Richard M. White (Advisor)

BPN802: Electret-Enabled Energy Harvesters for Use Near Current-Carrying Conductors

Zhiwei Wu
2017

The purpose of this project is to employ long-lived electrets in energy harvesters for use on power lines.

Project end date: 02/08/17

BPN872: Compact Voltage Sensor for Power Lines

Duy-Son Nguyen
2018

This project is designed to measure the line-to-line voltages of distribution and transmission power lines by using very compact and inexpensive sensors that operate at low voltages. On a two-wire power line, the measurement devices are mounted on only one of the lines. The devices can also be applied in open air power substations and in buildings where high voltage power lines (e.g., 12,400 AC Volts) are used.

Project end date: 01/30/18

BPN868: Self-Cleaning Mass Sensor for Particulate Matter Monitors

Zhiwei Wu
2019

When people inhale small particles, such as soot, they may develop pulmonary, cardiac and neural problems, and millions may die prematurely. Therefore, there is need for widely accessible particulate- matter monitors to enable individuals to avoid areas of high particulate concentration. We propose to test means conceived for cleaning the surfaces of the particle mass-measuring sensors after each particulate deposition, as well as recently...

BPN938: Airborne Particulate Matter Monitor with Species Imaging

Richard M. White
2020

The Particulate Matter Monitor that we've been researching determines the concentration of particles in units of mass of particles collected (in micrograms) divided by the volume of air collected (in cubic meters). The goal of this project is to obtain information also about the composition of those particles.

Project end date: 08/12/20

BPN801: Electromagnetic Energy Harvester for Atmospheric and Power-System Sensors on Overhead Power Distribution Lines

Zhiwei Wu
2020

This project is developing inexpensive, easily-installed energy harvesters for mounting on overhead and underground power distribution lines to supply power to sensors that will evaluate and report on the functioning of the power system, and to power co-located environmental sensors, such as particulate matter monitors and toxic gas sensors, that can transmit measurements to nearby personal cell phones and long term storage.

Project end date: 08/12/20

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.

Piezoresistive Sensing in Micromechanical Resonators

Yorgen H. Anderson
Richard S. Muller
Richard M. White
1993
Over the past several years, there has been much research concerned with building miniature three-dimensional mechanical machines (micromachines) on silicon substrates using fabrication technology from the integrated circuit industry. These micromachines can be useful...

Novel Processes for Modular Integration of Silicon-Germanium MEMS with CMOS Electronics

Carrie Wing-Zin Low
Tsu-Jae King Liu
Roger T. Howe
Richard M. White
Oscar D. Dubon Jr.
2007
Equipment control, process development and materials characterization for LPCVD poly-SiGe for MEMS applications are investigated in this work. In order to develop a repeatable process in an academic laboratory, equipment monitoring methods are implemented and new process gases are explored. With the dopant gas BCl3, the design-of-experiments technique is used to study the dependencies of deposition rate, resistivity, average residual stress,...

Immunosensor: A CMOS/MEMS-Based Protein Sensor

Bernhard E. Boser
Richard M. White
P. Robert Beatty
Eva Harris
2001

Millions of people each year die of infectious diseases. The need for rapid and efficient diagnostics is extremely prevalent. Current diagnostic tools are found only in the laboratories of well-equipped hospitals, research labs and clinics. Simple, common tests are becoming available...

Electromagnetic Energy Harvester for Sensors on Overhead Power Distribution Lines

Zhiwei Wu
Liwei Lin
Richard M. White
Dennis Lieu
2020

The electric grid began its service over 100 years ago and accumulated many safety concerns regarding its infrastructure and nearby environment. The wireless sensor network has been deployed to monitor the condition of both the grid infrastructure and environment, and non-interrupted power sources with minimal maintenance has been an engineering challenge. Here, design of an inexpensive and durable electromagnetic energy harvester coupled with the magnetic field from the power line conductors for powering the wireless...