News & Events

BSAC Seminar: Magnetic Liquids for Lab-on-a-Chip and Rapid Diagnostics Applications

October 21, 2008
Prof. Hur Koser Yale University October 21, 2008 | 12:30 to 01:30 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room

MagnoFluidics (magnetic fluids meet microfludics): Ferrofluids are stable colloidal suspensions of nanosize ferromagnetic particles in either aqueous or oil-based media. They have found their way into a variety of applications, such as sealing, damping and blood separation; in dilute, functionalized forms, they have also been used as drug delivery and MRI contrast agents. These complex liquids offer attractive alternatives to moving mechanical components in miniaturized cooling,...

BSAC Seminar: The Application of Instabilities in Microfluidic Jets to Digital Offset Printing - A Success Story for MEMS

October 28, 2008
Dr. Gil Hawkins Eastman Kodak BSAC Member October 28, 2008 | 12:30 to 01:30 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room

The tendency of fluid jets to break into droplets of multiple sizes has been known since the times of Lord Rayleigh. However the ability to precisely make and control picoliter-sized droplets from arrays comprising thousands of jets at megahertz frequencies has come only recently, due to the availability of MEMS manufacturing facilities and to the recognition of the importance of such arrays to variable data printing. We describe a new inkjet printing technology based on...

BSAC Seminar: microBuilder - A European Collaboration Offering MEMS Foundry Services

November 18, 2008
Prof. Per Ohlckers Vestfold University, Norway November 18, 2008 | 12:30 to 01:30 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room Host: Al Pisano

Vestfold University College has established itself as the main academic centre for microsystem technology in Norway. microBUILDER is a collaboration project offering MEMS foundry services, sponsored by the European Union. The partners are Infineon Technologies SensoNor, SINTEF and Vestfold University College in Norway, thinxxs and HSG-IMIT in Germany, Tronics Microsystems and Coventor in France, BME-ETT in Hungary, and COREP in Italy....

BSAC Seminar: Pixtronix Digital Micro Shutter (DMS) - A MEMS Technology for Low Power Displays

November 4, 2008
Dr. Tim Brosnihan Pixtronix, Inc. November 4, 2008 | 12:30 to 01:30 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room Host: Al Pisano

Mobile multimedia devices such as smart phones, portable media players and navigation (GPS) devices are playing ever increasing roles in our daily lives. Consumers are no longer just talking and texting, but finding their way, catching the news and watching the latest movies and videos. As we use these devices for more applications and for longer amounts of time, we need larger, brighter, better image quality displays that don't drain the battery dry. Today...

BSAC Seminar: Controlled Structural Strain in Epitaxial Graphene Layers on 6H-SiC and Effects on Surface Morphology

November 25, 2008
Dr. Nicola Ferralis Department of Chemical Engineering, UC Berkeley November 25, 2008 | 12:30 to 01:30 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room

Epitaxial graphene grown on SiC surfaces retains many of the peculiar electronic and mechanical properties of the 2D graphene, while showing promise in terms of scalability and application in large-scale device fabrication. Thus, understanding the mechanical and vibrational properties and their effects on the surface morphology as a consequence of the synthesis is of crucial importance. Here we present a detailed investigation of the early...

BSAC Seminar: Carbon, Boron Nitride, Zinc Oxide, and Silicon Nanotubes: Growth, Characterization and Potential Applications

December 9, 2008
Prof. Yoke Khin Yap Michigan Technological University December 9, 2008 | 12:30 to 01:30 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room

Inorganic nanotubes represent a unique class of nanomaterials in which all atoms are located near the surface. Thus electron flows on nanotubes are confined near the surface. This makes nanotubes attractive for electronic devices, and chemical/biological sensors. In addition, their tubular structures enable nanofluidic and cellular drug delivery devices. In this seminar, controlled growth, properties, and potential applications of a series of inorganic...

BSAC Seminar: Application of Electrokinetic Pumps to Miniature Fuel Cells

December 2, 2008
Dr. Cullen Buie BSAC Postdoctoral Researcher December 2, 2008 | 12:30 to 01:30 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room

This study explores unique aspects of using electroosmotic (EO) pumping structures to supply methanol/water solutions to direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Electroosmotic flow is the bulk motion of an electrolyte caused by Coulombic interaction of external electric fields and the charges of electric double layers (EDLs). In this presentation we discuss several EO pump figures of merit pertinent to portable fuel cell applications including flow rate per power,...

BSAC Seminar: Nonlinear Dynamics of Engineered Photons in Nanostructures

February 3, 2009
Prof. Chee Wei Wong Columbia University February 3, 2009 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room Host: Al Pisano

Propelled by advances in nanofabrication, we can now examine the control of photons in engineered nanostructures. First, we demonstrate the strong control of dispersion and localization in photonic crystal structures, leading to the observations of negative refraction, zero-index superlattice band gaps, and ultrahigh-Q subwavelength nanocavities. Coherent interactions in such nanostructures lead to recent observations of an optical analogue to...

BSAC Seminar: Silicon-Based Microresonators as High-Resolution Microscope Mass and Charge Sensors (Electrometers)

January 20, 2009
Dr. Joshua Lee University of Cambridge, UK January 20, 2009 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room Host: Al Pisano

Micro-electro-mechanical silicon resonators have been seen as a promising alternative to quartz for timing control applications, and have also received much interest for realizing high-sensitivity micro sensors based on the principle of modulating mechanical resonance. This talk will discuss and explore their application to the measurement of mass as well as charge (electrometers), beginning with a survey of areas where charge and mass sensing have...

BSAC Seminar: Stacked Disk Resonators for Filter Applications

February 10, 2009
Christopher Grinde Vestfold University College, Norway February 10, 2009 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room Host: Al Pisano

Christopher will discuss his dissertation project, part of which is being concluded at BSAC: to establish models, and to design and fabricate vertically stacked coupled disk resonators. The motivation is to enable monolithic RF transceivers with a minimum diesize. Two fabrication methods are to be explored: one using surface micromachining using polysilicon structural layers, and one using SOI wafers with two device layers. To...