Roger T. Howe (Advisor)

Enabled by advances in both integrated circuit technology and micro electromechanical systems (MEMS), the continuing miniaturization and integration of electronics, sensors, and actuators and mechanisms will make it feasible to create insect-sized autonomous microrobots. We propose to create a class of autonomous crawling microrobots the size on the order f 1cm^3 and equipped with a power source, low-power CMOS controller, sensors, wireless communications devices and motorized articulated legs. The work presented here demonstrates how articulated insect legs could be created from rigid...

A silicon-on-insulator actuator has been designed for large DC deflections out of the plane of a wafer. The design employs deep reactive ion etching with a delay mask of two distinct silicon dioxide thicknesses to form silicon structures...

This report describes miniature gas-filled plasma-discharge cavities fabricated using combined surface and subsurface micromachining. Starting with a bare silicon substrate, successive layers of polycrystalline silicon, low-stress silicon nitride, and low-temperature oxide layers were deposited to form the micro cavities. Polysilicon electrodes were patterned to serve as electrical connections to the gas. Low-stress silicon nitride formed the insulating layer and the cavity wall which confined neon at atmospheric pressure. Low-temperature oxide served as the sacrificial layer which defined...

A microminiature, noncontracting electrostatic voltmeter (ESV), produced by IC processes on a silicon wafer, is described. The ESV works on the principle of intermittent shuttering and exposing a sensing electrode to an electric field between a remote electrode at a different potential from the sensing electrode. The resultant time-varying field at the electrode produces an electrical signal. The principle of ESV measurements by intermittent shuttering is well establihsed and hybrid designs are presently used commerically. This invention teaches how the entire structure, and eventually the...