Publications

Simulation of In Situ Solid State Electrochemical Sensor for Improved Diagnostics and Control of Lean Engines

Jonathan Michael Rheaume
Albert P. Pisano
Alice M. Agogino
2008
Internal combustion engines generally operate as open loop feedback systems. Present engine control strategy involves sensors that simply provide data for comparison with an “engine map” of tables in engine control computers. Closing the feedback loop in real time and for individual cylinders would allow improved engine control, resulting in reduced pollution and increased efficiency. This treatise presents a simulation of the output of a solid state sensor...

Sensing and Harvesting Pressure Fluctuations in Harsh Environments

Levent Beker
Liwei Lin
Albert P. Pisano
Tarek Zohdi
Rikky Muller
2017

Pressure is one of the most frequent and important parameters utilized in many applications to provide critical information about the operation of a system as well as a potential mechanical energy source. Among various pressure-related devices, very few function in harsh environment which includes high temperature, high pressure...

Serial Assembly of Microstructures

Subramaniam Venkatraman
Kristofer S.J. Pister
Carlo H. Séquin
2006

This thesis presents serial pick and place assembly of microstructures, fabricated in a simple single mask SOI process, as an approach for the manufacture of complicated microstructures. Two techniques for pick and place microassembly and design of microparts which can be used with either of these two assembly approaches are presented. The techniques are designed to be simple and robust so that they can be extended to an automated assembly-...

Resonant Circuits for MEMS Interfaces

Baris Cagdaser
Bernhard E. Boser
Kristofer S.J. Pister
Liwei Lin
Roger T. Howe
2005
This work describes the use of resonant circuits for electrostatic actuation of MEMS devices with low voltage drive electronics. Resonant drive also offers a solution for position sensing and generates a sense signal without the need for a separate sense capacitor. Moreover, an inherent force feedback mechanism limits the drive voltage as the drive capacitor becomes larger and stabilizes parallel-plate actuators beyond the pull-in point of the...

Reliability and Acknowledgements in Low-Power Wireless Sensor Networks

George William Shaw
Kristofer S.J. Pister
Alberto L. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli
2008

All wireless sensor networks with greater than 0% packet delivery rate (PDR) can be made 100% reliable—when given unbounded time to achieve successful packet delivery. Real systems, however, don't have unbounded time or resources. Reliability is the probability that a packet will be successfully delivered within the required time bound. The delivery reliability requirement and time bound are determined from the application-dependent delivery MTBF at which...

Rodent Wearable Ultrasound Interrogation System for Wireless Neural Recording

Joshua Kay
Bernhard E. Boser
Michel M. Maharbiz
2017

Advancements in minimally-invasive, distributed biological interface nodes enable possibilities for networks of sensors and actuators to connect the brain with external devices. These brain machine interfacing systems require addressing three critical areas for real world use: signal-acquisition hardware, real-time operation, and long term validation. The recent development of the neural dust sensor mote has shown that utilizing ultrasound backscatter communication enables untethered ...

RF Ranging for Location Awareness

Steven Michael Lanzisera
Kristofer S.J. Pister
Jan M. Rabaey
Paul K. Wright
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 t...

Reactive Ion Etching of Zinc Oxide and Indium-Tin-Oxide

Eric Minami
Richard M. White
Roger T. Howe
1988

Reactive ion etch processes for zinc oxide (ZnO) and indium-tin oxide (TTO) have been characterized under various power, pressure, flow rate, and temperature conditions. We have found that the use of hydrogen iodide (HI) plasma allows 2um features with vertical sidewalls to be pattern in both materials. The etch was selective with respect to Si3N4, SiO2, and Si. In addition, the resistivity of ITO prepared by RF supttering was characterized under different deposition conditions.

Rapid Synthesis of One-Dimensional Nanostructures via Induction Heating

Brian David Sosnowchik
Liwei Lin
Albert P. Pisano
Ming C. Wu
2008
This work presents the development of a platform technology for the rapid synthesis of a wide range of onedimensional nanostructures using induction heating. The technique is fast, enabling the synthesis of nanostructures in as short as one minute, simple, clean, and scalable. The technique is also versatile, enabling the synthesis of nanostructures in bulk or locally on MEMS, and may open up a new class of rapid nanostructure synthesis. The...

Poly-Crystalline Silicon Carbide Passivated Capacitive MEMS Strain Gauge for Harsh Environments

Babak Jamshidi
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
Kristofer S.J. Pister
2008
This dissertation describes the design and fabrication of a high-resolution capacitive sensor encapsulated in poly-crystalline silicon carbide. This sensor can continuously measure the strain in the substrate under aggressive environments such as extreme ambient temperature, corrosive media and high-g shocks. This strain sensor has a sub-millimeter gauge length capable of precise assessment of strain fields. The device...