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We present the use of self-assembly to integrate a large number of free-standing microcomponents onto unconventional substrates. The microcomponents are batch fabricated separately from different semiconductor materials in potentially incompatible microfabrication processes and integrated onto unconventional substrates such as glass and plastic. These substrates offer a number of unique attributes as compared with silicon such as transparency, flexibility, and lower cost. Here, we provide an overview of the self-assembly process, describe how microcomponents that can participate in the self-assembly process can be mass-produced, and discuss initial self-assembly experimental results. Our results indicate that even with a very simple set-up, self-assembly yields as high as 97 % for components as small as 100 µm are achievable, making the self-assembly technique immediately comparable with (or better than) the state-of-the-art robotic pick-and-place systems. We discuss various parameters that affect the yield of the self-assembly process and a possible automation scheme.

We present high-yield self-assembly results of silicon microcomponents assembled onto plastic substrates. The self-assembly is achieved by engineering the fluid flow over the substrate containing an array of microfluidic traps. This simple self-assembly method has demonstrated physical yields exceeding 90% as well as electrical connections between the microcomponents and the substrate. Using templates with 1250 binding sites, we were able to study the statistical nature of the self-assembly process experimentally and determine two exponential spatial and temporal trends affecting the overall yield.