Click here to be directed to VT MEMS Lab website for the latest information about our research projects.

 

1)      MEMS-based Separation Columns:

We have used MEMS technology to develop gas chromatographic columns with on-chip heaters, temperature sensors, and pressure sensors. These columns have yielded separation of alkanes from C5-C16 and some chemical warfare agents in less than 10s. This project is continuing to develop microGC columns with better separation performance and lower power consumption.

 


25cm-long silicon-glass columns

 

 

2)      Isotropic Dry Etching:

We have developed the first model that relates the geometrical pattern of the mask to the diameter of channels obtained with isotropic dry etching (unpublished data). The research is continuing in this field whose results can be incorporated into CAD tools for MEMS and microfluidic structures.

 


Channel formed using the PECVD-oxynitride buried channel technique

 

 

3)      Merging Nanotechnology and Microsystems:

MEMS technology has been used to develop chemical sensors and gaseous mixture separators. We have just started research to enhance the performance of these MEMS-based devices by incorporating nanotechnology into their development.

 

4)      Three-Dimensional Microenvironments for Cell Analysis:

MEMS technology has been used to develop three-dimensional microenvironments in which we culture different cell lines.  The work has shown that normal and cancerous cells behave differently due to their different biomechanical properties in these artificial microenvironments.

 

5)      Chip Cooling using Single-Mask Three-Dimensional Silicon Micromachining:

We have developed new chip cooling systems by utilizing our predictable 3D silicon micromachining technique. For a chip with 100W/cm2, the temperature has been maintained to less than 80°C with these microfluidic-bases coolers. Work is underway to reduce the temperature to less than 50°C resulting in one of the highest efficient chip cooling methods.

 

6)      New Architectures for High-Speed Gas Chromatography:

Using conventional gas chromatography systems, there has been a trade-off between separation resolution and analysis time. We plan to employ MEMS technology to develop new architectures for GC systems to achieve separation of complex gaseous mixtures in seconds without sacrificing the separation resolution.

 

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