Manufacturing of two and three-dimensional micro/nanostructures by integrating optical tweezers with chemical assembly

Optical tweezers have been used as versatile tools for non-contact manipulation of micrometer-sized particles. This paper proposes a hybrid micro/nanoscale manufacturing system using optical tweezers and chemical linkages for fabricating 2D and 3D micro/nanostructures. A holographic multiple trap optical tweezer system is first used to trap particles in a desired pattern. The particles are then connected to form rigid units using suitable chemistry. Different connection schemes based on gold seeding, complimentary-DNA linkage and streptavidinbiotin chemistry are presented and possible applications of this technique are explored. This method combines the advantages of top-down and bottom-up approaches and is compatible with organic and inorganic materials.