Microfabrication Equipment for Magnetic Micro-Mechanical Structures

该研究计划涉及一个由四个研究小组组成的跨学科团队，旨在设计和控制一类新的有源磁性微尺度机器人设备，用于医疗机器人、基础癌症研究、组织工程和细胞机械生物学的研究。这样一个微型机器人系统是由一个磁线圈系统控制和供电的，这个磁线圈系统能够对亚毫米级的微制造设备远程施加磁力和力矩。微型机器人系统由于其小尺寸和并行或分布式操作的能力，有望以非侵入性的方式提供前所未有的狭小密闭空间的访问。虽然我们已经展示了基本磁性微系统的能力，但我们目前缺乏适当的工具来使用磁性微设备在这四个领域进行下一阶段的研究。由于缺乏适当的工具，我们的小组无法进行我们计划在这些领域进行的前沿研究。我们迫切需要本提案中概述的新研究设备来进行高影响的工作。具体来说，我们需要一个用于微器件高速原型的无掩模光刻书写系统，以及一个由脉冲磁化器和磁性表征系统组成的磁化系统，以确保器件的精确磁化。

The proposed research program involves an interdisciplinary team of four research groups, and aims to design and control a new class of active magnetic micro-scale robotic devices for research in medical robotics, basic cancer studies, tissue engineering and cell mechanobiology. Such a micro-robotic system is controlled and powered using a magnetic coil system capable of applying magnetic forces and moments remotely to sub-millimetre micro-fabricated devices. Micro-robot systems promise to provide unprecedented access to small confined spaces in a non-invasive manner due to their small size and capabilities for parallel or distributed operation. While we have shown the capability of basic magnetic micro-systems, we currently lack the proper tools to conduct the next stage of research in these four areas using magnetic microdevices. Such a lack of proper tools has prevented our groups from conducting the cutting-edge research we have planned in these areas. We urgently request new research equipment as outlined in this proposal to conduct the high-impact work. Specifically, we are requesting a maskless photolithography writing system for high-speed prototyping of microdevices, and a magnetizing system consisting of pulse magnetizer and magnetic characterization system to ensure precise magnetization of devices.