Nanocalorimetry using microscopic optical wireless integrated circuits.

We present in situ calorimetry, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity measurements of materials using temperature-sensing optical wireless integrated circuits (OWiCs). These microscopic and untethered optical sensors eliminate input wires and reduce parasitic effects. Each OWiC has a mass of ∼100 ng, a 100-μm-scale footprint, and a thermal response time of microseconds.

Microscopic robots with onboard digital control.

Autonomous robots-systems where mechanical actuators are guided through a series of states by information processing units to perform a predesigned function-are expected to revolutionize everything from health care to transportation. Microscopic robots are poised for a similar revolution in fields from medicine to environmental remediation. A key hurdle to developing these microscopic robots is the integration of information systems, particularly electronics fabricated at commercial foundries, with microactuators.

Cilia metasurfaces for electronically programmable microfluidic manipulation.

Cilial pumping is a powerful strategy used by biological organisms to control and manipulate fluids at the microscale. However, despite numerous recent advances in optically, magnetically and electrically driven actuation, development of an engineered cilial platform with the potential for applications has remained difficult to realize. Here we report on active metasurfaces of electronically actuated artificial cilia that can create arbitrary flow patterns in liquids near a surface.

Electronically integrated, mass-manufactured, microscopic robots.

Fifty years of Moore's law scaling in microelectronics have brought remarkable opportunities for the rapidly evolving field of microscopic robotics. Electronic, magnetic and optical systems now offer an unprecedented combination of complexity, small size and low cost, and could be readily appropriated for robots that are smaller than the resolution limit of human vision (less than a hundred micrometres). However, a major roadblock exists: there is no micrometre-scale actuator system that seamlessly integrates with semiconductor processing and responds to standard electronic control signals.

Microscopic sensors using optical wireless integrated circuits.

We present a platform for parallel production of standalone, untethered electronic sensors that are truly microscopic, i.e., smaller than the resolution of the naked eye.

A 250 μm × 57 μm Microscale Opto-electronically Transduced Electrodes (MOTEs) for Neural Recording.

Recording neural activity in live animals in vivo with minimal tissue damage is one of the major barriers to understanding the nervous system. This paper presents the technology for a tetherless opto-electronic neural interface based on 180 nm CMOS circuits, heterogeneously integrated with an AlGaAs diode that functions as both a photovoltaic and light emitting diode. These microscale opto-electrically transduced electrodes (MOTEs) are powered by and communicate through an optical interface, simultaneously enabling high temporal-resolution electrical measurements without a tether or a bulky RF coil.