Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center

The Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center (BSAC) is the Graduated National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Microsensors and Microactuators. We conduct industry-relevant, interdisciplinary research on micro- and nano-scale sensors, moving mechanical elements, microfluidics, materials, processes & systems that take advantage of progress made in integrated-circuit, bio, and polymer technologies.

Number of records: 107

POSTER	RESEARCH THRUST	ABSTRACT click link to view abstract	PROJECT MATERIALS WEBSITE, Login Required	PROJECT TITLE	ADVISOR
1	BioMEMS	BPN573	BPN573 Website	Cyborg Fly: Wireless Control of a Housefly	Michel M. Maharbiz, Kristofer S.J. Pister
2	BioMEMS	BPN571	BPN571 Website	Implantable Microengineered Neural Interfaces for Studying and Controlling Insects	Michel M. Maharbiz
3	BioMEMS	BPN584	BPN584 Website	Design, Fabrication and Testing of a High Density, Large Area µECoG Array	Michel M. Maharbiz
4	BioMEMS	BPN699	BPN699 Website	A Modular System for High-Density, Multi-Scale Electrophysiology New Project	Michel Maharbiz, Tim Blanche
5	BioMEMS	BPN690	BPN690 Website	Manipulating Cellular Behavior and Wound Healing via Local Electric Field Stimulation	Michel M. Maharbiz
6	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN518	BPN518 Website	Synthetic Turing Patterns	Murat Arcak, Michel M. Maharbiz
7	Micropower	BPN519	BPN519 Website	Harvesting Energy from Evaporation	Michel M. Maharbiz
8	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN574	BPN574 Website	On-Chip Micro-Inductor	Liwei Lin
9	BioMEMS	BPN473	BPN473 Website	Next-Generation Microfluidic Components, Circuits and Systems	Liwei Lin, Luke P. Lee
10	Microfluidics	BPN706	BPN706 Website	Single-Layer Microfluidic Gain Valves via Optofluidic Lithography New Project	Liwei Lin
11	Microfluidics	BPN586	BPN586 Website	Integrated Finger-Powered Microfluidic Pumps for Point-of-Care Diagnostics	Liwei Lin
12	Microfluidics	BPN702	BPN702 Website	A Continuous-Flow Microdroplets Lysis System New Project	Liwei Lin, Albert P. Pisano
13	BioMEMS	BPN438	BPN438 Website	Microengineered Technologies for Controlling Cellular Functions	Liwei Lin, Song Li
14	BioMEMS	BPN675	BPN675 Website	Implantable Micro Drug Delivery System	Liwei Lin
15	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN708	BPN708 Website	Direct-Write Graphene Channel Field Effect with Self-Aligned Top Gate New Project	Liwei Lin
16	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN606	BPN606 Website	Carbon Nanotube Films for Energy Storage Applications	Liwei Lin
17	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN517	BPN517 Website	Facile Synthesis of Nanostructures for Renewable Energy and Gas Sensing Applications	Liwei Lin
18	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN672	BPN672 Website	Solar Hydrogen Production by Photocatalytic Water Splitting	Liwei Lin
19	Microfluidics	BPN645	BPN645 Website	Highly-Parallel Magnetically-Actuated Microvalves	David A. Horsley
20	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN656	BPN656 Website	Airborne Particulate Monitoring Using a Micromechanical Electrometer	David A. Horsley
21	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN599	BPN599 Website	MEMS Electronic Compass: Three-axis Magnetometer	David A. Horsley
22	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN642	BPN642 Website	10 MHz Optical Phased Array Metrology and Control	Dave A. Horsley, Ming C. Wu
23	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN466	BPN466 Website	Aluminum Nitride Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers	David A. Horsley
24	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN628	BPN628 Website	High Frequency Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers	David A. Horsley
25	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN603	BPN603 Website	Hemispherical Resonator Gyro	David A. Horsley
26	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN684	BPN684 Website	Integrated Microgyroscopes with Improved Scale-Factor and Bias Stability	David A. Horsley
27	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN655	BPN655 Website	Materials for High Quality-Factor Resonating Gyroscopes	David A. Horsley
28	BioMEMS	BPN649	BPN649 Website	Magnetic Particle Flow Cytometer	Bernhard E. Boser
29	BioMEMS	BPN685	BPN685 Website	In-Vivo Imaging of Microscopic Residual Disease in Cancer	Bernhard E. Boser
30	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN608	BPN608 Website	FM Gyroscope	Bernhard E. Boser
31	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN485	BPN485 Website	Ultrasonic Depth Sensing on a Chip	Bernhard E. Boser
32	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN665	BPN665 Website	MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration (MEPHI) System Demonstrator: High Resolution FMCW LADAR	Bernhard E. Boser, Ming C. Wu, Connie Chang-Hasnain, Eli Yablonovitch
33	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN540	BPN540 Website	Temperature Stable Micromechanical Resonators and Filters	Clark T.-C. Nguyen
35	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN359	BPN359 Website	Fully-Integrated Micromechanical Resonator-Based Reference Oscillators	Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Elad Alon
36	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN534	BPN534 Website	Fully Integrated Micromechanical Clock Oscillator	Clark T.-C. Nguyen
37	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN433	BPN433 Website	A Micromechanical Power Converter	Clark T.-C. Nguyen
38	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN435	BPN435 Website	A Micromechanical Power Amplifier	Clark T.-C. Nguyen
39	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN434	BPN434 Website	A Micromechanical RF Channelizer	Clark T.-C. Nguyen
40	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN682	BPN682 Website	Strong I/O Coupled High-Q Micromechanical Filters	Clark T.-C. Nguyen
41	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN676	BPN676 Website	Q-boosted Optomechanical Resonators	Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Ming C. Wu
42	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN701	BPN701 Website	Bridged Micromechanical Filters New Project	Clark T.-C. Nguyen
43	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN707	BPN707 Website	High-Order Micromechanical Electronic Filters New Project	Clark T.-C. Nguyen
44	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN709	BPN709 Website	Tunable & Switchable Micromechanical RF Filters New Project	Clark T.-C. Nguyen
45	Micropower	BPN394	BPN394 Website	QES: Micro LHP Chip Cooling System	Albert P. Pisano
46	Micropower	BPN660	BPN660 Website	QES: Micro LHP Chip Cooling System - Evaporator Design and Testing	Albert P. Pisano
47	Micropower	BPN662	BPN662 Website	QES: Micro LHP Cooler - An In-Situ Hermetic Seal for High Heat Flux Microfluidic Devices	Albert P. Pisano
48	Micropower	BPN670	BPN670 Website	QES: Micro LHP Cooler - Coherent Porous Silicon Wick for High Heat Flux and Capillary Pumping	Albert P. Pisano
49	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN490	BPN490 Website	QES: Microfluidic Reactors for Controlled Synthesis of Monodisperse Nanoparticles	Albert P. Pisano
50	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN658	BPN658 Website	QES: Nano-Composite Capacitor for High Performance Energy Storage	Albert P. Pisano
51	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN687	BPN687 Website	QES: Robust Optical Flame Detection in Harsh Environments	Albert P. Pisano, Liwei Lin
52	Micropower	BPN544	BPN544 Website	HEaTS: Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters for Harsh Environments	Albert P. Pisano
53	Micropower	BPN564	BPN564 Website	HEaTS: Harsh Environment MEMS for Downhole Geothermal Monitoring	Albert P. Pisano
54	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN424	BPN424 Website	HEaTS: Silicon Carbide Thin Film and Nanostructures for Harsh Environment Sensing and Energy Applications	Roya Maboudian, Carlo Carraro
55	Package, Process & Microassembly	BPN413	BPN413 Website	HEaTS: Bonding of SiC MEMS Sensors for Harsh Environments	Albert P. Pisano
56	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN638	BPN638 Website	HEaTS: SiC Devices and ICs for Harsh Environment Sensing	Albert P. Pisano
57	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN614	BPN614 Website	HEaTS: 4H-SiC FET Technology for Harsh Environment Sensing Application	Albert P. Pisano
58	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN663	BPN663 Website	HEaTS: SiC Diodes and Rectifiers for Harsh Environment Sensing Applications	Albert P. Pisano
59	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN644	BPN644 Website	HEaTS: SiC Bipolar Junction Transistors for Harsh Environment Sensing Applications	Albert P. Pisano
60	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN499	BPN499 Website	HEaTS: Aluminum Nitride Inertial Sensors for Harsh Environments	Albert P. Pisano
61	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN441	BPN441 Website	HEaTS: Temperature-Compensated & High-Q Aluminum Nitride Lamb Wave Resonators	Albert P. Pisano
62	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN693	BPN693 Website	HEaTs: Thermally Stable Aluminum Nitride Lamb Wave Resonators for Harsh Environment Applications	Albert P. Pisano
63	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN616	BPN616 Website	HEaTS: SiC Harsh Environment Pressure Sensors	Albert P. Pisano
64	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN661	BPN661 Website	HEaTS: SiC Thin-Film Flame Ionization Sensor	Albert P. Pisano
65	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN625	BPN625 Website	Direct Growth of High Quality III-V Semiconductors on Metal Foils for Low-cost, High-efficiency PVs	Ali Javey
66	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN704	BPN704 Website	Vapor-Liquid-Solid Growth of Polycrystalline Indium Phosphide Thin Films on Metal New Project	Ali Javey
67	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN686	BPN686 Website	Spatially Controlled Growth of III-V Semiconductors Toward Low-Cost and High-Efficiency PVs	Ali Javey
68	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN469	BPN469 Website	Ultra-Short Channel 1D-2D Compound Semiconductor on Insulator (XOI) FETs	Ali Javey
69	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN694	BPN694 Website	Monolayer Semiconductor Devices	Ali Javey
70	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN634	BPN634 Website	Low Voltage and Fast Response Actuators	Ali Javey
71	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN629	BPN629 Website	Large-Scale Carbon Nanotube Network Active Matrix Circuitry for Flexible and Stretchable Electronics	Ali Javey
72	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices	BPN659	BPN659 Website	High Performance Flexible Integrated Circuits Using Carbon Nanotube Networks	Ali Javey
73	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN698	BPN698 Website	Nanomaterial Based Macroscale Flexible Sensor System	Ali Javey
74	Microfluidics	BPN552	BPN552 Website	Light-Actuated Digital Microfluidics (Optoelectrowetting)	Ming C. Wu
75	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN700	BPN700 Website	Generation of Low Phase Noise mm-Waves New Project	Ming C. Wu
76	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN595	BPN595 Website	Fast Optical Phased Array for 10MHz Beamforming	Ming C. Wu, David A. Horsley
77	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN651	BPN651 Website	Cavity Optomechanics Experimentation	Ming C. Wu, Clark Nguyen
78	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN498	BPN498 Website	Integrated Silica Optomechanical Oscillators	Ming C. Wu
79	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN678	BPN678 Website	MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration (MEPHI)	Ming C. Wu, Bernhard E. Boser, Connie Chang-Hasnain, Shun Lien Chuang, Eli Yablonovitch
80	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN710	BPN710 Website	Reconfigurable Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits New Project	Ming C. Wu
81	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN671	BPN671 Website	Sub-Microsecond MEMS for Optical Switching and Filtering	Ming C. Wu
82	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN458	BPN458 Website	Optical Antenna-Based nanoLED	Ming C. Wu
83	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN703	BPN703 Website	Directly Modulated High-Speed nanoLED Utilizing Optical Antenna Enhanced Light Emission New Project	Ming C. Wu
84	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging	BPN609	BPN609 Website	Optical Antenna-Based Photodetectors	Ming C. Wu
85	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN683	BPN683 Website	OpenWSN: A Standards-Based Low-Power Wireless Development Environment	Kristopher S.J. Pister
86	Micropower	BPN648	BPN648 Website	Fully Integrated, Low Input Voltage, Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converter for Energy Harvesting Applications	Kristofer S.J. Pister
87	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN696	BPN696 Website	Energy Monitoring for the Smart Building Using Low-Power Wireless Sensors	Kristofer S.J. Pister, Alexandre M. Bayen, Costas J. Spanos
88	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN705	BPN705 Website	Standard CMOS-Based Stick-On Electricity Meters for Building Sub-Metering New Project	Kristofer S.J. Pister, Steven Lanzisera
89	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN596	BPN596 Website	Smart Fence and other Wireless Sensing Applications for Critical Industrial Environments	Kristofer S.J. Pister
90	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust	BPN392	BPN392 Website	Mobile Airborne Particulate Matter Monitor for Cellular Deployment	Richard M. White, Lara Gundel
91	Micropower	BPN562	BPN562 Website	AC Energy Scavenging for Smart Grid Sensing	Richard M. White
92	Micropower	BPN654	BPN654 Website	Electret-Based Voltage Sensing and Energy Harvesting from Energized Conductors	Richard M. White, Paul K. Wright
93	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN505	BPN505 Website	Deployment of Wireless Stick-On Circuit Breaker PEM AC Sensors for the Smart Grid	Richard M. White, Paul K. Wright
94	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN697	BPN697 Website	Natural Gas Pipeline Research	Richard M. White, Paul K. Wright
95	Physical Sensors & Devices	BPN653	BPN653 Website	Biologically Inspired Self-Activated Building Envelope Regulation System (SABERS)	Luke P. Lee, Maria-Paz Gutierrez
96	BioMEMS	BPN512	BPN512 Website	Electrophysiological Cell Sorting	Luke P. Lee
97	Microfluidics	BPN627	BPN627 Website	Stencil Patterning Method Improves Uniformity of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Colonies	Luke P. Lee
98	Microfluidics	BPN679	BPN679 Website	A Diagnostic Chip Using Isothermal Amplification for Emerging Pandemic Diseases	Luke P. Lee
99	Microfluidics	BPN611	BPN611 Website	Integrated Amplification and Readout for Multiplexed Biomarker Detection in a Rapid, Simple and Inexpensive Microfluidic System	Luke P. Lee
100	Microfluidics	BPN543	BPN543 Website	Modular Biomolecular Signal Amplification for Colorimetric Point-of-Care Diagnostics	Luke P. Lee
101	Microfluidics	BPN668	BPN668 Website	Microfluidic Chemo-Sensitivity Assay Platform (µCAP) for Personalized Breast Cancer Therapy and Research	Luke P. Lee
102	BioMEMS	BPN622	BPN622 Website	Design of an Ex-vivo Prototype of a Bioartificial Kidney for Small Animals	Dorian Liepmann, Shuvo Roy
103	Microfluidics	BPN695	BPN695 Website	Hydrodynamics of Marine Larval Locomotion	Dorian Liepmann, Mimi Koehl
104	Microfluidics	BPN621	BPN621 Website	Microfluidic Separation of Blood for SIMBAS Biosensor	Dorian Liepmann
105	Microfluidics	BPN711	BPN711 Website	Point-of-Care System for Quantitative Measurements of Blood Analytes Using Graphene-Based Sensors New Project	Dorian Liepmann
106	Package, Process & Microassembly	BPN712	BPN712 Website	Bridging Research-to-Commercialization Gaps through Facilitated Intermediaries New Project	John M. Huggins
107	Package, Process & Microassembly	BPN480	BPN480 Website	AM Fitzgerald: MEMS Design, Prototyping, Modeling, Failure Prediction and Foundry Transfer	John M. Huggins
108	Package, Process & Microassembly	BPN354	BPN354 Website	The Nanoshift Concept: Innovation through Design, Development, Prototyping and Fabrication for MEMS, Microfluidics, Nano and Clean Technologies at the UC Berkeley NanoLab	John M. Huggins

Project Abstracts

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN571
Project Title	Implantable Microengineered Neural Interfaces for Studying and Controlling Insects
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	insect, vision, neural interface, micro aerial vehicle
Researchers	Joshua van Kleef, Daniel J. Cohen
Abstract	Our goal is to control the flight of an insect by hijacking its visual system. Flying insects still significantly outperform the most sophisticated flying robots in efficiency, stability and manoeuvrability and this gap is expected to continue for some years to come. Their incredible flying ability relies heavily on sensory feedback from a well-developed visual system that has been studied in significant detail. We use microtechnology to manufacture small biocompatible neural interfaces that are chronically implanted in pupae brains. By taking advantage of the healing that occurs when the pupae metamorphose into adult-form our interfaces can be embedded deep within the visual processing area without permanent impairment. These implanted devices are very stable and can be used to record or electrically stimulate responses from multiple neurons. By recording from multiple neurons we aim to gain new insight into how visual information is processed within the visual neural network, because, thus far, almost all recordings from the insect brain have been of individual neurons. The information we gain will aid in the biomimetic design of sensors for aerial vehicles. Further, by combining the data from multi-neuron recordings with the wealth of knowledge that already exists in the area of insect sensorimotor processing, we aim to design electrical stimulation patterns that would allow us to ‘trick’ the insect into responding to fictitious self-movements. We aim to use these ‘ghost’ stimuli to remote-control the insect’s flight while at the same time capitalizing on their remarkable natural flying abilities.
Contact Information	vankleef@berkeley.edu, dancohen@berkeley.edu, maharbiz@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Michel M. Maharbiz

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN584
Project Title	Design, Fabrication and Testing of a High Density, Large Area µECoG Array
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	ECoG, EEG, neuro prosthetics, neural interface, neural probe
Researchers	Peter Ledochowitsch, Raphael Tiefenauer
Abstract	Electrocorticography (ECoG) strives to bridge the gap between traditional electroencephalography (EEG) and microneedle array recordings. While requiring a craniectomy, ECoG does not damage cortical tissue and is thus less invasive than microneedles. ECoG can achieve significantly higher spatiotemporal resolution than EEG because ECoG-electrodes are placed much closer to the signal sources in the brain. Commercially available ECoG arrays feature a small number of channels (<64) and a large electrode pitch (> 4 mm). Such coarse arrays likely undersample the signals available on the cortex surface. There is currently no agreement on the optimal inter-electrode pitch in the community and surprisingly little research has been published on the topic of optimal inter- electrode spacing for ECoG. I am designing, fabricating, packaging and testing a flexible, large-scale (>256 electrodes) high- density (pitch < 0.5 mm) ECoG array. Scaling-down an ECoG array and increasing the number of recording sites poses many engineering challenges in terms of SNR, interconnects complexity and device lifetime. Addressing these challenges lies at the heart of my project. Data collected from the array in vivo will allow conclusions about optimal electrode spacing and size. All devices will be optimized for decreased impedance resulting in better SNR.
Contact Information	ledochowitsch@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Michel M. Maharbiz

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN699 New Project
Project Title	A Modular System for High-Density, Multi-Scale Electrophysiology
Status	New
Funding Source	NSF
Keywords	Neuroengineering, Nanoprobes, Optogenetics, ASIC, BioMEMS
Researchers	Maysamreza Chamanzar
Abstract	Truly large-scale electrophysiology simultaneous recording of thousands of individual neurons in multiple brain areas remains an elusive goal of systems neuroscience. The traditional approach of studying single neurons in isolation assumes that the brain can be understood one component at a time. However, in order to fully understand the function of whole brain circuits it is essential to observe the interactions of large numbers of neurons in multiple brain areas simultaneously with high spatiotemporal resolution. This project will establish a complete system for multi-scale electrophysiology in awake, freely behaving mice, using state-of-the-art nano neural interfaces comprising of tiny silicon probes integrated with on- chip optical waveguides and compliant monolithic polymer cables connected a unique light- weight head-mounted recording system built around a commercially available application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that has been custom designed for electrophysiological recordings, combining signal amplification, filtering, signal multiplexing, and digital sampling on a single chip. With this technology, optogenetic excitation or inhibition of neurons can occur simultaneously with the recording of large ensembles of individual neurons in many different brain regions. The diminutive size of the proposed instrument will revolutionize studies of the neuronal correlates of behavior, especially in small animals such as mice. Beyond fundamental neuroscience research, results from this project will further advance the development of next- generation neural prosthetic devices.
Contact Information	chamanzar@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Michel Maharbiz, Tim Blanche

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN690
Project Title	Manipulating Cellular Behavior and Wound Healing via Local Electric Field Stimulation
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	medicine, tissue engineering, microfabrication, bioengineering
Researchers	Daniel J. Cohen
Abstract	One of the first things that happens when you cut your skin is that a DC electric field arises at the wound site. This field, first discovered in the mid-1800s, is called 'the wound field', and has been shown to exist in a variety of forms in a variety of wounds. The salient point of the wound field is that there is reason to believe that we may be able to manipulate it to improve how our injuries heal in certain cases. In particular, we are considering assisting healing of injuries to skin, intestine, and bone using a device that can encompass the wound site, monitor particular physiological metrics (pH, endogenous electric signals, etc.), and electrically stimulate the wound to improve the quality and rate of healing. In order to better define how this device will look, we are currently conducting in vitro testing with our own microfabricated stimulation devices and epithelial cells that are involved in natural wound healing. While it has long been known that such cells will orient and move in the presence of DC electric fields, we are not aware of prior efforts to explore the degree of control that can be achieved by dynamically manipulating local electrical fields. For instance, if we take a cluster of cells and apply a localized field over just part of that cluster, can we locally sculpt the developing tissue? An interesting detail of this approach is that many of the analytical techniques we will be using are derived directly from those used to study emergent behavior in herding sheep, flocking birds, schooling fish, and large crowds of humans. Our goal is to use the minimum control inputs necessary to effect system level change in a tissue. Depending on how successful this is, these approaches could provide new ways of interacting not just with injuries but also with laboratory tissue engineering where we try to recapitulate the developmental environment to regenerate damaged organs or grow new organs.
Contact Information	daniel.cohen@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Michel M. Maharbiz

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN518
Project Title	Synthetic Turing Patterns
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	synthetic biology, pattern generation, developmental biology
Researchers	Justin Hsia, William J. Holtz
Abstract	Understanding symmetry breaking is at the heart of developmental biology, from the origins of polarity, cellular differentiations, and how the leopard got its spots, as well as crucial to the future engineering of complex cellular ensembles. Alan Turing proposed a simple mathematical model that explains how the reaction-diffusion mechanism can cause an initially uniform concentration in an ensemble of cells to spontaneously become non-uniform and form patterns (Turing patterns). To date, no true synthetic Turing patterns have been created using gene networks, so our goal is to design and implement the first synthetic gene circuit that can spontaneously produce patterning via diffusion-driven instability in an ensemble of cells (E. coli). In addition, the main engine driving Turing pattern formation is a robust nonlinear circuit, such as a bistable or oscillatory network. Creating these nonlinear circuits will be beneficial both as a major step in the eventual creation of Turing pattern generators as well as modular circuits for synthetic biology.
Contact Information	jhsia@eecs.berkeley.edu, arcak@eecs.berkeley.edu, maharbiz@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Murat Arcak, Michel M. Maharbiz

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN519
Project Title	Harvesting Energy from Evaporation
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Synthetic leaf, Rotor, Charge pump, Energy scavenging
Researchers	Vedavalli G. Krishnan, Amrit Kashyap
Abstract	Mimicking the transport of water in plants, the goal of this project is to harvest energy from evaporation-driven flows. This will be achieved by the use of an efficient micro-hydro power generator that is driven by the creeping flow of evaporation and fabricating a synthetic leaf that mimics the transport and transpiration of water in plants.
Contact Information	vedavalli@berkeley.edu, maharbiz@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Michel M. Maharbiz

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN574
Project Title	On-Chip Micro-Inductor
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Inductor, On-Chip, RF
Researchers	Kisik Koh, Chia-Meng Chen
Abstract	On-chip inductors are key passive elements to high-power and radio frequency (RF) integrated circuits (ICs). This project aims to realize super-compact on-chip micro-inductor with magnetic media for high-power and RF IC's, including: 1) to explore low-loss, high resonance frequency magnetic material for inductor application; 2) to develop magnetic-material integration process; 3) to realize the super-compact magnetic-embedded inductor. The long-term objectives for this project are to resolve the current problem of lacking compact-size high-performance on-chip inductors, and then reduces the whole circuit cost significantly and helps the practical realization of RF systems-on-a- chip (SoCs) for real-world applications.
Contact Information	kskoh@berkeley.edu, cmchen@me.berkeley.edu, lwlin@me.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN473
Project Title	Next-Generation Microfluidic Components, Circuits and Systems
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Microparticles, Lab-on-a-chip, Microbeads, Dynamic Microarrays, Cells, Optofluidic Lithography,
Researchers	Ryan D. Sochol
Abstract	Mechanical engineering methods and microfabrication techniques offer powerful means for solving biological challenges. In particular, microfabrication processes enable researchers to develop technologies at scales that are biologically relevant and advantageous for executing biochemical reactions. Here, microfluidic and optofluidic methodologies are employed to develop autonomous microfluidic components, circuits, and systems for chemical and biological applications.
Contact Information	rsochol@me.berkeley.edu,
Advisor	Liwei Lin, Luke P. Lee

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN706 New Project
Project Title	Single-Layer Microfluidic Gain Valves via Optofluidic Lithography
Status	New
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	microfluidic, gain, valve
Researchers	Casey C. Glick, Ryan D. Sochol, Ki Tae Wolf, Vishnu Jayaprakash, Sebastian Miller-Hack, Kosuke Iwai
Abstract	This project aims to create single-layer microfluidic gain valves for use in microfluidic devices. Autonomous microfluidic devices are essential for the long-term development of versatile biological and chemical platforms; however, the challenges of creating effective control mechanisms – e.g., the need for variable pressure sources, signal degradation in cascaded devices, and multi-stage manufacture methods – have proven considerable. Using in situ optofluidic lithography, we develop a single-layer pressure-based valve system with a static gain greater than unity. We will demonstrate the device in several microfluidic circuits, including logic gates and amplifiers. These pressure gain-based systems will enable microfluidic devices with a wide range of applications, such as flow rectifiers, oscillators, and high-precision pressure measurements. Due to ease of manufacture and design flexibility, this valve design could have widespread Lab-on-a-Chip applications by enabling self-regulation of microfluidic devices.
Contact Information	cglick@berkeley.edu, rsochol@gmail.com, k.iwai@berkeley.edu, lwlin@me.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN586
Project Title	Integrated Finger-Powered Microfluidic Pumps for Point-of-Care Diagnostics
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Micropump, Microfluidics, Point-of-care Diagnostics, Lab-on-a-chip
Researchers	Kosuke Iwai, Ryan D. Sochol
Abstract	This project aims for developing a new 'human-powered' microfluidic system for point-of-care diagnostics applications. Chip- based microfluidics offers a promising platform for biological studies; however, bulky and expensive equipments such as syringe pumps limit the application. To minimize the total setup, we propose an alternative 'human-powered' fluid pumping device. Pressure generated by human finger works as a major power source to pump fluids into microfluidic devices without any electricity. As we use common softlithography fabrication process, our system can be easily integrated with existing microfluidic systems such as microdroplet generator or cell encapsulating system. In addition, it is possible, in the future, to apply injection molding to significantly reduce the cost for industrial applications. Our portable, easy-to-operate system offers an effective method for pumping fluid into microfluidic devices for expanding biological applications such as drug screening or point-of-care diagnostics.
Contact Information	k.iwai@berkeley.edu, rsochol@me.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN702 New Project
Project Title	A Continuous-Flow Microdroplets Lysis System
Status	New
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Railing, Continuous Flow, Microdroplets, Lab-on-a Chip
Researchers	Kosuke Iwai, E. Yegan Erdem, Ryan D. Sochol
Abstract	This Project aims for developing a versatile continuous-flow system for lysing microdroplet. Microdroplets have been widely utilized in diverse chemical and biological research and applications such as DNA sequencing or nanoparticle synthesis. Although highly robust and easy handling techniques of droplets are essential for those purposes, difficulties still remain in retrieving inner contents (e.g. cells, microbeads, biomolecules, reagents) of droplets for further experiments. Here we present a novel microfluidic system to achieve three distinctive accomplishments: (i) guiding droplets between different phase flows, oil flow and water flow, (ii) rapid washing process of surfactant on droplets, and (iii) quick and easy lysing of droplets and releasing their contents into water flow. The presented system offers a high-throughput method to wash and water-in-oil droplets for expanding droplet-based applications.
Contact Information	k.iwai@berkeley.edu, yeganerdem@berkeley.edu, rsochol@me.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin, Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN438
Project Title	Microengineered Technologies for Controlling Cellular Functions
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	cell migration, cell motility, cell locomotion, BAECs, microtopography, Durotaxis, Anisotropy, Elliptical, Mechanotaxis, Spatiotaxis, MicroSprings, Microposts, Micropillars,
Researchers	Ryan D. Sochol
Abstract	Mechanical engineering methods and microfabrication techniques offer powerful means for solving biological challenges. In particular, micro/nanofabrication processes enable researchers to engineer technologies at scales that are biologically relevant and advantageous for both controlling and sensing cellular functions. Here, novel micro/nanoengineered platforms are employed to investigate and regulate cellular processes.
Contact Information	rsochol@me.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin, Song Li

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN675
Project Title	Implantable Micro Drug Delivery System
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Drug delivery, implantable, magnetic membrane, controlled delivery, external actuation
Researchers	Nazly Pirmoradi, Casey C. Glick
Abstract	Implantable drug delivery devices that allow for remote, repeatable, and reliable drug delivery are expected to greatly improve the efficacy of medical treatments in the near future. However, few delivery systems to date have met the necessary requirements - sufficient drug storage, precision control over drug delivery, and on-demand activation - to be broadly useful. In this project, we develop an implantable drug delivery device that can be remotely controlled for several years without replacement. The device relies on several critical components: (i) pumping source, (ii) remotely triggered valves, and (iii) microfluidic channels and device capsule. We investigate different pumping mechanisms, including a magnetic pump triggered remotely by an external magnetic field, and an electrolytic pump that receives its power from an external RF source. The remotely triggered valves are realized using magnetically functionalized nano-membranes, which allow for precision control over the rate of drug delivery by altering the membranes’ porosity. The device capsule, made of a biocompatible polymer, is designed to link all components of the drug delivery device via microfluidic channels. These devices can potentially be utilized in the treatment of diseases such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and cancer.
Contact Information	pirmoradi@berkeley.edu, cglick@berkeley.edu, lwlin@me.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN708 New Project
Project Title	Direct-Write Graphene Channel Field Effect with Self-Aligned Top Gate
Status	New
Funding Source	NSF
Keywords	Near Field Electrospinning, Graphene Transistor, Top Gate, Self Alignment
Researchers	Yumeng Liu
Abstract	The project amis at using Near Field Electrospinnin to fabricate top gate graphene transistor that is capable to pattern the source and drain electrodes through a self-alignment process, and the long range goals is to direct writing graphene transistors onto flexible and transparent substrate for low cost circuit applications, say RF mixer. As the conventional top gated device fabrication process often introduces the deposition of thin inorganic dielectric onto graphene layer with extra surface functionalizations, leading to an undesired damage of graphene lattice, or a non-ideal device geometry with excessive serial resistance or parasitic capacitance, here we investigate a self-aligned top gate graphene transistor process that could address those challenges by directly writing organic gate dielectrics onto graphene channel and precisely position the source, drain and gate electrode by self-alignment without significant overlappings or gaps between electrodes.
Contact Information	yumengliu@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN606
Project Title	Carbon Nanotube Films for Energy Storage Applications
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	Carbon Nanotube, Supercapacitor, Energy Storage, Flexible
Researchers	Alina Kozinda
Abstract	As energy demands continue to rise, it becomes imperative to have efficient energy storage devices with high energy and power density. At the same time, the space inside devices continues to shrink, making energy storage devices which possess not only high energy/power density, but also an adjustable shape to fit into various form factors an ideal solution. Energy storage devices made from flexible electrodes could be attractive in a roll-up or surface-conformed format to minimize space usage. A mechanically flexible CNT supercapacitor electrode is demonstrated using a water solution-assisted film lift-off and densification process. The electrode exhibits the following three features: (1) each CNT has a natural contact to its as-fabricated current- collecting metal layer; (2) the CNTs and the bottom metal layer are intact during the water-assisted lift-off process; and (3) the in- situ liquid evaporation and densification process naturally occurs to dramatically increase volumetric energy density. Because of the ability of the film to be lifted off of its original growth substrate, the application for same-chip CMOS energy storage devices is feasible. In addition, this flexible CNT supercapacitor electrode has the potential to conform to various surfaces, as well as to be implemented in devices which are required to bend with use, such as in roll-up electronics.
Contact Information	kozinda@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN517
Project Title	Facile Synthesis of Nanostructures for Renewable Energy and Gas Sensing Applications
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	nanostructures, renewable energy, copper oxide, gas sensing
Researchers	Kevin Limkrailassiri
Abstract	Oxide semiconductors have been attracting great interest for renewable energy and sensing applications due to their earth- abundance, stability, and cost-effectiveness. In this project, we explore cupric oxide (CuO) nanowires, which are grown in highly dense and vertically aligned arrays via thermal oxidation of copper foil in ambient air. This material shows great promise for photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution owing to a desirable electronic band gap and exceptional light-trapping properties. Initial results reveal a photocurrent comparable to other high-performing oxide photoelectrodes. In addition, we demonstrate a top contact methodology for instant integration of CuO nanowires for hydrogen gas sensing. This methodology provides a simple solution to the ongoing challenge of harvesting nanostructured materials for gas sensing application, bypassing laborious and expensive photolithography and thin-film metallization steps. In sum, these applications highlight the great versatility of CuO nanowires.
Contact Information	kevinlim@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN672
Project Title	Solar Hydrogen Production by Photocatalytic Water Splitting
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Non-BSAC
Keywords	Solar energy, photocatalysis, titanium dioxide, nanostructures
Researchers	Roseanne H. Warren
Abstract	Photocatalytic water splitting is the process of converting water into hydrogen and oxygen with solar energy using a photocatalytic material. When light is absorbed by the photocatalyst, an electron-hole pair is generated that interacts with water molecules in a surface reduction-oxidation reaction to decompose the water into hydrogen and oxygen. One of the greatest challenges in photocatalysis is engineering the photocatalytic material for high conversion efficiency and wide absorption spectrum in the visible light range. Crystalline nano-structures have demonstrated promising capabilities as photocatalysts due to their high surface area-to-volume ratios and ability to be densely grown at large scales. This project aims to improve the performance of photocatalytic nano-structures, in particular TiO2 nanowires, using innovative growth processes, co-catalytic materials, and band-gap manipulation.
Contact Information	warrenr@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Liwei Lin

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN645
Project Title	Highly-Parallel Magnetically-Actuated Microvalves
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	microfluidics, microvalves, magnetics, bioMEMS
Researchers	Pauline J. Chang, Mei-Lin Chan, Mischa Megens
Abstract	This project aims to develop highly-parallel, magnetically-actuated microvalves using MOS- compatible technology. Current state-of-the-art microvalve technologies require extensive supporting experimental apparatus and do not yield true lab-on-a-chip functionality. Here, the focus is placed on true chip-scale valve arrays based on low-power, on-chip magnetic coils which are used to actuate 100 micron diameter magnetic spheres that serve as the valve sealing surface. Prior studies of magnetic bead manipulation by planar coils, spin-valve arrays, and rotating magnetic fields have focused on the transport of small 1~50 micron diameter microbeads. In this work, the paramagnetic beads are magnetized using an external permanent magnet, allowing milliampere-level currents to generate large bipolar actuation force for valve opening/closure. The magnetically-actuated valves are self-assembled over each coil in a large chip-scale array by dispersing beads onto the chip and magnetically trapping a bead on top of each valve seat. Successful development of this technology will have various applications in parallel chemical synthesis and bioanalysis devices.
Contact Information	pjch@ucdavis.edu, dahorsley@ucdavis.edu
Advisor	David A. Horsley

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN656
Project Title	Airborne Particulate Monitoring Using a Micromechanical Electrometer
Status	New
Funding Source	BSAC Member Fees
Keywords	charge sensing, air-quality, electrometer
Researchers	Gerardo Jaramillo
Abstract	Environmental air quality is monitored by accurately sizing and quantifying nanometer-sized aerosol particles present in the atmosphere. One method of detection electrically charges the particles and then feeds a stream of charged particles into a Faraday cup electrometer. We present the first results of a MEMS based electrometer for the detection of small currents from ionized particles in a particle detection system.
Contact Information	geomartinez@ucdavis.edu, dahorsley@ucdavis.edu
Advisor	David A. Horsley

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN599
Project Title	MEMS Electronic Compass: Three-axis Magnetometer
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords
Researchers	Vashwar T. Rouf, Mo Li
Abstract	The goal of this is project is to develop a low-power three axis MEMS magnetic sensor suitable for use as an electronic compass in smart phones and portable electronics. Our objective is to achieve a resolution of 200 nT/rt Hz and power consumption of 5mW/axis with DC power supply of 3.3V. To enable co-integration with a 3-axis accelerometer, we seek to optimize sensor performance without the need for a vacuum seal. Although past devices designed by our group have demonstrated that our resolution goal is reachable, these devices suffered from dc offset larger than Earth�s field and required an external programmable oscillator for operation. Here, we aim to reduce offset by two orders of magnitude and develop self-oscillation loops to excite the sensor at its natural frequency.
Contact Information	vtrouf@ucdavis.edu,dahorsley@ucdavis.edu,moxli@ucdavis.edu
Advisor	David A. Horsley

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN642
Project Title	10 MHz Optical Phased Array Metrology and Control
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	optical beam steering, phased array, interferometry, high contrast gratings, MEMS, near-infrared
Researchers	Mischa Megens
Abstract	Very fast optical beam steering and wave front correction can be achieved by employing phased arrays of lightweight High Contrast Grating (HCG) MEMS mirror etalons. The etalons provide a large phase shift for a small displacement, 100x more than traditional reflective mirror elements. Operating such etalon arrays requires exquisite control of the MEMS mirror displacements. Our aim is to use in-situ stroboscopic interferometric imaging of the etalons to ensure phase accuracy and combat long term-drift, while employing feed-forward electrical input shaping to achieve fast settling time and precise phase tracking in a power-efficient way.
Contact Information	megens@eecs.berkeley.edu, dahorsley@ucdavis.edu
Advisor	Dave A. Horsley, Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN466
Project Title	Aluminum Nitride Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	Aluminum Nitride, Piezoelectric, Ultrasound Transducers, MEMS
Researchers	Stefon Shelton, Andre Guedes
Abstract	The objective of the current research is to fabricate and characterize aluminum nitride piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducers (pMUTs) for use in range finding and gesture recognition applications. MEMS Aluminum Nitride (AlN) piezoelectric sensor technology has been chosen to integrate the MEMS AlN pMUTs above CMOS on a silicon substrate. The ultimate goal of this research is to integrate MEMS AlN pMUTs with supporting electronics on one chip to minimize chip size, energy usage, and cost. Guided by both analytic and finite element models the optimum design parameters are chosen to obtain the desired resonant frequency, maximum output sound pressure for transmitter, and maximum sensitivity for receiver. We are currently exploring both fully clamped and partially released circular membrane designs for single element and 2-D transducer arrays.
Contact Information	seshelton@ucdavis.edu, aguedes@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	David A. Horsley

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN628
Project Title	High Frequency Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	piezoelectric, ultrasound transducers, Aluminum Nitride, medical imaging, biometrics
Researchers	Yipeng Lu, Stefon Shelton, Andre Guedes
Abstract	The goal of the current research is to design and fabricate high frequency (40MHz) Aluminum Nitride (AlN) piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducers (pMUTs) to be used in photoacoustic and pulse echo imaging, such as real time three dimensional medical imaging and biometric fingerprint authentication. Piezoelectric membranes are to be fabricated and tested in annular arrays which enable acoustic focus control and/or phased array beam. These will then be integrated above CMOS on a silicon substrate.
Contact Information	yplu@ucdavis.edu,dahorsley@ucdavis.edu
Advisor	David A. Horsley

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN603
Project Title	Hemispherical Resonator Gyro
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	MEMS, Gyroscope, micro-EDM, Diamond
Researchers	Amir Heidari, Hsueh-An Yang, Hadi Najar
Abstract	The goal of this project is to realize a micro rate-integrating gyroscope that produces an output signal proportional to rotation angle rather than rotation rate. If successful, this device would eliminate the need of integrating the gyroscope’s rate output to obtain the angle. Realizing a micro rate-integrating gyroscope can be achieved by fabricating hemispherical resonating shells with extremely close frequency matching (Δf < 10 Hz) and a very high quality factor (Q > 1 million). Structures must be highly axisymmetric and micro-finished to nanometer scale roughness.
Contact Information	dahorsley@ucdavis.edu, aheidari@ucdavis.edu, d917706@gmail.com, hnajar@ucdavis.edu
Advisor	David A. Horsley

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN684
Project Title	Integrated Microgyroscopes with Improved Scale-Factor and Bias Stability
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	gyroscope, inertial sensor, signal processing, CMOS
Researchers	Jason Su, Sarah Nitzan
Abstract	Despite their small size, low power dissipation, and low cost, the large bias and scale factor errors of current MEMS inertial sensors preclude using them for dead reckoning navigation. Although these shortcomings can be overcome with precision manufacturing and extensive calibration, such solutions suffer from high cost and secondary effects such as long term drift. Presently, the use of in-situ calibration techniques in MEMS sensors is limited to the electronic interfaces, where they are instrumental for reducing drift arising from electronic components. This project extends the benefit of electronic background calibration to the MEMS transducer to continuously reduce scale factor and bias errors arising from manufacturing tolerances and drift.
Contact Information	dahorsley@ucdavis.edu, sarah.nitzan@gmail.com, thssu@ucdavis.edu
Advisor	David A. Horsley

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN655
Project Title	Materials for High Quality-Factor Resonating Gyroscopes
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	MEMS gyroscopes, inertial sensors, surface micromachining, High Q materials, CVD diamond
Researchers	Hadi Najar, Amir Heidari, Sean Yang
Abstract	This project will investigate new materials suitable for achieving Q-factors in excess of 1 million in resonating gyroscopes. Experimental studies of dissipation caused by thermoelastic and surface losses will be performed using resonator test structures. The effect of doping and microstructure is explored on CVD diamond MEMS resonators. Hundreds of surface micromachined double ended tuning fork (DETF) resonators were fabricated in nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) and microcrystalline diamond (MCD) films deposited using hot filament CVD technique with varying levels of Boron doping. Higher boron doping resulted in reduced Q due to defect losses. Higher surface loss was observed in both MCD and NCD as doping increased. Observed Q-factors were almost the same for MCD and NCD at frequencies near 10 MHz.
Contact Information	dahorsley@ucdavis.edu, hnajar@ucdavis.edu, d917706@gmail.com, aheidari@ucdavis.edu
Advisor	David A. Horsley

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN649
Project Title	Magnetic Particle Flow Cytometer
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	BSAC Member Fees
Keywords	magnetic flow cytometry
Researchers	Pramod Murali
Abstract	Flow Cytometry is a powerful technique used in health and disease diagnostics. This technique is used to analyze and sort individual cells of a biological sample. Some of the applications include, HIV and cancer detection, water quality monitoring, food safety among many others. Commercial equipments use laser source and an optical detector to study cells labeled with fluorescent molecules. Such an approach is expensive, bulky and suffers from optical background noise. We propose to replace the fluorescent markers with magnetic nano-particles (MNPs) to be detected by CMOS chips. Apart from eliminating the need for sample preparation, this approach has the advantage of being low cost, portable and disposable. Neel’s relaxation of MNPs leads to a frequency dependent complex susceptibility behaviour. The relaxation time constant depends on the nano-particle size and material. We use this phenomenon to distinguish different cells. Currently, we are in the process of characterizing different MNPs to observe Neel’s relaxation. Our goal is to combine the advantages of CMOS technology and the numerous applications of Flow Cytometry to meet the needs of point-of-care diagnostics.
Contact Information	pramodm@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Bernhard E. Boser

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN685
Project Title	In-Vivo Imaging of Microscopic Residual Disease in Cancer
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	cancer, imaging, radiation, surgery, breast, oncology
Researchers	Mekhail Anwar
Abstract	Successful treatment of early stage cancer depends on the ability to resect both gross and microscopic disease. Microscopic residual disease (MRD) can lead to increased risk for local recurrence (LR) and reduced overall survival (OS). Currently, no methods exist to intraoperatively assess whether individual cancer cells remain in the tumor bed; only post-operative pathologic evaluation of the tumor for molecular tumor markers, requiring several days in a laboratory setting, can definitely identify MRD. A prime example of this occurs in the over 50,000 women each year who are diagnosed with breast cancer, and are found to have MRD after lumpectomy. Elimination of MRD in breast cancer is known to reduce the need for second surgical procedures, half the LR rate from 30% to 15%, and increase breast cancer survival. Therefore a method of imaging MRD intraoperatively to guide complete resection is essential. This projects seeks to develop a method for intraoperatively identifying microscopic residual disease.
Contact Information	anwarme@radonc.ucsf.edu
Advisor	Bernhard E. Boser

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN608
Project Title	FM Gyroscope
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	gyroscope, calibration, rate-integrating, whole-angle
Researchers	Mitchell H. Kline, Igor Izyumin, Yu-Ching Yeh, Burak Eminoglu
Abstract	We present a gyroscope operating mode that reduces bias errors and scale factor drift and allows whole angle read-out. The gyroscope proof mass orbits in a circle at its natural frequency. An outside observer rotating under the proof mass then perceives a frequency change. If the observer rotates in the same direction as the orbital spin, the perceived frequency decreases, and in the opposite direction, the frequency increases. The addition of a second gyroscope that spins in the opposite direction enables a differential measurement, reducing temperature sensitivity. The frequency difference is exactly the angular rate; thus, the phase difference is the whole angle. Rate bias errors due to mechanical quadrature and cross-axis damping are periodic on the current angle of the proof mass relative to the sensor frame and are hence averaged out over one cycle. A 3-theta dual ring gyroscope chip with integrated CMOS buffer electronics and an off-chip controller demonstrates the technique.
Contact Information	mitchellk@berkeley.edu, izyumin@eecs.berkeley.edu, ycyeh@eecs.berkeley.edu, eminoglu@eecs.berkeley.e
Advisor	Bernhard E. Boser

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN485
Project Title	Ultrasonic Depth Sensing on a Chip
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	MEMS, ultrasound, ultrasonic transducer, pMUT, piezoelectric, CMOS, rangefinder, distance sensor, depth sensor, gesture recognition
Researchers	Richard J. Przybyla, Hao-Yen Tang
Abstract	Optical 3D imagers for gesture recognition, such as Microsoft Kinect, suffer from large size and high power consumption. Their performance depends on ambient illumination and they generally cannot operate in sunlight. These factors have prevented widespread adoption of gesture interfaces in energy- and volume-limited environments such as tablets and smartphones. Gesture recognition using sound is an attractive candidate to overcome these difficulties because of the potential for chip-scale solution size, low power consumption, and ambient light insensitivity. Our research focuses on building a 2D ultrasonic depth sensor system using batch-fabricated micromachined aluminum nitride (AlN) ultrasonic transducer arrays and custom CMOS electronics. We have made significant progress towards this goal by demonstrating a 2D rangefinder which measures distance and angle to objects up to 750mm away.
Contact Information	rjp@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Bernhard E. Boser

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN665
Project Title	MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration (MEPHI) System Demonstrator: High Resolution FMCW LADAR
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	Photonics
Researchers	Behnam Behroozpour, Frank Rao
Abstract	In recent years we have seen a growing demand for 3D cameras for applications such as gaming, entertainment, and autonomous vehicles. Present solutions suffer from high power dissipation and large size. This project leverages wafer-level assembly of standard CMOS electronics with high performance optical components including lasers, photo-diodes, interferometers and waveguides to reduce size, cost and power dissipation.
Contact Information	behroozpour@berkeley.edu, boser@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Bernhard E. Boser, Ming C. Wu, Connie Chang-Hasnain, Eli Yablonovitch

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN540
Project Title	Temperature Stable Micromechanical Resonators and Filters
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords	µmechanical resonator, electrical stiffness, compensation, frequency drift
Researchers	Ruonan Liu
Abstract	This project aims to suppress thermal drift in high frequency micromechanical resonators targeted for channel-select or wide-band filter applications. Among the more promising methods to be explored is electrical stiffness compensation, in which a temperature-dependent electrode-to-resonator gap spacing is employed to generate a temperature-dependent electrical stiffness that then counteracts the resonator's intrinsic dependence on temperature.
Contact Information	liur@eecs.berkeley.edu, ctnguyen@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN359
Project Title	Fully-Integrated Micromechanical Resonator-Based Reference Oscillators
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	MEMS, Oscillators
Researchers	Thura Lin Naing, Tristan Rocheleau
Abstract	This project aims to achieve a micromechanical-based reference oscillator that meets or exceeds the requirements of the GSM standard and investigates short-term stability of the MEMS oscillators: particularly, phase noise and acceleration sensitivity of oscillators. In addition to providing a highly accurate, on-chip frequency reference, a fully-integrated oscillator can achieve greater stability (particularly acceleration sensitivity) and far less power consumption than any comparable off-chip oscillator. In the process of achieving a fully-integrated oscillator, much of the research is expected to focus on low temperature metal processes that allow MEMS-last integration with MOS devices while retaining the stability and Q performance already offered by polysilicon counterparts.
Contact Information	thura@eecs.berkeley.edu, tristan@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Elad Alon

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN534
Project Title	Fully Integrated Micromechanical Clock Oscillator
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	Oscillator, 32kHz, RTC, Real Time Clock, Fully Integrated MEMS
Researchers	Henry G. Barrow
Abstract	This project aims to develop a fully integrated micromechanical clock oscillator which outperforms current quartz-based clock oscillators in terms of both size and cost. A 32-kHz micromechanical resonator with a temperature coefficient better than 10 ppm over the commercial temperature range will act as the oscillator's reference. In addition, this oscillator will utilize an integrated fabrication process above modern transistor circuits in order to minimize device footprint and production expense.
Contact Information	hbarrow@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN433
Project Title	A Micromechanical Power Converter
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	Power Converter, MEMS Switch
Researchers	Yang Lin, Tommi Riekkinen
Abstract	The overall goal of this project is to demonstrate a switched-mode power converter (e.g., a charge pump) using micromechanical switching elements that allow substantially higher voltages and potentially higher conversion efficiencies than transistor-switch based counterparts.
Contact Information	linyang@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN435
Project Title	A Micromechanical Power Amplifier
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	MEMS switch, switching mode power amplifier, MEMS resonator
Researchers	Wei-Chang Li
Abstract	This overall project aims to demonstrate methods for amplifying signals with higher efficiency compared to transistor circuitry using strictly mechanical means for ultra-low-power signal processing applications.
Contact Information	wcli@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN434
Project Title	A Micromechanical RF Channelizer
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	micromechanical, RF, filter, mixer, channel selection, channelizer, ALD, capacitive gap scaling
Researchers	Mehmet Akgul
Abstract	Vibrating mechanical tank components, such as crystal and SAW resonators, are widely used for frequency selection in communication systems because of their high Q and exceptional stability. However, being off-chip components, these devices pose an important bottleneck against the ultimate miniaturization and performance of wireless transceivers. This project aims to explore the use of capacitively transduced micromechanical circuits to realize micromechanical mixer-filters with reconfigurable attributes. With their substantial size, cost and performance advantages, these devices can be used to realize a bank of tunable/switchable micromechanical filters for multi-band RF channel selection. By replacing all off-chip components with micromachined passive elements, micromechanical mixer-filters offer an alternative set of strategies for transceiver miniaturization and improvement. In the long term, this overall project aims to demonstrate an RF channelizer utilizing micromechanical elements in its signal path, exclusively, that presents one of the keys to eventually realizing a cognitive radio.
Contact Information	akgul@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN682
Project Title	Strong I/O Coupled High-Q Micromechanical Filters
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords
Researchers	Robert A. Schneider
Abstract	This project will use the high-Q design techniques of traditional capacitive resonators to demonstrate novel low impedance (10-1000 Ohm) and high-Q (Q>10,000) resonators at VHF and UHF frequencies, that are mechanically coupled, to realize 2nd and 3rd order channel-select filters with fractional bandwidths of 0.1-1%, insertion losses of less than 2-dB and that can handle high out-of- band and in- band power. These filters will be implemented using capacitive-piezo AlN technology, to achieve higher Q’s than those achievable using traditional AlN technology with contacting electrodes, while maintaining reasonably low impedance in a small form factor.
Contact Information	bschneid@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN676
Project Title	Q-boosted Optomechanical Resonators
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords
Researchers	Turker Beyazoglu, Alejandro Grine, Karen Grutter, Tristan Rocheleau, Niels Quack
Abstract	This project aims to demonstrate optomechanical resonators with simultaneous high optical and mechanical quality factors for realization of a new class of low phase noise RF oscillators driven by radiation pressure of light. The proposed research will make it possible to boost the effective mechanical quality factor of an optical microcavity by coupling it to a high mechanical-Q resonator array. This resonant structure will in turn realize a low phase noise RF optomechanical oscillator.
Contact Information	turker@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN701 New Project
Project Title	Bridged Micromechanical Filters
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	Micromechanical Filters, High-order Filters,
Researchers	Jalal Naghsh Nilchi
Abstract	Bridging between non-adjacent resonators, we can insert and manipulate loss poles in the filter transfer functions to get better filter shape factor. the loss poles sharpen the passband-to-stopband roll-offs and improve stopband rejection.
Contact Information	jalal.naghsh.nilchi@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN707 New Project
Project Title	High-Order Micromechanical Electronic Filters
Status	New
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	MEMS, micromechanical, filter, high-order, bandpass, rolloff, stopband, rejection
Researchers	Henry G. Barrow
Abstract	This project aims to develop multi-resonator micromechanical electronic filters for use in communication systems requiring bandpass filters with sharp rolloffs and large stopband rejections. A complete analysis of the design, fabrication and testing of filters comprised of 2-8 micromechanical resonators coupled by flexural mode springs will establish a greater understanding this exciting MEMS device. In addition, the implementation of an automated tuning scheme will provide complete corrective control over the filter’s passband by negating the effects of fabrication error.
Contact Information	hbarrow@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN709 New Project
Project Title	Tunable & Switchable Micromechanical RF Filters
Status	New
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords	micromechanical resonators, RF filters, channel selection, wideband filter
Researchers	Lingqi Wu
Abstract	This project aims to explore the use of on-chip capacitively transduced micromechanical resonators to realize RF filters with substantial size and performance advantages. With their extremely high quality factor in UHF range and strong coupling coefficient enabled by nanometer electrode-to-resonator gap spacings, capacitive-gap transduced micromechanical resonators should be able to realize both banks of narrowband filter for reconfigurable RF channel selection and wideband filters targeting fast data transmission.
Contact Information	wulingqi@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Clark T.-C. Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN394
Project Title	QES: Micro LHP Chip Cooling System
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	thermal management, cooling, thermal ground plane, electronic power density
Researchers	Jim C. Cheng
Abstract	Thermal management of high power density electronics is an essential, enabling technology for next generation electronic systems. Phase change is the preferred choice for heat transport solutions because of the ability to absorb large heat fluxes through latent heat. Current technology uses macro- scale capillary driven systems such as Loop Heat Pipes (LHP) and thermosyphons, which are passive devices that have proved to be efficient and reliable. However, these devices do not allow for chip- level integration and do not scale well for future (and even current cutting-edge high- performance) electronic requirements. The goal of the microColumnated Loop Heat Pipe (µcLHP) project is to develop a "thermal ground plane" (analogous to an electronic ground plane) which is a uniform, isothermal substrate for transporting heat away from high power density electronic devices.
Contact Information	chengjcm@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN660
Project Title	QES: Micro LHP Chip Cooling System - Evaporator Design and Testing
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	MEMS, electronics cooling, microfluidics, heat pipe
Researchers	Lilla M. Smith
Abstract	The micro scale loop heat pipe (Micro-LHP) is an ongoing research project dedicated to the design and testing of a new cooling system for thermal management of high-power electronics. One of the key technological innovations of the overall Micro-LHP project is the use of a columnated vapor chamber (CVC) leading to a micro-patterned surface intended to maximize evaporation. The micro- patterning, commonly used in micro heat pipes, is the main focus of this evaporator study. The purpose of this research is to translate previous work, on surface roughness, into a new method of spreading liquid along the evaporator. The optimal design will create a large interline evaporation region, which is expected to increase the thermal conductivity of the device. The future results will detail both the function of the evaporator and the effect of different roughness patterning on the thermal conductivity of the evaporator region. Detailed here are evaporator designs, fabrication progress, experimental set up, measurement techniques and future plans.
Contact Information	saffordl@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN662
Project Title	QES: Micro LHP Cooler - An In-Situ Hermetic Seal for High Heat Flux Microfluidic Devices
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	microfluidics, heat transfer, packaging, hermetic sealing
Researchers	Gordon D. Hoople
Abstract	The ultimate project goal for the micro Loop Heat Pipe Chip Cooling System is to design and fabricate a substrate with high thermal conductivity that can be interfaced directly with high heat flux electronic chips. This new technology will be capable of satisfying the constantly increasing cooling requirements of today's electronic devices. A prototype has already been developed that utilizes phase change technology to absorb large heat fluxes through latent heat. In order to perform functional testing, however, a reliable hermetic sealing method must be developed. The major challenge in developing this sealing method is that it must seal the device in-situ to prevent non-condensable gasses from entering the system. This research is focused on identifying the most viable method for in-situ microfluidic device sealing.
Contact Information	ghoople@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN670
Project Title	QES: Micro LHP Cooler - Coherent Porous Silicon Wick for High Heat Flux and Capillary Pumping
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	capillary pressure, CPS (Coherent Porous Silicon) wick, electronic cooling, LHP (Loop Heat Pipe), thermal ground plane
Researchers	Hongyun So
Abstract	The main goal of this project is to develop a new technique to fabricate the coherent porous silicon (CPS) wick and integrate it into the micro loop heat pipe (micro-LHP). Another goal is to optimize the pore size, pitch, porosity and wick thickness to maximize the heat flux and capillary pressure in the device. Through control of pore size, the flow resistance of the micro-LHP will be defined. Finally, the novel design of the CPS wick will significantly increase the efficiency of micro-LHP while preventing the severe problems such as bubble formation, liquid-vapor interface oscillation, and wick dry out. The micro-LHP is a two phase thermal ground plane device for chip-level, integrated cooling. This system draws significant heat flux from electronics when the operating fluid changes to the vapor phase. The porous wick, a key component of the micro-LHP, is located between evaporator and reservoir and it serves as the engine which achieves continuous fluid circulation. It feeds coolant to the evaporator surface, determines the capillary pumping capability of the overall micro-LHP system and serves as thermal barrier between the coolant channels and evaporator chamber. The traditional sponge-like porous wicks have a randomly distributed pore size and irregular flow path. On the contrary, three-dimensional porous structures made via ion-track etching, photolithography, and replica molding have complex fabrication process and restrictions on the device design.
Contact Information	hyso@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN490
Project Title	QES: Microfluidic Reactors for Controlled Synthesis of Monodisperse Nanoparticles
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	nanoparticle, nanocrystal, monodispersed, microreactor, droplet-based
Researchers	E. Yegan Erdem
Abstract	The goal of this project is to design a microfluidic system to synthesize monodispersed nanoparticles. Two microreactors are designed for controlled synthesis of monodisperse nanoparticles. Our first microreactor works by mixing two reagents inside a droplet to synthesize nanoparticles whereas the second microreactor is designed to achieve monodispersity by having thermally isolated zones for nucleation and growth processes and incorporating a two phase flow system to assure uniform reaction conditions. This reactor is fabricated in silicon and it is capable of handling high temperature and high pressure reactions.
Contact Information	yeganerdem@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN658
Project Title	QES: Nano-Composite Capacitor for High Performance Energy Storage
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Supercapacitor, Nanoparticle, Nanocomposite, Composite Material
Researchers	Anju Toor
Abstract	The goal of this project is to design and develop an innovative nanoparticle/polymer composite material and then apply this nanocomposite to the development of a supercapacitor module with high energy and high power density. A new technique for creating films of core/shell nanoparticles in a polymer matrix could allow cost effective fabrication of capacitors with enhanced energy storage capacity as compared to conventional devices. The module can serve as efficient energy storage for back-up power in buildings and for hybrid/electric vehicles where lack of fast recharging time, limits their usage.
Contact Information	atoor@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN687
Project Title	QES: Robust Optical Flame Detection in Harsh Environments
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords	UV sensor, ZnO nanowires
Researchers	Roseanne Warren
Abstract	The goal of this project is to create a UV sensor for use as a flame detection system in gas turbine engine applications. In many gas-turbine engines, unnecessary engine shutdowns arise from sensors failing to detect the engine flame because of deep films of oil and/or water that block the sensor. In the infrared- and visible-light regions of the optical spectrum there is limited penetration through oil/water mixtures. A UV sensor is to be designed that will be able to robustly detect flames through oil/water mixtures that may build up on lenses in the gas turbine engine. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire arrays have been identified as a promising approach to developing a harsh- environment UV sensor because of their ease of preparation, tunability of optoelectronic properties, and inexpensive and scalable device fabrication methods.
Contact Information	warrenr@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano, Liwei Lin

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN544
Project Title	HEaTS: Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters for Harsh Environments
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords	Energy harvesting, Harsh environment, Silicon Carbide, Aluminum Nitride, Piezoelectric
Researchers	Matilda Yun-Ju Lai
Abstract	This project aims to develop a micromachined piezoelectric energy harvester for pulsed pressure sources by utilizing silicon carbide (SiC) as the structural material and aluminum nitride (AlN) as the active piezoelectric element for operation within extreme harsh environments. The SiC/AlN energy harvesters have great potentials for integrating energy harvesting power source with SiC sensors and circuitry and enabling self-powered wireless sensing technology for structural health monitoring of harsh environment energy systems.
Contact Information	matildal@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN564
Project Title	HEaTS: Harsh Environment MEMS for Downhole Geothermal Monitoring
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	SiC, Geothermal, Harsh Environment, MEMS, Energy
Researchers	Sarah Wodin-Schwartz
Abstract	The development of harsh environment sensor technology can aid in data logging and monitoring of geothermal reservoirs which are challenging to assess. State-of-the-art sensors based on silicon technology are limited to temperatures below 300oC and can not survive long exposure in geothermal conditions. As a result, new material platforms that utilize chemically inert, ceramic semiconductor materials are proposed for harsh environment applications. In the proposed work a temperature sensor that can withstand the harsh reservoir environment will be developed. The scope of the proposed research is to 1) perform experimental exposure testing of sensor materials in a small-scale pressure vessel at and around the critical point of water and geothermal brine and 2) develop a harsh environment temperature sensor that can operate in harsh supercritical conditions while maintaining high sensitivities. These tasks aid in the realization of advanced sensors for geothermal logging and monitoring. Ultimately, the harsh environment technology developed in this program can lead to improvements in geophysical models as well as increased reservoir lifetimes through direct monitoring.
Contact Information	swodin@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN424
Project Title	HEaTS: Silicon Carbide Thin Film and Nanostructures for Harsh Environment Sensing and Energy Applications
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	Silicon Carbide, LPCVD, Nanowires, RF MEMS, Harsh Environment, Supercapacitors
Researchers	Ben Hsia
Abstract	Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a material of interest to fabricate sensors and actuators able to operate in harsh environments. Particularly, its mechanical and electrical stability and its chemical inertness make SiC well suited for designing devices capable of operation in high temperature and corrosive environments. Harsh-environment stable metallization remains one of the key challenges with SiC technology. We are developing novel metallization schemes, utilizing solid-state graphitization, to improve the long term reliability of metal/SiC contacts in high temperature environemnts. In addition, strategies to integrate on-chip energy storage with SiC sensors and actuators could increase the portability, mobility, and utility of these harsh environment devices. Our group is currently developing all-solid state supercapacitors based on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), a high temperature solid electrolyte, and SiC nanowire- or carbon-based electrodes. We are studying a variety of YSZ deposition techniques and their integration with a variety of high surface area electrodes to determine the optimum combination.
Contact Information	benhsia@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Roya Maboudian, Carlo Carraro

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Package, Process & Microassembly
Project ID	BPN413
Project Title	HEaTS: Bonding of SiC MEMS Sensors for Harsh Environments
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	Silicon Carbide, SiC, induction, inductive, heating, bond, bonding, braze, brazing, solder, packaging, strain, sensors, geothermal, harsh, environments
Researchers	Matthew W. Chan
Abstract	Silicon Carbide (SiC) Sensors are appealing for harsh environment MEMS applications, specifically because of their stability in corrosive environments and their ability to withstand high temperatures. The long range goal of this project is to develop a robust process to bond SiC sensors to various metal components in a way that will avoid disrupting high-precision measurements of strain, acceleration, pressure, and temperature in high-temperature, high-pressure, corrosive environments. Traditional bonding methods such as soldering, brazing, and welding are not suitable for joining SiC with metals due to melting point restrictions and induced thermal stresses. The bond pursued in this work is specifically designed to mitigate thermal strains and permit for bonding temperatures lower than final operating temperature.
Contact Information	mattc@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN638
Project Title	HEaTS: SiC Devices and ICs for Harsh Environment Sensing
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	Analog, High Temperature, IC, JFET, Mixed signal, Sensor, Silicon Carbide, SiC
Researchers	Ayden Maralani
Abstract	The main objective of this research is to design and develop low power Silicon Carbide (SiC) based transistors and Integrated Circuits (ICs) that can withstand the elevated temperature, up to 600°C. The fabricated ICs will be integrated with the SiC-based sensors to develop high temperature sensing systems for various harsh environment applications.
Contact Information	maralani@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN614
Project Title	HEaTS: 4H-SiC FET Technology for Harsh Environment Sensing Application
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords	4H-SiC IC, SiC JFET, SiC MOFET, High temperature electronics
Researchers	Wei-Cheng Lien
Abstract	The goal of this research is developing a wireless, multichip sensing module for addressing the inefficiencies in energy use. By doing so, power systems can be advanced by integration of electronics (communication, signal processing, microactuator control, etc.) to be operated at high temperature. Silicon carbide (SiC) has become the candidate for harsh environment sensing technology because its wide bandgap (3.2 eV), excellent chemical stability, high breakdown electric field strength (3-5 MV/cm), and high saturated electron drift velocity (2E7 cm/s). The goal of my research project is to develop matched differential pair amplifiers using either 4H-SiC junction field effect transistors (JFETs) or 4H-SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs)and integrated with MEMS-based silicon carbide (SiC) TAPS (Temperature, Acceleration, Pressure and Strain) sensors for extreme harsh environment applications.
Contact Information	wclien@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN663
Project Title	HEaTS: SiC Diodes and Rectifiers for Harsh Environment Sensing Applications
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords	Silicon carbide, diode, rectifier bridge, harsh environment, sensing
Researchers	Shiqian Shao
Abstract	The goal of this project is to develop harsh environment rectification and sensing circuits. The devices and circuits are designed in silicon carbide (SiC) wafer due to its extraordinary performance in harsh environment such as high temperature, corrosive chemical. SiC diodes and rectifier bridges will be designed, fabricated and tested in my research project to develop harsh environment sensing system.
Contact Information	shao@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN644
Project Title	HEaTS: SiC Bipolar Junction Transistors for Harsh Environment Sensing Applications
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords	Silicon Carbide, Bipolar Junction Transistors, Harsh Environment Sensing
Researchers	Nuo Zhang
Abstract	The goal of this project is to develop silicon carbide (SiC) lateral bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) for harsh environment sensing applications. The wide bandgap energy (3.2eV) and low intrinsic carrier concentration allow SiC semiconductor device to function at much higher temperature than Si. Moreover, high breakdown field (3-5MV/cm), high-saturated electron velocity (2E7cm/s) coupled with high thermal conductivity (3-5W/cmK) permit extreme working conditions for SiC devices. The SiC BJT has the potential for low specific on-resistance, low turn-on voltage and high temperature operation, which makes it a suitable candidate for low power, high temperature applications. This technology will enable the integration of SiC electronic devices with MEMS-based SiC sensors, and the development of self-powered sensing system with wireless telemetry capability for harsh environment applications.
Contact Information	nuozhang@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN499
Project Title	HEaTS: Aluminum Nitride Inertial Sensors for Harsh Environments
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Aluminum Nitride, Piezoelectric Inertial Sensors, Harsh Environment, Gyroscope, Accelerometer
Researchers	Fabian T. Goericke
Abstract	Aluminum nitride (AlN) is a promising candidate for an emerging field of sensors that is inaccessible for electrostatic devices. Harsh environment conditions, such as temperatures above 500 deg C, high pressures, or reactive media are detrimental to today's MEMS sensors. Devices based on the inert, high melting point material AlN however can withstand these and even harsher conditions. The piezoelectric properties of the material are preserved to very high temperatures (up to 1000 deg C) and can be used for sensing in accelerometers and both sensing and actuating in gyroscopes. Cutting out the comb fingers of electrostatic devices and replacing them with patterned electrodes directly placed on the structural AlN layer has three distinct advantages. The devices have much lower damping and can easily be operated at atmospheric pressure, the resonance frequencies can be chosen more freely and adjusted for maximal noise rejection, and the shock and temperature sensitivity is reduced. In this project, AlN accelerometers and gyroscopes are fabricated and tested at extreme environmental conditions to explore the potential and limitations of AlN technology for harsh environment inertial sensors.
Contact Information	fabian@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN441
Project Title	HEaTS: Temperature-Compensated & High-Q Aluminum Nitride Lamb Wave Resonators
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	Piezoelectric, AlN, Lamb Wave Resonator, Temperature Compensation, High-Q
Researchers	Chih-Ming Lin
Abstract	The long-range goal of this project is to develop aluminum nitride (AlN) Lamb wave resonators with high Q, small frequency-temperature drift, multiple frequencies, and CMOS compatibility on one single chip.
Contact Information	gimmylin@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN693
Project Title	HEaTs: Thermally Stable Aluminum Nitride Lamb Wave Resonators for Harsh Environment Applications
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	Lamb Wave Resonator, Temperature Compensation, Aluminum Nitride, Silicon Dioxide, Quality Factor, Electromechanical Coupling,
Researchers	Jie Zou, Chih-Ming Lin
Abstract	This project aims at developing high quality factor (Q) aluminum nitride (AlN) Lamb wave resonators (LWRs) exhibiting low loss and thermally stable performance for wireless communications (e.g. oscillators or filters) in harsh environments. Current technology using thin AlN membrane structures have proved to enable a high phase velocity, low velocity dispersion of the Lamb wave employing the lowest order symmetric mode (S0), thus ensures a high frequency and offers robust designs with low sensitivity to technological tolerances. However, these devices do not allow for open bottom electrode configurations because of the low coupling coefficient, and the existence of the bottom electrode layer brings additional stress especially when temperature rises, which degrades Q and frequency stability. The goal of the thick AlN temperature compensated open bottom electrode LWR project is to develop thermally compensated LWRs with high Q and moderate coupling coefficient working at high temperatures.
Contact Information	jiezou@berkeley.edu, cmlin@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN616
Project Title	HEaTS: SiC Harsh Environment Pressure Sensors
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	SiC HEaTS pressure sensor mems corrugated capacitive touch-mode
Researchers	Kirti R. Mansukhani
Abstract	The goal of this project is to develop MEMs pressure sensors to survive harsh environments. Harsh environments (high temperature, high pressure, high shock and/or corrosive conditions) are encountered in various applications such as automobile engines, turbines, space, downhole oil and gas drilling, and geothermal logging.
Contact Information	kirti@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN661
Project Title	HEaTS: SiC Thin-Film Flame Ionization Sensor
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	SiC, Combustion, Harsh Environment, MEMS, Flame Sensor
Researchers	David A. Rolfe
Abstract	This project seeks to construct a thermally-isolated, SiC thin-film, ionization sensor to measure the propagation speed of flames in combustion chambers. Silicon carbide has been chosen as the sensor material because it is a ceramic semiconductor with low surface energy and excellent mechanical and electrical properties at high temperatures. A prototype MEMS planar sensor array has been designed and fabricated for parametric testing of sensor material and geometry. It is currently undergoing testing using a controlled flame. Future work will incorporate parametric optimization and thermal isolation of the sensor surface to minimize quenching. The creation of a flame ionization sensor capable of withstanding combustion environments will allow for measurement of flame speed, location and propagation around walls of a combustion chamber. Possible future applications include the real-time monitoring of flame speed in individual internal combustion engine cylinders or the monitoring of flame stability in turbine applications.
Contact Information	rolfe@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Albert P. Pisano

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN625
Project Title	Direct Growth of High Quality III-V Semiconductors on Metal Foils for Low-cost, High-efficiency PVs
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	III-Vs, solar cells, photovoltaics
Researchers	Maxwell S. Zheng, Zhibin Yu, Rehan Kapadia
Abstract	The intrinsic advantages of III-V semiconductors for solar cells have been hobbled by the lack of low-cost substrates and processes, which has thus far limited market success of III-V solar cells. Here at Berkeley we are exploring a non-traditional approach which addresses these drawbacks. High optical quality polycrystalline InP films have been grown on non-epitaxial molybdenum substrates. Remarkably, these films with micron-sized grains have similar photoluminescence qualities as single- crystalline InP, and show great promise for high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells.
Contact Information	mzheng27@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ali Javey

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN704 New Project
Project Title	Vapor-Liquid-Solid Growth of Polycrystalline Indium Phosphide Thin Films on Metal
Status	New
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	Solar Cells, Photovoltaics, Indium Phosphide, InP, VLS, Thin Film
Researchers	Rehan R. Kapadia, Zhibin Yu, Maxwell Zheng, Corsin Battaglia, Peter Lobaccaro
Abstract	Here, we develop a technique that enables direct growth of III-V materials on non-epitaxial substrates. Here, by utilizing a planar liquid phase template, we extend the VLS growth mode to enable polycrystalline indium phosphide (InP) thin film growth on Mo foils.
Contact Information	r.kapadia@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ali Javey

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN686
Project Title	Spatially Controlled Growth of III-V Semiconductors Toward Low-Cost and High-Efficiency PVs
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords
Researchers	Daisuke Kiriya, Maxwell Zheng, Rehan Kapadia, Zhibin Yu
Abstract	So far, extensive research has been carried out for III-V semiconductor materials from crystal growth to device fabrications. The reason for this is that III-V shows the highest energy conversion efficiency due to high absorption coefficient and optimal and direct band gap. However, there is problem for III-V applications, which is the high cost of raw materials. We are exploring a method which addresses this limitation. High optical quality crystals have been grown on selected tiny areas to make array of crystals such as on metal foils. This should be useful as a PV without any loss by shut pass or surface recombinations. This method would be useful for making high-quality and cost-effective method for III-V PVs.
Contact Information	kiriya@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ali Javey

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN469
Project Title	Ultra-Short Channel 1D-2D Compound Semiconductor on Insulator (XOI) FETs
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords
Researchers	Steven Chuang, Kuniharu Takei
Abstract	Recently, compound semiconductor on insulator(XOI)has risen as a promising platform for next generation high performance electronics, as it inherits advantages from both SOI and high mobility III-V materials. In order to test the performance limit of this platform, we plan on fabricating ultra-short channel XOI FETs. This project will involve various controlled experiments to better understand the underlying physics of XOI FETs, thus allowing us to progress towards the ultimate XOI FET.
Contact Information	s_chuang@eecs.berkeley.edu, ktakei@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ali Javey

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN694
Project Title	Monolayer Semiconductor Devices
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords
Researchers	Hui Fang, Mahmut Tosun, Steven Chuang, Kuniharu Takei
Abstract	Monolayer chalcogenides have recently been shown promising for future scaled electronics. We've reported high performance p-type field-effect transistors based on single layered (thickness, ~0.7 nm) WSe2 as the active channel with chemically doped source/drain contacts and high-κ gate dielectrics. The top-gated monolayer transistors exhibit a high effective hole mobility of ~250 cm^2/Vs, perfect subthreshold swing of ~60 mV/dec, and ION/IOFF of >10^6 at room temperature. Special attention is given to lowering the contact resistance for electron or hole injection by degenerate surface dopings. The results here present a promising material system and device architecture for monolayer transistors with excellent characteristics. Different monolayer semiconductor heterostructures will also be explored.
Contact Information	huifang@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ali Javey

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN634
Project Title	Low Voltage and Fast Response Actuators
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	NSF
Keywords	electrostatic actuator, low power, fast response
Researchers	Xiaobo Zhang, Zhibin Yu
Abstract	The conventional electrostatic actuators are operated at very high voltage relative slow response which prevents them from useful applications in providing mobility for making microrobots. There has been a lot of study on making electrostatic actuators based on polymers such as acrylic elastomers, HS3 silicone and silicon NuSil. All these materials need over one thousands volts to operate. We are going to make low operation voltage and fast response actuators using nanowire polymer composites. We are going to deposit polymer thin films on vertically aligned nanotube (nanowire) forest grown on a Si substrate. Peeling off the polymer films results in nanotube (nanowire)-polymer composites with all the nanowires and nanotubes fully incorporated into the polymer matrix. By using this method we are going to explore several material systems such as CNT/silicone rubber, CNT/PVDF etc. The motivation for making nano material-polymer composites based actuators is that nano structured materials have potential advantage to enhance the local electric field and therefore lower the operation voltage for the actuators. Meanwhile, the mechanical property of the composite can be greatly improved for high force actuation.
Contact Information	zhangxb@berkeley.edu, zhbin.yu@gmail.com
Advisor	Ali Javey

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN629
Project Title	Large-Scale Carbon Nanotube Network Active Matrix Circuitry for Flexible and Stretchable Electronics
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Flexible Electronics, Carbon Nanotube Network
Researchers	Toshitake Takahashi, Kuniharu Takei, Chuan Wang
Abstract	In this project, we will explore a promising approach for large-scale flexible and stretchable electronics using semiconductor-enriched carbon nanotube (CNTs) solution. In conventional flexible devices, organic materials or amorphous silicon have been intensively explored, but its inherently low electrical performance limits the range of potential applications. Here, we use solution-based approach in which semiconductor-enriched CNTs (99 %) are deposited uniformly on wafer-scale flexible polyimide (PI) substrate or Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate at room temperature, and obtain mobility of ~ 20 cm2V-1s-1, an order of magnitude larger than conventional materials, without sacrificing current on/off ratio (ION/IOFF of ~ 104). The PI substrate readily turns into a stretchable substrate by cutting the PI into open mesh geometry, showing a stretchability of 11.5 % without noticeable device degradation. The concept of CNT network-based flexible and stretchable active matrix circuitry can be potentially expanded to achieve multifunctional sensors by adding various components on top of this backplane.
Contact Information	toshi1113@gmail.com
Advisor	Ali Javey

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices
Project ID	BPN659
Project Title	High Performance Flexible Integrated Circuits Using Carbon Nanotube Networks
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	Flexible electronics, thin-film transistors, semiconducting nanotube networks, III-V nanomembranes, integrated circuits, radio-frequency applications
Researchers	Chuan Wang, Kuniharu Takei, Toshitake Takahashi
Abstract	In this Project, we report the use of high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotube networks and 2-dimensional III-V nanomembranes for high-performance integrated circuits on mechanically flexible substrates for digital, analog, and radio-frequency applications. We have demonstrated high-performance carbon nanotube thin-film transistors (TFTs) with on-current, transconductance, and field-effect mobility up to 15 uA/um, 4 uS/um, and 50 cm2/Vs. Using such devices, digital logic gates with superior bending stability have been demonstrated. We have also employed a self-aligned device architecture to fabricate RF transistors with channel lengths down to 75 nm using InAs nanomembranes on flexible substrates. Measurements reveal that such devices provide an impressive cutoff frequency of 105 GHz, representing the best performance achieved for transistors fabricated directly on mechanically flexible substrates. The results demonstrate that our platform can serve as a foundation for scalable, low-cost, high-performance flexible electronics, enabling multiple types of nanomaterials to be heterogeneously integrated on flexible substrates for advanced system-level integrated circuits.
Contact Information	chuanwang@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ali Javey

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN698
Project Title	Nanomaterial Based Macroscale Flexible Sensor System
Status	New
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Sensors, Flexible, Nanomaterials,
Researchers	Kevin Chen, Kuniharu Takei
Abstract	We explore the integration of a system of various wearable sensors designed for enhanced interaction with the surrounding environment. Sensors designed to detect a whole host of interactions such as touch and movement are explored and then integrated into an active matrix backplane of carbon nanotube transistors from which their outputs can be obtained. The whole system is fabricated upon a flexible substrate so that it can conform to the surface that it is attached to.
Contact Information	kqchen@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ali Javey

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN552
Project Title	Light-Actuated Digital Microfluidics (Optoelectrowetting)
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Digital Microfluidics, Droplet Microfluidics, Electrowetting, Optoelectrowetting, EWOD, Optofluidics
Researchers	Shao Ning Pei
Abstract	The ability to quickly perform large numbers of chemical and biological reactions in parallel using low reagent volumes is a field well addressed by droplet-based digital microfluidics. Compared to continuous flow-based techniques, digital microfluidics offers the added advantages such as individual sample addressing and reagent isolation. We are developing a Light- Actuated Digital Microfluidics device (also known as optoelectrowetting) that optically manipulates nano- to micro-liter scale aqueous droplets on the device surface. The device possesses many advantages including ease of fabrication (no lithography required) and the ability for real-time, reconfigurable, large-scale droplets control (simply by altering the low-intensity projected light pattern). We hope to develop Light-Actuated Digital Microfluidics into a powerful platform for lab- on-a-chip (LOC) applications.
Contact Information	shaoning@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN700 New Project
Project Title	Generation of Low Phase Noise mm-Waves
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords
Researchers	Nazanin Hoghooghi
Abstract	There has been recent interest in low noise mm-wave signals for satellite data communication and RADAR. For these applications, close in to the carrier phase-noise performance is important. Several competing very-low-phase-noise oscillator technologies exist at lower microwave frequencies. All of these face difficulties in being extended up to the new bands of interest. We propose using an optical frequency comb generator together with an optical interleaver to up convert the low noise, low frequency microwave signal to the desired high frequency bands without increasing the phase noise significantly.
Contact Information	nazanin@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN595
Project Title	Fast Optical Phased Array for 10MHz Beamforming
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	beam steering, beam focusing, MEMS, HCG
Researchers	Byung-Wook Yoo, Mischa Megens
Abstract	We developed an optical phased array incorporating a single-layer high-index-contrast subwavelength grating (HCG) for 2D beamsteering. There are a number of other approaches for optical phased arrays such as liquid-crystal-based phased arrays and microelectromechanical system (MEMS) phased array. Switching of liquid-crystal based phased arrays typically takes on the order of milliseconds. Arrays of MEMS mirrors moving perpendicular to the substrate are usually made of silicon so that a metal-coated layer is required on top, resulting in thermal induced stress when very high optical power application (~10 W) is applied. Our approach needs only a thin single-layer HCG made of silicon, widening its application in terms of high optical power, thanks to the highly reflective HCG across a wide bandwidth, and considerably improving its speed due to the low mass of the thin HCG. The measured resonant frequency of MEMS mirrors was 0.46 MHz. The 2D beamsteering angle was from -10 degress to +10 degress in both directions.
Contact Information	yoo@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu, David A. Horsley

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN651
Project Title	Cavity Optomechanics Experimentation
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	Optomechanics, Radiation Pressure
Researchers	Alejandro J. Grine, Karen Grutter, Niels Quack, Tristan Rocheleau, Turker Beyazoglu
Abstract	Cavity optomechanics is a new and rapidly advancing field in which light is used to alter the properties of a mechanical element. Our project specifically aims to confine both optical waves and mechanical waves in a high quality microcavity. When enough light is built up in such a cavity, the radiation pressure “pushes” on the walls of the cavity causing mechanical deformation and thus a coupling to the cavity mechanical modes. Under the right conditions, both the light mode and mechanical mode reach a resonance condition resulting in modulation of the light intensity exiting the cavity. Though there may be numerous applications for cavity optomechanics, we seek to apply the precisely modulated light as a replacement for bulky microwave oscillators in chip scale atomic clocks. This work focuses on the RF photonic experimentation necessary to characterize and improve microfabricated optomechanical devices for the target application.
Contact Information	grine@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu, Clark Nguyen

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN498
Project Title	Integrated Silica Optomechanical Oscillators
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	actuator, waveguide, microdisk, resonator, silica
Researchers	Karen E. Grutter, Alejandro Grine, Niels Quack, Tristan Rocheleau
Abstract	Optical microring/disk resonators are the central component in many micro-optical applications, including optomechanical devices. Optomechanical devices that use light to stimulate mechanical resonance have applications in displacement sensing, optical mixing, and reference oscillators. High optical Q is necessary for these applications, so we are exploring the use of silica, which has low optical loss. So far, using a wafer-scale reflow process, we have achieved an optical Q of 6.5 million and have observed self-excited optomechanical oscillations. We have also fabricated nitride optomechanical rings, which have lower optical Q but better phase noise performance for self-excited optomechanical oscillations.
Contact Information	kgrutter@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN678
Project Title	MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration (MEPHI)
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords	MEMS, CMOS, VCSEL, HCG, PIC, FMCW LADAR, photonics
Researchers	James Ferrara, Simone Gambini, Sangyoon Han, Christopher L. Keraly, Niels Quack, Frank Rao, Phil Sandborn, Byung-Wook Yoo, Li Zhu
Abstract	Active III-V photonic components and passive Si photonic circuits are integrated with CMOS electronic circuits in this project. The modular MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration (MEPHI) platform will make use of the high performance of the individual components and integrate (1) MEMS tunable VCSEL with high-index-contrast grating (HCG) mirrors, (2) photodetectors, (3) Si photonic waveguides, couplers, and interferometers, (4) high-efficiency vertical optical coupler between III-V and Si waveguides, and (5) CMOS circuits for frequency control and temperature compensation. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed MEPHI platform, a frequency-modulated continuous-wave laser detection and ranging (FMCW LADAR) source is being developed.
Contact Information	quack@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu, Bernhard E. Boser, Connie Chang-Hasnain, Shun Lien Chuang, Eli Yablonovitch

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN710 New Project
Project Title	Reconfigurable Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits
Status	New
Funding Source	DARPA
Keywords
Researchers	Sangyoon Han
Abstract	Silicon photonics has emerged as one of the key technologies for data communications, especially in datacenters. Using standard CMOS fabrication steps, optical modulators, photodetectors, and passive optical components have been realized. The photonic circuits demonstrated so far are mostly static. We are interested in dynamically reconfigurable or tunable circuits in Si photonics, such as tunable filters or optical switches. In this project, we integrate MEMS with Si photonics on an silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. The optical waveguides and passive optical components are realized in the standard 220nm-thick SOI layer. We have added an additional Polysilicon layer on top of the SOI, separated by a low-temperature oxide (LTO) layer. The Polysilicon can be used to realize MEMS actuators, such as combdrive actuators or thermal actuators, as well as an additional high- refractive-index layer for controlling light. Our first demonstration vehicle is a tunable filter. The filter consists of a Fabry-Perot cavity formed between two waveguide reflectors. The reflector itself is made of Polysilicon grating on top of the SOI waveguide. We call this high-contrast-grating (HCG) reflector. The Polysilicon HCG reflectors released from the SOI waveguide, and are thus movable by MEMS actuators. We have integrated a combdrive actuator with the tunable filter. The transmission wavelength can be tuned by changing the cavity length. We have finished the development of the basic platform technology on 6-inch SOI wafers using deep-UV lithography, and have demonstrated optical grating couplers, waveguide splitters/combiners, and optical delay lines. We are in the process of optimizing our Polysilicon HCG reflector design, and hope to measure the performance of the device in a few months.
Contact Information	sangyoon@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN671
Project Title	Sub-Microsecond MEMS for Optical Switching and Filtering
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	NSF
Keywords	mems, silicon, integrated, photonics, optical, switching, networking
Researchers	Anthony M. Yeh
Abstract	High-throughput optical networks like those in modern Internet datacenters are pushing the scaling limits of current optical switching technology. Although current MEMS-based switches can provide port counts in the hundreds with moderate switching times, future datacenter designs will require port counts in the thousands and even faster switching times to keep up with the growth in data traffic within the center. We are developing an integrated photonics platform that will deliver on-chip optical switching and tunable filtering that scales to high port counts with very fast switching times. Our approach uses silicon photonic waveguides with integrated sub-microsecond MEMS actuation for active control.
Contact Information	yeh@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN458
Project Title	Optical Antenna-Based nanoLED
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	Plasmonics, Laser, Light Emitting Diode, Nanophotonics, Nanocavity, Optical Interconnects
Researchers	Michael Eggleston, Seth Fortuna
Abstract	Spontaneous emission has been considered slower and weaker than stimulated emission. As a result, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have only been used in applications with bandwidth < 1 GHz. Spontaneous emission is inefficient because the radiating dipole is much smaller than wavelength and such short dipoles are poor radiators. By attaching an optical antenna to the radiating dipole at the nanoscale, the emission rate can be significantly increased enabling high modulation bandwidths theoretically >100 GHz. This project focuses on the physical demonstration of this new type of nanophotonic device. Current fabrication and experimental results will be presented.
Contact Information	eggles@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN703 New Project
Project Title	Directly Modulated High-Speed nanoLED Utilizing Optical Antenna Enhanced Light Emission
Status	New
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	nano-photonics, optical antenna, photonics, optical interconnect, nanotechnology, optoelectronics, plasmonics
Researchers	Seth A. Fortuna, Michael Eggleston
Abstract	Coupling an optical antenna to a nanoscale light emitter has been shown to increase the spontaneous emission rate by compensating for the large size mismatch between the emitter and emission wavelength. This spontaneous emission rate enhancement has been predicted to be as large as several orders of magnitude, easily surpassing the stimulated emission rate and enabling high direct modulation bandwidths. The aim of this project is to utilize this concept to demonstrate a directly modulated nanoscale semiconductor light emitting diode (nanoLED) with modulation speeds > 50 GHz, exceeding the bandwidth of semiconductor lasers. Unlike lasers, such nanoLEDs are also inherently low- power and do not require minimum threshold current density for operation and are therefore a promising light generating source for use, for example, in intra-chip communication.
Contact Information	fortuna@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	NanoPlasmonics, Microphotonics & Imaging
Project ID	BPN609
Project Title	Optical Antenna-Based Photodetectors
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords
Researchers	Ryan Going, Tae Joon Seok
Abstract	As CMOS devices shrink in physical size, electrical interconnects between the devices will consume an ever-greater proportion of total chip power. A promising solution is to use silicon photonics for intra- and inter-chip communications. To be cost effective, both the optical transmitter and receiver must be made small and highly efficient. In addition, chip scale integration is important, meaning CMOS compatible materials and processes are required. The traditional tradeoff for photodiodes is between smaller size and high efficiency due to a limited absorption length of the semiconductor. We have proposed using both optical antennas for shrinking free space photodiodes and metal cavities for waveguide integration. The waveguide integrated design uses only CMOS materials and UV lithography dimensions to achieve a theoretical efficiency of over 50% for less that 90 aF capacitance at telecom wavelengths. Future work will experimentally demonstrate and characterize these nanophotodiodes.
Contact Information	rwgoing@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Ming C. Wu

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN683
Project Title	OpenWSN: A Standards-Based Low-Power Wireless Development Environment
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	Wireless Sensor Networks, Protocol Stack, Ultra Low Power, Embedded systems, 802.15.4e, 6LowPAN, CoAP
Researchers	Xavier Vilajosana, Fabien Chraim, Qin Wang, Kevin Weekly
Abstract	The OpenWSN project is an open-source implementation of a fully standards-based protocol stack for capillary networks, rooted in the new IEEE802.15.4e Time Synchronized Channel Hopping standard. IEEE802.15.4e, coupled with Internet-of-Things standards, such as 6LoWPAN, RPL and CoAP, enables ultra-low power and highly reliable mesh networks which are fully integrated into the Internet. The resulting protocol stack will be cornerstone to the upcoming Machine-to-Machine revolution. OpenWSN is ported to numerous commercial available platforms from older 16-bit micro-controller to state-of-the-art 32-bit Cortex-M architectures. The tools developed around the low-power mesh networks include visualization and debugging software, a simulator to mimic OpenWSN networks on a PC, and the environment needed to connect those networks to the Internet. OpenWSN projects leads standardization efforts for ultra low power M2M networks while contributing with innovative protocols for scalable, distributed and energy efficient communications.
Contact Information	xvilajosana@eecs.berkeley.edu, chraim@eecs.berkeley.edu, pister@eecs.berkeley.edu, qinwang@berkeley.
Advisor	Kristopher S.J. Pister

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN648
Project Title	Fully Integrated, Low Input Voltage, Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converter for Energy Harvesting Applications
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	BSAC Member Fees
Keywords	DC-DC Converter, Switched-Capacitor, Charge Pump, Energy Harvesting, Photovoltaics, Micropower
Researchers	Michael C. Lorek
Abstract	This project explores the design of a fully integrated, switched-capacitor DC-DC converter to convert small amounts of energy from photovoltaic or other low voltage energy sources. Clever bootstrapping techniques are used to ensure circuit startup without high-voltage or mechanical assists. Nanopower oscillator topologies are being investigated for minimum power and input voltage operation. Advanced timing schemes are used to minimize charge reversion loss and clock driver short circuit currents for increased efficiency. A boosted output voltage around 1.5V is targeted for compatibility with older CMOS technologies, offering a power advantage in heavily duty cycled applications where leakage is dominant. This work will enable the integration of CMOS circuitry and power supply on the same substrate for true single-chip, autonomous computing platforms.
Contact Information	mlorek@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Kristofer S.J. Pister

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN696
Project Title	Energy Monitoring for the Smart Building Using Low-Power Wireless Sensors
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Non-BSAC
Keywords	wireless sensor networks, smart buildings
Researchers	Kevin Weekly, Brittany Judoprasetijo
Abstract	Future office spaces and buildings will collect energy consumption data from the electrical devices used by their occupants, from refrigerators to the humble cell phone charger. This goal of this project is to develop and evaluate the devices enabling dense measurement of energy consumption throughout the building. We have started developing two hardware platforms. First, we designed a sensor circuit board which can be quickly installed by placing it between a plug and the outlet. Our second design is a custom designed surge protector can measure six independent outlets as well as turn them on and off. Both devices are able to transmit the data over a wireless mesh network. The data will be fed into a central server which filters the signal and eventually uses the information to make smart control decisions to reduce energy usage of the building.
Contact Information	kweekly@eecs.berkeley.edu, brittanyj911@gmail.com
Advisor	Kristofer S.J. Pister, Alexandre M. Bayen, Costas J. Spanos

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN705 New Project
Project Title	Standard CMOS-Based Stick-On Electricity Meters for Building Sub-Metering
Status	New
Funding Source	Non-BSAC
Keywords
Researchers	Michael C. Lorek
Abstract	We propose the development and testing of a system of technologies to minimize the installed cost of electricity sub-metering in buildings. This system utilizes non-contact, self-calibrating voltage and current sensors and wireless communication to eliminate the need for installation by an electrician, installation of conduit and enclosures, and installation of wired communication infrastructure. Electricity sub-metering is a critical component for continuous commissioning, fault detection and diagnosis, demand response, and other energy efficiency opportunities.
Contact Information	mlorek@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Kristofer S.J. Pister, Steven Lanzisera

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN596
Project Title	Smart Fence and other Wireless Sensing Applications for Critical Industrial Environments
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords	Gas Monitoring, Mobile Gas Sensing, Valve Position Monitoring, Machine Vibration Sensing, WirelessHART, Wireless Sensor Networks
Researchers	Fabien J. Chraim
Abstract	Following the successful showcase of the Smart Fence technology, this project aims at using MEMS and Electro-Chemical Sensors in combination with Low-Power radios to implement industrial wireless sensing applications. In particular, and at the Chevron-Richmond refinery, fence-line gas sensing is added to the previous security application with regular reporting of H2S, CO and VOC concentrations. Using MEMS accelerometers and magnetometers, valve position monitoring and machine vibration sensing are added for safeguarding both personnel and equipment. This project is concerned both with the COTS-based hardware and software behind each application.
Contact Information	chraim@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Kristofer S.J. Pister

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Wireless, RF & Smart Dust
Project ID	BPN392
Project Title	Mobile Airborne Particulate Matter Monitor for Cellular Deployment
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords	MEMS, Wireless, Particulates, Sensor, Mobile
Researchers	Igor Paprotny
Abstract	This project involves optimization of a portable MEMS-based instrument that quantifies and differentiates fine airborne particulate matter concentrations of such substances as diesel engine exhaust, environmental tobacco smoke, and wood smoke. The goal of the project is integration with and interfacing of the instrument to a cellular telephone for mobile monitoring.
Contact Information	rwhite@eecs.berkeley.edu, igorpapa@eecs.berkeley.edu, lagundel@lbl.gov
Advisor	Richard M. White, Lara Gundel

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN562
Project Title	AC Energy Scavenging for Smart Grid Sensing
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Industry
Keywords
Researchers	Igor Paprotny, Son Duy Nguyen, Richard Xu
Abstract	The goal of this project is to devise small inexpensive modules for indoor or outdoor deployment, that sense electrical variables on and scavenge energy from energized conductors, such as appliance cords and the conductors on high-voltage power transmission lines and equipment. In addition to an energy scavenging element, the modules will contain sensors, their associated signal conditioning circuitry, power conditioning and storage elements, and a wireless radio chip and antenna. We have recently demonstrated the ability to scavenge 2 mW from a nearby conductor carrying 20 A_rms, which is 10-100x more than can be extracted using comparable coil- based approaches.
Contact Information	igorpapa@eecs.berkeley.edu, qlxu@berkeley.edu, nguyen.duyson@berkeley.edu, rwhite@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Richard M. White

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Micropower
Project ID	BPN654
Project Title	Electret-Based Voltage Sensing and Energy Harvesting from Energized Conductors
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	State
Keywords	Electret, voltage sensor, energy harvester, energized conductors, Smart Grid, Demand Response
Researchers	Richard Xu, Igor Paprotny
Abstract	The goal of this project is to design and fabricate electret-based voltage sensors and energy harvesters for Smart Grid and Demand Response applications. The functions of the proposed devices are to sense the voltage variation and harvest energy from energized conductors, such as appliance cords and high-voltage power transmission lines and equipment.
Contact Information	qlxu@berkeley.edu, igorpapa@eecs.berkeley.edu, rwhite@eecs.berkeley.edu, pwright@me.berkeley.edu
Advisor	Richard M. White, Paul K. Wright

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN505
Project Title	Deployment of Wireless Stick-On Circuit Breaker PEM AC Sensors for the Smart Grid
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	State
Keywords	Power; Passive Proximity Electric Sensors; MEMS; Wireless; Energy Scavenging
Researchers	Richard Xu, Igor Paprotny, Chandler Miller
Abstract	The electric power consumption of the entire Berkeley campus ranges from 18 to 30 MW, of which the Electrical Engineering building (Cory Hall) load comprises from 3% to 5%. Presently, the power entering the building is metered monthly at the primary terminals of its 12.4 kilovolt distribution step-down transformer. In order to increase energy efficiency and to experiment with, and further develop, our miniature electrical sensors, we are in the process of installing proximity sub-metering of loads accessed through a standard circuit breaker panel to which miniature proximity-based current sensors have been attached. We have also made a two-minute video, available from the BSAC web site, demonstrating the sensors in action.
Contact Information	qlxu@berkeley.edu, igorpapa@eecs.berkeley.edu, chandler.j.miller@gmail.com
Advisor	Richard M. White, Paul K. Wright

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN697
Project Title	Natural Gas Pipeline Research
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	State
Keywords	Gas, pipeline, sensor, pressure, flow, vibration, methane, wireless, ultrasonic, laser, weld, crack
Researchers	Igor Paprotny, Adam Tornheim, Rafael Send, Son Duy Nguyen
Abstract	The goal is to develop technologies for natural gas pipelines that provide increased system awareness and reliability, lower system costs, better assessment of pipeline integrity, and provide tangible benefits for utility customers. The benefits sought are natural gas pipelines that are more reliable, efficient, and secure. The BSAC research can be divided into three areas: 1. Microfabricated MEMS natural gas sensors 2. Low-power wireless sensor communication infrastructure 3. Ultrasonic diagnostic and test devices for natural gas pipelines.
Contact Information	igorpapa@eecs.berkeley.edu, atornheim@gmail.com, rwhite@eecs.berkeley.edu, pwright@bmi.berkeley.edu,
Advisor	Richard M. White, Paul K. Wright

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Physical Sensors & Devices
Project ID	BPN653
Project Title	Biologically Inspired Self-Activated Building Envelope Regulation System (SABERS)
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	NSF
Keywords
Researchers	Younggeun Park
Abstract	The objective of this work is to establish self-active building envelope regulation systems (SABERS) by integrating optical and hygrothermal sensor and actuator networks on a thin membrane. The system is specifically designed for lightweight membrane applications such as deployable emergency housing in tropical climates with the aim to supplant the use of traditional air conditioning systems responsible for the most significant energy expenditure in built environments in these regions. The expected outcome of this research is the development of a membrane prototype that consists of a self-activated opto-mechanical sensor/actuator polymeric network that controls airflow due to the temperature, light and humidity changes. It is composed by activating air mechanics (ventilation and dehumidification) though microvalves controlled by integrated optomechanical and hygrothermal sensors and actuators associated to an internal desiccant membrane to block moisture. SABERs will provide a basis for the future development of newly integrated environmental sensor technologies for thin film building membranes applicable to building climatic regulation (light and hygrothermal).
Contact Information	ygpark@berkeley.edu, ygpark221@gmail.com
Advisor	Luke P. Lee, Maria-Paz Gutierrez

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN512
Project Title	Electrophysiological Cell Sorting
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords
Researchers	Frank B. Myers
Abstract	We are developing a high-throughput microsystem which sorts cells based on their response to electrical stimulation. Electrophysiological measurements are commonly used to identify subpopulations of electrically-excitable cells such as myocytes and neurons and to determine the degree to which stem cells have differentiated into these cell types. However, there currently exist no technologies capable of rapidly sorting cells based on electrophysiological parameters. There is a clinical need for label-free sorting of stem cell-derived cells for tissue replacement therapies because labeling molecules and antibodies may be toxic to the patient or interfere with the integration of the graft tissue. Furthermore, for certain cell types, such as cardiomyocytes, there are currently no reliable molecular markers available. Our system will provide rapid, label- free sorting of electrically-excitable cells with accuracy equivalent to more traditional label- based sorting methods.
Contact Information	fbm@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Luke P. Lee

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN627
Project Title	Stencil Patterning Method Improves Uniformity of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Colonies
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	State
Keywords	stem cell, cell culture
Researchers	Frank B. Myers
Abstract	Stem cells hold the promise of producing functional tissues which can replace those lost due to disease or injury. New organ tissues, such as those found in the heart, liver, or nervous system, can be created from pluripotent stem cells through the process of “differentiation”. Additionally, pluripotent stem cells can produce an unlimited supply of new stem cells in a process called "self- renewal". In culture, pluripotent stem cells form isolated colonies, and the geometry of these colonies can have a profound impact on their capacity for differentiation. Current culture techniques provide no control over colony geometry. We are developing a simple technique for controlling the size, shape, density, and distribution of stem cell colonies which is compatible with conventional tissue culture plates. We show that this method substantially improves stem cell uniformity, and we are evaluating its ability to improve differentiation yield.
Contact Information	fbm@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Luke P. Lee

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN679
Project Title	A Diagnostic Chip Using Isothermal Amplification for Emerging Pandemic Diseases
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	point-of-care, diagnostics, microfluidics, rapid test, isothermal, amplification
Researchers	Erh-Chia Yeh
Abstract	Here we propose an one-step diagnostic device using isothermal nucleic acid detection to detect infectious diseases.
Contact Information	erh-chia-yeh@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Luke P. Lee

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN611
Project Title	Integrated Amplification and Readout for Multiplexed Biomarker Detection in a Rapid, Simple and Inexpensive Microfluidic System
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	microfluidics, signal amplification, diagnostics, point of care
Researchers	Richard H. Henrikson, Frank B. Myers, Liyi Xu, Ivan K. Dimov
Abstract	Current methods for biomolecular quantification are prohibitively slow and expensive for many interesting field applications. We are developing an integrated microfluidic system for simple and robust biomolecular amplification coupled with an inexpensive reader for a range of point-of-need diagnostic solutions.
Contact Information	rhenrikson@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Luke P. Lee

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN543
Project Title	Modular Biomolecular Signal Amplification for Colorimetric Point-of-Care Diagnostics
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Federal
Keywords	Colorimetric, Biosensor, Aptamer, Chemical Amplification
Researchers	Richard H. Henrikson, John R. Waldeisen
Abstract	Predictive and preventive diagnostics promise to dramatically improve targeted patient healthcare while vastly reducing systemic costs. However, patients in remote and resource-poor settings have significantly reduced access to valuable diagnostics. We are integrating nucleic acid based molecular recognition elements into microfluidic devices to achieve quantitative measures of a range of biomarkers without the need for external equipment. We have further designed an opto- biochemical signal amplification component for downstream readout. We aim to reduce assay cost, time- to-answer, and sensitivity to environmental limitations, leading to effective diagnostics for resource-poor settings.
Contact Information	rhenrikson@berkeley.edu, waldeisen@berkeley.edu, lplee@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Luke P. Lee

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN668
Project Title	Microfluidic Chemo-Sensitivity Assay Platform (µCAP) for Personalized Breast Cancer Therapy and Research
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Microfluidic Cell Assay, Tumor Chemo-sensitivity Assay, Drug susceptibility
Researchers	Debkishore Mitra
Abstract	Tumor chemo-sensitivity assays (TCA) involve the in vitro exposure of cultured cancerous cells to different drugs at varying concentrations. These analyses are traditionally used to determine drug susceptibilities, of cancerous cells in vitro, and can help discern whether a certain drug regimen will work against a tumor of a certain individual. This paradigm of personalized medicine has been explored in breast cancer, where a correlation has been shown between TCA guided therapy and clinical outcome. Microfluidic platforms can provide clinicians the ability to perform such assays with minimal amount of patient sample and also assay a variety of different therapeutic regimens. However, current microfluidic assay platforms are limited by the lack of the ability to independently lyse or collect cells exposed to different conditions and either the absence of on- chip sample pre-concentration or the use of abrasive cell traps. In this project, we propose a Microfluidic Chemo-sensitivity Assay Platform (µCAP) with non-abrasive on-chip cell pre- concentration and individually addressable assay regions. The designed chip has more than 120 cell trap and analysis areas, can expose cells to two different drugs or drug combinations (with 8 different dilutions) with 8 replicates for each drug condition. The device will be adapted to fit a 96 well plate so that it can be streamline into existing process flow. The flow will be driven by pneumatic and gravitational forces and both cell viability and apoptosis analysis will be done. µCAP will enable high throughput drug sensitivity assays on patient tumor samples and help in the determination of personalized treatment regimens and therapy.
Contact Information	debkishore_mitra@berkeley.edu, lplee@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Luke P. Lee

 

Document Top Table of Projects	BioMEMS
Project ID	BPN622
Project Title	Design of an Ex-vivo Prototype of a Bioartificial Kidney for Small Animals
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Fellowship
Keywords	Microfluidics, BioMEMS, Artificial Kidney, Medical Devices
Researchers	Peter Soler
Abstract	The goal of this project is to design, fabricate, and study an bioartificial rat kidney. The motivation behind the project is to further the development toward an implantable bioartificial human kidney that will improve quality of life and reduce cost for end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. My proposed device contains two units: i) a hemofilter based upon nanoporous silicon membranes, and ii) a bioreactor composed of kidney proximal tubule (PT) cells. The focus of my study is to develop a device design that is optimized for adequate mass transport so as to mimic natural kidney function. The Roy group has pioneered work in membranes that have been engineered with the use of silicon-based microfabrication techniques to attain pore slits with a height of 8-11 nm. The fabricated nanoporous membranes allow for a device with tight pore size distribution, complete immunoisolation, and durability. These are critical membrane specifications that make them well suited for this application.
Contact Information	soler@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Dorian Liepmann, Shuvo Roy

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN695
Project Title	Hydrodynamics of Marine Larval Locomotion
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	NSF
Keywords	marine larvae, ocean, microscopic organisms, shear, extension, acceleration
Researchers	Rachel Pepper
Abstract	We want to understand how microscopic swimmers navigate in complicated flow fields where the ambient fluid flow speed is much greater than their swimming speed. Up to now, the motility of these organisms, ranging from bacteria to small planktonic animals, has been studied in still water. While this is an important first step, it is essential to connect the motion in still fluid to the locomotion of organisms in their more complicated natural environments. In flowing water, these organisms are carried by the flow around them and can make only minor adjustments to their trajectory by swimming or sinking. However, if these minor adjustments are applied strategically, they may take advantage of the flow to direct the organism to desirable habitats.
Contact Information	rachel.pepper@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Dorian Liepmann, Mimi Koehl

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN621
Project Title	Microfluidic Separation of Blood for SIMBAS Biosensor
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	NSF
Keywords
Researchers	Kathryn Fink
Abstract	The goal of this research is to characterize and optimize a continuous-flow, sedimentation- based blood fractionation platform. The microfluidic system will separate from a blood sample a platelet-enriched plasma containing pathogens and pathogenic biomarkers. It will also provide a stream of concentrated blood cells including pathogenic plasmodial cells. The project supports the development of a Universal Sample Preparation and Pre-Concentration (USB) module for the SIMBAS project.
Contact Information	kdfink@berkeley.edu, kdfink@gmail.com
Advisor	Dorian Liepmann

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Microfluidics
Project ID	BPN711 New Project
Project Title	Point-of-Care System for Quantitative Measurements of Blood Analytes Using Graphene-Based Sensors
Status	New
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Biosensor, healthcare, graphene, microfluidics
Researchers	Jacobo Paredes, Katy Fink
Abstract	Serum glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and HbA1C monitoring are all valuable tools in the health management of the aging population especially given the increase in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Even for glucose monitoring, the challenges obtaining sufficiently accurate and reliable measurements are so significant, that the FDA is contemplating more stringent standards. Guido Freckmann et al., J. Diabetes Sci. Tech. 6, 1060-1075, 2012 have compared 43 blood glucose self-monitoring systems. Out of this 34 systems were completely assessed, and 27 (79.4%) of these 34 systems fulfill the minimal accuracy requirements and only 18 (52.9%) of 34 systems fulfilled the requirements the proposed tighter criteria in the current draft requirements. None of them meet the even more stringent requirement of ISO 2012 and FDA. Because inaccurate systems bear the risk of false therapeutic decisions, rising health care costs, there is an urgent need for significantly enhanced BG monitoring systems for PC applications. POC tests for other biomedically important analytes are generally even less accurate. The overall goal of the proposed research is to develop new sensor platforms that will provide increased sensitivity and accuracy in point of care situations. This is a joint project with Harvard Medical School and Vanderbilt University.
Contact Information	liepmann@berkeley.edu
Advisor	Dorian Liepmann

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Package, Process & Microassembly
Project ID	BPN712 New Project
Project Title	Bridging Research-to-Commercialization Gaps through Facilitated Intermediaries
Status	New
Funding Source	NSF
Keywords	Commercialization,Industry,Managing Director,Executive Director,Nanoshift,AMFitzgerald,MIG,Standards,SBIR
Researchers	John M. Huggins
Abstract	This project aims to leverage private sector intermediaries to facilitate, measure, and report commercialization outcomes of Center activities. BSAC university-based precommercial research (“presearch” for short) has been successful in member recruiting and retention as measured by membership related research revenue for the center ($1.2M-$3M/year) and average longevity of members (~ 8 years). But members have increasingly had trouble bridging the gaps from “presearch” to manufacturable processes & devices. As MEMS processes and applications move mainstream, these gestation periods are dropping rapidly. Many members have, in our surveys and at IAB meetings, vocalized that we need to help bridge commercialization gaps and increase the speed of commercialization. Any such commercialization facilitation programs cannot compromise the fundamental research mission of the Center. We propose to do this with specialized or focused non-University agents who can facilitate the transition from laboratory proof of concept vehicles to precommercial prototypes to commercial production. These intermediaries will provide boundary spanning between university presearch and commercialization.
Contact Information	jhuggins@eecs.berkeley.edu
Advisor	John M. Huggins

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Package, Process & Microassembly
Project ID	BPN480
Project Title	AM Fitzgerald: MEMS Design, Prototyping, Modeling, Failure Prediction and Foundry Transfer
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords
Researchers	Keith M. Jackson
Abstract	A.M. Fitzgerald & Associates provides product development and technical consulting services to clients ranging from start-ups to companies in the Fortune 500. Our capabilities include MEMS/Microsystems design and fabrication, multiphysics finite element analysis, failure prediction, and foundry transfer. We are experts at developing MEMS devices and can design and build a finished device from sketched concepts. Via our RocketMEMS™ program, customers can get customized MEMS sensors built in proven standard foundry processes. Our clients benefit from rapid prototype fabrication thus reducing their time, cost and risk of product development, and speeding time-to-market.
Contact Information	kmj@amfitzgerald.com
Advisor	John M. Huggins

 

Document Top Table of Projects	Package, Process & Microassembly
Project ID	BPN354
Project Title	The Nanoshift Concept: Innovation through Design, Development, Prototyping and Fabrication for MEMS, Microfluidics, Nano and Clean Technologies at the UC Berkeley NanoLab
Status	Continuing
Funding Source	Other
Keywords	Nanoshift, nanolab, microlab, process, recharge, commercial
Researchers	Ning Chen, Salah Uddin
Abstract	Nanoshift, LLC is a privately-held Emerging Technology research and development company specializing in Bio-MEMS, MEMS, Microfluidics and Nanotechnologies. Nanoshift's talented team and use of flexible lab facilities provides high quality, flexible, custom services for process design, development, rapid prototyping, low-volume fabrication and consultation. Typical projects arrive from academics, government and industry; Nanoshift is positioned as the road map for the concept to commercialization process. Nanoshift collaborates with BSAC to make powerful resources available for BSAC members, such as offering valuable services and technical expertise to both academic and industrial members, while improving BSAC's visibility and funding.
Contact Information	nchen@nanoshift.net, suddin@nanoshift.net
Advisor	John M. Huggins