Publications

Transistors and Synapses: Robust, Low Power Analog Circuits in CMOS Radios and the Rabbit Retina

Alyosha Molnar
Kristofer S.J. Pister
2007

Modern silicon integrated circuits and vertebrate nervous systems are the two of the most compact, complex information processing systems presently known. Within these two classes of system, most information processing is handled in discrete (ie digital) form, but analog components appear in both systems as well. In silicon, wireless communication circuits are typically implemented using analog signal processing. In the central nervous system, the retina plays a similar role of interfacing with the physical world, and also employs analog circuitry. In both cases the primary problem...

Design and Fabrication of MEMS Resonant Strain Sensor in SOI

Julian Lippmann
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
Oliver M. O'Reilly
2004
The introduction of commercial foil-strain gauges in the 1950s revolutionized the study of structural and mechanical engineering, as well as material science. These sensors provide an unprecedented window into the fundamental behavior of materials and solids. Coupled with the advent of inexpensive computing power, strain gauges allow engineers to monitor the behavior of structures in the field easily. Refined over the years, the basic foil gauge now meets the demands of a vast array of...

Readout Techniques for High-Q Micromachined Vibratory Rate Gyroscopes

Chinwuba Ezekwe
Bernhard E. Boser
Kristofer S.J. Pister
Roberto Horowitz
2007
Inexpensive MEMS gyroscopes are enabling a wide range of automotive and consumer applications. Examples include image stabilization in cameras, game consoles, and improving vehicle handling on challenging terrain. Many of these applications imposevery stringent requirements on power dissipation. For continued expansion into new applications it is imperative to reduce power consumption of present devices by anorder-of-magnitude. Gyroscopes infer angular rate from measuring the Coriolis force exerted on a...

Low Energy RF Transceiver Design

Benjamin Cook
Kristofer S.J. Pister
2007

The average consumer has relied upon bidirectional RF communication for phone and internet connectivity for years. These devices are either plugged in to wall outlets or rely on large batteries that must be recharged frequently. A new generation of deeply embedded, short-range wireless applications is emerging, fueled by the extreme reductions in cost and power required for sensing and computation afforded by CMOS and MEMS process advancement. The power consumption of wireless communication links, on the other hand, has not scaled down so dramatically. Short range wireless protocols...

Autonomous Jumping Microrobots

Sarah Bergbreiter
Kristofer S.J. Pister
Ronald S. Fearing
Robert J. Full
2007
An autonomous jumping microrobot has been designed, and its mechanical components have been fabricated and tested. Millimeter-scale autonomous mobile microrobots have potential applications in mobile sensor networks as well as search and exploration tasks. However, mobility is difficult at this scale due to rugged surfaces, obstacles and loco-motion efficiency. Jumping has been proposed as a locomotion method to overcome these challenges. The microrobot design has been divided into four components: energy...

Packaging and Assembling Microfluidic Devices via Plastic Injection Molding

Emil Geiger
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
Lydia Sohn
2006

A silicon based microfluidic device has been assembled, encapsulated, and packaged with fluidic and electrical interconnects via plastic injection molding. A microbubble generator was chosen as the test piece for this packaging scheme. It consists of a straight channel etched in silicon and a Pyrex® cover. Gold traces on the Pyrex® allowed for bubbles to be generated by either electrolysis or boiling. The device was subsequently loose assembled in an...

A Highly-Integrated Polymer-Based Microfluidic Device for Disposable Applications

Emil Geiger
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
Susan J. Muller
2008
A highly-integrated polymer-based microfluidic device for disposable applications is presented. This device is plastic injection molded and exhibits three levels of integration. First, fluidic interconnects are monolithically formed with the device, enabling robust manufacturing and high-pressure operation (>500 psi). Second, a metal layer is lithographically patterned in the form of microheaters. Finally, a thermally-sensitive hydrogel valve is integrated into the channel. The valve is...

Feasibility Study of a Viscous Rotary Engine Power System

Thomas Cauley
Albert P. Pisano
Dennis K. Lau
2005

The design, optimization, fabrication, dynamic stability, and performance of the Viscous Rotniy Engine Power System (VREPS), a novel concept for a micro power generator, are presented. VREPS derives mechanical power from the surface viscous shearing forces developed by a pressure driven...

RF Ranging for Location Awareness

Steven Lanzisera
Kristofer S.J. Pister
2009

Wireless sensor networks provide an opportunity to improve performance in areas ranging from energy efficiency to industrial processes to scientific research. Many applications require awareness of sensor location, but autonomously determining device location has proven to be challenging. This localization problem can be divided into two parts: measuring relationships between nodes, and then using these relationships to estimate location. Most work on the first part has measured the RF received signal strength as a surrogate for range resulting in poor location accuracy. Several other...

Polymer-Ceramic MEMS Bimorphs as Thermal Infrared Sensors

Clinton Warren
Albert P. Pisano
Luke P. Lee
Liwei Lin
2010
Thermal infrared detectors based on MEMS bimorph beams have the potential to exceed the performance of current uncooled thermal infrared cameras both in terms of sensitivity and cost. These cameras are part of a rapidly growing industry are used for a vast array of applications such as military and civilian night vision, industrial monitoring, and medical imaging. Many researchers have explored the use of metal-ceramic MEMS bimorphs...