3DFold - Programmed folding of mesoscopic 3D objects by viscoelastic reconfiguration

目前用于生产真实3D结构的技术，可能包含凹痕和隐藏结构，要么在分辨率上受到限制，要么无法达到足够的生产速度以实现大批量生产。此外，现有的技术很难扩展，并且不能以等效的方式用于从几百纳米到几百微米的结构尺寸。然而，有些应用需要高分辨率的方法，可以跨尺度使用，并且能够大批量生产。这些要求苛刻的应用包括基于3D等离子体粒子的传感器，用于数字微流体的智能和唯一可识别的3D粒子的生成，用于微和纳米柔性机器人的3D驱动器，捕获-释放应用，3D微和纳米电子系统以及使用悬浮阵列技术的3D粒子进行生物和基因分析的多种方法。本申请的目的是建立一项新技术，并通过从粒子输运和等离子体领域中选择两个演示应用来证明其可用性。这个提议使用了所谓的折纸结构生成，即从平面二维结构中按照给定的顺序产生三维物体，并由外部刺激触发。这种应用的创新之处在于使用热塑性致动器来驱动这种折叠，以及技术上有效的修改和编程聚合物致动器的激活温度。通过略高于玻璃化转变温度的热刺激，致动器产生毛细力，使平面结构通过面外旋转转变为三维物体。本文提出的方法的优点是热塑性材料软化的可控性和可编程性，跨尺度的可用性以及从聚合物到半导体、金属到磁性材料的3D物体的大材料多样性。例如，在结构转变或重新配置过程中，粒子可能被捕获。此外，三维物体可以提供基于等离子体的识别码，并且因此可以清楚地识别为单个粒子。这两种场景都将在本提案中进行演示。

Current techniques for the production of real 3D structures, which might contain undercuts and hidden structures, are either limited in their resolution or do not achieve a sufficient production speed for high volume production. In addition, the existing techniques are hardly scalable and cannot be used in an equivalent way for structural dimensions in the range from a few hundred nanometers up to a few hundred micrometers. However, there are applications which require a high resolution method, can be used across scales and are capable of high volume production. Such demanding applications include sensors based on 3D plasmonic particles, the generation of intelligent and uniquely identifiable 3D particles for digital microfluidics, 3D actuators for micro- and nano-softrobotics, capture-release applications, 3D micro- and nanoelectronic systems as well as multiplex methods in bio and gene analysis using 3D particles for suspension array techniques. The aim of this application is to establish a new technology and to demonstrate its usability by means of two selected demonstrator applications from the field of particle transport and plasmonics. This proposal uses so-called origami structure generation, i. e., the self-folding of 3-dimensional objects emanating from a planar 2-dimensional structure according to a given sequence and triggered by an external stimulus. The innovation of this application lies in the use of thermoplastic actuators to drive this folding as well as the technologically efficient modification and programming of the activation temperature of the polymer actuators. By a thermal stimulus slightly exceeding the glass transition temperature, capillary forces are generated by the actuators, which transform planar structures by out-of-plane rotations into 3D objects. The advantages of the method proposed here are the controllability and the programmability of the softening of the thermoplastic materials, the usability across scales as well as the large material diversity for the 3D objects from polymers to semiconductors and metals to magnetic materials. During the structural transformation or reconfiguration, for example, particles can be trapped. Furthermore, the 3D objects can be provided with an identification code on a plasmonic basis and are thus clearly recognizable as individual particles. Both scenarios will be demonstrated within this proposal.