Interfacial engineering in microelectromechanical systems: Handling and assembly of solids and liquids at the microscale

A well-known outcome of down-scaling into micrometer dimensions is the dominance of surface over bulk phenomena. When designing micro-scale systems, the ability to understand and modify surface properties is of utmost importance. A key concept is the “programmable surface” - an interface whose properties can be controlled with high spatial and temporal resolution. This presentation introduces several kinds of engineered programmable surfaces and shows their application in self-assembling microsystems, protein and cell chips, and droplet-based microfluidic systems.