Nano-Workbench: A Combined Hollow AFM Cantilever and Robotic Manipulator †

Micromachines

Hຜtor Hugo Pérez Garza³  Murali Krishna Ghatkesar³  Shibabrata Basak²  Per Löthman¹  Urs Staufer³ 

[1] Korea Institute of Science and Technology, KIST Europe, Nano Magnetics group, Campus E7 1, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany; E-Mail:;National Centre for HREM, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands; E-Mail:;Precision and Microsystems Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands; E-Mails:

关键词: nano-workbench;    femtopipette;    nanorobot;    nanomanipulation;    microfluidics;    nanodispensing;    hollow cantilever;    atomic force microscope;   

DOI  :  10.3390/mi6050600

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

To manipulate liquid matter at the nanometer scale, we have developed a robotic assembly equipped with a hollow atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever that can handle femtolitre volumes of liquid. The assembly consists of four independent robots, each sugar cube sized with four degrees of freedom. All robots are placed on a single platform around the sample forming a nano-workbench (NWB). Each robot can travel the entire platform and has a minimum position resolution of 5 nm both in-plane and out-of-plane. The cantilever chip was glued to the robotic arm. Dispensing was done by the capillarity between the substrate and the cantilever tip, and was monitored visually through a microscope. To evaluate the performance of the NWB, we have performed three experiments: clamping of graphene with epoxy, mixing of femtolitre volume droplets to synthesize gold nanoparticles and accurately dispense electrolyte liquid for a nanobattery.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.