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Project

Beamforming Algorithm Development for Medical Imaging

The recent years have seen mode-localized MEMS research grow. This current focus has its roots on the substantial improvement in sensitivity (up to 3 magnitude orders) and common-mode rejection capabilities of these devices, when compared to regular frequency shift MEMS. These developments find applications in inertial (accelerometers, gyroscopes) and gravimetric sensors - devices used in a broad range of areas, from the automotive industry, to smartphones, IoT applications, and gravitational waves detection. When designing a sensor, the goal is to improve the sensitivity of the device to the desired variable while keeping the sensitivity to other measures at a minimum. Resonant-frequency-based devices have emerged as reliable equipment to detect small, linear structural perturbations in the micromechanical structures, however, an uncompensated resonant frequency output makes such sensors sensitivity not only to the factor to be measured, but also to other unwanted environmental changes such as temperature and pressure. For this reason, sophisticated compensation techniques are required to attain the desired high accuracy. Vibration mode-localized MEMS emerge as a means of achieving an output that not only is highly insensitive to temperature and pressure drifts but also orders of magnitude more sensitive to the desired load. For example, gravitational-wave detectors require dedicated sensors to perform very accurate measurements of residual motion of mechanical components – cooling such components at cryogenics temperatures allow for the almost complete elimination of thermal noise. Combining the potential of mode-localized accelerometers with the proven noise-reduction and performance-enhancing cryogenic temperatures, the possibility of scientific progress on the detection of gravitational-waves becomes a reality.

Date:4 Jan 2021 →  Today
Keywords:mode-localization, coupled resonators, MEMS, MEMS accelerometer, inertial sensors, cryogenic temperature, gravitational waves
Disciplines:Micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems
Project type:PhD project