A micromachine by Sandia is moved by a lit LED at Miraikan in Tokyo

Micromachines are mechanical objects that are fabricated in the same general manner as integrated circuits. They are generally considered to be between 100 nanometres to 100 micrometres in size, though that is debatable. The applications of micromachines include accelerometers that detect when a car has hit an object and trigger an airbag. Complex systems of gears and levers are another application. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... It has been suggested that Sandia Base be merged into this article or section. ... External links LEd Category: TeX ... Miraikan Miraikan is Japans National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, created by Japans Science and Technology Agency. ... For other uses, see Tokyo (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Mechanic (disambiguation). ... Nasas Glenn Research Center clean room. ... An integrated circuit (IC) is a thin chip consisting of at least two interconnected semiconductor devices, mainly transistors, as well as passive components like resistors. ... A nanometre (American spelling: nanometer, symbol nm) (Greek: νάνος, nanos, dwarf; μετρώ, metrό, count) is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one billionth of a metre (or one millionth of a millimetre), which is the current SI base unit of length. ... A micrometre (American spelling: micrometer, symbol µm) is an SI unit of length equal to one millionth of a metre, or about a tenth of the diameter of a droplet of mist or fog. ... A depiction of an accelerometer designed at Sandia National Laboratories. ... Car redirects here. ... For the Mozilla crash reporting software previously called Airbag, see Breakpad. ... For other uses, see Gear (disambiguation). ... For the Portuguese town and parish, see Lever, Portugal. ...

The fabrication of these devices is usually done by one or both of two techniques: surface micromachining and bulk micromachining. Surface micromachining is a process used to produce micromachinery or MEMS. Unlike Bulk micromachining, where a silicon substrate (wafer) is selectively etched to produce structures, surface micromachining is based on the deposition and etching of different structural layers. ... Bulk micromachining is a process used to produce micromachinery or MEMS. Unlike surface micromachining, which uses a succession of thin film deposition and selective etching, bulk micromachining defines structures by selectively etching inside a substrate. ...

Most micromachines act as transducers; in other words, they are either sensors or actuators. This article is about transducers in engineering. ... Not to be confused with censure, censer, or censor. ... An actuator is a mechanical device for moving or controlling a mechanism or system. ...

Sensors convert information from the environment into interpretable electrical signals. One example of a micromachine sensor is a resonant chemical sensor. A lightly damped mechanical object vibrates much more at one frequency than any other, and this frequency is called its resonance frequency. A chemical sensor is coated with a special polymer that attracts certain molecules, such as anthrax, and when those molecules attach to the sensor, its mass increases. The increased mass alters the resonance frequency of the mechanical object, which is detected with circuitry. A polymer (from Greek: πολυ, polu, many; and μέρος, meros, part) is a substance composed of molecules with large molecular mass composed of repeating structural units, or monomers, connected by covalent chemical bonds. ... 3D (left and center) and 2D (right) representations of the terpenoid molecule atisane. ... For other uses, see Mass (disambiguation). ...

Actuators convert electrical signals and energy into motion of some kind. The three most common types of actuators are electrostatic, thermal, and magnetic. Electrostatic actuators use the force of electrostatic energy to move objects. Two mechanical elements, one that is stationary (the stator) and one that is movable (the rotor) have two different voltages applied to them, which creates an electric field. The field competes with a restoring force on the rotor (usually a spring force produced by the bending or stretching of the rotor) to move the rotor. The greater the electric field, the farther the rotor will move. Thermal actuators use the force of thermal expansion to move objects. When a material is heated, it expands and amount depending on material properties. Two objects can be connected in such a way that one object is heated more than the other and expands more, and this imbalance creates motion. The direction of motion depends on the connection between the objects. This is seen in a "heatuator", which is a U-shaped beam with one wide arm and one narrow arm. When a current is passed through the object, heat is created. The narrow arm is heated more than the wide arm due to the fact that they have the same current density. Since the two arms are connected at the top, the stretching hot arm pushes in the direction of the cold arm. Magnetic actuators used fabricated magnetic layers to create forces. Electrostatics (also known as static electricity) is the branch of physics that deals with the phenomena arising from what seem to be stationary electric charges. ... Example of a thermal column between the ground and a cumulus This article is about the atmospheric phenomenon. ... For other senses of this word, see magnetism (disambiguation). ... The stator is the fixed part of a rotating machine. ... The rotor is the non-stationary part of a rotary electric motor or alternator, which rotates because the wires and magnetic field of the motor are arranged so that a torque is developed about the rotors axis. ... In physics, the space surrounding an electric charge or in the presence of a time-varying magnetic field has a property called an electric field. ...

Gallery

See also

• MEMS

To do bulk micromachining, the region needed is highly doped with boron and the unwanted silicon is etched in liquid silicon etches. This technique is termed an etchstop as the doping of boron produces an unetchable layer/pattern. See footnote for further information. Footnotes: http://www.techneglas.com/dopantpages/etch.htm A mite next to a gear set produced using MEMS. Courtesy Sandia National Laboratories, SUMMiTTM Technologies, www. ...

External links

• Image Gallery of Working Micromachines
• 3D-Micromac Laser Micromachining Company
• Micromachining in Design Engineering