Liwei Lin (Advisor)

It has been well established that the bone age of a child can be estimated by using X-ray, CT, MRI, and other large medical imaging devices. While other less expensive and non-radioactive methodology use ultrasonography, these devices are bulky and often require trained technicians to use properly. This project introduces a low-cost, miniaturized device for bone age assessments by microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technologies in the form of a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (pMUT). By integrating Aluminum nitride (AlN) into our 5 mm pMUT, we are capable of...

Soft haptic devices could enable unique applications in AR/VR, healthcare, and human-machine interface systems. Here, a versatile reconfigurable haptic system is proposed for different application scenarios at diverse anatomical locations and body shapes. Lego toys are the inspiration of the module concept where individual haptic modules can be cut, reconfigured, and reconnected as a new system in the ambient environment repeatedly.

Each module consists of the basic building block of flexible selfhealable ion-conducting and insulating layers....

Ultrasonics has been realized as a nondestructive measurement method for a variety of applications, such as medical imaging, healthcare monitoring, structural testing, range finding, and motion sensing. Furthermore, high intensity ultrasound can be used in therapeutic treatments, such as lithotripsy for kidney stone comminution, hyperthermia for cancer therapy, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for laparoscopic surgery and transcranial sonothrombolysis for brain stroke treatment. MEMS ultrasonic transducers are known to have several pronounced advantages over the conventional...