Fundamentalsofmicrofabrication

Jagriti Bal Vikas Samiti

Fundamentals of Microfabrication — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:27:08 +0000

I visited Jagriti Bal Vikas Samiti with Prof. Mahendra K. Verma of the Physics Department at IIT Kanpur. Jagriti is an organization working for children’s education and welfare. It runs schools for underprivileged children and works towards their social & economic development. It attempts to develop an effective and meaningful academic and vocational curriculum, educational materials and teaching kits for primary schools, in addition to training teachers and establishing alternative employment resources.

Jagriti envisions a just society free from economic, social and gender inequalities. The education program incorporates rationality, secularism and gender equality.Click on the photo to see a video.

Filed under: On the Road

WTEC Interim Report on Micromanufacturing (2004-2005)

Fundamentals of Microfabrication — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:12:23 +0000

Find here a narrated slideshow about the WTEC efforts on micro manufacturing.

Filed under: Bringing Manufacturing Back to the US

Micromanufacturing WTEC Report

Fundamentals of Microfabrication — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:18:02 +0000

“ Countries that are not manufacturing high technology goods anymore are increasingly at a disadvantage, because they do not gain the required experience from meeting the newest manufacturing challenges in the production of the latest high tech products. In other words, the loss of the manufacturing base is not a simple linear loss, it becomes irretrievable very fast as times goes on. History has shown that it is the manufacturing capability that drives the economical growth and creates wealth. Assuming that we can still market and design new products without manufacturing excellence is naïve; one cannot design without knowing the latest materials and manufacturing processes.” (MM in WTEC report).

For background on the Micromanufacturing report on the WTEC website. Click here. Or also here.

Ehmann, K.F., D. Bourell, M.L. Culpepper, T.J. Hodgson, Th.R. Kurfess, M. Madou, K. Rajurkar, and R. DeVor. 2007.Micromanufacturing: International research and development. Springer, New York, NY.

This international technology assessment study has focused on the emerging global trend toward the miniaturization of manufacturing processes, equipment and systems for microscale components and products, i.e., “Small Equipment for Small Parts.” It encompasses the creation of miniaturized units or hybrid processes integrated with metrology, material handling and assembly to create microfactories capable of producing microprecision products in a fully automated manner at low cost.

The study has investigated both the state-of-the-art as well as emerging technologies from the scientific, technological, and commercialization perspectives across key industrial sectors in the USA, Asia and Europe including medical, electronics, aerospace, and consumer products. This study does NOT include the lithographic-based processes common to the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) community. While the US gets high marks for nanotechnology R&D, emphasis in the US on micromanufacturing R&D is lagging behind the rest of the world, particularly in technology transfer and ongoing development. This will undoubtedly have serious long-term implications.

Filed under: Bringing Manufacturing Back to the US

Making Things: 21st Century Manufacturing and Design

Fundamentals of Microfabrication — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:59:00 +0000

Summary of a Forum, Prepared by Steve Olson for NAE, Published by The National Academies. Download the paper: 21st century manuf.

Filed under: Bringing Manufacturing Back to the US

Another day around UC Irvine. From Mecca to Bombay.

Fundamentals of Microfabrication — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:11:10 +0000

My birthday is on February 5th and I went on a desert trip with my son, Ramses to celebrate. Here is a video about the drive from Mecca to Bombay and back to Irvine ! Click on any of the pictures below to get linked to the same video.

Birds paradise, the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea makes you think about: despair, humility, weird..

The Salton Sea has eyes.

Culture after this one, .. independence…INTO the WILD (Best movie I saw in a long time, some of it filmed right here, on the shores of the Salton Sea) ! So I decided to invest. See below my new Salton Sea property.

Marc Madou's retirement investment

Before driving back to Irvine we stopped in the Anza-Borrego desert.

Anza-Borrego Desert

Filed under: About Fundamentals of Microfabrication

Travel around UC Irvine

Fundamentals of Microfabrication — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:58:53 +0000

Living on campus at UC Irvine we sometimes forget how lucky we are. This last weekend was my birthday and I went exploring with my son Ramses. On Saturday we drove to Joshua Tree, barely 2 1/2 hours away. Here is the video. Click on any of the pictures below to see the same video.

One of the many animals in Joshua Tree National Park

We are lazy gardeners and got some ideas about chollas and ocotillos for our garden at home.

Cactus Garden in Joshua Tree; Chollas

Ocotillos in Joshua Park

The following day we went to the Salton Sea and the Anza Borrego Desert. See my next post in the on the road category.

Filed under: On the Road

Print me a Stradivarious.

Fundamentals of Microfabrication — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:52:38 +0000

Feb 10th 2011, the Economist.

Filed under: Bringing Manufacturing Back to the US

Honesty in Science Reporting?

Fundamentals of Microfabrication — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:56:32 +0000

This is a sad story about dishonesty in science that only needs a few minutes of your time to appreciate. The topic involves microfluidics on a compact disc. First check the following website from Jonathan Siegrist, one of my former students at UC Irvine.

Jonathan’s CD work at UCI: http://www.thesiegrists.com/Jons_Personal_Web_Site/Work.html. Pay close attention to the design of the fluidics on the CD in the image on this website.

Now follow all the links (in english, german, spanish and Chinese) that Robin Gorkin, another former UCI student, found with the same image but attributed to Diagnostics Radisens:

http://www.scientias.nl/een-lab-op-een-chip-voor-in-de-ruimte/50260

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/item/21997-radisens-diagnostics-to-get

http://www.onorbit.com/node/4066

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Shenzhou_8_brings_German_SIMBOX_experiments_safely_back_to_Earth_999.html

http://www.asturiasmundial.com/noticia/11937/un-microanalizador-monitorizara-salud-de-astronautas/

http://www.muyinteresante.com.mx/salud/364560/analisis-sanguineo-inmediato

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=7&contentid=201111162011111609403286eb5a460d

http://big5.news365.com.cn:82/gate/big5/xinmin.news365.com.cn/xz/201112/t20111230_184652.html

As you can read in the news blurbs the European Space Agency (ESA) is developing a new device to analyze the blood of astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Radisens got awarded a large contract to do just that.

Perhaps the ESA cares to know what we really developed the CD shown on all of these sites for?

Can anyone guess how ESA will react when they find out ? Will they retract their award to Radisens? Stay tuned.

Marc Madou

Filed under: About Fundamentals of Microfabrication, About Micro- and Nanotechnology, General Interest