Roger T. Howe (Advisor)

High-Senstivity Micromechanical Electrostatic Voltmeter

David Loconto

Richard S. Muller

Roger T. Howe

1992

The design, fabrication and testing of electrostatically drive, high-sensitivity dc voltmeters (ESVs), which have demonstrated sensitivity to 10 mV signals is presented in this report. The ESVs have a micromachined test electrode (third layer of polysilicon) 5 um above the shutter, which provides testing repeatability, increased sensitviy to the input and most importantly the ability to accurately model ESV performance. The theoretical first- and second-harmonic output currents are derived. The results of predicted and experimentally meausred signals are compared and show the validity of...

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Electrical Interconnect of Components Transferred by Fluidic Microassembly Using Capillary Forces

Karen Scott

Roger T. Howe

Clayton J. Radke

John S. Smith

2003

As Micro ElectroMechanical Systems become more complicated, building them asintegrated systems may not be possible and exploring new microassembly technologies becomes necessary. Capillary-based fluidic microassembly is of ...

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Integrated MEMS Tuning Fork Oscillators for Sensor Applications

Trey Roessig

Albert P. Pisano

Kameshwar Poolla

Roger T. Howe

1998

In this work, issues involved in the design resonant sensors in a surface- micromachined fabrication technology are investigated. The goal of this work is to describe the important considerations in each portion of the sensor design, including the ...

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Micromachined Dual Input Axis Rate Gyroscope

Thor Juneau

Albert P. Pisano

Roger T. Howe

Roberto Horowitz

1997

The need for inexpensive yet reliable angular rate senors in fields ranging from automotive to consumer electronics has motivated prolific micromachined rate gyroscope research. The vast majority of research has focused on single input axis rate gyroscopes based upon either translational resonance, such as tuning forks, or...

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Polycrystalline Silicon-Germanium Films for Integrated Microsystems

Andrea Franke

Tsu-Jae King

Roger T. Howe

Timothy Sands

2000

Poly cystalline silicon (poly-Si) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) are the standard strucutral and sacrifical materials in surface micromachines MEMS. Polycrystalline silicon-germanium (poly-SiGe) can be deposited in a standard LPCVD furnace at much lower temperatures (less than or equal to 450degC) than poly-Si. This allows integration of poly-SiGe MEMS after completion of a CMOS process with Al or Cu interconnects. Modularly integrating MEMS onto wafers with standard CMOS circuits reduces parasitics, increases packaging simplicity and reliability, could lower processing cost, allows for...

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Surface Engineering for MEMS Reliability

William Ashurst

Roya Maboudian

David B. Graves

Roger T. Howe

2003

The integration of miniaturized mechanical components with microelectronic components has spawned a new technology known as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). This technology extends the benefits of microelectronic fabrication to sensing and actuating functions. Examples of MEMS devices that have been commercially produced include relatively simple mechanisms such as accelerometers, pressure sensors and digital mirror projectors.

Despite recent progress in micromachining capability, the realization of more complex commercial and specialized use of MEMS is challenged due to...