Seminar Announcement
This seminar is sponsored by the IEEE Upper Mon subsection

Abstract: Robust control and failure assessment of MEMS employed in physically demanding, mission critical applications will allow for higher degrees of quality assurance in MEMS operation. Device fault detection and closed-loop control require detailed knowledge of the operational states of MEMS over the lifetime of the device, obtained by a means decoupled from the system. Preliminary through-wafer optical monitoring research efforts have shown that through-wafer optical probing is suitable for characterizing and monitoring the behavior of MEMS, and can be implemented in an integrated optical monitoring (IOM) package for continuous in-situ device monitoring. This presentation will discuss research undertaken to establish integrated optical device metrology for closed-loop control and fault detection of a MUMPS fabricated lateral harmonic oscillator. A theoretical optical output field intensity study of grating structures, fabricated on the stage of the resonator, was performed to improve the position resolution of the optical microprobe position signal. Through-wafer microprobe signals providing a positional resolution of 2 mm using grating structures will be shown. Successful closed-loop tracking control results using a through-wafer optical microprobe position feedback signal will be presented. Theoretical performance of applying Kalman filter fault detection techniques to a MEMS lateral comb resonator will be shown as well. Progress in the design, fabrication, and test of integrated optical elements for the realization of a MEMS/IOM package with multiple microprobe signal delivery and recovery will be discussed.

Speaker Bio: Jeremy Dawson, Ph.D. received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from West Virginia University in 1997, MSEE degree from WVU in 1999, and Ph.D. from WVU in 2002. His dissertation involved the study of free-space through-wafer integrated optical monitoring of MEMS structures for increased positional resolution of the optical position signal. He has also worked in the areas of design and implementation of lateral comb resonator surface micromachined devices and diffractive optical microsystems. He is currently continuing studies of MEMS control and reliability, and is involved in other projects dealing with bed height control in a cold-flow circulating fluidized bed (CFB) and linear engine/alternator development.