Microsystems & Nanoengineering最新文献

Miniaturized six-axis force/torque sensors have potential applications in robotic tactile sensing, minimally invasive surgery, and other narrow operating spaces, where currently available commercial sensors cannot meet the requirements because of their large size. In this study, a silicon-based capacitive six-axis force/torque sensing chip with a small size of 9.3 × 9.3 × 0.98 mm was designed, fabricated, and tested. A sandwich decoupling structure with a symmetrical layered arrangement of S-shaped beams, comb capacitors, and parallel capacitors was employed. A decoupling theory considering eccentricity and nonlinear effects was derived to realize low axial crosstalk. The proposed S-shaped beams achieved a large measurement range through stress optimization. The results of a coupled multiphysics field finite-element simulation agreed well with those of theoretical analyses. The test results show that the proposed sensing chip can detect six-axis force/torque separately, with all crosstalk errors less than 2.59%FS. Its force and torque measurement ranges can reach as much as 2.5 N and 12.5 N·mm, respectively. The sensing chip also has high sensitivities of 0.52 pF/N and 0.27 pF/(N·mm) for force and torque detection, respectively.

Cellular communication at the single-cell level holds immense potential for uncovering response heterogeneity in immune cell behaviors. However, because of significant size diversity among different immune cell types, controlling the pairing of cells with substantial size differences remains a formidable challenge. We developed a microfluidic platform for size-selective pairing (SSP) to pair single cells with up to a fivefold difference in size, achieving over 40% pairing efficiency. We used SSP to investigate the real-time effects of combinatorial immunotherapeutic stimulation on macrophage T-cell interactions at the single-cell level via fluorescence microscopy and microfluidic sampling. While combinatorial activation involving toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists and rapamycin (an mTOR inhibitor) has improved therapeutic efficacy in mice, its clinical success has been limited. Here, we investigated immune synaptic interactions and outcomes at the single-cell level in real time and compared them with bulk-level measurements. Our findings, after tracking and computationally analyzing the effects of sequential and spatiotemporal stimulations of primary mouse macrophages, suggest a regulatory role of rapamycin in dampening inflammatory outputs in T cells.

High-precision geophones play crucial roles in terrestrial applications such as oil and gas exploration as well as seismic monitoring. The development of optomechanical precision measurements provides a new design method for geophones, offering higher sensitivity and smaller dimensions compared to traditional geophones. In this work, we introduce an optomechanical microelectromechanical system (MEMS) geophone based on a plano-concave Fabry‒Perot (F-P) microcavity, which has a high sensitivity of 146 V/g. The F‒P microcavity consists of a movable mirror on the sensing element and a fixed hemispherical micromirror fabricated from silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and monocrystalline silicon wafers, respectively. The experimental results show that the geophone has a low noise floor of 2.5 ng/Hz^1/2 (with a displacement noise floor of 6.2 fm/Hz^1/2) within the frequency range of 100~200 Hz, a broad bandwidth of 500 Hz (-3 dB), and a measurement range of ±4 mg. To mitigate common-mode noise originating from the laser source and environmental factors such as temperature and air fluctuations, a balanced detection method is employed. This method substantially reduces the noise floor, nearly reaching the thermal noise limit (2.5 ng/Hz^1/2). Furthermore, a compactly packaged optomechanical MEMS geophone with a diameter of 40 mm is demonstrated. The high performance and robust features hold great potential for applications in oil and gas exploration.

The powerful resource of parallelizing simple devices for realizing and enhancing complex operations comes with the drawback of multiple connections for addressing and controlling the individual elements. Here we report on a technological platform where several mechanical resonators can be individually probed and electrically actuated by using dispersive multiplexing within a single electrical channel. We demonstrate room temperature control of the individual device vibrational motion and spatially-resolved readouts. As the single elements have proven to be excellent bolometers and individual nodes for reservoir computing, our platform can be directly employed for single-channel addressing of multiple devices, with immediate applications for far-infrared cameras, spatial light modulators and recurrent neural networks operating at room temperature.

High-sensitivity flexible pressure sensors have obtained extensive attention because of their expanding applications in e-skins and wearable medical devices for various disease diagnoses. As the representative candidate for these sensors, the iontronic microstructure has been widely proven to enhance sensation behaviors such as the sensitivity and limits of detection. However, the fast and tunable fabrication of ionic-porous sensing elastomers remains challenging because of the current template-dissolved or 3D printing methods. Here, we report a microbubble-based fabrication process that enables microporous and resilient-compliance ionogels for high-sensitivity pressure sensors. Periodic motion sliding results in a relative velocity between the imported airflow and the fluid solution, converts the airflow to microbubbles in the high-viscosity ionic fluid and promptly solidifies the fluid into a porous ionogel under ultraviolet exposure. The ultrahigh porosity of up to 95% endows the porous ionogel with superelasticity and a Young's modulus near 7 kPa. Due to the superelastic compliance and iontronic electrical double-layer effect, the porous ionogel packaged into two electrodes endows the pressure sensor with high sensitivity (684.4 kPa^-1) over an ultrabroad range (~1 MPa) and a high-pressure resolution of 0.46%. Furthermore, the pressure sensor successfully captures high-yield broad-range signals from the fingertip low-pressure pulses (<1 kPa) to foot high-pressure activities (>500 kPa), even the grasping force of soft machine hands via an array-scanning circuit during object recognition. This microbubble-based fabrication process for porous ionogels paves the way for designing wearable sensors or permeable electronics to monitor and diagnose various diseases.

Lactate measurements provide an opportunity to conveniently evaluate bodily functions and sports performance. A molecularly imprinted fluorescence biochip provides an innovative way to achieve lactate measurement and overcomes the limitations of enzyme-based sensors. To realize this goal, ZnO quantum dots (QDs), a biocompatible sensing material, were combined with selective receptors comprised of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). The lactate-selective imprinted polymers were formed using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and 5-indolyl boronic acid monomers. Furthermore, a new solid-phase sensing platform that overcomes the limitations of liquid-based sensors was developed to detect lactate in real-time. The platform consists of the biosensor chip with a thin-film sensing layer, an ultraviolet (UV) excitation source, and a portable light detector. The final sensor has a sensitivity of 0.0217 mmol L^-1 for 0-30 mmol L^-1 of lactate in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) with a correlation coefficient of 0.97. The high sensor sensitivity and selectivity demonstrates the applicability of the ZnO QDs and synthetic receptors for sweat analysis.

Wireless local area network (WLAN) has gained widespread application as a convenient network access method, demanding higher network efficiency, stability, and responsiveness. High-performance filters are crucial components to meet these needs. Film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) are ideal for constructing these filters due to their high-quality factor (Q) and low loss. In conventional air-gap type FBAR, aluminum nitride (AlN) is deposited on the sacrificial layer with poor crystallinity. Additionally, FBARs with single-crystal AlN have high internal stress and complicated fabrication process. These limit the development of FBARs to higher frequencies above 5 GHz. This paper presents the design and fabrication of FBARs and filters for WLAN applications, combining the high electromechanical coupling coefficient ( $K_t^2$ ) of Al_0.8Sc_0.2N film with the advantages of the thin film transfer process. An AlN seed layer and 280 nm-thick Al_0.8Sc_0.2N are deposited on a Si substrate via physical vapor deposition (PVD), achieving a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 2.1°. The ultra-thin film is then transferred to another Si substrate by wafer bonding, flipping, and Si removal. Integrating conventional manufacturing processes, an FBAR with a resonant frequency reaching 5.5 GHz is fabricated, demonstrating a large effective electromechanical coupling coefficient ( $k_{\mathrm{eff}}^2$ ) of 13.8% and an excellent figure of merit (FOM) of 85. A lattice-type filter based on these FBARs is then developed for the Wi-Fi UNII-2 band, featuring a center frequency of 5.5 GHz and a -3 dB bandwidth of 306 MHz, supporting high data rates and large throughputs in WLAN applications.

The complex structural and molecular features of a cell lead to a set of specific dielectric and mechanical properties which can serve as intrinsic phenotypic markers that enable different cell populations to be characterised and distinguished. We have developed a microfluidic technique that exploits non-contact shear flow deformability cytometry to simultaneously characterise both the electrical and mechanical properties of single cells at high speed. Cells flow along a microchannel and are deformed (elongated) to different degrees by the shear force created by a viscoelastic fluid and channel wall. The electrical impedance of each cell is measured using sets of integrated microelectrodes along two orthogonal axes to determine the shape change and thus the electrical deformability, together with cell dielectric properties. The system performance was evaluated by measuring the electro-mechanical properties of cells treated in different ways, including osmotic shock, glutaraldehyde cross-linking and cytoskeletal disruption with Cytochalasin D and Latrunculin B. To confirm the accuracy of the system images of deformed cells were also captured using a camera. Correlation between the optical deformability and the electrical deformability is excellent. This novel cytometer has a throughput of ~100 cells s^-1 is simple, does not use sheath flow or require high speed optical imaging.

Laboratory automation technologies have revolutionized biomedical research. However, the availability of automation solutions at the single-cell level remains scarce, primarily owing to the inherent challenges of handling cells with such small dimensions in a precise, biocompatible manner. Here, we present a single-cell-level laboratory automation solution that configures various experiments onto standardized, microscale test-tube matrices via our precise ultrasonic liquid sample ejection technology, known as PULSE. PULSE enables the transformation of titer plates into microdroplet arrays by printing nanodrops and single cells acoustically in a programmable, scalable, and biocompatible manner. Unlike pipetting robots, PULSE enables researchers to conduct biological experiments using single cells as anchoring points (e.g., 1 cell vs. 1000 cells per "tube"), achieving higher resolution and potentially more relevant data for modeling and downstream analyses. We demonstrate the ability of PULSE to perform biofabrication, precision gating, and deterministic array barcoding via preallocated droplet-addressable primers. Single cells can be gently printed at a speed range of 5-20 cell⋅s^-1 with an accuracy of 90.5-97.7%, which can then adhere to the substrate and grow for up to 72 h while preserving cell integrity. In the deterministic barcoding experiment, 95.6% barcoding accuracy and 2.7% barcode hopping were observed by comparing the phenotypic data with known genotypic data from two types of single cells. Our PULSE platform allows for precise and dynamic analyses by automating experiments at the single-cell level, offering researchers a powerful tool in biomedical research.

Advanced biofabrication techniques can create tissue-like constructs that can be applied for reconstructive surgery or as in vitro three-dimensional (3D) models for disease modeling and drug screening. While various biofabrication techniques have recently been widely reviewed in the literature, acoustics-based technologies still need to be explored. The rapidly increasing number of publications in the past two decades exploring the application of acoustic technologies highlights the tremendous potential of these technologies. In this review, we contend that acoustics-based methods can address many limitations inherent in other biofabrication techniques due to their unique advantages: noncontact manipulation, biocompatibility, deep tissue penetrability, versatility, precision in-scaffold control, high-throughput capabilities, and the ability to assemble multilayered structures. We discuss the mechanisms by which acoustics directly dictate cell assembly across various biostructures and examine how the advent of novel acoustic technologies, along with their integration with traditional methods, offers innovative solutions for enhancing the functionality of organoids. Acoustic technologies are poised to address fundamental challenges in biofabrication and tissue engineering and show promise for advancing the field in the coming years.