Assembly of multicomponent structures from hundreds of micron-scale building blocks using optical tweezers

Microsystems & Nanoengineering volume 7, Article number: 45 (2021) Cite this article. The fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) microscale structures is critical for many applications, including strong and lightweight material development, medical device fabrication, microrobotics, and photonic applications. While 3D microfabrication has seen progress over the past decades, complex multicomponent integration with small or hierarchical feature sizes is still a challenge. In this study, an optical positioning and linking (OPAL) platform based on optical tweezers is used to precisely fabricate 3D microstructures from two types of micron-scale building blocks linked by biochemical interactions. A computer-controlled interface with rapid on-the-fly automated recalibration routines maintains accuracy even after placing many building blocks. OPAL achieves a 60-nm positional accuracy by optimizing the molecular functionalization and laser power. A two-component structure consisting of 448 1-µm