Surface tension-powered self-assembly of microstructures--the state-of-the-art

Because of the low dimensional power of its force scaling law, surface tension is appropriate for carrying out reshaping and assembly in the microstructure size domain. This paper reviews work on surface tension powered self-assembly of microstructures. The existing theoretical approaches for rotational assembly are unified. The demonstrated fabrication processes are compared. Mechanisms for accurately determining the assembled shape are discussed, and the limits on accuracy and structural distortion are considered. Applications in optics, electronics and mechanics are described. More complex operations (including the combination of self-assembly and self-organization) are also reviewed. [926] Index Terms--Capillary force, mieroelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microsystems, microoptoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS), self-assembly, surface tension.