Clark T.-C. Nguyen (Advisor)

Research Advised by Professor Clark T.-C. Nguyen

Nguyen Group:  List of Projects | List of Researchers

Kieran Peleaux

Graduate Student Researcher
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
Professor Clark T.-C. Nguyen (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2022 (Anticipated)

Kieran is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Professor Clark T.-C. Nguyen’s research group in the Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences department at UC Berkeley. Having completed his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh in 2014, his current research interests include the design and fabrication of novel resonant MEMS devices for applications in UHF filters, oscillators and RF transceivers. Primarily, he is looking for new ways to integrate CMOS and MEMS process technologies in order to realize fully monolithic integrated CMOS-MEMS transceivers.

BSAC's Best: Spring 2012 Winners Announced

March 9, 2012

BSAC would like to thank the 170 researchers who presented their work in poster or plenary sessions at the Spring 2012 BSAC Research Review on March 7-9.

50 attending industrial members from 32 member organizations voted for the best presentations and posters, resulting in Best Paper and Best Poster awards (certificate and cash).

Ivan Dimov
Best Paper Ivan...

Kevin H. Zheng

Graduate Student Researcher
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
Professor Clark T.-C. Nguyen (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2025 (Anticipated)

Kevin received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley in 2019.

BSAC Spring 2023 Research Review Presenter

BSAC's Best: Spring 2023 Awards Announced

April 20, 2023

BSAC would like to thank all of the researchers who presented their research during BSAC's Spring 2023 Research Review on April 19th.

BSAC Industrial Members voted for the outstanding paper and presentations and the results are in. Please join BSAC in congratulating the recipients of the Spring 2023 Best of BSAC honors, Peisheng He, Daniel Klawson, and Kevin Zheng!

Peisheng He (Liwei Lin Group), Best of BSAC S2023 ...

Antenna Considerations for Wireless Resoswitch Receivers

Kevin H. Zheng
2023
Spring 2023 BSAC Research Review Presentation View Slides View this Presentation at 01:06:30

 Winner: Best Oral Presentation (Spring 2023) Project: BPN976 - Clark T.-C. Nguyen Group

BPN867: Fully Integrated CMOS-Metal MEMS Systems

Kevin H. Zheng
Qiutong Jin
QianYi Xie
Kieran Peleaux
2022

As RF MEMS technology evolves to shift towards UHF frequencies, the parasitics inherent in hybrid fabrication approaches become the performance bottleneck. This project aims to integrate metal MEMS resonators directly over CMOS circuitry to achieve fully integrated MEMS systems. Pursuant to this goal, this project proposes several designs for UHF MEMS bandpass filters, exploring how different CMOS-compatible metals can yield performance metrics—such as quality-factor (Q), temperature stability and frequency drift—that are comparable to those of standard polysilicon MEMS resonators....

Ferrite-Rod Antenna Driven Wireless Resoswitch Receiver

Kevin H. Zheng
Qiutong Jin
Clark T.-C. Nguyen
2023

A micromechanical resoswitch receiver coupled to a 23.7-kHz wireless channel via a ferrite-rod
antenna successfully demonstrates short-range wireless reception with resoswitch sensitivity
better than –62 dBm at an on-off keying (OOK) bit rate of 0.9 kbit/s. The demonstrated
performance confirms models that predict the maximum bit rate of such a receiver, revealing an
ability to adapt to bit rates as high as 8 kbit/s sans antenna that surprisingly are not limited
mechanically, but then reduce upon introduction of finite electrical bandwidth antennas. Indeed,
the...

Bit Rate-Adapting Resoswitch

Qiutong Jin
Kevin H. Zheng
Clark T.-C. Nguyen
2022

A micromechanical resoswitch design and operation mode harnesses stored mechanical
resonance energy to reduce its required switching energy, i.e., improve its sensitivity while
simultaneously reducing its switching time to support a bit rate of 8 kbps, which is at least 12
times faster than without pre-energization. Here, the use of stored energy is instrumental to
achieving switching times 8× faster than previously demonstrated, breaking the Q-driven
sensitivity-bit rate tradeoff often assumed for these devices and debunking long-held (incorrect)
assumptions. This...

Influence of Capacitive Transducer Nonlinearities on the Amplitude Limiting of MEMS Based Oscillators

Sherwin A. Afshar
Clark T.-C. Nguyen
2022

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) based oscillators have become systems requiring high-performing references with minimal power consumption. The combination of higher quality factor and low parasitic capacitances allows them to out typical quartz crystal oscillators, capable of working at higher crucial for RF perform frequencies while providing excellent frequency stability with little power consumption. μ Previous work in [1] has demonstrated a 61 MHz oscillator meeting the GSM phase noise specification while consuming less than 80 W of power. More recent work in [2] demonstrates a...

Performance Enhancement and Restoration of Micromechanical Resonators Via UV-Ozone Treatment

Qianyi Xie
Sherwin A. Afshar
Alper Ozgurluk
Clark T.-C. Nguyen
2021

An ultraviolet (UV)-ozone treatment process capable of atomic-scale surface cleaning has enabled the highest measured room temperature Q and frequency-Q product (f-Q) for on-chip polysilicon acoustic resonators to date while also demonstrating an ability to restore catastrophically contaminated devices to operational performance specs. Specifically, UV-ozone cleaning improved the Q of a heavily contaminated 61-MHz polysilicon wineglass disk resonator by over 282 from a very-low 921 to a record-setting-high of 259,910. Post-release UV-ozone treatment further raises the Q of a 303.2-...