Small-scale Nanopositioners for Nano-scale Research and Manufacturing
MIT SEMINAR SERIES IN MANUFACTURING AND PRODUCTIVITY
Place: Room 33-116 Time: 12:00 P.M. Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
Professor Martin Culpepper
Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity, MIT
We live in a time wherein new precision positioning problems are emerging as manufacturing and measurement barriers in biomedical imaging and nano-scale research/manufacturing. It is critical that we learn how to solve these problems, as they will “make or break” our ability to make/manipulate/measure features, parts and products that are emerging from these fields. Simply put, we must have new instruments and “construction equipment” for these applications. Nanopositioners are at the heart of these devices.
Advances in nanopositioning technology make it possible to (a) increase the pace of discoveries (via instruments) and (b) improve the pace with which discoveries are manufactured and commercialized. There are a growing number of instrument/equipment applications wherein small-scale (meso- and micro-scale) nanopositioners are needed in order to achieve commercially viable speeds (kHz), resolution (Angstroms), cost ($100s) and thermal stability (Angstroms/min). These levels cannot always be obtained with macro–scale positioners and it is usually impractical to obtain these levels by simply miniaturizing conventional macro–scale machine elements/systems. New machine element concepts, synthesis methods and fabrication processes are required in order to realize small–scale positioners.
The purpose of this talk is to cover (i) the fundamental reasons that will compel the creation of small-scale nanopositioners and (ii) the economic and performance benefits that they will enable for future research and manufacturing applications. The specific import of partnerships between machine design researchers and nanofabrication process researchers will discussed. The talk ends with a vision for a new class of small-scale, low-cost nanopositioners for general use in micro-/nano-scale research and manufacturing.
About the Speaker
Martin Culpepper Is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and a member of the MIT Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity. He received his BSME (1995) from Iowa State University, and his MS/PhD (1997/ 2000) from MIT. He then managed his own consulting company before returning to MIT in 2001. Prof. Culpepper is the recipient of an NSF Presidential Early Career Award for his work in Nanomanufacturing equipment and instrumentation, two R&D 100 awards and a TR100 award. His research group works on the science/engineering required to create new meso-/micro-/nano-scale positioning technologies for biomedical imaging and nano-scale research/manufacturing
