Depuis plus de 10 ans, l'étude de microsystèmes (MEMS : MicroElectroMechanical Systems) permettant la génération de puissance à petite échelle a fait l'objet d'une multitude de recherches dans le but d'offrir une meilleure alternative par rapport aux piles électrochimiques. Les premières études portant sur les microturbines à gaz ont permis de révéler le potentiel des micromachines rotatives pour l'implantation de micro centrales d'énergie sur une puce. La conception et la fabrication d'une première génération de microturbopompe ont permis d'établir les lignes directrices pour la conception d'une microturbine à cycle Rankine. Pour le bon fonctionnement d'un tel dispositif et pour en améliorer ses performances, il est important de mieux comprendre le comportement des écoulements internes influant sur le mouvement du rotor puisqu'ils ont été très peu étudiés. Le but de la présente recherche est d'effectuer une étude détaillée des composantes secondaires de la microturbopompe précédemment développée afin d'approfondir la compréhension des phénomènes en jeu lors de son opération. Dans la présente étude, des investigations expérimentales et des modèles approfondis ont été faits sur les joints d'étanchéité hydrodynamiques, le palier axial hydrostatique, le palier radial hydrostatique et l'écoulement radial secondaire. Combinée avec la modélisation de la turbine multiétage et de la pompe hydrodynamique, l'intégration simultanée de toutes les composantes a mis en évidence les interactions possibles entre les composantes. Ainsi, une nouvelle configuration d'opération a été proposée permettant d'atteindre un niveau de performance similaire aux essais antérieurs (295 kRPM), mais avec une pression d'alimentation du palier axial réduite considérablement ([environ]50%). Cette réduction de pression permet de se rapprocher davantage de l'opération avec des paliers autosuffisants qui a même été expérimentée, pour une première fois, à basse vitesse (77 kRPM). L'étude des joints d'étanchéité a démontré leur performance à haute vitesse (50 kPa à 190 kRPM) et l'importance bénéfique des effets de tension de surface. La pompe hydrodynamique a été caractérisée expérimentalement pour la première fois avec un écoulement externe, montrant que sa performance est limitée par le joint d'étanchéité. Pour la pompe avec un écoulement interne, un débit massique de 12 mg/s a été pompé à une vitesse de 180 kRPM. Une différence notable a été mesurée entre les deux types pompes implantés confirmant, pour une première fois, l'effet des forces centrifuges sur les performances de la pompe hydrodynamique. L'amélioration de la modélisation du palier axial a permis d'évaluer la position axiale du rotor en utilisant les pertes de pression et les débits massiques mesurés expérimentalement dans le palier axial. La forte rigidité angulaire du palier axial a également été mise en évidence. Finalement, les écoulements et le comportement dynamique du palier radial ont été étudiés analytiquement et expérimentalement, permettant de définir de nouveaux critères de conception afin d'éviter l'apparition d'instabilités dynamiques. L'étude plus approfondie des composantes secondaires de la microturbopompe a permis d'améliorer la compréhension des phénomènes dominants lors de son opération. Une base de compréhension supplémentaire a donc été établie pour le développement de micromachines rotatives telles que la microturbine à cycle Rankine et les microturbines à gaz.

Il y a un besoin de mesures de vibration, tel que dans l'automobile pour le contrôle actif du bruit acoustique. Les microsystèmes électromécaniques (MEMS) et les technologies sans fils sont des technologies de plus en plus répandues pour l'implémentation de capteurs. Ce projet vise donc le développement de capteurs de déformation en utilisant une solution sans fil pour l'acquisition des mesures de la vibration, avec les technologies MEMS. Ce projet de recherche utilise la technologie des systèmes RFID passifs pour la communication, intégrée avec un transducteur de déformation MEMS pour la mesure. Le capteur consiste en une antenne reliée à un transducteur MEMS capacitif par l'entremise d'une ligne de transmission avec des discontinuités. Les déformations de la structure sur laquelle le capteur est fixé sont traduites en changement de capacité du transducteur, ce qui engendre un retard dans le signal réfléchi par l'antenne. Une étude de l'état de l'art des principes de communication et de transduction a permis de comparer les avantages et inconvénients des approches. Une modélisation analytique faite sur différents types de transduction a conduit à une combinaison optimale faisant intervenir un transducteur type capacitif. Pour atteindre une taille du capteur de l'ordre du centimètre, le système travaille à une fréquence micro-onde fixée à 24,125 GHz. Un dispositif fût alors conçu, incluant la ligne de transmission avec des discontinuités pour l'identification du capteur ainsi que le transducteur capacitif avec peignes interdigités et ressorts en silicium. La conception d'un tel capteur permet d'aboutir à une sensibilité de 11ps/[epsilon] avec une bonne linéarité sur une plage de mesure [0..2500[micro][epsilon]]. Un procédé de microfabrication du transducteur MEMS est aussi proposé, ainsi qu'une approche pour la fabrication pour les éléments RF sur un substrat d'alumine et leur intégration.

MEMS gyroscopes have become an essential component in consumer, industrial and automotive applications, owing to their small form factor and low production cost. However, their poor stability, also known as drift, has hindered their penetration into high-end tactical and navigation applications, where highly stable bias and scale factor are required over long period of time to avoid significant positioning error. Improving the long-term stability of MEMS gyroscopes has created new challenges in both the physical sensor design and fabrication, as well as the system architecture used for interfacing with the physical sensor. The objective of this research is to develop interface circuits and systems for in-situ control and self-calibration of MEMS resonators and resonant gyroscopes to enhance the stability of bias and scale factor without the need for any mechanical rotary stage, or expensive bulky lab characterization equipment. The self-calibration techniques developed in this work provide 1-2 orders of magnitude improvement in the drift of bias and scale factor of a resonant gyroscope over temperature and time.

Eye tracking research is a growing area and the fields as where eye trackingcould be used in research are large. To understand the eye tracking data dif-ferent filters are used to classify the measured eye movements. To get accu-rate classification this thesis has investigated the possibility to measure bothhead movements and eye movements in order to improve the estimated gazepoint.The thesis investigates the difference in using head movement compensationwith a velocity based filter, I-VT filter, to using the same filter without headmovement compensation. Further on different velocity thresholds are testedto find where the performance of the filter is the best. The study is made with amobile eye tracker, where this problem exist since you have no absolute frameof reference as opposed to when using remote eye trackers. The head move-ment compensation shows promising results with higher precision overall.

Stress in electrochemically deposited (ECD) magnetic films is an important parameter that can have a critical effect on the performance of MEMS devices such as microinductors. This is especially the case when thick layers of materials are required and where it is important to monitor and hence control stress to prevent cracking and delamination. The reliability of devices, therefore, deeply depends on process parameters and conditions used in depositing these materials on silicon wafers. A MEMS technique for measuring stress spatially around such a wafer has been developed and used to characterise the materials involved in the fabrication of a microinductor. This thesis discusses the design and fabrication of test structures, along with a custom built automatic measurement technique to wafer map the spatial variation of strain, on any sized wafers. The effect of agitation on the grain structure of NiFe has been observed to affect strain which were spatially mapped and correlated with the film composition and thickness. Film uniformity were also shown to improve in the absence of agitation in the bath. To further understand the fundamentals of ECD small scale beaker level galvano-static experiments have been employed to use the same test structures fabricated on small Si chips. The effects of hydrogen evolution on film stress and efficiency with the inclusion of boric acid and saccharin, have been discussed. It was concluded that the tensile stress developed in Ni and NiFe films have an inversely proportional relationship with the plating efficiency. The characterisation of electrodeposited copper films is also of importance as copper films are integrated with magnetic materials in the form of windings for microinductors. The variations in recrystallization and evolution of grains of ECD copper, is for the first time demonstrated spatially using the test structures. The effect of additives in bath on film uniformity was investigated and it was observed that with carrier and additive together the three phases of self annealing were more pronounced. Finally the use of these strain test structures have been demonstrated on thick polymer SU-8 films, which is employed as a structural material in microinductors. The effect of UV exposure dose on the cross linking properties of SU-8 has also been studied. It was observed that non-uniformity in the coated film thickness over the wafer can cause variations in the UV exposure during photolithography that effects the cross linking of the polymer hence, inducing different levels of tensile stress in the material. This unique methodology has therefore opened up many possibilities and can be used for characterising newer materials employed in MEMS, fine-tuning the manufacturing processes to achieve set goals in terms of material properties as well as uniformity and gaining a better understanding of the influence of processing conditions on the produced films.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / In the past few years, GPS has proven itself as an effective source of time space position information (TSPI) data for air vehicles. Currently, GPS truth systems are used to track aircraft ranging from low dynamic vehicles to high dynamic fighters. However, low-cost GPS TSPI instrumentation is not currently available for stores and weapons delivered by air vehicles. To date, data is collected by tracking dropped items using radar or optical means. This process is costly and time consuming. The purpose of this project is to leverage the recent advances in micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology to develop a subminiature, inexpensive, low power, disposable telemetrytransmitting package. The purpose of this transmitting package is to up-link the GPS positional data from the weapon or store to the host aircraft. This data is then retransmitted by the host aircraft to a ground station and/or recorded on board for post processing. The transmission of the data to the host aircraft can provide near real- time position data for the released object. The transmitting package must have a unique identification method for application in tracking multiple objects. Since most of the systems used in weapons testing will be destroyed, it is extremely important to keep the development and maintenance cost low. In addition, the package must be non-intrusive to avoid any significant modification to the weapon and to facilitate quick instrumentation of the weapon for test and evaluation.

The objective of the proposed research is to design, fabricate, characterize and test silicon-embedded magnetic components for on-chip integrated power applications. Driven by the trend towards continued system multi-functionality and miniaturization, MEMS technology can be used to enable fabrication of three-dimensional (3-D) functional devices into the silicon bulk, taking advantage of the 'dead volume' in the substrate and achieving a greater level of miniaturization and integration. As an example, one of the challenges in realizing ultra-compact high-frequency power converters lies in the integration of magnetic components due to their relatively large volume. Embedding 3-D magnetic components within the wafer volume and implementing high-power, through-wafer interconnect for connection to circuitry on the wafer surface is a promising solution for achieving ultra-compact power converters, in which digital control circuitry and power switches are located on the wafer surface, and suitable magnetic components are embedded within the silicon substrate. In order to do this, key tasks in the following areas have been accomplished: development of new fabrication technologies for silicon embedding and 3-D structure realization; creation of high-current, through-wafer interconnects for connection of the device to circuitry; ability to incorporate a variety of magnetic materials when performance enhancement of the device is needed; exploration of a new design space for the devices due to ultra-compactness and silicon interaction; understanding of the complicated loss mechanisms in the embedded devices; and demonstration of device performance and in-circuit operation.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Reconfigurable patch antenna integrated with RF mircoelectromechanical system (MEMS) switches is presented in this paper. The proposed antenna radiates circularly polarized wave at selectable dual frequencies (4.7 GHz and 7.5GHz) of high frequency ratio (1.6:1). The switches are incorporated into the diagonally-fed square patch for controlling the operation frequency, and a rectangular stub attached to the edge of the patch acts as the perturbation to produce the circular polarization. Gain of proposed antenna is 5 - 6dBi, and axial ratio satisfies 3dB criterion at both operating frequencies. The switches are monolithically integrated on quartz substrate. The antenna can be used in applications requiring frequency diversity of remarkable high frequency ratio.

This thesis contains the research findings from my participation in two research projects. The first is the development and assessment of Active Learning Modules (ALMs) for engineering students. The ALMs assist students in learning complex Finite Element Analysis (FEA) principles. We measure the effectiveness of the modules by issuing pre- and post-module quizzes and analyze the differences of the quiz scores. Active learning modules are used to meet the needs of all students’ learning styles. Each student who uses an ALM takes a series of learning style assessment quizzes (MBTI, LIS …). We statistically compare the learning styles and quiz scores to ensure all learning styles are improving equally well. In cases where they are not, we created a tool to make suggestions to the ALM developer on how to adjust the ALM to meet the needs of the outlying learning style group(s). Following modification, the implementation and evaluation process of the ALM is repeated. My second area of research focused on the development of a concise prototype strategy development tool. This tool guides engineering product development teams through six critical prototype strategy choices: (1) How many concepts should be prototyped? (2) How many iterations of a concept should be built? (3) Should the prototype be virtual or physical? (4) Should subsystems be isolated? (5) Should the prototype be scaled? (6) Should the design requirements be temporarily relaxed? This list of choices is not comprehensive but served as a starting point for this groundbreaking research. The tool was tested at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Air Force Academy. Results indicate the method did improve students’ performance across a number of assessment metrics. / text

Micromanipulation is considered a challenging task which requires high precision motion and measurement at the micro scale. When micromanipulation is concerned with living organisms important considerations need to be addressed. These include the physical or chemical properties of micro-organisms, living conditions, responses to the environment and achieving suitably delicate manipulation. Bio-micromanipulation can include micro surgery or cell injection operations, or to determine interaction forces as the basis to investigate behavior and properties of living micro-organisms. In order to achieve suitable bio-micromanipulation appropriate processes and/or sensory systems need to be investigated. This thesis aims to look into the force interaction and sensing addressing two distinctive challenges in the field of bio-micromanipulation. To this end, this thesis presents two major contributions to advancing bio-micromanipulation. Firstly, a novel Haptic Microrobotic Cell Injection System is introduced which is able to assist a bio-operator through haptic interaction. The system introduces a mapping framework which provides an intuitive method for the bio-operator to maneuver the micropipette in a manner similar to handheld needle insertion. To accurately control the microrobot, a neuro-fuzzy modeling and control scheme has been developed. Volumetric, axial and planar haptic virtual fixtures are introduced to guide the bio-operator during cell injection. Aside from improving real-time operator performance using the physical system, the system is novel in facilitating virtual offline operator training. Secondly, a first-of-its-kind micro-pillar based on-chip system for dynamic force measurement of C. elegans motion is introduced. The system comprises a microfabricated PDMS device to direct C. elegans into a matrix of micropillars within a channel mimicking its dwelling environment. An image processing algorithm is able to track the interaction of the C. elegans with the pillars and estimate contact forces based on micropillar deflections. The developed micropillar system is capable of measuring the force with sub-micron resolution while providing a continuous force output spectrum.