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Micromachines, Volume 11, Issue 10

2020 October - 68 articles

Cover Story: Viscosity measurement of biofluids revealing the health status of individuals is of great research significance in early disease diagnosis. However, existing viscometers restricted to the large sample volumes required are not applicable to the measurement of biofluids extracted from patients. In this paper, we report a low-cost and portable microfluidic device for biosample viscosity sensing with only a small volume. Further, the reported microfluidic viscometer does not cause any alternations to the biosamples, and hence, it can combine with other measurement methods for a broad range of biomedical applications. View this paper
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Articles (68)

  • Article
  • Open Access
12 Citations
3,409 Views
11 Pages

21 October 2020

Ample studies have shown the use of nanofluidics in the ionic diode and osmotic power generation, but similar ionic devices performed with large-sized mesopores are still poorly understood. In this study, we model and realize the mesoscale ionic diod...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
3,024 Views
13 Pages

Push/Pull Inequality Based High-Speed On-Chip Mixer Enhanced by Wettability

  • Toshio Takayama,
  • Naoya Hosokawa,
  • Chia-Hung Dylan Tsai and
  • Makoto Kaneko

21 October 2020

In this paper, a high-speed on-chip mixer using two effects is proposed, i.e., push/pull inequality and wettability. Push/pull inequality and wettability are effective for generating a rotational fluid motion in the chamber and for enhancing the rota...

  • Feature Paper
  • Review
  • Open Access
9 Citations
6,385 Views
17 Pages

The Future Application of Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies as Proving Grounds for MicroBioRobots

  • Haley C. Fuller,
  • Ting-Yen Wei,
  • Michael R. Behrens and
  • Warren C. Ruder

20 October 2020

An evolving understanding of disease pathogenesis has compelled the development of new drug delivery approaches. Recently, bioinspired microrobots have gained traction as drug delivery systems. By leveraging the microscale phenomena found in physiolo...

  • Article
  • Open Access
20 Citations
3,563 Views
19 Pages

Fast Fabrication of Complex Surficial Micro-Features Using Sequential Lithography and Jet Electrochemical Machining

  • Ming Wu,
  • Krishna Kumar Saxena,
  • Zhongning Guo,
  • Jun Qian and
  • Dominiek Reynaerts

20 October 2020

This paper presents fabrication of complex surficial micro-features employing a cross-innovative hybrid process inspired from lithography and Jet-ECM. The process is referred here as mask electrolyte jet machining (MEJM). MEJM is a non-contact machin...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
5,046 Views
18 Pages

Micro-Fabrication of Components for a High-Density Sub-Retinal Visual Prosthesis

  • Douglas B. Shire,
  • Marcus D. Gingerich,
  • Patricia I. Wong,
  • Michael Skvarla,
  • Stuart F. Cogan,
  • Jinghua Chen,
  • Wei Wang and
  • Joseph F. Rizzo

19 October 2020

We present a retrospective of unique micro-fabrication problems and solutions that were encountered through over 10 years of retinal prosthesis product development, first for the Boston Retinal Implant Project initiated at the Massachusetts Institute...

  • Article
  • Open Access
18 Citations
3,339 Views
15 Pages

Damping Asymmetry Trimming Based on the Resistance Heat Dissipation for Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscope in Whole-Angle Mode

  • Kechen Guo,
  • Yulie Wu,
  • Yongmeng Zhang,
  • Jiangkun Sun,
  • Dingbang Xiao and
  • Xuezhong Wu

19 October 2020

Damping asymmetry is one of the most important factors that determines the performance of Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscope. In this paper, a novel damping tuning method for the resonator with parallel plate capacitors is presented. This damping tuning me...

  • Review
  • Open Access
146 Citations
14,453 Views
27 Pages

19 October 2020

Advanced methods for manufacturing high quality parts should be used to ensure the production of competitive products for the world market. Investment casting (IC) is a process where a wax pattern is used as a sacrificial pattern to manufacture high...

  • Feature Paper
  • Review
  • Open Access
30 Citations
7,881 Views
30 Pages

Electro-Hydrodynamics of Emulsion Droplets: Physical Insights to Applications

  • Muhammad Salman Abbasi,
  • Ryungeun Song,
  • Seongsu Cho and
  • Jinkee Lee

18 October 2020

The field of droplet electrohydrodynamics (EHD) emerged with a seminal work of G.I. Taylor in 1966, who presented the so-called leaky dielectric model (LDM) to predict the droplet shapes undergoing distortions under an electric field. Since then, the...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
3,818 Views
10 Pages

A Flexible, Microfluidic, Dispensing System for Screening Drug Combinations

  • Mark Davies,
  • Mannthalah Abubaker and
  • Lorraine Bible

18 October 2020

It is known that in many cases a combination of drugs is more effective than single-drug treatments both for reducing toxicity and increasing efficacy. With the advent of organoid screens, personalised medicine has become possible for many diseases....

  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
3,789 Views
29 Pages

17 October 2020

Polymer shrinkage in nano-imprint lithography (NIL) is one of the critical issues that must be considered in order to produce a quality product. Especially, this condition should be considered during the manufacture of optical elements, because micro...

  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
3,296 Views
19 Pages

Roll Angular Rate Measurement for High Spinning Projectiles Based on Redundant Gyroscope System

  • Jing Mi,
  • Jie Li,
  • Xi Zhang,
  • Kaiqiang Feng,
  • Chenjun Hu,
  • Xiaokai Wei and
  • Xiaoqiao Yuan

16 October 2020

Precision-guided projectiles, which can significantly improve the accuracy and efficiency of fire strikes, are on the rise in current military engagements. The accurate measurement of roll angular rate is critical to guide a gun-launched projectile....

  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
4,354 Views
13 Pages

Power Management IC for a Dual-Input-Triple-Output Energy Harvester

  • Kai-Meng Mui,
  • Mei-Kum Khaw and
  • Faisal Mohd-Yasin

15 October 2020

We present the design of a power management integrated circuit that processes harvested energy from radio frequency waves and piezoelectric vibrations. The rectification of piezoelectric and RF sources has a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 87.73...

  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
6,740 Views
14 Pages

15 October 2020

Although the high-speed polishing technology has been widely applied to obtain an ultra-smooth surface in the field of spherical optical manufacture, it is still mainly used in small-size or easily polished lenses. In the infrared optical system, lar...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
3,744 Views
14 Pages

Micromachined Silicon Platform for Precise Assembly of 2D Multilayer Laue Lenses for High-Resolution X-ray Microscopy

  • Wei Xu,
  • Weihe Xu,
  • Nathalie Bouet,
  • Juan Zhou,
  • Hanfei Yan,
  • Xiaojing Huang,
  • Ming Lu,
  • Maxim Zalalutdinov,
  • Yong S. Chu and
  • Evgeny Nazaretski

15 October 2020

We report on a developed micromachined silicon platform for the precise assembly of 2D multilayer Laue lenses (MLLs) for high-resolution X-ray microscopy. The platform is 10 × 10 mm2 and is fabricated on ~500 µm thick silicon wafers through multiple...

  • Article
  • Open Access
50 Citations
5,354 Views
19 Pages

Performance Evaluation of a Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Based on Flag-Flutter

  • Hassan Elahi,
  • Marco Eugeni,
  • Federico Fune,
  • Luca Lampani,
  • Franco Mastroddi,
  • Giovanni Paolo Romano and
  • Paolo Gaudenzi

14 October 2020

In the last few decades, piezoelectric (PZT) materials have played a vital role in the aerospace industry because of their energy harvesting capability. PZT energy harvesters (PEH) absorb the energy from an operational environment and can transform i...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
23 Citations
4,559 Views
12 Pages

14 October 2020

The viscosity of biofluids such as blood and saliva can reflect an individual’s health conditions, and viscosity measurements are therefore considered in health monitoring and disease diagnosis. However, conventional viscometers can only handle a lar...

  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
3,361 Views
17 Pages

14 October 2020

Micro-electro-discharge machining (μEDM) plays a significant role in miniaturization. Complex electrode manufacturing and a high wear ratio are bottlenecks for μEDM and seriously restrict the manufacturing of microcomponents. To solve the elect...

  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
3,786 Views
10 Pages

14 October 2020

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a potential candidate for highly sensitive detection of target molecules. A SERS active substrate with a noble metal nanostructure is required for this. However, a SERS active substrate requires complicated...

  • Review
  • Open Access
11 Citations
7,516 Views
19 Pages

Ultrasonic Retinal Neuromodulation and Acoustic Retinal Prosthesis

  • Pei-An Lo,
  • Kyana Huang,
  • Qifa Zhou,
  • Mark S. Humayun and
  • Lan Yue

13 October 2020

Ultrasound is an emerging method for non-invasive neuromodulation. Studies in the past have demonstrated that ultrasound can reversibly activate and inhibit neural activities in the brain. Recent research shows the possibility of using ultrasound ran...

  • Article
  • Open Access
30 Citations
5,867 Views
16 Pages

Toward an Ultra-Wideband Hybrid Metamaterial Based Microwave Absorber

  • Aicha El Assal,
  • Hanadi Breiss,
  • Ratiba Benzerga,
  • Ala Sharaiha,
  • Akil Jrad and
  • Ali Harmouch

13 October 2020

In this paper, we propose a novel design of an ultra-wideband hybrid microwave absorber operating in the frequency range between 2 GHz and 18 GHz. This proposed hybrid absorber is composed of two different layers that integrate a multiband metamateri...

  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
3,894 Views
24 Pages

Study of the Emergency Braking Test with an Autonomous Bus and the sEMG Neck Response by Means of a Low-Cost System

  • Sergio Fuentes del Toro,
  • Silvia Santos-Cuadros,
  • Ester Olmeda and
  • José Luis San Román

13 October 2020

Nowadays, due to the advances and the increasing implementation of the autonomous braking systems in vehicles, the non-collision accident is expected to become more common than a crash when a sudden stop happens. The most common injury in this kind o...

  • Article
  • Open Access
29 Citations
3,823 Views
16 Pages

Pulse-Type Influence on the Micro-EDM Milling Machinability of Si3N4–TiN Workpieces

  • Valeria Marrocco,
  • Francesco Modica,
  • Vincenzo Bellantone,
  • Valentina Medri and
  • Irene Fassi

13 October 2020

In this paper, the effect of the micro-electro discharge machining (EDM) milling machinability of Si3N4–TiN workpieces was investigated. The material removal rate (MRR) and tool wear rate (TWR) were analyzed in relation to discharge pulse types...

  • Feature Paper
  • Review
  • Open Access
38 Citations
12,698 Views
42 Pages

MEMS Ultrasound Transducers for Endoscopic Photoacoustic Imaging Applications

  • Haoran Wang,
  • Yifei Ma,
  • Hao Yang,
  • Huabei Jiang,
  • Yingtao Ding and
  • Huikai Xie

12 October 2020

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is drawing extensive attention and gaining rapid development as an emerging biomedical imaging technology because of its high spatial resolution, large imaging depth, and rich optical contrast. PAI has great potential appl...

  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
4,503 Views
9 Pages

Printed Soft Sensor with Passivation Layers for the Detection of Object Slippage by a Robotic Gripper

  • Reo Miura,
  • Tomohito Sekine,
  • Yi-Fei Wang,
  • Jinseo Hong,
  • Yushi Watanabe,
  • Keita Ito,
  • Yoshinori Shouji,
  • Yasunori Takeda,
  • Daisuke Kumaki and
  • Shizuo Tokito
  • + 2 authors

8 October 2020

Tactile sensing, particularly the detection of object slippage, is required for skillful object handling by robotic grippers. The real-time measurement and identification of the dynamic shear forces that result from slippage events are crucial for sl...

  • Article
  • Open Access
32 Citations
4,584 Views
14 Pages

Surface Characterization and Tribological Performance Analysis of Electric Discharge Machined Duplex Stainless Steel

  • Timur Rizovich Ablyaz,
  • Evgeny Sergeevich Shlykov,
  • Karim Ravilevich Muratov,
  • Amit Mahajan,
  • Gurpreet Singh,
  • Sandeep Devgan and
  • Sarabjeet Singh Sidhu

7 October 2020

The present article focused on the surface characterization of electric discharge machined duplex stainless steel (DSS-2205) alloy with three variants of electrode material (Graphite, Copper-Tungsten and Tungsten electrodes). Experimentation was exec...

  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
3,937 Views
18 Pages

Water-Gated Transistor Using Ion Exchange Resin for Potentiometric Fluoride Sensing

  • Zahrah Alqahtani,
  • Nawal Alghamdi,
  • Thomas J. Robshaw,
  • Robert Dawson,
  • Mark D. Ogden,
  • Alastair Buckely and
  • Martin Grell

5 October 2020

We introduce fluoride-selective anion exchange resin sorbents as sensitisers into membranes for water-gated field effect transistors (WGTFTs). Sorbents were prepared via metal (La or Al)-loading of a commercial macroporous aminophosphonic acid resin,...

  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
5,787 Views
14 Pages

Experimental Study on the Minimum Undeformed Chip Thickness Based on Effective Rake Angle in Micro Milling

  • Xian Wu,
  • Li Liu,
  • Mingyang Du,
  • Jianyun Shen,
  • Feng Jiang,
  • Yuan Li and
  • Yiyang Lin

5 October 2020

Micro milling is widely used to manufacture micro parts due to its obvious advantages. The minimum undeformed chip thickness, the effective rake angle, and size effect are the typical characteristics and closely related to each other in micro milling...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
15 Citations
6,663 Views
15 Pages

A Scalable and Low Stress Post-CMOS Processing Technique for Implantable Microsensors

  • Ah-Hyoung Lee,
  • Jihun Lee,
  • Farah Laiwalla,
  • Vincent Leung,
  • Jiannan Huang,
  • Arto Nurmikko and
  • Yoon-Kyu Song

5 October 2020

Implantable active electronic microchips are being developed as multinode in-body sensors and actuators. There is a need to develop high throughput microfabrication techniques applicable to complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)-based silicon...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
4,785 Views
10 Pages

3 October 2020

A micropillar/microwell chip platform with 3D cultured liver cells has been used for HTP screening of hepatotoxicity of bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine-disrupting chemical. We previously found the hepatotoxicity of BPA is alleviated by alcohol dehydr...

  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
3,633 Views
11 Pages

2 October 2020

An electrochemical sensor for the detection of glucose and acetylthiocholine (ATC) using thread- and capillary tube-based electrodes is described. Three nylon thread-based electrodes were fabricated by painting pieces of trifurcated nylon thread with...

  • Feature Paper
  • Review
  • Open Access
103 Citations
13,382 Views
21 Pages

2 October 2020

Microfluidic separation technology has garnered significant attention over the past decade where particles are being separated at a micro/nanoscale in a rapid, low-cost, and simple manner. Amongst a myriad of separation technologies that have emerged...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
13 Citations
5,232 Views
14 Pages

Graphene-Based Contacts for Optoelectronic Devices

  • Susana Fernández,
  • Antonio Molinero,
  • David Sanz,
  • José Pablo González,
  • Marina de la Cruz,
  • José Javier Gandía and
  • Julio Cárabe

1 October 2020

Hybrid transparent contacts based on combinations of a transparent conductive oxide and a few graphene monolayers were developed in order to evaluate their optical and electrical performance with the main aim to use them as front contacts in optoelec...

  • Article
  • Open Access
6 Citations
2,863 Views
15 Pages

30 September 2020

Mechanobiology studies the means by which physical forces and mechanical properties change intra- or inter- biological macromolecules. Calmodulin (CaM) is involved in physiological activities and various metabolic processes in eukaryotic cells. Altho...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
6,109 Views
13 Pages

30 September 2020

Developing new approaches for vascularizing synthetic tissue systems will have a tremendous impact in diverse areas. One area where this is particularly important is developing new skeletal muscle tissue systems, which could be utilized in physiologi...

  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
2,214 Views
12 Pages

Shape Effect of Surface Defects on Nanohardness by Quasicontinuum Method

  • Zhongli Zhang,
  • Can Wang,
  • Xiaowen Hu and
  • Yushan Ni

30 September 2020

Nanoindentation on a platinum thin film with surface defects in a rectangular shape and triangular shape was simulated using the quasicontinuum method to study the shape effect of surface defects on nanohardness. The results show that the nanohardnes...

  • Communication
  • Open Access
9 Citations
6,093 Views
10 Pages

Ferroelectric Switching in Trilayer Al2O3/HfZrOx/Al2O3 Structure

  • Solyee Im,
  • Seung-Youl Kang,
  • Yeriaron Kim,
  • Jeong Hun Kim,
  • Jong-Pil Im,
  • Sung-Min Yoon,
  • Seung Eon Moon and
  • Jiyong Woo

30 September 2020

Since ferroelectricity has been observed in simple binary oxide material systems, it has attracted great interest in semiconductor research fields such as advanced logic transistors, non-volatile memories, and neuromorphic devices. The location in wh...

  • Article
  • Open Access
14 Citations
3,143 Views
17 Pages

30 September 2020

Particle focusing and separation using viscoelastic microfluidic technology have attracted lots of attention in many applications. In this paper, a three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) coupled with the immersed boundary method (IBM) is em...

  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
3,803 Views
16 Pages

Feasibility Study for a Chemical Process Particle Size Characterization System for Explosive Environments Using Low Laser Power

  • Jesse Ross-Jones,
  • Tobias Teumer,
  • Susann Wunsch,
  • Lukas Petri,
  • Hermann Nirschl,
  • Mathias J. Krause,
  • Frank-Jürgen Methner and
  • Matthias Rädle

30 September 2020

The industrial particle sensor market lacks simple, easy to use, low cost yet robust, safe and fast response solutions. Towards development of such a sensor, for in-line use in micro channels under continuous flow conditions, this work introduces sta...

  • Review
  • Open Access
29 Citations
5,368 Views
23 Pages

A Systematic Review of Non-Contact Sensing for Developing a Platform to Contain COVID-19

  • Muhammad Bilal Khan,
  • Zhiya Zhang,
  • Lin Li,
  • Wei Zhao,
  • Mohammed Ali Mohammed Al Hababi,
  • Xiaodong Yang and
  • Qammer H. Abbasi

30 September 2020

The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, and its resulting situation has garnered much effort to contain the virus through scientific research. The tragedy has not yet fully run its course, but it is already clear that the crisis...

  • Article
  • Open Access
10 Citations
2,423 Views
15 Pages

30 September 2020

This paper aims to present a novel airflow-induced acoustic piezoelectric generator that can be used to solve the problem of insufficient power supply of modern intelligent fuzes. The sound waves induced by airflow are the key to power generation per...

  • Article
  • Open Access
14 Citations
5,071 Views
17 Pages

30 September 2020

Pressure is one basic parameter involved in microfluidic systems. In this study, we developed an easy capillary-based method for measuring fluid pressure at one or multiple locations in a microchannel. The principal component is a commonly used capil...

  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,705 Views
16 Pages

Automatic Sorting System for Rigid Piezoelectric Transducer Wafers Used in Displacement Adjustment

  • Tongqun Ren,
  • Xin Li,
  • Xiaodong Wang,
  • Zheng Xu,
  • Yugang Liu,
  • Jin Yang and
  • Jiang Guo

30 September 2020

Piezoelectric transducer wafers are usually used in pairs to adjust the resonant cavity length of the ring laser gyro. In practice, the paired wafers are required to have similar piezoelectric charge coefficient d31. To handle the pairing operation i...

  • Article
  • Open Access
11 Citations
3,380 Views
16 Pages

An Experimental Investigation of Steel Surface Topography Transfer by Cold Rolling

  • Dong Xu,
  • Quan Yang,
  • Xiaochen Wang,
  • Hainan He,
  • Youzhao Sun and
  • Wenpei Li

30 September 2020

Automobile and household appliance panels require steel strips with extremely high-quality surfaces. Therefore, an in-depth study of the surface topography transfer of the steel strip during the rolling process is of considerable significance for imp...

  • Communication
  • Open Access
9 Citations
5,233 Views
12 Pages

Effects of Capping Layers with Different Metals on Electrical Performance and Stability of p-Channel SnO Thin-Film Transistors

  • Min-Gyu Shin,
  • Kang-Hwan Bae,
  • Hwan-Seok Jeong,
  • Dae-Hwan Kim,
  • Hyun-Seok Cha and
  • Hyuck-In Kwon

30 September 2020

In this study, the effects of capping layers with different metals on the electrical performance and stability of p-channel SnO thin-film transistors (TFTs) were examined. Ni- or Pt-capped SnO TFTs exhibit a higher field-effect mobility (μFE), a l...

  • Article
  • Open Access
17 Citations
3,716 Views
14 Pages

30 September 2020

The machine vision measurement module is indispensable for the Modularized Flexible Precision Assembly Station (MFPAS), which is a fully automatic assembly system being developed at Dalian University of Technology (DUT). MFPAS consists of basic and a...

  • Article
  • Open Access
35 Citations
5,307 Views
14 Pages

Actuating Voltage Waveform Optimization of Piezoelectric Inkjet Printhead for Suppression of Residual Vibrations

  • Muhammad Ali Shah,
  • Duck-Gyu Lee,
  • Bo Yeon Lee,
  • Nam Woon Kim,
  • Hyojin An and
  • Shin Hur

29 September 2020

After a piezoelectric inkjet printhead jets the first droplet, the actuating membrane still vibrates, creating residual vibrations in the ink channel, which can degrade the inkjet printhead performance. For suppressing these vibrations, an optimized...

  • Article
  • Open Access
14 Citations
3,137 Views
15 Pages

29 September 2020

Theoretical design of conjugated proton cranes, based on 7-hydroxyquinoline as a tautomeric sub-unit, has been attempted by using ground and excited state density functional theory (DFT) calculations in various environments. The proton crane action r...

  • Review
  • Open Access
30 Citations
13,455 Views
21 Pages

Cardiac Implantable Electronic Miniaturized and Micro Devices

  • Moshe Rav Acha,
  • Elina Soifer and
  • Tal Hasin

29 September 2020

Advancement in the miniaturization of high-density power sources, electronic circuits, and communication technologies enabled the construction of miniaturized electronic devices, implanted directly in the heart. These include pacing devices to preven...

  • Article
  • Open Access
13 Citations
6,639 Views
19 Pages

29 September 2020

Three-dimensional (3D) microstructure arrays (MSAs) have been widely used in material science and biomedical applications by providing superhydrophobic surfaces, cell-interactive topography, and optical diffraction. These properties are tunable throu...

  • Article
  • Open Access
3,005 Views
20 Pages

29 September 2020

The ability to separate and filter out microscopic objects lies at the core of many biomedical applications. However, a persistent problem is clogging, as biomaterials stick to the internal chip surface and limit device efficiency and liability. Here...

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Micromachines - ISSN 2072-666X