David A. Horsley (Advisor)

The goal of this project is to develop a high precision MEMS ultrasonic Doppler velocity sensor utilizing an array of Aluminum Nitride transducer elements for use in personal navigation units. Aluminum Nitride has been chosen for its desirable piezoelectric properties and compatibility with CMOS processes which allows for on chip integration of MEMS and electronics. In our device we aim to produce an ultrasound source-receiver pair with integrated signal processing circuitry on a single chip. To determine the velocity we will be developing and implementing an efficient and accurate...

A self-healing MEMS RF switch, which utilizes liquid gallium contacts to take the place of the traditional metal-to-metal hard contacts, is proposed in this project. Electrostatic actuation is used to drive a silicon nitride diaphragm with upper electrodes. When the diaphragm is pulled down by the electrostatic force, small droplets of liquid gallium work as an interface between the upper and lower electrodes. The loss of the gallium droplets can be avoided due to the unwettability of the material surrounding the contact areas. In this project, hermit package and 1A DC current...