Wireless, RF & Smart Dust

Research that includes:

  • Tuneable RF components: capacitors, inductors, transformers
  • RF microrelays
  • High frequency MEMS resonators: devices, structures, and processes

BPN803: Single Chip Mote

Alex Moreno
Titan Yuan
Yu-Chi Lin
Lydia Lee
Daniel Lovell
2023

The single chip micro mote 3C (SCµM-3C) was designed to be a wireless sensor node on a chip capable of joining a network as a bare die with a standards compliant BLE and 802.15.4 mesh communication radio while fully self-contained and functional with no external components. SCµM-3C’s deep level of integration allows users to connect a battery, program using a touchless optical programmer and be ready to connect to the network. As a sensor, SCµM-3C was shown to have a ~1 cm accurate 3D localization estimate and measure temperatures from 0 to 100C with <2 C of precision....

BPN859: High Frequency Oscillator Characterization

Qiutong Jin
Kevin H. Zheng
Xintian Liu
Kieran Peleaux
QianYi Xie
2023

This project aims to study and understand fundamental mechanisms that govern phase noise, aging, thermal stability, and acceleration stability in high frequency micromechanical resonator oscillators.

Project currently funded by: Member Fees

BPN987: Single-chip µV Precision ADC for SCµM-V

Yu-Chi Lin
Daniel Lovell
Ali M. Niknejad
Kristofer S.J. Pister
2023

We are developing a mm-square low-power wireless ADC that will detect and transmit microvolt signals, which is promising for precision measurements in biomedical applications, automotive, and mobiles. This project specifically aims to be used for a concurrent TMS-EEG-fMRI system, a highly desirable temporal and spatial imaging method to unveil the mystery of brain circuits. The precision ADC will make it possible to acquire EEG signals down to 10µV while wireless transmission will avoid safety heating issues by current induced in wired-loop under time-varying magnetic field in MRI....

BPN953: Long-Term Drift of MEMS-Based Oscillators

Xintian Liu
Kevin H. Zheng
QianYi Xie
2023

This project seeks to characterize and de-mystify mechanisms behind long-term drift in MEMS-based oscillators, including ones employing various sustaining amplifiers and referenced to resonators constructed in a variety of materials, including silicon, polysilicon, AlN, diamond, and ruthenium. A measurement apparatus that suppresses unwanted sources of drift, e.g., temperature, to better focus on resonator and oscillator long-term drift will be instrumental to success and will likely entail the use of double or triple ovens, as well as environment resistant circuit design.

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BPN976: Fully-Integrated MEMS-Based Wireless Receiver

Kevin H. Zheng
2023

Recent MEMS process advancements from our group have enabled a class of low-temperature, thin-film ruthenium RF filters that can be processed directly on top of CMOS wafers. This work seeks to demonstrate the first low-IF receiver with fully-integrated MEMS-based RF channel-select filters, which permits low power applications in high-sensitivity, narrow-band software-defined communications and cognitive radio.

Project currently funded by: Member Fees

BPN867: Fully Integrated CMOS-Metal MEMS Systems

Kevin H. Zheng
Qiutong Jin
QianYi Xie
Kieran Peleaux
2022

As RF MEMS technology evolves to shift towards UHF frequencies, the parasitics inherent in hybrid fabrication approaches become the performance bottleneck. This project aims to integrate metal MEMS resonators directly over CMOS circuitry to achieve fully integrated MEMS systems. Pursuant to this goal, this project proposes several designs for UHF MEMS bandpass filters, exploring how different CMOS-compatible metals can yield performance metrics—such as quality-factor (Q), temperature stability and frequency drift—that are comparable to those of standard polysilicon MEMS resonators....

BPN828: Zero Quiescent Power Micromechanical Receiver

Qiutong Jin
Kevin H. Zheng
2023

This project aims to explore and demonstrate a mostly mechanical receiver capable of listening signals within low-frequency and very-low-frequency range. The receiver is designed to consume zero power at standby and consume very litter power (nW) only when receiving valid bits.

Project currently funded by: Membership Fees

BPN990: Anti-Drone Radar-Guided Micromissiles (New Project)

Titan Yuan
2023

Since drones can be flown remotely or autonomously and can navigate dangerous environments without any risk to human operators, they are attractive for military applications, including surveillance, reconnaissance, and combat missions. At the same time, enemy drones pose a growing serious threat to civilians and soldiers. Current anti-drone warfare is either inaccurate or expensive, so this project aims to build a low-cost, crayon-sized radar-guided microrocket to target drones. The micromissile will be launched in the direction of the drone, after which the micromissile will use active...

Alex Moreno

Graduate Student Researcher
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
Professor Kristofer S.J. Pister (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2023 (Anticipated)
M.S. 2021

Alex Moreno received the B.S.E.E degree from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2017 and his M.S. in EECS from the University of California, Berkeley in 2021. He was awarded the NSF GRFP and UC Berkeley Chancellor's Graduate Fellowship in 2017. His research interests include low power wireless radios, mircorobotics and localization.

Qianyi Xie

Alumni
Applied Science and Technology
Professor Clark T.-C. Nguyen (Advisor)
Ph.D. 2022

Qianyi Xie is a Ph.D. candidate in Prof. Clark Nguyen's group. He received his B.E. degree in Microelectronics from Tsinghua University in 2016.