Electrosynthesized Nanocomposite for Microelectromechanical Systems

Intellectual Merit: The combination of two or more materials in the form of nanocomposite in making microstructures could open up a new class of materials for microsystem applications. The first motivation of this research is therefore to investigate metal-organic/inorganic nanocomposites by adding nanoparticles into microstructures in order to modify and strengthen the material properties and alleviate the mechanical deficiency such as fatigue and aging with the advantage of low temperature processing and feasibility for direct integration with microelectronics. For the polymeric microstructures, the discovery of conductivity in polymeric materials open up new fields of research in organic semiconductor, flexible display, bio and chemical sensors, and corrosion resistant coating.
However, pure conductive-polymer exhibits significant drawbacks in material stability, charge saturation and limited functionalities. Therefore, the second motivation of this research is to study
conductive-polymer based nanocomposite made by encapsulating nano substances such as chemicals, enzymes, or biomarkers for Bio-MEMS applications. Two electrosynthesized microstructures are proposed. The first architecture is to make suspended mechanical microstructures made of nanocomposite for Microelectromechanical systems and the second architecture is to make micro-gap sensors made of nanocomposite to encapsulate nanoparticles for Bio-MEMS applications.
Preliminary results show that suspended microstructure made of electroless nickel.cordierite nanocomposite and electrolytic nickel.diamond can reduce the residual stress and enhance the Young.s modulus of microstructures. On the other hand, nanocomposite made of
conductive-polymer polypyrrole and encapsulated glucose oxidase and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) has successfully completed the micro-gap sensor architecture for glucose sensing demonstration.
These proof-of-concept preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of electrosynthesized nanocomposites for the foundation of microstructures for MEMS applications. As such, we are confident to further develop technologies of electrosynthesized nanocomposites for MEMS.
Broader Impacts: In an effort to broaden participation of underrepresented groups, the PI plans to offer summer projects for the SUPERB (Summer Undergraduate Program in Engineering Research at
UC-Berkeley) program at UC-Berkeley. The program is targeted to students of color, first-generation college students, educationally disadvantaged students, or students from historical minority institutions and offers outstanding underrepresented engineering students the opportunity to gain research experience by participating in research projects with engineering faculty and graduate students. Moreover, the PI intends to use the research experiences developed in this project as part of the teaching materials in both the undergraduate level course, "Introduction to MEMS," and the graduate level course, "MEMS" to advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training and learning. In the area of "enhance infrastructure for research and education," the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC), an NSF/industry/University collaborative research center, of which Prof. Lin is the co-director, has been the best place to identify and establish collaborations between various disciplines and institutions, with more than 30 members form MEMS and nanotechnology industries. We have gained strong support and have been discussing possible collaborations with our industrial members for this project. In summary, results of this electrosynthesized nanocomposite will have profound impact on many sectors. For the US MEMS industry, this research will provide potential industrial applications with:
(a) advanced manufacturing
capability of nanocomposite for microstructures and
(b) new ways to interact with micro systems using nanocomposite integrated with microelectronics. For the academic world, results of the proposed research will open a new area in nanocomposite-based design, manufacturing and applications. It is expected to attract researchers from both sides of MEMS and nanotechnology to continue innovative device design and fabrications based on research results from this proposed project.