Microgrippers for Transferring Devices to Fibrous Surfaces
AssigneeUniversity of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsCindy K. Harnett, Jasmine Beharic, Canisha Ternival, Sushmita Challa, Mohammad Shafquatul Islam
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Abstract
Radial-armed thin-film bilayers are designed and fabricated from a metal and an oxide to produce grippers that interact with the yarns or fibers of the fabric and form a mechanical tangle attachment to the fabric. MEMs devices attached to the grippers enable the MEMs devices to be adhered to a flexible and/or extensible fabric. Fabrics comprise conventional textile, smart textiles, functional fibers or other smart materials. The fabrics thus incorporate wearable sensors, medical devices, and other functional MEMs for commercial, biomedical, industrial and scientific applications.
Claims24
A microgripper, comprising an array of gripper arms having a length of 1 to 1000 microns which are made of a thin-film bilayer of metal materials having thickness ranging from 0.1 to 50 microns, wherein each of the gripper arms has a curvature which is generated by mismatched tensile and compressive stresses due to a differential in thermal expansion between layers of the thin-film bilayer or by a lattice size mismatch between the layers of the thin-film bilayer.
A combination material, comprising:
- a fabric;
- a microelectromechanical device;
- and
- one or more microgipper devices which mechanically connect the microelectromechanical device to the fabric,
- wherein the one or more microgripper devices comprise an array of gripper arms having a length of 1 to 1000 microns which are made of a thin-film bilayer of metal materials having thickness ranging from 0.1 to 50 microns, wherein each of the gripper arms have a curvature which is generated by mismatched tensile and compressive stresses due to a differential in thermal expansion between layers of the thin-film bilayer or by a lattice size mismatch between the layers of the thin-film bilayer.
A method of fabricating a microgripper, comprising the steps of
- growing a metal oxide on a substrate to form a first layer,
- providing over the first layer a preformed resist pattern of a microgripper having a radial array of gripper arms,
- applying a second layer of a metal, wherein the metal is that of the metal oxide,
- removing any metal oxide, any metal, and at least a portion of the substrate from the substrate in areas not protected by the preformed resist pattern, and
- releasing the microgripper from the substrate.
A method of adhering a microelectromechanical (MEMS) device to a flexible fabric substrate, comprising the steps of
- fabricating a plurality of microgrippers, each microgripper having an array of radial arms having a concave face and a convex face,
- attaching the MEMS device to the convex or concave faces of the plurality of microgrippers, and
- placing the MEMS device on a desired location on the flexible fabric substrate such that the concave faces of the plurality of microgrippers are in contact with the flexible fabric substrate,
- allowing the concave faces of plurality of microgrippers to engage with a plurality of yarns within the flexible fabric substrate, and
- forming mechanical tangles between the gripper arms and the yarns that hold the plurality of microgrippers and attached MEMs devices in place.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.