Micro manipulation based on adhesion control with compound vibration

Abstract

Due to scale effects, the releasing of micro objects has been a long-standing challenge in micromanipulation applications. In this paper a micromanipulation system is presented based on the adhesion control with compound vibration. This adhesion control technique employs inertia force to overcome adhesion force achieving 100% repeatability with releasing accuracy of 4±0.5μm, which was experimentally quantified through the manipulation of 20-100μm polystyrene spheres under an optical microscope. The micromanipulation system consists of a microgripper and a piezoelectric ceramics module. The compound vibration comes from the electrostatic actuator and the piezoelectrically driven actuator. Surface and bulk micromachining technology is employed to fabricate the microgripper used in the system from a single crystal silicon wafer. Experimental results confirmed that this adhesion control technique is independent of substrate. Theoretical analyses were conducted to understand the releasing mechanism. Based on this preliminary study, the micromanipulation system proves to be an effective solution for active releasing of micromanipulation.