Topology Optimized Microgrippers for Nanomanipulation of Carbon Nanotubes

In this paper, we present the topology optimization procedure, fabrication and characterization results for electrothermally actuated polysilicon microgrippers for nanomanipulation purposes. In our previous work [1], we compared the performance of topology optimized actuator with the conventional three-beam electrothermal actuators [2] of the same size through finite-element simulations and experiments. Here, we further improve the topology optimized microgripper design and demonstrate the preliminary results of pick-and-place nanomanipulation experiments performed, where carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are transferred on four-point probes for electrical characterization.