CME Seminar Series - Summer 2025 with Changhong Cao

Manufacturing at small scale leveraging micro robotic assembly

In the era of artificial intelligence, the demand for faster, smaller, more flexible, and more sensitive electronic devices drives the miniaturization of their critical components. This shift necessitates the development of novel manufacturing technologies capable of handling materials and devices at the micro and nanoscale.

From assembling µLED-based displays to manipulating components in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) glasses, the importance of manufacturing at smaller scales has become paramount. Traditional assembly technologies fall short as surface tension begins to dominate over gravitational forces at small scale.

At McGill Nanofactory, we are committed to advancing scalable production processes for assembling small structures into functional devices. In this talk, I will discuss several micromanufacturing technologies developed in my lab, with an emphasis on micro robotic assembly and micro 3D printing techniques designed to meet these modern challenges.

About the speaker

Dr. Cao is an Assistant Professor, and Canada Research Chair in materials and manufacturing at small scale, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto and later conducted postdoctoral research at MIT before joining McGill. His expertise spans transfer printing technologies, experimental nanomechanics of advanced structures, and additive manufacturing platform development. As the lead author, his research has been published in journals, including Science Advances, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, and ACS Nano. He has also been recognized with the Young Leaders Award from TMS and the Young Scientist Award from Springer Nature Microsystem and Nanoengineering.