Standing wave probes for microassembly

Abstract

A single standing wave sensor was investigated and experiments demonstrated release capability of glass microscale objects. It is shown that this micrometer scale fiber may be employed as miniaturized tweezers able to pick up specimens and routinely release them when the standing wave is energized. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the standing wave probe has sensing capability. Both phase and magnitude indicate when the specimen releases, and also provide postrelease information such as mass of sphere and its rotation about its own axis or, surprisingly, about the probe fiber. The current experiments investigated only the release forces acting normal to the sphere/fiber contact interface. Some work was performed by changing the virtual tip from a normally applied force to a tangential applied force. In this condition, the specimen was observed to release differently.