Probing Interfacial Contact via MEMS-based Micro-instrumentation

Date: Thursday Feb. 27, 2014
Time: 11:30am – 1:00pm
Venue: Biltmore Hotel, Santa Clara
Speaker: Prof. Roya Maboudian, UCB

Sponsor: IEEE SCV CPMT
Co-Sponsors: IEEE SCV MEMS, IEEE-SCV-WiE;

Talk Summary:  Understanding the mechanisms underlying the interactions that occur when two surfaces are brought together, separated, or rubbed against each other is fundamentally important to many basic and applied problems. In this presentation, I will discuss the impact of these interactions in the burgeoning field of micro- and nano-electromechanical systems. I will also present the unique opportunities provided by the MEMS processing techniques to interrogate surfaces on a length scale not easily accessible by other techniques, namely in the mesoscopic length scale. With this view, I will introduce a number of MEMS-based microinstruments that we have developed to study these interactions, and some of the insights we have gained using them about the nature of surface interactions involved in M/NEMS.

About the Speaker: Roya Maboudian is professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, associate director of the Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS), and faculty affiliate of the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center (BSAC) at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Prof. Maboudian’s research interest is in the surface and materials science and engineering of micro/nanosystems. The main research activities in her group currently include investigation of the tribological issues in micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS) and surface interactions in microfluidic environments; silicon carbide-based sensors for harsh environment applications; nanowire- and graphene-based sensors and energy technologies; development of electrochemical processes for low-cost thin-film photovoltaics; and biologically inspired materials design. Prof. Maboudian is the recipient of several awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House, NSF Young Investigator award, and the Beckman Young Investigator award. She is currently serving as editor to the IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (JMEMS), as associate editor to IEEE/SPIE Journal on Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS and MOEMS (JM3), and as advisory board member to ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (AMI).

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