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Gold micron award at MICRONORA trade fair 2022
FEMTO-ST is awarded a gold micron for its three-dimensional nanorobotic structure, which is precisely and continuously actuated according to the power of light for the gripping of nano objects.
This polyarticulated structure based on a silica origami is extremely innovative because it is installed at the end of a stretched optical fiber, which is both its support and its actuation means.
This work opens for the first time the way to the reliable and precise robotic gripping and manipulation of objects of nanometric dimensions and is particularly promising for the manipulation of miniaturized optical or electronic components, pollens, but also biological cells, viruses, or even isolated molecules, it is necessary to have precise and reliable gripping means adapted to these objects of nanometric size.
The elastic hinges of the structure are thus made by folding silica under a galium ion beam in the µROBOTEX station of the CMNR - Centre de Micro et Nano Robotique, supported by the PIA TIRREX. The assembly is made of a silica membrane of less than 1µm thickness, on which an aluminium/silica bimetal is welded. The bimetal, heated by the light, deforms under the effect of the differential expansion between the aluminum, a very ductile metal that elongates, and the silica, a non-ductile ceramic. The application of a light power allows to actuate the nanorobotic structure in a precise and continuous way to seize or release nano-objects.
Beyond this demonstration on a relatively simple case, the new process opens for the first time the way to the realization of poly-articulated nanorobotic systems, endowed with several degrees of freedom actuated by light.
Lauréats autour des représentants UBFC, UFC, SUPMICROTECH-ENSMM et Région BFC
Contact : Jean-Yves Rauch
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