TY - GEN
T1 - A study on the interaction force between two small bodies on a liquid for micro self assembly and separation
AU - Saif, Taher
N1 - Funding Information:
The work was supported by NSF CAREER Award (NSF ECS 97-34368). Special thanks to Professor Ronald Adrian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Chmpaign, for the many illuminating discussions I had with him on this topic. Thanks also to Professors Hassan Aref and Arne Pearlstein of the U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Professor David Beebe of the U. of Wisconsin, Madison, for their valuable insights.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2000 by ASME
PY - 2000
Y1 - 2000
N2 - The paper presents a detailed study of the mechanism by which a MEMS plate forms a meniscus with a liquid, and the corresponding solid-liquid interaction force. The study is than extended to investigate the interaction force between two small thin plates forming meniscii with a liquid. It is shown that the force is attractive for similar meniscii and repulsive for opposite meniscii. If the meniscii are of the same type but not identical (e.g., one solid makes a steeper meniscus than the other) then the force is attractive at long distances, repulsive at shorter distances, with a stable equilibrium at a finite distance between the solids. The study reveals that MEMS (hydrophilic or phobic) can probe objects in a liquid without inundating themselves. Furthermore, capillary forces can be harnessed to self assemble or separate small solids (micro chips or living cells) on a liquid surface noninvasively.
AB - The paper presents a detailed study of the mechanism by which a MEMS plate forms a meniscus with a liquid, and the corresponding solid-liquid interaction force. The study is than extended to investigate the interaction force between two small thin plates forming meniscii with a liquid. It is shown that the force is attractive for similar meniscii and repulsive for opposite meniscii. If the meniscii are of the same type but not identical (e.g., one solid makes a steeper meniscus than the other) then the force is attractive at long distances, repulsive at shorter distances, with a stable equilibrium at a finite distance between the solids. The study reveals that MEMS (hydrophilic or phobic) can probe objects in a liquid without inundating themselves. Furthermore, capillary forces can be harnessed to self assemble or separate small solids (micro chips or living cells) on a liquid surface noninvasively.
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U2 - 10.1115/IMECE2000-1135
DO - 10.1115/IMECE2000-1135
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:0348033865
T3 - ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE)
SP - 481
EP - 487
BT - Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
T2 - ASME 2000 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2000
Y2 - 5 November 2000 through 10 November 2000
ER -