MAE Seminar: MEMS are Becoming 3-D and Atomically Precise

Abstract: Microtechnology comes of age. Clearly, some significant advances have been made, and we see a footprint of the technology in an ever-growing consumer electronics market full of interactive products enabled by microtechnology. These products include, for example, accelerometers for gaming, gyros for auto safety, resonators for clocks, and more. However, questions remain. Is the technology really on the level of what we consider to be precision sensing? Does making sensors small necessarily result in a degradation of performance? Why do we need the precision of sensing for our daily life, and what are the opportunities if we have the precision at our fingertips? We are exploring a number of technological solutions, including micro glassblowing technology for precision sensing and silicon origami-like assembly techniques for classical and atomic MEMS. All will be discussed in this talk.

 

Bio: Andrei M. Shkel has been on faculty at UC Irvine since 2000. From 2009 to 2013, he was on leave from academia to serve as program manager in the Microsystems Technology Office of DARPA, where he initiated and managed an over $200M investment portfolio in development of microtechnology for positioning, navigation and timing. His research interests are reflected in over 200 publications, 30 patents and two books. Shkel has served on a number of editorial boards, most recently as editor of IEEE/ASME JMEMS and the founding chair of the IEEE Inertial Sensors. He has received the 2013 Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, the 2009 IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award and the 2005 NSF CAREER award. An IEEE Fellow, he earned his diploma with excellence (1991) in mechanics and mathematics from Moscow State University, a doctorate (1997) in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and completed a postdoc (1999) at Berkeley Sensors and Actuators Center (BSAC).