Temperature and Humidity Effects on Micro/Nano Handling

Micro/nano handling is an important enabling technology for future manufacturing. In the micro scale, adhesion is a severe problem for efficient and accurate handling tasks. The cause of the adhesion is largely from the microforces, namely van der Waals, electrostatic and capillary forces. Those forces, however, are functions of ambient environmental conditions. This paper exams two important ambient environment parameters in normal micro/nano handling environment: temperature and humidity, in both theoretical analysis and experimental studies. A short guideline for microhandling with temperature and humidity consideration is suggested based on the studies.