Albert P. Pisano (Advisor)

Piezoelectric Aluminum Nitride RF Front-End Design for Wireless Communication

Yun-Ju Lai
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
2008
A micromachined radio frequency bandpass filter comprised by thin film piezoelectric aluminum nitride (AlN) lamb wave resonators for wireless communication channel selection has been developed, fabricated and tested. The AlN lamb wave resonator has a multilayered structure with aluminum interdigital transducer (IDT) on top and bottom of a c-oriented aluminum nitride thin film (Al/AlN/Al). The top and bottom IDTs can excite the lowest-order...

Poly-Crystalline Silicon Carbide Passivated Capacitive MEMS Strain Gauge for Harsh Environments

Babak Jamshidi
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
Kristofer S.J. Pister
2008
This dissertation describes the design and fabrication of a high-resolution capacitive sensor encapsulated in poly-crystalline silicon carbide. This sensor can continuously measure the strain in the substrate under aggressive environments such as extreme ambient temperature, corrosive media and high-g shocks. This strain sensor has a sub-millimeter gauge length capable of precise assessment of strain fields. The device...

Polysilicon Micromolding of Closed-Flow Passages for the Fabrication of Multifunctional Microneedles

Neil Hamilton Talbot
Albert P. Pisano
Dorian Liepmann
Richard S. Muller
1999

Three aspects of MEMS microneedle technology are developed in this work. First, a new two-wafer polysilicon micromolding process for the fabrication of multifunctional microneedles is developed. Second, microneedle strength is addressed including the investigation of strengthening methods. Lastly, the fluid-flow properties of microneedles are studied analytically and experimentally.

Polysilicon microneedles of smaller size and greater sharpness than stainless steel needles have been fabricated using a two-way polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) micro molding process called...

On-Chip Thin Film Encapsulation Development Utilizing Porous Anodic Alumina Shell

Nicolas Ferrier
Albert P. Pisano
2010

The encapsulation of a MEMS device constitutes one of the last but not least step of its fabrication process from the point of view of the numerous requirements that the package has to fulfill as well as the high costs it encounters. To sort out this issue, the thin film encapsulation technique has shown interesting results for many years now and constitutes a cheap and easy solution. An improvement of this method in...

Optofluidic Devices for Cell, Microparticle, and Nanoparticle Manipulation

Aaron Takami Ohta
Ming C. Wu
Constance Chang-Hasnain
Albert P. Pisano
Kevin Healy
2008
Research in the micro- to nanoscale regimes is facilitated by technologies that enable the addressing of these tiny particles. In biological research, manipulation enables the study of single-cell behavior, as well as the sorting of specific target cells from a mixed population. In engineering applications, micro- and nanoparticles can be assembled to form electronic and optoelectronic devices. Several types of forces can be used to manipulate micro- and...

Micro-Columnated Loop Heat Pipe: The Future of Electronic Substrates

Navdeep Singh Dhillon
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
Omer Savas ̧
Ali Javey
2012
The modern world is run by semiconductor-based electronic systems. Due to continuous improvements in semiconductor device fabrication, there is a clear trend in the market towards the development of electronic devices and components that not only deliver enhanced computing power, but are also more compact. Thermal management has emerged as the primary challenge in this scenario where heat flux dissipation of electronic chips is increasing exponentially, but conventional cooling solutions such as conduction and...

MEMS Liquid Fuel Delivery for Small-Scale Combustion Power Systems

Sang-Won Park
Albert P. Pisano
Carlos Fernandez-Pello
Andrew R. Neureuther
2008
The lack of a compact and efficient power source, spanning the range from10Watts to 1,000Watts, limits the mobility and usage time of personal devicesThis research has explored Commercially-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) and Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) based fuel...

MEMS Hydrogel Sensors for pH and Glucose Measurements

Supone Manakasettharn
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
2008
A new formulation of a pH-and a glucose-responsive hydrogel was developed and then integrated into an interdigitated MEMS sensor. This new hydrogel was characterized for swelling response as well as for impedance response (resistance and capacitance) when used as both a pH and a glucose sensor. The standard pH-responsive hydrogel, which was a copolymer of 2-...

Micro Chemical Vapor Deposition for the Synthesis of Nanomaterials

Qin Zhou
Liwei Lin
Albert P. Pisano
Ali Javey
2011

MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) technologies have enabled the construction of a micro chemical vapor deposition (μCVD) system for the synthesis of nanomaterials. By means of localized resistive heating via micro-heaters, unique capabilities of the μCVD systems have been utilized to synthesize carbon nanotubes and graphene in this work, including fast stabilization of temperature; rapid exchange of gas species; laminar gas flow due to small Reynolds number; small...

MEMS Aluminum Nitride Technology for Inertial Sensors

Gabriele Vigevani
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
Ming C. Wu
2011
The design and fabrication of MEMS Inertial Sensors (both accelerometers and gyro-scopes) made of Aluminum Nitride (AlN) is described in this dissertation. The goal of this work is to design and fabricate inertial sensors based on c-axis oriented AlN polycrystalline thin films. AlN is a post-CMOS compatible piezoelectric material widely used for acoustic resonators, such Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) and Lamb Wave Resonators(LWR). In this work we develop the design techniques necessary to obtain inertial sensors...