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Silicon Micro-Machines for Fun and Profit

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Abstract

Over the last decade or so a group of us, while working at Bell Labs, have been able to develop a large number of silicon micromachines for a wide range of applications. In this article, which is part of a special volume to celebrate the career of Professor Francis Gasparini who is an old friend and colleague, we review the devices we have been able to build and discuss their applications. These applications range from scientific experiments looking at single vortex dynamics and the observation of the Casimir effect to technological applications such as a large, all-optical switch. In this article we make the point that MEMS devices and VLSI processing are the “New Physics Machine Shop”.

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Acknowledgements

One of us (DJB) would like to thank the Aspen Center of Physics and their hospitality where much of this manuscript was written.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Physics, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    David Bishop

  2. Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, Murray Hill, NJ, 07974, USA

    Flavio Pardo, Cris Bolle & Randy Giles

  3. Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA

    Vladimir Aksyuk

Authors
  1. David Bishop
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  2. Flavio Pardo
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  3. Cris Bolle
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  4. Randy Giles
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  5. Vladimir Aksyuk
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Correspondence to David Bishop.

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Bishop, D., Pardo, F., Bolle, C. et al. Silicon Micro-Machines for Fun and Profit. J Low Temp Phys 169, 386–399 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0654-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0654-z

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