Key Technology for Instrumentation

Development of a Novel High-Speed and Controllable Position Platform with a Precision XYθ Stage [ 下載 PDF ]

Chien-Kai Chung, Wen-Tse Hsiao, Shih-Feng Tseng

An XYC-axis precision feeding system was established into a novel high-speed and controllable position platform with a precision XYθ stage that combined with motion control, system integrated engineer, image alignment, and mask aligning techniques for laser direct imaging (LDI) processes. The developed system linked a PC-based controller, multi-axis measurement and error compensation techniques reached a high stiffness, high loading capability, high speed alignment, high precision, and high positioning repeatability. This system could be used in the alignment, fabrication, and inspection equipments for the advanced lithography industries such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), wafers, touch panels, integrated circuits (ICs), light emitting diodes (LEDs), and spare parts. In addition, the primary aims of this project were to design a mechanism with X and Y axes in a coplanarity and to adopt circular arc guideways in a C axis to improve the loading capability when moving the XYC axes simultaneously. The proposed system promotes the accuracy and efficiency of the alignment and position and the international competition ability for automation equipments. In the future, the controllable position platform will widely be installed in the advanced equipments for drilling and cutting of LED ceramic substrates, inspection of wafers, drilling of PCB substrates, laser edge isolation of thin-film solar cells, scribing or surface texturing of sapphires, and other tasks.

Surface Profi ler with the Technique of Composite Interferometer [ 下載 PDF ]

I-Jen Hsu, Chun-Wei Chang, Yu-Kai Lin, Max T. Hou

Our research team developed and demonstrated a low-cost optical system for surface profilometry with nanometeraccuracy recently. The system is based on a composite interferometer consisting of a Michelson interferometer and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. With the phase compensating mechanism, the phase deviation due to the instability of the optical system and environmental perturbation can be compensated simultaneously. The system can perform a large-range imaging in the millimeter scale and a measurement with the axial resolution within ±5 nm without special shielding and protection of the system as well as any special preparation of the sample. Furthermore, a fiberbased composite interferometer can also perform the measurement of surface profile with sensitivity at nanometer scale. The measurement sensitivity and imaging speed can be significantly improved such that the system can be used as a high-speed, high-resolution and wide-range dynamical imaging system. The axial precision of the system was examined to be 0.82 nm. High-resolution time-lapsed dynamical imaging of onion cells during dehydration processes were performed with this system with one frame captured in 75 seconds. Our research team has currently completed the development of a surface profiler with this technique. Due to the improvement of the design of the system, it can perform high-resolution measurements of intensity and phase distribution of light signal from surface of material simultaneously. Furthermore, the stability and sensitivity of the system were significantly improved.

High-Throughput Single-Cell Isolation and Clonal Culture Using a Microfl uidic Dual-Well Chip [ 下載 PDF ]

Ching-Hui Lin, Duane S. Juang, Hao-Chen Chang, Chuan-Feng Yeh, Ing-Ming Chiu, Chia-Hsien Hsu

Single -studies have been gaining growing interests owing to the fact that whole-cell population studies cannot accurately detect cellular heterogeneity presents among the whole cell population, limiting our standing in coordinated cell behaviors. However, traditional methods for studying single cells rely on macro-scale tools that are either labor intensive or difficult to operate. Thus, the development of a high-throughput yet simple method for single cell culture experiments is of great importance. Here, we report a novel microfluidic device with a dualwell (DW) design concept for high-efficiency single-cell capture in large microwells (~77%), which provides ample space for cells to proliferate and differentiate. The ability of our DW device to simultaneously allow for high-efficiency single cell capture and culture was realized using sets of small microwells for cell capture, paired with large microwells for cell culture. By decoupling the capture and culture functionalities in our device, we were able to flexibly adjust the size of the large culture microwells without compromising single-cell capture efficiency. We also demonstrated single-cell acquiring efficiency of KT98 mouse neural stem cells, A549 and MDA-MB-435 cancer cells, and single-cell colony formation assays using our device, showing the diverse and flexible functionality of the DW device in cell culture applications.

Development of Image Processing Based Disdrometer System [ 下載 PDF ]

Chih-Yen Chen, Jeng-Han Huang, Chi-Wen Hsieh, Tai-Lang Jong

In this study, a disdrometer system which was based on imaging processing technique has been developed for the detection of raindrop to analyze the precipitation and forecast the weather. Due to the limitation of system frame rate, the raindrop velocity is hard to be detected, and therefore, two measurements, the short exposure time and long exposure time, were proposed to record the falling motion and compute the raindrop size, shift displacement, and directions. Furthermore, the details of how to apply the image processing procedures were also shown in the content. Finally, the simulated tests were implemented by using both the glass balls and water-spray apparatus for verifying the effectiveness and the performance of the proposed imaging processing technique based distrometer system.

Trends for Timely Detecting Emerging Infectious Diseases by Electronic Biosensors [ 下載 PDF ]

Jo-Wen Huang, Chia-Hong Gao, Yen-Pei Lu, Chih-Ting Lin, Jen-Tsung Yang, I-Neng Lee, Ming-Yu Lin

Emerging diseases with high contagious pathogens have posed threats to life and economic shocks around the world, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB), group B streptococcus (GBS) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. Early detection with portable compatibility remains an important priority for on-site measurement of pathogens. The growing field of advanced electronic biosensors attempts to improve timely detection and awareness of emerging infectious diseases. This article will discuss the rapid detection of HIV, TB, GBS, MRSA pathogens by current developing electronic biosensors and may pay a way for diagnosing new emerging diseases.

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The Fabrication of Au-Ni Coaxial Nanorod Arrays with Applications in Tissue Engineering [ 下載 PDF ]

Che-Wei Hsu, Gou-Jen Wang

In this research, a novel method of fabrication for the growth of Au-Ni coaxial nanorod arrays using AAO templates was investigated. A thin Au film was deposited on one side of the AAO template by sputtering, which was used as the electrode for further electroforming of the Ni nanorods. Nickel nanorods were then electroformed into the nanochannels of the AAO template. Sodium hydroxide solution was then used for etching off the alumina of the AAO template to form a Ni nanorod array. The immersion gold (IG) method was used for forming an Au shell that wrapped each individual Ni nanorod. The average diameter of the synthesized Ni nanorods was estimated to be 100–150 nm. After the IG process, the average thickness of the additive Au shell was about 50–100 nm. Since the height of the synthesized coaxial nanorod was around 30 µm, the aspect ratio was calculated to be 100–140. Compared to the already reported Au nanorod arrays having an aspect ratio of only around 20, our Au-Ni nanorod array could provide an enhanced effective sensing area. Biocompatibility of the proposed Au-Ni coaxial nanorod array was confirmed through the culture of endothelial cells (ECs) on the array surface. Preliminary investigation of the influences of the array stiffness in terms of its height on cell morphology and cell division were conducted. The cell culture results indicate that the cell expanded more on the higher nanorod array. The Au-Ni coaxial nanorod array will be further investigated for effective induction of stem cell differentiation.

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Inelastic X-Ray Scattering Study of Material under High Pressure [ 下載 PDF ]

Jenn-Min Lee, Jin-Ming Chen

This report introduces the high pressure experimental techniques using diamond anvil cell. By using synchrotron radiation light source with inelastic X-ray scattering spectroscopy, the physical properties of materials under high pressure is investigated. We performed measurements of high resolution (lifetime-broadening suppressed) X-ray absorption spectra and X-ray emission spectra based on inelastic X-ray scattering techniques for the pressureinduced spin and valence transition studies in materials.

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The First Taiwanese Cold Neutron Triple-Axis Spectrometer—SIKA [ 下載 PDF ]

Chun-Ming Wu, Lieh-Jeng Chang

We introduce the first Taiwanese cold neutron triple-axis spectroscopy-SIKA. Neutron triple-axis spectroscopy has been widely used in the researches of inelastic neutron scatterings, because of its versatile capabilities of probing the whole coordinates in the crystal momentum and energy space by means of precise controlling on the three axes of the instrument. SIKA can be applied on the researches such as superconductivity, magnetism, low dimensional electron spin, crystal electric field, low-energy phonon dispersion, and storage materials.