In the electronic and microfabrication industry, die separation is one of the most critical steps in producing an undamaged, stand-alone micro-scale device. For silicon based devices, it is the predominant step governing resistance to die failure...
Integrated circuits--Design and construction; Integrated circuits industry--Technological innovations
Lithographic processes for printing device structures on integrated circuits plays a major role in the semiconductor industry. This project aims at designing and fabricating a programmable mask for a direct write lithography system which can...
Protective coatings; Microelectromechanical systems
PARYLENE (poly-para-xylylene) is mostly used as a conformal protective polymer pin-hole free coating material to uniformly protect any component configuration on diverse substrates. This thesis describes in detail how the unique properties of...
Most of the structures in submillimeter-scale engineering are created from thin films, making them essentially two-dimensional (2D). Significant work has been done to fabricate 3D structures using self-folding, a deterministic form of...
More than 50% of the total energy produced is typically rejected in the form of waste heat from various processes. The grand challenge is that most of this waste heat is released at temperatures much lower than 1000 C, which makes it difficult to...
The thesis focuses on improving the flowrate of the Knudsen gas pump. The Knudsen pump uses thermal transpiration as the driving mechanism to pump gas. It is a motionless gas pump as the pump does not require any moving actuators for pumping. The...
We have measured the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity, K(T) of single walled carbon nanotubes from 300 K to 8 K by 3w methods. K(T) exhibits linear temperature dependence in the entire temperature range. Our results are in good agreement...
Over the last 15 years, researchers have explored the use of piezoresistive microcantilevers/resonators as gas sensors because of their relative ease in fabrication, low production cost, and their ability to detect changes in mass or surface stress...
In July 1995, National Science Foundation Award # 9551869 funded the development of a new inter-disciplinary microfabrication course under the primary leadership of Dr. Kevin Walsh at the University of Louisville. Along with this award, the...
Microfabricated planar solar cells with an active solar collection area of 0.04cm2 were fabricated on n-type silicon wafers to test the viability of sputtered amorphous thin film photovoltaics for potential use in amorphous multijunction cells or...
Bi-stable buckled MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) diaphragms have a myriad of uses in the MEMS field for their large out-of-plane deflections. Buckling is a phenomenon brought upon by a compressive stress. Diaphragms are large aspect ratio,...
The discovery of carbon nanotubes and subsequently graphene has led to an interest in carbon materials as sensing elements due to their unique properties. Graphene is a 2-dimensional material that has a large surface area that can be exposed to...
Microelectromechanical systems; Biotelemetry; Strains and stresses--Measurement
Lumbar arthrodesis or spinal fusion is usually performed to relieve back pain and regain functionality from ruptured discs, disc degenerative disease, trauma and scoliosis. Metal rods are often fixed to the spine with screws or hooks, while fusion...
Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) are the two leading causes of blindness in the world today. Despite enormous efforts and advances in clinical treatment of eye diseases, there is no established method or cure of...
Planar fiber-optic chips (FOC) take advantage of the evanescent field effects of side-polished fibers, exhibiting usefulness in fluorescence, absorbance, electrochemical investigations, and as presented here Raman spectroscopy. The fabrication of...
Assessing the functionality of the endothelium can provide insight into the initiation and formation of arterial diseases. One of the most important functions of the endothelial layer is its permeability. The integrity of the cell monolayer and its...
The Knudsen pump works on the principle of thermal transpiration. As a result of requiring a thermal gradient, channel hydraulic diameter smaller than the mean free path of the gas being pumped, and having no moving parts, the Knudsen pump features...
In this work, micro fabrication techniques are explored not only to simplify the production of complex lab on-a-chip devices (LOC), but also micro fabrication will be utilized to create intelligent design features that will enhance an...
In this thesis self-assembled growth of Ag2Ga nano-needles on batch fabricated
micro-grippers are reported. The room temperature growth of Ag2Ga nano-needles have
been recently developed as stylus for Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Integration...
This dissertation demonstrates an elegant method, known as 'micro-origami' or strain architecture to design and fabricate three-dimensional MEMS structures which are assembled using actuation of a metal-oxide bilayer with conventional planar...
