Clark J.V. – Page 2 – TechConnect Briefs

Calibrating the AFM with Self-Calibratable MEMS: A Theoretical Study

Li F., Clark J.V., Purdue University, US

To perform reliable scientific measurements with the atomic force microscope (AFM), it is important to calibrate the AFM cantilever. Conventional calibration methods have a 10 to 15% uncertainty, and the accuracies of such methods are [...]

Gravimeter on a Chip: A Theoretical Study

Li F., Clark J.V., Purdue University, US

We present a theoretical study of our proposed gravimeter on a chip. A gravimeter is a device used to measure gravity. In contrast to conventional gravimeters, our gravimeter is expected to be microscale, cheaper, more [...]

SugarCube: An Online Tool for Investigating the Performance of Ready-Made Parameterized MEMS

Marepalli P., Clark J.V., Purdue University, US

We present an online tool - SugarCube which facilitates the parameterization of ready-made MEMS. Using this tool one can investigate the performance of parameterized MEMS which are available in the form of hierarchical libraries. This [...]

Improved Modeling of the Comb Drive Levitation Effect

Li F., Clark J.V., Purdue University, US

Lumped comb drive models found in the literature ignore the electrostatic levitation effect, which decreases their accuracy. The levitation effect occurs when the substrate is within close proximity to the comb drive. This common configuration [...]

An Online Electrostatics Modeling Tool for Microdevices with Dirichlet Boundary Conditions by Schwarz-Christoffel Mapping

Li F., Clark J.V., Purdue University, US

We present an online software tool that quickly and accurately models and simulates the electrostatic properties, such as capacitance, charge distribution, and electrostatic force, of microdevices in 2.5D domain with Dirichlet boundary conditions by using [...]

Towards Microrobots with Insect-Like Dexterity

Clark J.V., Li F., Clark J.V., Purdue University, US

In this paper we analyze a pioneering mechanism ‘solid state muscles’ that facilitates insect-like dexterity for autonomous and robust microscale robotics. The results of our efforts are expected to at lead to the following microrobot [...]

Using MEMS as Self-Calibrating Force-Displacement Transducers: A Computational Study

Clark J.V., Li F., Lee H., Kadasia K., Purdue University, US

Accurate and precise measurements of forces and displacements are critical to the improved understanding, discovery, and prediction of micro- and nanoscale phenomena. Since geometric and material properties of MEMS vary from run to run, it [...]

An Online Tool for Simulating Electro-Thermo-Mechanical Flexures Using Distributed and Lumped Analyses

Li F., Clark J.V., Purdue University, US

We present an online software tool that enables both novices and experts to quickly and fairly accurately model and simulate an electro-thermo-mechanical microdevice. We model and simulate a MEMS thermal actuator by coupling finite element [...]

Towards an efficient multidisciplinary system-level framework for designing and modeling complex engineered microsystems

Clark J.V., Zeng Y., Jha P., Purdue University, US

We present advances in designing and modeling complex microsystems at the network/system-level. For design, we develop a graphical user interface that allows users to quickly configure complex systems in 3D using a computer mouse or [...]

Practical Techniques for Measuring MEMS Properties

Clark J.V., Garmire D., Last M., Demmel J., Govindjee S., Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, US

We describe simple test structures and practical analysis techniques to measure properties of MEMS devices. Our structures are designed to test many quantities using simple electric probes in a minimal chip area. We analyze differences [...]