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Low-Cost Microfabrication Tool Box

Microsystems are key enabling technologies, with applications found in almost every industrial field, including in vitro diagnostic, energy harvesting, automotive, telecommunication, drug screening, etc. Microsystems, such as microsensors and actuators, are typically made up of components below 1000...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Charmet, Jérôme, Rodrigues, Rui, Yildirim, Ender, Challa, Pavan Kumar, Roberts, Benjamin, Dallmann, Robert, Whulanza, Yudan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7074766/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31991826
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi11020135
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author Charmet, Jérôme
Rodrigues, Rui
Yildirim, Ender
Challa, Pavan Kumar
Roberts, Benjamin
Dallmann, Robert
Whulanza, Yudan
author_facet Charmet, Jérôme
Rodrigues, Rui
Yildirim, Ender
Challa, Pavan Kumar
Roberts, Benjamin
Dallmann, Robert
Whulanza, Yudan
author_sort Charmet, Jérôme
collection PubMed
description Microsystems are key enabling technologies, with applications found in almost every industrial field, including in vitro diagnostic, energy harvesting, automotive, telecommunication, drug screening, etc. Microsystems, such as microsensors and actuators, are typically made up of components below 1000 microns in size that can be manufactured at low unit cost through mass-production. Yet, their development for commercial or educational purposes has typically been limited to specialized laboratories in upper-income countries due to the initial investment costs associated with the microfabrication equipment and processes. However, recent technological advances have enabled the development of low-cost microfabrication tools. In this paper, we describe a range of low-cost approaches and equipment (below £1000), developed or adapted and implemented in our laboratories. We describe processes including photolithography, micromilling, 3D printing, xurography and screen-printing used for the microfabrication of structural and functional materials. The processes that can be used to shape a range of materials with sub-millimetre feature sizes are demonstrated here in the context of lab-on-chips, but they can be adapted for other applications. We anticipate that this paper, which will enable researchers to build a low-cost microfabrication toolbox in a wide range of settings, will spark a new interest in microsystems.
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spelling pubmed-70747662020-03-20 Low-Cost Microfabrication Tool Box Charmet, Jérôme Rodrigues, Rui Yildirim, Ender Challa, Pavan Kumar Roberts, Benjamin Dallmann, Robert Whulanza, Yudan Micromachines (Basel) Article Microsystems are key enabling technologies, with applications found in almost every industrial field, including in vitro diagnostic, energy harvesting, automotive, telecommunication, drug screening, etc. Microsystems, such as microsensors and actuators, are typically made up of components below 1000 microns in size that can be manufactured at low unit cost through mass-production. Yet, their development for commercial or educational purposes has typically been limited to specialized laboratories in upper-income countries due to the initial investment costs associated with the microfabrication equipment and processes. However, recent technological advances have enabled the development of low-cost microfabrication tools. In this paper, we describe a range of low-cost approaches and equipment (below £1000), developed or adapted and implemented in our laboratories. We describe processes including photolithography, micromilling, 3D printing, xurography and screen-printing used for the microfabrication of structural and functional materials. The processes that can be used to shape a range of materials with sub-millimetre feature sizes are demonstrated here in the context of lab-on-chips, but they can be adapted for other applications. We anticipate that this paper, which will enable researchers to build a low-cost microfabrication toolbox in a wide range of settings, will spark a new interest in microsystems. MDPI 2020-01-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7074766/ /pubmed/31991826 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi11020135 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Charmet, Jérôme
Rodrigues, Rui
Yildirim, Ender
Challa, Pavan Kumar
Roberts, Benjamin
Dallmann, Robert
Whulanza, Yudan
Low-Cost Microfabrication Tool Box
title Low-Cost Microfabrication Tool Box
title_full Low-Cost Microfabrication Tool Box
title_fullStr Low-Cost Microfabrication Tool Box
title_full_unstemmed Low-Cost Microfabrication Tool Box
title_short Low-Cost Microfabrication Tool Box
title_sort low-cost microfabrication tool box
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7074766/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31991826
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi11020135
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