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Cohen’s process – called EFAB (short for electrochemical fabrication) – can mass-produce complex microdevices smaller than the width of a human hair.
A project leader at the USC School of Engineering’s Information Sciences Institute, Cohen recently used the EFAB process to fabricate a fully-articulated metal chain which, at 290 microns wide, may be the world’s narrowest.
Insects aren’t likely to use EFAB technology, but supermarket clerks will. “The mechanism for a bar-code scanner, which currently costs $50 to $100 to produce, could be mass-produced for less than $1 with EFAB,” Cohen says. Another micro-production candidate: coronary stents (to keep arteries open), formerly $100 a piece, now only $5 with EFAB. Cohen envisions other low-cost gadgetry such as airplane wing actuators (to reduce turbulence) and road sensors (to ease highway congestion or even warn of imminent earthquakes).
– Bob Calverley”
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