Ultrasonic cutting tool for fabricating interfaces to microfluidic systems and components for phtonic structures

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With advancing technology, combinations of electrical, mechanical and microfluidic systems are frequently found in one component package. Designing and testing "system-on-chip" developments such as these is the forefront of current research in micro-electromechanical (MEM) systems. The purpose of this grant is to add an Ultrasonic Cutter to our NanoSystems research group and laboratory. An ultrasonic cutter is used to obtain standard-sized disc or rectangular samples from larger wafers of brittle materials. Typically the cutter is used to obtain discs from silicon wafers and glass slides - as a part of a suite of sample preparation tools for electron microscopy. We intend to use this tool for a completely different purpose.    One of the growing strengths of our group is our efforts in the emerging field of microfluidics. In microfluidic systems, channels similar in size to a human hair are used to transport liquid samples. Many of these devices are integrated as part of novel lab-on-chip sensors. In order to connect these systems to "real-world" scale tubing (10x - 100x bigger), we need a tool that will reliably cut an access port into which the tube can connect - and do this accurately so that the "real-world" channel is matched to the microfluidic system. The ultrasonic cutter is ideal for this as it is designed to cut through the materials into which these microfluidic systems are etched. Additionally, we will use the cutter as for depackaging devices such as Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) resonators and filters without damaging the devices themselves. This will enable further integration of these devices and can be applied to MEM systems which we seek to integrate with custom-designed electronics. Finally, we will use the cutter to cut sets of discs and slabs from dielectric materials such as sapphire that will be integrated into novel (photonic) metamaterials.    In order to accomplish these aims, we require the ultrasonic cutter and the selection of cutting tools requested. This instrument will be used by at least 3 faculty members and over 10 students whose leading-edge research focuses on the new technologies that are growing within the microelectronics industry.