Vacuum microfabrication on live fruit fly

The survival rate of Drosophila when exposed to moderate vacuum levels is studied and it is established that the organism can be subjected to 55 mTorr vacuum for periods as long as 70 minutes with a significant rate of survival (>20%). This finding opens a number of new opportunities for performing fabrication processes, similar to the ones performed on a silicon wafer, on a fruit fly as a live substrate. As a model microfabrication process, it is shown how a collection of Drosophila can be made to self-assemble into an array of microfabricated recesses on a silicon wafer and how a shadow mask can be used to thermally evaporate 100 nm of indium on flies. The procedure resulted in the production of a number of live flies with 50 mum indium micro patterns on their wings. The first demonstration of vacuum microfabrication on a live organism provides the first step towards the development of a hybrid biological/solid-state manufacturing process for complex microsystems.