Albert P. Pisano (Advisor)

An Investigation of MEMS Anchor Design for Optimal Stiffness and Damping

Daniel Sherman
Albert P. Pisano
George C. Johnson
Panayiotis Papadopoulos
1996

Micro-resonators for use in accelerometer applications and polysilicon flexures designed to damp unwanted vibrations of a micro-positioner are two examples of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) that require optimal anchor stiffness and damping properties. This investigation sought to determine how the geometric...

Fabrication and Assembly of a 2.4mm Compressed Gas Rotary Expander

Jose Rosario-Rosario
Albert P. Pisano
Dorian Liepmann
2005
A 2.4 mm-scale rotary engine has been redesigned, fabricated and partially assembled to operate as a compressed gas expander. The micro-expander is a multilayered stack of bonded components that are fabricated from single crystal silicon using bulk micro-machining techniques. This research is a continuation from previous work initiated by the MEMS Rotary Engine Power System (REPS) research group at UC Berkeley. The goal of the MEMS REPS project is to develop...

Fabrication and Assembly of A 2.4mm Compressed Gas Rotary Expander

Jose Rosario-Rosario
Albert P. Pisano
Dorian Liepmann
2005
A 2.4 mm-scale rotary engine has been redesigned, fabricated and partially assembled to operate as a compressed gas expander. The micro-expander is a multilayered stack of bonded components that are fabricated from single crystal silicon using bulk micro-machining techniques. This research is a continuation from previous work initiated by the MEMS Rotary...

Ultra High Frequency Piezoelectric Resonators: Suspension and Elastic Coupling

James Porter
Albert P. Pisano
Roger T. Howe
Liwei Lin
2004

In this research project, the suspension and elastic coupling of Film Bulk AcousticResonators (FBAR) has been investigated. Individual resonators and small arrays of AlN FBARs have been designed and fabricated in a post-CMOS compatible process. Suspensions based on networks of thin beams did not perform well, but m...

Characterization of Low-Fluence Excimer Laser Annealing of AlN Thin Films

David Park
Albert P. Pisano
2005

A process for laser annealing aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films with a low-fluence excimer laser has been characterized. Residual stress inherited during film deposition can cause undesirable effects, such as delamination and cracking, in MEMS devices. Current methods of furnace annealing require 30 minutes or longer, but laser annealing can reduce this anneal time down to less than 1 minute. This makes laser annealing a valuable time saving tool in the fabrication process of MEMS devices.

The laser used in this study was a 40 ns KrF excimer laser with a 248 nm...

Pressure Driven Microflow Through a Double-T Metering Section

Luke Hunter
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
2003

Many assay devices require metering a calibrated amount of sample foranalysis. As mobile/handheld assay devices become closer to realization, power usage becomes more critical for all system components. Current designs utilize electrokinetically driven flow and well-defined channel geome...

Parametric Design and Characterization of Linear Microvibromotors

Roger Hipwell
Albert P. Pisano
Richard S. Muller
Oliver M. O'Reilly
1997

Resonant microactuators, such as electrostatic combdrives, have proven useful for many small amplitude actuation applications. However, there are a number of micropositioning applications that require a significantly larger travel range than the 10 pm typically achieved by electrostatic combdrives. In addition,...

Microfluid Integrated Nano-Scale Biological Cell Probes

Jesse Herrick
Albert P. Pisano
Luke P. Lee
Lydia L. Sohn
2004

Standard techniques for biological research have proven extremely informative in the past, and will most likely see a continued use in years to come. However, with the correct implementation of some of todays leading technologies on the micro and nano scale, biological research could potentially see extraordinary advances in the...

Position Sensing for Electrostatic Micropositioners

Naiyavudhi Wongkomet
Bernhard E. Boser
Paul R. Gray
Albert A. Pisano
1998
This research investigates the design of capacitive position sensing circuits for electrostatic micropositioners. The goals of this investigation are to understand the interaction among the micropositioners, the driving circuits, and the position sensing ...

Micromachined Plastic Millimeter-wave Radar Components

Firas Sammoura
Liwei Lin
Albert P. Pisano
Andrew Neureuther
2006
This research aims to develop plastic millimeter-wave components, including waveguides, tunable filters, phase shifters and antennas, toward the low-cost, batch fabrication for integrated systems for applications such as all-weather automotive and airplane landing radars. The key micromachining processes developed in this work include micro hot embossing, electroplating, polishing and bonding and as a proof of concept demonstration, micro injection molding of...