Tailored adhesion for self-assembly, transfer and integration of particles on different length scales

Abstract

Tailored adhesion is a passive approach to handling self-assembled particles in parallel. We show that it is possible to transfer ordered assemblies of particles with diameters ranging between 100 μm and 60 nm from one surface to another. This allows the particles to be ordered by self-assembly techniques, and to be subsequently integrated into standard surfaces without specific patterning. While the principle is applicable to a wide range of particle sizes, the mechanisms that can be used to establish the required adhesion cascade vary. We discuss mechanisms occurring in different size regimes and show that they can have an impact on the performance of self-assembled devices.© 2006 by ScienceTechnica, Inc.