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...

Scanning Blazed Gratings

Kristine Marie Rosfjord
Kam Y. Lau
Richard S. Muller
2001
Diffraction gratings are highly important and widely used in many optical instruments and systems. In the field of spectroscopy, gratings are the enabling devices for the monochromators and spectrometers used in fields ranging from chemistry and biology to optoelectronics and telecommunications. Within the field of...

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-...

Silicon to Steel, Rapid Bonding

Theodore Prescop
Albert P. Pisano
Liwei Lin
2003

A rapid bonding process for installing vacuum-sealed MEMS strain sensor modules to mechanical components is being developed. This innovative process will be developed to replace conventional adhesive-based approaches. In particular, the silicon to ...

Silicon Carbide and Diamond Materials Development for Micro- and Nano-Electromechanical Systems

Jingchun Zhang
Roya Maboudian
Roger T. Howe
David B. Graves
Albert P. Pisano
2007
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are miniature integrated systems including both mechanical and electronic components, which are developed based on silicon integrated circuits technology. The current trend indicates two directions of MEMS technology: (1) a scaling downward to nanometer scale as nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS); (2) a development of advanced materials that can outperform silicon. The goal of this work is to study and develop the material properties and process flows to realize 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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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.