Plastic MEMS: large scale microstructured materials and surfaces using industrial polymers and plastics

微制造自20世纪50年代开始以来一直基于无机材料来制造小型化电路。 该领域的巨大进步已经应用于越来越小的电子产品，并已通过微机电系统（MEMS）领域适用于机械传感器和执行器。 然而，存在其中基于硅的处理和无机微制造技术对于商业上可行的制造而言是不合适的或过于昂贵的应用。 这些包括微结构化产品，其中单个器件尺寸必须大于几平方厘米。 聚合物MEMS领域的最新进展提供了在连续薄膜、大面积基板或注塑成型器件上微结构化材料的可能性-可能将塑料带来的相同成本节约应用于微尺度应用。 开发大面积微加工聚合物结构的工具，技术和表征方法将解决制造业的不足，并将微加工技术应用于廉价的材料涂层，智能表面，一次性微流体系统等。

Microfabrication has been based on inorganic materials since its inception in the 1950's for manufacturing miniaturized circuits. Tremendous advances in the field have been applied towards ever-smaller electronics, and have been adapted for mechanical sensors and actuators through the field of micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS). However, there are applications where silicon based processing and inorganic microfabrication techniques are either inappropriate or too expensive for commercially viable manufacturing. These include microstructured products where individual device sizes must be greater than several square centimeters in size. Recent advances in the field of polymer MEMS offer the possibility of microstructuring materials on continuous films, large area substrates or injection-molded devices - potentially applying the same cost savings to microscale applications that plastics have brought to macroscale products. Developing the tools, technologies and characterization methods for large-area microfabricated polymer structures will address an underserved manufacturing niche and apply microfabrication technologies to inexpensive material coatings, smart surfaces, disposable microfluidic systems and more.