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Article: Amorphous diamond micromachines.
- Article from:
- Advanced Ceramics Report
- Article date:
- July 1, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 International Newsletters. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) are fabricating micromachines by etching from a surface of amorphous diamond in a manner compatible with the current manufacturing techniques for silicon chips and surface micromachinery.
Their demonstration device is a comb drive whose teeth move forward and back with reversing electric current. The drive is one millimetre-square and consists of two diamond combs on a flat surface, teeth facing each other. One comb is bolted down, while the other moves freely within the confines of a spring. A diamond rod attaches to the spine of the moveable comb.
When an electric voltage to the comb repeatedly cycles ...