Albert P. Pisano (Advisor)

Mechanical Analysis and Design of Vibratory Micromachined Gyroscopes

Wyatt Davis
Albert P. Pisano
Oliver M. O'Reilly
Kristofer S.J. Pister
2001
Vibratory micromachined gyroscopes typically exhibit certain undesirable behaviors that impede the angular rate measurement, such as nonlinearity, cross-axis sensitivity, scale factor offset, and quadrature error. These errors have sources in both the mechanical and electrical ...

Michael Vestel

Alumni
Mechanical Engineering
Professor Albert P. Pisano (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2002

Effect of Devitrification Temperature on the Microstructure of NiTi Films

Michael Vestel
Ronald Gronsky
Albert P. Pisano
2002

Crystalline nickel titanium (NiTi) films are known to possess superelastic properties offering superior advantages in engineering applications where resilient mechanical response is essential. One such application of increasing importance in the biomedical field is the fabrication of micro-needles for transdermal or subdermal fluid transport, including the integration of micro-needles with silicon structures such as bio-MEMS assemblies. Unfortunately, the direct deposition of Ni-Ti alloys onto silicon is sometimes compromised by grossly mismatched thermal expansion coefficients...

George Dougherty

Alumni
Mechanical Engineering
Professor Albert P. Pisano (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2002

Ultrasonic Microdevices for Integrated On-Chip Biological Sample Processing

George Dougherty
Timothy Sands
Eugene Haller
Albert P. Pisano
2002
Integrated lab-on-a-chip devices, also known as micro total analysis systems (p-TAS), are expected to play a leading role in biological research and medicine in the 21st century, and on chip sample processing is a key function of...

Aaron Knobloch

Alumni
Mechanical Engineering
Professor Albert P. Pisano (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2003

Ultra-Deep Reactive Ion Etching for Silicon Wankel Internal Combustion Engines

Aaron Knobloch
Albert P. Pisano
Carlos Fernandez-Pello
Seth Sanders
2003
A new process is presented for the development of a micro, internal-combustion engine fabricated in a process that achieves 900μm deep features via deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). A single-sided 900μm ultra-deep etch process with high mask selectivity is used to generate straight sidewall structures with low sidewall roughness. This research is part of an effort to create an ...

COTS Dust

Seth Hollar
David M. Auslander
Kristofer S.J. Pister
David E. Culler
Albert P. Pisano
2000
The goal of this thesis is to provide information on cubic inch autonomous sensor devices otherwise known as Commercial-off-the-Shelf Dust (COTS Dust). COTS Dust is capable of sensing and responding to environmental changes and communicating to other devices. This thesis is the compilation of my experience and knowledge in the design of COTS Dust and can be considered a guide for those who wish to design similar systems. Ultimately, its my wish that material provided within contains enough information for ...

A Solar-Powered, Milligram Prototype Robot from a Three-Chip Process

Seth Hollar
Kristofer S.J. Pister
Albert P. Pisano
Roger T. Howe
Richard M. White
2003
Commercial CMOS electronics and two in-house processes have been combined to establish a framework for making hybridized, milligram mobile robots. To demonstratethe capabilities of this framework, an 8.6 mm long, 10 mg, solar-powered prototype robot has been built. Dragging its tail end, the robot has demonstrated autonomous movement under its own weight and power, shuffling to the side a few millimeters and lifting its...

Jeremy Frank

Alumni
Mechanical Engineering
Professor Albert P. Pisano (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2004