High-precision 'nano-positioners' can revolutionise computer hard
drives' efficiency
Washington, August 21 : A Purdue University researcher has invented a tiny device
called a monolithic comb drive, which may be used as a high-precision "nano-positioner"
for such uses as biological sensors and computer hard drives.
Jason Vaughn Clark, an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and
Mechanical Engineering, insists that the motorized positioning device he has created has
twice the dexterity of similar devices being made to boost the performance of biological
sensors and computer hard drives.
The researcher says that his design may make it possible to improve a class of
probe-based sensors that detect viruses and biological molecules.
The present-day sensors detect objects using two different components: A probe is moved
while at the same time the platform holding the specimen is positioned.
Clark says that his approach would replace both components with a single one - the
monolithic comb drive.
He says that the new design could help improve the working speed as well as the
resolution of sensors, and that the innovation would be small enough to fit on a
microchip.
According to him, the higher resolution might be used to design future computer hard
drives capable of high-density data storage and retrieval.
Clark calls the device monolithic because it contains comb drive components that are
not mechanically and electrically separate, compared to conventional comb drives that are
structurally "decoupled" to keep opposite charges separated.
"Comb drives represent an advantage over other technologies. In contrast to
piezoelectric actuators that typically deflect, or move, a fraction of a micrometer, comb
drives can deflect tens to hundreds of micrometers. And unlike conventional comb drives,
which only move in one direction, our new device can move in two directions - left to
right, forward and backward - an advance that could really open up the door for many
applications," he said.
A presentation on this innovation was made at the University Government Industry
Micro/Nano Symposium in Louisville last month.
Ends VC
--ANI
