Wireless micro-machine with magnetic thin film

Abstract

As the magnetic micro-machines are driven by a magnetic field, they require no power supply cables, no batteries, and no controlling systems on the machine body. We fabricated the spiral-type micro-machine (outer diameter; 0.14 mm, length; 1.0 mm) by a tungsten wire (/spl Phi/ 20 /spl mu/m). NdFeB film magnet was deposited on the spiral-machine by the PLD method. In the experiment, the wireless micro-machine swam at the speed of 0.2 /spl sim/ 1.6 mm/s. This result indicated that the spiral shape was suitable for miniature swimming machine.