remains a need for robust and scalable differentiation of stem cells into functional adult tissues. In this paper, we sought to address this challenge by developing magnetic microcapsules carrying hPSC spheroids. A co-axial flow-focusing microfluidic device was employed to encapsulate stem cells in core-shell microcapsules that also contained iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). These microcapsules exhibited excellent response to an external magnetic field and could be held at a specific location. As a demonstration of utility, magnetic microcapsules were used for differentiating hPSC spheroids as suspension cultures in a stirred bioreactor. Compared to standard suspension cultures, magnetic microcapsules allowed for more efficient media change and produced improved differentiation outcomes. In the future, magnetic microcapsules may enable better and more scalable differentiation of hPSCs into adult cell types and may offer benefits for cell transplantation.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142193413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-10DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00756-8
Seth C. Cordts, Kanako Yuki, Maria F. Henao Echeverri, Balasubramanian Narasimhan, Calvin J. Kuo, Sindy K. Y. Tang
Patient-derived tumor organoids have emerged as promising models for predicting personalized drug responses in cancer therapy, but they typically lack immune components. Preserving the in vivo association between tumor cells and endogenous immune cells is critical for accurate testing of cancer immunotherapies. Mechanical dissection of tumor specimens into tumor fragments, as opposed to enzymatic digestion into single cells, is essential for maintaining these native tumor-immune cell spatial relationships. However, conventional mechanical dissection relying on manual mincing is time-consuming and irreproducible. This study describes two microdissection devices, the µDicer and µGrater, to facilitate the generation of intact tumor fragments from mouse B16 melanoma, a common model of human melanoma. The µDicer- and µGrater-cut tumor fragments were used to generate air‒liquid interface (ALI) organoids that copreserve tumor cells with infiltrating immune subsets without artificial reconstitution. The µDicer, consisting of a hexagonal array of silicon microblades, was employed to investigate the effect of organoid size. The viability of ALI organoid immune cells appeared insensitive to organoid sizes exceeding ~400 µm but diminished in organoids ~200 µm in size. The µGrater, consisting of an array of submillimeter holes in stainless steel, was employed to accelerate dissection. For the samples studied, the µGrater was 4.5 times faster than manual mincing. Compared with those generated by manual mincing, ALI organoids generated by the µGrater demonstrated similar viability, immune cell composition, and responses to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy. With further optimization, the µGrater holds potential for integration into clinical workflows to support the advancement of personalized cancer immunotherapy.
源自患者的肿瘤器官组织已成为预测癌症治疗中个性化药物反应的有前途的模型,但它们通常缺乏免疫成分。保留肿瘤细胞与内源性免疫细胞之间的体内关联对于准确测试癌症免疫疗法至关重要。将肿瘤标本机械解剖成肿瘤碎片,而不是酶解成单细胞,对于保持这些原生肿瘤-免疫细胞的空间关系至关重要。然而,传统的机械解剖依赖于人工碾碎,既费时又不可重复。本研究介绍了µDicer和µGrater这两种显微切割设备,它们有助于从小鼠B16黑色素瘤(一种常见的人类黑色素瘤模型)中生成完整的肿瘤片段。用µDicer和µGrater切割的肿瘤片段生成的气液界面(ALI)类器官无需人工重组即可保留肿瘤细胞和浸润免疫亚群。µDicer由六角形硅微刀片阵列组成,用于研究类器官大小的影响。ALI类器官免疫细胞的存活率似乎对超过400微米的类器官大小不敏感,但在200微米的类器官中则会降低。µGrater由不锈钢上的亚毫米孔阵列组成,用于加速解剖。对于所研究的样本,µGrater 的速度是人工切割的 4.5 倍。与人工切割相比,µGrater 生成的 ALI 器官组织显示出相似的存活率、免疫细胞组成以及对抗 PD-1 免疫疗法的反应。通过进一步优化,µGrater 有潜力整合到临床工作流程中,支持个性化癌症免疫疗法的发展。
{"title":"Microdissection tools to generate organoids for modeling the tumor immune microenvironment","authors":"Seth C. Cordts, Kanako Yuki, Maria F. Henao Echeverri, Balasubramanian Narasimhan, Calvin J. Kuo, Sindy K. Y. Tang","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00756-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00756-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Patient-derived tumor organoids have emerged as promising models for predicting personalized drug responses in cancer therapy, but they typically lack immune components. Preserving the in vivo association between tumor cells and endogenous immune cells is critical for accurate testing of cancer immunotherapies. Mechanical dissection of tumor specimens into tumor fragments, as opposed to enzymatic digestion into single cells, is essential for maintaining these native tumor-immune cell spatial relationships. However, conventional mechanical dissection relying on manual mincing is time-consuming and irreproducible. This study describes two microdissection devices, the µDicer and µGrater, to facilitate the generation of intact tumor fragments from mouse B16 melanoma, a common model of human melanoma. The µDicer- and µGrater-cut tumor fragments were used to generate air‒liquid interface (ALI) organoids that copreserve tumor cells with infiltrating immune subsets without artificial reconstitution. The µDicer, consisting of a hexagonal array of silicon microblades, was employed to investigate the effect of organoid size. The viability of ALI organoid immune cells appeared insensitive to organoid sizes exceeding ~400 µm but diminished in organoids ~200 µm in size. The µGrater, consisting of an array of submillimeter holes in stainless steel, was employed to accelerate dissection. For the samples studied, the µGrater was 4.5 times faster than manual mincing. Compared with those generated by manual mincing, ALI organoids generated by the µGrater demonstrated similar viability, immune cell composition, and responses to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy. With further optimization, the µGrater holds potential for integration into clinical workflows to support the advancement of personalized cancer immunotherapy.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142193416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-09DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00754-w
Shahram Amini, Hongbin Choi, Wesley Seche, Alexander Blagojevic, Nicholas May, Benjamin M. Lefler, Skyler L. Davis, Sahar Elyahoodayan, Pouya Tavousi, Steven J. May, Gregory A. Caputo, Terry C. Lowe, Jeffrey Hettinger, Sina Shahbazmohamadi
Over the last two decades, platinum group metals (PGMs) and their alloys have dominated as the materials of choice for electrodes in long-term implantable neurostimulation and cardiac rhythm management devices due to their superior conductivity, mechanical and chemical stability, biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, radiopacity, and electrochemical performance. Despite these benefits, PGM manufacturing processes are extremely costly, complex, and challenging with potential health hazards. Additionally, the volatility in PGM prices and their high supply risk, combined with their scarce concentration of approximately 0.01 ppm in the earth’s upper crust and limited mining geographical areas, underscores their classification as critical raw materials, thus, their effective recovery or substitution worldwide is of paramount importance. Since postmortem recovery from deceased patients and/or refining of PGMs that are used in the manufacturing of the electrodes and microelectrode arrays is extremely rare, challenging, and highly costly, therefore, substitution of PGM-based electrodes with other biocompatible materials that can yield electrochemical performance values equal or greater than PGMs is the only viable and sustainable solution to reduce and ultimately substitute the use of PGMs in long-term implantable neurostimulation and cardiac rhythm management devices. In this article, we demonstrate for the first time how the novel technique of “reactive hierarchical surface restructuring” can be utilized on titanium—that is widely used in many non-stimulation medical device and implant applications—to manufacture biocompatible, low-cost, sustainable, and high-performing neurostimulation and cardiac rhythm management electrodes. We have shown how the surface of titanium electrodes with extremely poor electrochemical performance undergoes compositional and topographical transformations that result in electrodes with outstanding electrochemical performance.
{"title":"Sustainability inspired fabrication of next generation neurostimulation and cardiac rhythm management electrodes via reactive hierarchical surface restructuring","authors":"Shahram Amini, Hongbin Choi, Wesley Seche, Alexander Blagojevic, Nicholas May, Benjamin M. Lefler, Skyler L. Davis, Sahar Elyahoodayan, Pouya Tavousi, Steven J. May, Gregory A. Caputo, Terry C. Lowe, Jeffrey Hettinger, Sina Shahbazmohamadi","doi":"10.1038/s41378-024-00754-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-024-00754-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Over the last two decades, platinum group metals (PGMs) and their alloys have dominated as the materials of choice for electrodes in long-term implantable neurostimulation and cardiac rhythm management devices due to their superior conductivity, mechanical and chemical stability, biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, radiopacity, and electrochemical performance. Despite these benefits, PGM manufacturing processes are extremely costly, complex, and challenging with potential health hazards. Additionally, the volatility in PGM prices and their high supply risk, combined with their scarce concentration of approximately 0.01 ppm in the earth’s upper crust and limited mining geographical areas, underscores their classification as critical raw materials, thus, their effective recovery or substitution worldwide is of paramount importance. Since postmortem recovery from deceased patients and/or refining of PGMs that are used in the manufacturing of the electrodes and microelectrode arrays is extremely rare, challenging, and highly costly, therefore, substitution of PGM-based electrodes with other biocompatible materials that can yield electrochemical performance values equal or greater than PGMs is the only viable and sustainable solution to reduce and ultimately substitute the use of PGMs in long-term implantable neurostimulation and cardiac rhythm management devices. In this article, we demonstrate for the first time how the novel technique of “reactive hierarchical surface restructuring” can be utilized on titanium—that is widely used in many non-stimulation medical device and implant applications—to manufacture biocompatible, low-cost, sustainable, and high-performing neurostimulation and cardiac rhythm management electrodes. We have shown how the surface of titanium electrodes with extremely poor electrochemical performance undergoes compositional and topographical transformations that result in electrodes with outstanding electrochemical performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142193414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}