All Screen Printed and Flexible Silicon Carbide NTC Thermistors for Temperature Sensing Applications.

In this study, Silicon Carbide (SiC) nanoparticle-based serigraphic printing inks were formulated to fabricate highly sensitive and wide temperature range printed thermistors. Inter-digitated electrodes (IDEs) were screen printed onto Kapton substrate using commercially avaiable silver ink. Thermistor inks with different weight ratios of SiC nanoparticles were printed atop the IDE structures to form fully printed thermistors.

Anchor Loss Reduction in Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems Flexural Beam Resonators Using Trench Hole Array Reflectors.

The quality factor of microelectromechanical resonators is a crucial performance metric and has thus been the subject of numerous studies aimed at maximizing its value by minimizing the anchor loss. This work presents a study on the effect of elastic wave reflectors on the quality factor of MEMS clamped-clamped flexural beam resonators. The elastic wave reflectors are a series of holes created by trenches in the silicon substrate of the resonators.

A Nonlinear Pulse Shaping Method Using Resonant Piezoelectric MEMS Devices.

In this article, a methodology for increasing the displacement of the membrane in nonlinear transducers is presented. This methodology that relies on pulse shaping is based on the frequency modulation of the excitation signal which in turn results in an amplitude modulation of the displacement of the resonator. The benefits of pulse shaping include the increase of the displacement of the membrane of the resonator, the ability to leverage two mechanisms to dynamically tune the resonant frequency of the device and a relative control of the decay time of the resonator.

Terahertz time-domain derivative spectrometer using a large-aperture piezoelectric micromachined device.

The engineering of optomechanical systems has exploded over the past decades, with many geometries and applications arising from the coupling of light with mechanical motion. The modulation of electromagnetic radiation in the terahertz (THz) frequency range through optomechanical systems is no exception to this research effort. However, some fundamental modulation capabilities for THz communications and/or high-speed data processing applications are yet to be established.

Control of Spring Softening and Hardening in the Squared Daisy.

Nonlinear, mechanical microelectromechanical system (MEMS) resonating structures exhibit large displacement and a relatively broad operating bandwidth. These unique features make them particularly of interest for the development of MEMS actuators and sensors. In this work, a mechanical MEMS structure allowing the designer to determine the type of nonlinearity, that is, softening or hardening, based on its anchor scheme is presented.

Design of the Squared Daisy: A Multi-Mode Energy Harvester, with Reduced Variability and a Non-Linear Frequency Response.

With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the ever-increasing number of integrated sensors, the question of powering these devices represents an additional challenge. The traditional approach is to use a battery; however, harvesting energy from the environment seems to be the most practical approach. To that end, the use of piezoelectric MEMS energy has been proven as a potential power source in a wide range of applications.

Effects of Proof Mass Geometry on Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvesters.

Piezoelectric energy harvesters have proven to have the potential to be a power source in a wide range of applications. As the harvester dimensions scale down, the resonance frequencies of these devices increase drastically. Proof masses are essential in micro-scale devices in order to decrease the resonance frequency and increase the strain along the beam to increase the output power.