| Piezoresistive Processing
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| We use piezo-resistors in many applications for sensing and measurements. When it comes to design of the piezo-resistors, sensitivity and noise tradeoff with process constraints. We have designed set of experiments to understand drift and noise as a function of process conditions. Some of the devices we study are cantilevers fabricated in the MEMS course and the base process may be found at that site.
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| ME342 webpage
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| Piezoresistive Sensors
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| Noise Studies in Implanted Piezoresistors
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| Understanding the Sense of Touch
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| Touch and force sensation have been studied since the 1920s, but understanding of the molecular basis of these and other (i.e. hearing, balance, baroreception, pain) mechanical senses is only now emerging. To address this problem, we have developed micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)-based force clamp to deliver calibrated force profiles. We have also developed force post arrays and channels to study worm locomotion. We are studying the touch response in C. elegans as a model system with the Goodman lab and locomotion with the Lockery lab.
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| Mechanotransduction in C. elegans
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| Force Clamps
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| Force posts
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| Goodman lab
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| Lockery Lab
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| Coaxial Tip Piezoresistive Probes for Scanning Gate Microscopy
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| Scanning gate microscopy (SGM) is a probing technique originally developed to image current flow and electron distribution in mesoscopic systems. In SGM, the potential in a device is perturbed locally by applying a voltage to a conducting tip mounted on a cantilever. The measured change in conductance of the system is related to the electron probability density or current flow at the tip location. In order to apply SGM to semiconductor nanostructures, there is a need for a probe that can first map the topography of the surface and then generate a highly-localized potential perturbation at a desired location. We propose to design and fabricate novel force sensing cantilevers with coaxial tips, designed to emit a highly-localized dipolar electric field. Piezoresistive transduction enables topographic imaging, necessary for tip placement, while avoiding undesirable effects of illumination on the device studied. Beyond SGM, applications for these probes include imaging and measuring biological potentials on cell membranes, as well as electrochemical and microwave studies.
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| Project Description
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| Goldhaber-Gordon Group
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This page was last modified 10:53, 9 July 2007.
