MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

EECS Fall 1997 Catalogue Supplement

6.971 Design and Fabrication of Microelectromechanical Devices (H)

MW 1-2:30, 36-155
Profs. Stephen Senturia, 39-567, x6869 and Martin Schmidt, 39-527, x7817
3-2-7
Prereq: 6.003, 8.02, 6.152J or permission of instructor

Microelectromechanical devices (MEMS), such as pressure sensors, accelerometers, rate gyroscopes, and opto-mechanical assemblies and displays, require knowlege of a broad range of disciplines, from microfabrication to mechanics to electromagnetism. This class presents an introduction to this broad field, using examples and design projects drawn from real-word MEMS applications.

Lectures during the first 2/3 of the term will cover material properties, fabrication technologies, structural behavior, piezoresistive and capacitive sensing, electrostatic actuation, and the effects of fluid damping on structures.

The ultimate goal of the class will be team projects to design dynamical sensors to a set of specifications (sensitivity, frequency response, linearity) using a realistic microfabrication process. Along the way, student exercises will develop skills in locating suitable information from libraries and electronic archives, visualization of structures created with microfabrication process sequences, use of mechanical and electrical simulation tools, creation of low-order dynamical device models, and insertion of those models into the simulation of a complete electronic measurement circuit.