Physical Sensors & Devices

Research that includes:

  • Silicon MEMS actuators: comb, electro-thermal, and plastic deformation
  • Precision electronic sensing and measurements of capacitive, frequency, and coulombic MEMS variables
  • Structures and architectures for gyroscopes, accelerometers, micro strain gauges for direct application to rigid structures e.g., steel, and levitated MEMS

BPNX1043: Siloxane-Induced Deactivation in Semiconductor Metal Oxides Sensors: Mechanism and Mitigation Strategies (New Project)

Tzu-Chiao Wei
2025

Chemiresistive gas sensors based on semiconductor metal oxides, such as tin oxide (SnO₂), play a critical role in detecting toxic gases and monitoring pollution in industrial and environmental applications. Siloxanes, organic compounds that contain silicon and oxygen atoms and are widely used in personal care products, are commonly present in various environments. The presence of these compounds can significantly degrade sensor performance by modifying the oxide surface, altering its gas adsorption properties, and reducing both sensitivity and selectivity in gas sensing. To address this...

Hyong Min Kim

Graduate Student Researcher
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
Professor Ali Javey (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2028 (Anticipated)

Hyong is a Ph.D. student in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at University of California, Berkeley. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Univeristy of Pennsylvania in 2023. In his undergraduate research, Hyong studied quantum emission from strained 2D materials, ferroelectric field-emission transistors based on AlScN/2D material heterostructures, and scanning probe characterization of 1D-2D material interfaces. Hyong's current research at Berkeley is on fabricating next-generation Mid-Wave Infrared (MWIR) optoelectronic devices...

BPN999: Wearable Sweat Sensors with High-Throughput Fabrication

Noelle Davis
Pooja Mehta
Amanda King
Seung-Rok Kim
Yullim Lee
Nicole Qing
2025

We have been developing sweat sensors to analyze physiological and metabolic health information, such as sweat rate, glucose levels, pH, and various electrolytes, from any surface on the body surface where sweat glands are present. However, the stiff sweat sensors developed so far struggle to detect subtle signal changes, especially on soft skin. This is due to a mechanical mismatch between the rigid sweat sensor and the pliable skin, which can lead to motion artifacts and delamination of the patch from skin. Specifically, the stiff sensor cannot easily stretch along with the...

BPN992: Sensing and Actuation Applications Using Lithium Niobate PMUTs

Wei Yue
Megan Teng
Hanxiao Liu
Yande Peng
2025

Sensing, actuation and imaging applications based on ultrasounds could expand to many applications by means of miniaturization and low power consumption via MEMS fabrication technologies. Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducers (PMUTs) with thin film designs have emerged as key commercial products but current state-of-art PMUTs are limited by the acoustic power/pressure for applications within a limited range by using AlN as the piezoelectrical material due to its process compatibility with microelectronics. One BSAC industrial member has developed a process to make PMUT devices...

Haotian Lu

Graduate Student Researcher
Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering
Professor Rayne Zheng (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2026 (Anticipated)

Haotian Lu is a Ph.D. student majoring in Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on applying and advancing piezoelectric material 3D printing techniques, leveraging the properties of piezoelectric materials to innovate in acoustic physics and tactile sensing applications.

BSAC Spring 2024 Research Review Presenter

Victor Couedel

Graduate Student Researcher
Mechanical Engineering
Professor Rayne Zheng (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2026 (Anticipated)

Mechanical Engineering Ph.D Student in Dr. Xiaoyu 'Rayne' Zheng's Additive Manufacturing and Metamaterials laboratory.
Interested in new additive manufacturing processes and printable materials.

Currently working on 3D printing of piezoelectric architected ceramics for underwater acoustic applications.

BSAC Fall 2024 Research Review Presenter

Dehui Zhang

Postdoctoral Researcher
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
Professor Ali Javey (Advisor)

Dehui Zhang is a postdoctoral researcher in Electrical Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, a postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center (BSAC), and a research affiliate in the Materials Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He received a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2021, and was a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Los Angeles in 2021-2023. Dehui Zhang joined Javey Research Group in September 2023...

BPN941: Ultrasound-Induced Haptic Interface

Fan Xia
Huicong Deng
Umut Can Yener
Wei Yue
2025

The next big thing, AR/VR, requires an immersive Human Machine Interface (HMI) in addition to visual and sound stimuli. Although skin is the biggest organ in the human body, very few efforts compared to visual and auditory senses have been done to develop a “sense of touch”. The mechanical stimulus to generate the touch sense by the embedded mechanoreceptors in the skin at different depths has been created in many ways as vibratory actuators, microneedles, etc. In this project, we are investigating to create haptic interface via radiation force generated by piezoelectric...

Fan Xia

Graduate Student Researcher
Mechanical Engineering
Professor Liwei Lin (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2025 (Anticipated)

BSAC Spring 2024 Research Review Presenter

Qiutong Jin

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

Qiutong Jin received B.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Iowa in 2019. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in MEMS in EECS at UC Berkeley under the supervision of Prof. Clark Nguyen and will graduate in May 2025.

Fall 2023 Research Review Presenter