Publications

MEMS Hydrogel Sensors for pH and Glucose Measurements

Supone Manakasettharn
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
2008
A new formulation of a pHand a glucoseresponsive hydrogel was developed and then integrated into an interdigitated MEMS sensor. This new hydrogel was characterized for swelling response as well as for impedance response (resistance and capacitance) when used as both a pH and a glucose sensor. The standard pHresponsive hydrogel, which was a copolymer of 2hydroxyethyl methacrylate and...

Material Synthesis and Characterization for Micro-supercapacitor Applications

Benjamin Hsia
Roya Maboudian
David B. Graves
Liwei Lin
2013

Supercapacitors represent a critical energy storage device technology for applications which require higher power density and/or cycle lifetime than existing battery technologies. Microscale supercapacitors, in particular, can enable novel applications in autonomous, wireless microsensors and microelectronics. If these micro-supercapacitors can be fabricated in a planar, on-chip geometry, the energy storage and the device...

MEMS Design via Automated Synthesis, Extraction, and Simulation

Hee Jung Lee
Kristofer S.J. Pister
1996

System level computer aided design (CAD) tools for micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) have been developed based on VLSI CAD techniques. This CAD package includes parameterized synthesis, extraction, and simulation tools. These tools are being integrated into the ASIC design tools ...

Modulated Infrared Source

Peter Yung-Sen Chen
Richard S. Muller
Roger T. Howe
1993
This project considers the design and fabrication of a modulated microincandescent IR source. To reduce background noise and to improve signal amplification, most infrared applications require a modulated IR output at a fairly high frequency (above 1kHz)....

MEMS Barcode Reader

James Teng
Richard S. Muller
Kam Y. Lau
1998

Since the concept of barcode scanning was proposed over forty years ago [I], the use of barcodes and barcode readers have progressed to the point that it is the most common method for automatic item identification. The proliferation of...

Micromachined Electrodes for High Performance Capacitive Pressure Sensors

Vikram Shenoy
Roger T. Howe
Liwei Lin
2000

This report discusses the use of silicon micromachining to create a part for subassembly into a high performance capacitive pressure sensor. The micromachined silicon part replaces traditionally machined metal parts. The micromachined parts provide tight control of the gap between the electrode ...

Micro-Columnated Loop Heat Pipe: The Future of Electronic Substrates

Navdeep Singh Dhillon
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
Omer Savas ̧
Ali Javey
2012
The modern world is run by semiconductor-based electronic systems. Due to continuous improvements in semiconductor device fabrication, there is a clear trend in the market towards the development of electronic devices and components that not only deliver enhanced computing power, but are also more compact. Thermal management has emerged as the primary challenge in this scenario where heat flux dissipation of electronic chips is increasing exponentially, but conventional cooling solutions such as conduction and...

Mechanical Energy Storage for Self-Destructing Motes and Jumping Microrobots

Joseph Greenspun
Kristofer S.J. Pister
Vivek Subramanian
Liwei Lin
2018
Mechanical energy storage has been studied to enable a self-destructing mote and ajumping microrobot. Just as chemical energy stored in batteries can be used for a widearray of devices, so too can mechanical energy stored in beams. In this work various energystorage elements are designed, fabricated, and tested to create these MEMS systems. As privacy and data security become increasingly important, new means of keeping that data safe must be developed. A MEMS system has been created to allow a wirelessly enabled...

Monolithic Wireless Transceiver Design

Filip Maksimovic
Kristofer S.J. Pister
Ali M. Niknejad
Stephen D. Glaser
2020

Recently, there has been an increasing push to make everything wireless. In contrast to high-performance cellular communication, where the demand for enormous quantities of data is skyrocketing, these small wireless sensor and actuator nodes require low power, low cost, and a high degree of system integration. A typical CMOS system-on-chip requires a number of off-chip components for proper operation, namely, a crystal oscillator to act as an accurate frequency reference, and an antenna. The primary goal of this thesis...

MEMS Liquid Fuel Delivery for Small-Scale Combustion Power Systems

Sang-Won Park
Albert P. Pisano
Carlos Fernandez-Pello
Andrew R. Neureuther
2008
The lack of a compact and efficient power source, spanning the range from10Watts to 1,000Watts, limits the mobility and usage time of personal devicesThis research has explored CommerciallyOffTheShelf (COTS) and Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) based fuel delivery systems to improve the combustion...