Elasto-Capillary Folding Using Stop-Programmable Hinges Fabricated by 3D Micro-Machining

Folding 2D Structures into 3D Configurations at the Micro/Nanoscale: Principles, Techniques, and Applications

Compared to their 2D counterparts, 3D micro/nanostructures show larger degrees of freedom and richer functionalities; thus, they have attracted increasing attention in the past decades. Moreover, extensive applications of 3D micro/nanostructures are demonstrated in the fields of mechanics, biomedicine, optics, etc., with great advantages. However, the mainstream micro/nanofabrication technologies are planar ones; therefore, they cannot be used directly for the construction of 3D micro/nanostructures, making 3D fabrication at the micro/nanoscale a great challenge. A promising strategy to overcome this is to combine the state-of-the-art planar fabrication techniques with the folding method to produce 3D structures. In this strategy, 2D components can be easily produced by traditional planar techniques, and then, 3D structures are constructed by folding each 2D component to specific orientations. In this way, not only will the advantages of existing planar techniques, such as high precision, programmable patterning, and mass production, be preserved, but the fabrication capability will also be greatly expanded without complex and expensive equipment modification/development. The goal here is to highlight the recent progress of the folding method from the perspective of principles, techniques, and applications, as well as to discuss the existing challenges and future prospectives.

Let's twist again: elasto-capillary assembly of parallel ribbons

We show the self-assembly through twisting and bending of side by side ribbons under the action of capillary forces. Micro-ribbons made of silicon nitride are batch assembled at the wafer scale. We study their assembly as a function of their dimensions and separating distance. Model experiments are carried out at the macroscopic scale where the tension in ribbons can easily be tuned. The process is modeled considering the competition between capillary, elastic and tension forces. Theory shows a good agreement for macroscale assemblies, while the accuracy is within 30% at the micrometer scale. This simple self-assembly technique yields highly symmetric and controllable structures which could be used for batch fabrication of functional 3D micro-structures.