Conference Home Poster Session

This paper reports the fabrication and testing of polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) based single-material MEMS (SMM) resonators with a resonance frequency of 48.2 KHz for the first time. Although other materials are used during the fabrication process of SMM, the final structure is made of poly-C only. The use of poly-C based SMM technology, due to a simplified fabrication process, makes poly-C radio frequency MEMS (RFMEMS) less expensive than Si RFMEMS. A 0.6-um-thick boron-doped poly-C film with a resistivity of 9 Ucm is used as a piezoresistor. A 50-nm-thick highly-doped poly- C inter-layer, with a resistivity of 5x10-3 Ucm, was used between the metal and the piezoresistor to reduce the contact resistance. A 3.0-um-thick undoped poly-C film, with a resistivity > 109 Ucm, was used as an insulating as well as a structural material.

Using the innovations in RFID technology, this project's goal is to accomplish a programmable robot integrated with an RFID reader/writer unit. The vision of this robot is to track inventories in industrial warehouses. In this paper, the first task is to achieve building an RFID reader that is compatible with tags which operate in ISO15693, ISO14443A/B and Tag-it® protocols. To accomplish this, the following tasks will have to be completed:

• Selection of appropriate components, including RFID reader/writer unit, microcontroller, and wireless components.
• Configuring the serial interface of the microcontroller to transmit data via the selected wireless device.
• Designing an antenna for the RFID system that meets the specifications to achieve the necessary range.

Recent advances in sensors and micro-systems have led to fascinating developments in man-made (dancer and actor robots) and engineered nature-made (genetically modified E. Coli produces insulin) robotic systems. Using the underlying concepts of nature-made maple-seed robotic fliers (MRF), passive MRFs were demonstrated for the first time for outreach and workforce training1. This paper focuses on design, fabrication and testing of 1, 2 and 4 wing MRFs with on-board microcontrollers and wireless interfaces. A wireless data transfer between a flying MRF (data transfer only active during the flight) and an MRF on the ground is demonstrated for the first time.

The long-term vision of the MRFs is to monitor, with on board micro and nano sensors, the environments that are dangerous or difficult to access for humans. Such MRFs, equipped with multimedia devices, will be microfabricated in large numbers and may be released from a drone aircraft. For long term monitoring, on-board energy scavengers and wireless interfaces are also envisioned.

The problem of bullying at work place and schools is often difficult to handle. This problem becomes even more complex with the emergence of new forms and types of bullying (e.g., use of Internet by the bullies). For the first time, this paper reports the use of programmable NXT robots to address the bullying problem in a non-threatening and interesting manner. This is accomplished by assigning the roles of 'bully', 'nerd (learner)' and 'bystander' to programmed NXT robots networked through Bluetooth. The robots are programmed to perform their respective roles before, on the intervention of the 'bystander' robot, they all start dancing together suggesting that through active intervention in the bullying situation positive outcomes, such as dancing, can be achieved.

A four stages cascoded class-E power amplifier based on a high voltage / high power technique (HiVP) has been designed and implemented using microstrip circuits and packaged devices at VHF. The amplifier is fabricated using four separate flanged LDMOS transistors. Drain voltage has been reduced to increase the maximum frequency of class-E operation mode and reduce the maximum drain voltage swing to protect the transistor from breakdown. Measurement results show 73.4% power-added efficiency PAE, 30.1 dB of gain and 52.1 W output power at 153 MHz.

MEMS cantilever resonators have been the focus of intensive research over the past decade or more. Of the many applications of MEM cantilever-resonators, the present work will focus on a narrow range: MEM cantilever resonators used in open-air as selective resonant mass sensors. Cantilever-resonators used in this mode have proven their efficacy, and have a number of significant benefits over other micro-mass sensors and chemical analysis methods. However, many cantilever sensors tagged for use as resonant mass sensors appear to be un-optimized with respect to mass-sensitivity and quality factor (an important contributor to a cantilever’s overall mass sensitivity). The purpose of the present work is threefold: 1.) qualitatively elucidate the relationship between mirco-cantilever dimensions and material parameters and quality factor. 2.) develop design equations for micro-cantilevers of optimal quality-factor and/or optimal mass-sensitivity, and 3.) compare the mass sensitivity of optimal micro-cantilevers with the mass sensitivity of other (non-cantilever) MEMS resonant mass-sensors. The above will be shown for a variety of cantilever materials.

This paper presents a DC voltage dependent switchable, composite thin film bulk acoustic wave (FBAR) resonator at 1.82 GHz. The resonator consists of barium strontium titanate-on-silicon in which barium stronium titanate (BST) is primarily used for transduction. The electrostrictive property of BST is exploited to turn the resonator on and off by applying a DC voltage. The device exhibits a quality factor of 157 and 301 at its series and parallel resonance frequencies, respectively. The preliminary result of an acoustically coupled thickness mode filter based on BST-on-Silicon structure is also presented. The insertion loss of the filter is 15 dB at 2.03 GHz. When the resonator is turned off (no DC bias), it behaves like a capacitor. This is the first demonstration of a BST-on-Silicon FBAR resonator.