Publications

Design of Moderate Resolution High Speed Pipeline ADCs in Fine Line Technologies

Dimitrios Katsis
Bernhard E. Boser
Kristofer S.J. Pister
2006

In this work the issues involved in designing pipeline Analog to Digital Converters in fine line technologies are discussed. In particular, we focus on the design of the interstage amplifier within the pipeline. We compare open loop voltage and current mode approaches to amplifier design and suggest solutions to common current mode design problems. Further, we propose...

Direct-Write Piezoelectric Nanogenerator by Near-Field Electrospinning

Chieh Chang
Liwei Lin
Albert P. Pisano
Seung-Wuk Lee
2009

Electrospinning technology based on the electrostatic driving mechanism can construct long and continuous polymeric nanofibers with diameters less than 100 nm. However, conventional electrospinning process is chaotic by nature. The chaos is manifested in the difficulty to control the deposition position and amount of electrospun nanofibers. In this dissertation, a near-field electrospinning (NFES) process has been developed to deposit solid...

Development of a Free-Space Optical Switch for Fiber Communications Based on Actuated, Silicon Surface-Micromachined Mirrors

Alois Friedberger
Richard S. Muller
1996
Optical communication networks require switches for fiber links. Free-space optical switches have the potential of high coupling efficiencies and are investigated for fabrication by silicon surface-micromachining. Due to batch processing, this technology can provide large...

Design and Analysis of Closed-loop Controlled Parallel-Plate Electrostatic MicroGrippers

Patrick Breckow Chu
Kristofer S.J. Pister
1994

This work describes the design and analysis of a class of sub-millimeter scale grippers. These electrostatically-driven devices are fabricated from polysilicon using an IC-based surface micromachining process and have been designed to handle objects...

Design of Nano-Materials For High Performance Electronic and Sensory Applications

Johnny Chung Yin Ho
Yuri Suzuki
Oscar Dubon
Ali Javey
2009
Device scaling has been one of the main driving forces for technology advancement in the semiconductor industry over last few decades. As this scaling continues into the future, serious fundamental and technological issues will arise as a result of the limitations of conventional device fabrication and materials, etc. Among these many challenges, in particular, there is a tremendous need for new processing technologies to control atomic composition in semiconductor structures as well as the application of new...

Design and Implementation of Sigma-Delta Force-Balance Microaccelerometers

Crist Lu
Bernhard E. Boser
Roger T. Howe
1994

The first goal of this research is to investigate the issues involved in the design of a sigma-delta force- balance surface-micromachined accelerometer. The second goal is to successfully design, fabricate, and test a monolithic m...

Design and Control of Micro-actuators for High Density Disk Drives

Sanjay K. Aggarwal
Roberto Horowitz
1997

A brief discussion of a previously designed parallel plate micro-actuator is provided. Theoretical models for the parallel plate design are then developed to motivate models used in the control design and to illustrate non-linear effects of the parallel plate design. Electrostatic simulations are performed for a...

Design and Analysis of High Quality Factor Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Diamond Micromechanical Resonators

Mohammad Hadi Motieian Najar
David A. Horsley
M. Saif Islam
Rajeevan Amirtharajah
2014
Diamond is an excellent material for Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) due to its superlative material properties compared to commonly used materials such as silicon. In its single crystalline form, diamond offers properties such as very high Young’s modulus, low thermal coefficient of expansion, and very high thermal conductivity as well as being chemically inert. Specifically, diamond’s high thermal conductivity offers the potential for ...

Design and Characterization of a MEMS Piezoelectric Bi-Chevron Actuator

Michael S. Sheppy
Albert P. Pisano
David M. Auslander
2009

Industrial printing today suffers from major drawbacks due to the use of water based inks. Water based inks can bleed and cause warpage of the recording surface. Supercritical carbon dioxide is being investigated as an alternative solvent to water. Supercritical carbon dioxide eliminates many of the drawbacks of water based inks because it undergoes a phase change as it leaves...

CotsBots: An Off-the-Shelf Platform for Distributed Robotics

Sarah Bergbreiter
Kristofer S.J. Pister
David Culler
2004

This thesis presents the CotsBots – inexpensive and modular robots built entirely from commercial off-the-shelf components. These robots provide a convenient platform on which to investigate algorithms, cooperation and distributed sensing in large (greater than 50) robot networks. Each robot is small (13cm x 6.5cm base) and costs approximately $200 in quantity. Each is equipped with on-board processing, radio communication, and a base platform...