DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SINGLE CRYSTAL SILICON LATCHINGSNAP FASTENERS FOR MICRO ASSEMBLY

A snap fastener is a deformable device consisting of a pair of mating surfaces that ``snap'''' together during assembly. Because of the simple, linear assembly motion, such latching micro fasteners have a wide range of applications in micro assembly tasks, e.g.\ for devices with multiple or layered components, or micro opto-mechanical plugs. At the micro scale, conventional types of fasteners like screws and hinges are unlikely to work due to present fabrication constraints and large friction forces. Micro snap fasteners also have great potential to be used as sensors with memory.

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