UC Irvine

As research into miniaturization continues to aid in the advancement of modern technology and engineering, increased importance has been placed on the development of micro and nano assembly techniques which are economically and commercially viable. This thesis presents novel research into the use of electrokinetically driven parallel assembly techniques of micro and nano objects. A new process for the repair of microelectrodes is reported. Through dielectrophoresis-driven parallel assembly of carbon nanotubes into conductive bridges, the process was successfully restored conductivity was successfully across fractured microelectrodes. Additionally, complete carbon nanotube structures were assembled across electrode gaps of over 170 microns, to the author’s knowledge the largest reported to date. This research serves as a strong proof of concept of the capabilities and utility of parallel micro assembly techniques driven by electrokinetic forces to solve technical challenges in a quick and cost effective manner.Additional research contained in this thesis presents a novel artificial intelligence-driven cyber-physical system, designed and built to aid in the characterization of electrokinetic forces and the response of micro objects to them. Foregoing complex calculation and modeling, the presented system was found capable of characterizing the response of polystyrene beads to changes in dielectrophoretic force resulting from varying frequency of an induced electric field. This system demonstrates the power of integrating emerging artificial intelligence technology into micro assembly research and development. The phenomenological approach to micro assembly made possible by artificial intelligence opens up a new and exciting pathway for development of next-generation micro assembly technologies.