About Us    Personnel    Projects    News    Resources    Events    Labs    History

III-V MEMS for Integrative Optical Microsystems Jonathan McGee, Nathan Siwak, Xiao Zhu Fan, Peter Dykstra    Collaborators - Dr. Roya Maboudian, Dept. of Chemical Eng., Univ. of California, Berkeley - Dr. P- T. Ho, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Eng., Univ. of Maryland - Dr. C-H. Yang, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Eng., Univ. of Maryland    Research Overview The III-V MEMS group is studying the integration of optoelectronic materials such as indium phosphide (InP) with MEMS for novel optical wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) communications, and bio-sensing applications. Initially, our group focused on the mechanical characterization of InP to study its suitability for MEMS. This included Young's modulus and stress measurements, as well as optimization of epitaxial growth techniques and stress engineering using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). As part of this process, a fabrication technique was developed to fabricate moveable waveguides, providing deep etching capabilities with vertical sidewalls (better than 89 degrees) and low sidewall roughness (less than 50 nm). One of our main research thrusts involves an in-plane tunable filter for WDM applications. Monolithic integration of these InP-based filters with additional active optical elements will enable novel WDM devices for optical communications. Our more recent work has focused on the development of an InP waveguide cantilever bio-sensing platform. Monolithic integration of active optical elements such as sources and detectors allow for stand-alone single chip sensors to be realized. Additionally, various interface layers for the cantilevers have been one of the focuses of our sensing research. The organic semiconductor pentacene has been selected for its vapor absorbent properties to be used as a mass absorbing layer. Future work involves integrating thin-film-transistors in pentacene with our cantilever devices to increase the selectivity of our sensors. Our lab is currently actively researching the bio-polymer chitosan for use as a interface layer for these III-V sensors.    Thesis J. A. McGee, "Monolithic In-Plane Tunable Optical Filter," Master's Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, February 2008. N. P. Siwak, "Indium Phosphide MEMS Cantilever Waveguides for Chemical Sensing with Integrated Optical Readout," Master's Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, October 2007. M. W. Pruessner, "Indium Phosphide Based Optical Waveguide MEMS for Communications and Sensing," Ph.D. Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, July 2005. D. P. Kelly, "Monolithic Suspended Optical Waveguides for InP MOEMS," Master's Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, June 2005. M. W. Pruessner, "Toward III-V Optical MEMS: Mechanical Property Measurement of Indium Phosphide Using Nanoindentation, Beam Bending, and Electrostatic Testing Methods," Master's Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, October 2002.    Journal Papers Nathan Siwak, Xiao Zhu Fan, Dan Hines, S. Kanakaraju, Ellen Williams, Neil Goldsman, and Reza Ghodssi, "Indium Phosphide MEMS Cantilever Resonator Sensors Utilizing a Pentacene Absorption Layer," Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (under review), Submitted May 2008. M. W. Pruessner, N. Siwak, K. Amarnath, S. Kanakaraju, W.-H. Chuang and R. Ghodssi, "End-coupled Optical waveguide MEMS Devices in the Indium Phosphide Material System," Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering (JMM), Vol. 16, pp. 832-842, April 2006. M. W. Pruessner, K. Amarnath, M. Datta, D. Kelly, S. Kanakaraju, P-T. Ho and R. Ghodssi, "InP-Based Optical Waveguide MEMS Switches with Evanescent Coupling Mechanism," Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (JMEMS), Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 1070-1081, October 2005. M. Datta, M.W. Pruessner, D. Kelly and R. Ghodssi, "Design of MEMS-Tunable Novel Monolithic Optical Filters in InP with Horizontal Bragg Mirrors," Solid State Electronics, Vol. 48, pp. 1959-1963, 2004. D. Kelly, M. W. Pruessner, K. Amarnath, M. Datta, S. Kanakaraju, L. C. Calhoun, and R. Ghodssi, "Monolithic Suspended Optical Waveguides for InP MEMS," IEEE Photonics Tech. Letters, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp. 1298-1300, 2004. H. Lim, C. Carraro, M. W. Pruessner, R. Ghodssi and R. Maboudian, "Chemical and Thermal Stability of Alkanethiol and Sulfur Passivated InP(100)," Langmuir, Vol. 20, pp. 743-747, 2004. M. W. Pruessner, T. King, D. Kelly, R. Grover, L. Calhoun and R. Ghodssi, "Mechanical Property Measurement of InP-based MEMS for Optical Communications," Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, Vol. 105, Issue 2, pp. 190-200, 2003. Correction.    Conference Papers X. Z. Fan, N. Siwak, and R. Ghodssi, "Towards a Smart Adaptive Feedback Circuit for Microsensors," International Semiconductor Device Research Symposium (ISRS 2007), College Park, MD, December 11 - 14, 2007. N. Siwak, X. Z. Fan, and R. Ghodssi, "Indium Phosphide Resonant Chemical Sensor with a Monolithically Integrated Optical Readout Scheme," Proceedings of The 6th Annual IEEE Conference on Sensors (IEEE Sensors 2007), Atlanta, Georgia, USA, October 28 - 31, 2007. X. Z. Fan, N. Siwak, and R. Ghodssi, "An Adaptive Feedback Control Circuit for Resonator Sensors," American Vacuum Society 54th International Symposium, Seattle, WA, October 14 - 19, 2007. P. Dykstra, X. Z. Fan, M. Mischiati, L. Mosher, N. Siwak, and R. Ghodssi, "Bi-Directional Transport of Ultra-Low Volume Droplets Using Capacitive Sensing," American Vacuum Society 54th International Symposium, Seattle, WA, October 14 - 19, 2007. N. Siwak, X. Z. Fan, D. Hines, E. Williams, N. Goldsman, and R. Ghodssi, "Chemical Sensor Utilizing Indium Phosphide Cantilevers and Pentacene as a Functionalization Layer," Proceedings of the 20th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS 2007), pp. 489-492, Kobe, Japan, January 21 - 25, 2007. R. Ghodssi, "InP-based MEMS and NEMS devices for biosensing," SPIE Optics and Photonics Symposium, San Diego, CA, August 13-17, 2006 (Invited). N. Siwak, J. McGee, and R. Ghodssi, "Indium Phosphide Optical MEMS for Chemical and Biological Sensing," Proceedings of the IEEE/NLM Life Science Systems and Applications Workshop, pp. 86-87, Bethesda, MD, July 13-14, 2006. N. Siwak, J. McGee, and R. Ghodssi, "InP Optical MEMS for Integrated Sensing and Photonics Applications," 2006 Solid-State Sensor, Actuator and Microsystems Workshop (Hilton Head 2006), Open Poster Session, Hilton Head, SC, June 4-8, 2006. N. Siwak, M. W. Pruessner, J. McGee, and R. Ghodssi, "Indium Phosphide MEMS for Integrated Bio-Sensing," International Semiconductor Device Research Symposium 2005 (ISDRS 2005), Bethesda, MD, December 7-9, 2005. J. McGee, N. Siwak, B. Morgan, and R. Ghodssi, "In-Plane Indium Phosphide Tunable Optical Filter Using Ridge Waveguides," International Semiconductor Device Research Symposium 2005 (ISDRS 2005), Bethesda, MD, December 7-9, 2005. J. McGee, N. Siwak, and R. Ghodssi, "Monolithic In-Plane Tunable Optical Filter," American Vacuum Society 52nd International Symposium, Boston, MA, October 30 - November 4, 2005. M. W. Pruessner, W.-H. Chuang, K. Amarnath, S. Kanakaraju, and Reza Ghodssi, "Micromechanical Resonators with Integrated Optical Waveguides for Sensing Applications," Proceedings of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO 2005), Vol. 1, pp. 761-763, Baltimore, MD, May 22-27. M. Datta, J. McGee, M. W. Pruessner, K. Amarnath, S. Kanakaraju, and R. Ghodssi, "Tunable optical filters for in-plane integration on InP MEMS platform," SPIE Microtechnologies for the New Millenium Conference (EMT2005), Sevilla, Spain, May 9-11, 2005. M. W. Pruessner, M. Datta, K. Amarnath, S. Kanakaraju, and R. Ghodssi, "Indium Phosphide Based MEMS End-Coupled Optical Waveguide Switches," Proceedings of the 17th Indium Phosphide and Related Materials Conference (IPRM 2005), pp. 110-113, Glasgow, Scotland, U.K., May 8-12, 2005. M. Datta, M. W. Pruessner, K. Amarnath, J. McGee, S. Kanakaraju, and R.Ghodssi, "Wavelength-Selective Integrated Optical MEMS Filter in InP," Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS 2005), pp. 88-91, Miami, FL, January 30-February 3, 2005. M. Datta, M. W. Pruessner, D. P. Kelly, and R. Ghodssi, "Suspended Waveguide-Based Tunable Integrated Optical Filters on Indium Phosphide MEMS Platform," American Vacuum Society 51stInternational Symposium Anaheim, CA, November 14-19, 2004. M. W. Pruessner, K. Amarnath, M. Datta, D. Kelly, S. Kanakaraju, P.T. Ho and R. Ghodssi, "Optical and Mechanical Characterization of an Evanescent Coupler Optical Switch," Technical Digest of the 2004 Solid-State Sensor, Actuator and Microsystems Workshop (Hilton Head 2004), pp. 238-241, Hilton Head Island, SC, June 6-10, 2004. M. Datta, M. W. Pruessner, D. Kelly and R. Ghodssi, "MEMS-Tunable Novel Monolithic Optical Filters in InP with Horizontal Bragg Mirrors," Proceedings of the 2003 International Semiconductor Device Research Symposium (ISDRS), pp. 282, Washington, DC, December 10-12, 2003. D. Kelly, M. W. Pruessner, M. Datta and R. Ghodssi, "Suspended Waveguides for InP Optical MEMS," Proceedings of the 2003 International Semiconductor Device Research Symposium (ISDRS),i pp. 496, Washington, DC, December 10-12, 2003. M. W. Pruessner, D. Kelly, M. Datta, H.Lim, R. Maboudian and R. Ghodssi, "Design and fabrication of an InP-based Moving Waveguide 1x2 Optical MEMS Switch," Proceedings of the 2003 International Semiconductor Device Research Symposium (ISDRS), pp. 280, Washington, DC, December 10-12, 2003. M. W. Pruessner, T. King, D. Kelly and R. Ghodssi, "Micro-Mechanical Characterization of Indium Phosphide (InP) for Active Optical MEMS Applications," American Vacuum Society 49th International Symposium, Denver, CO, November 3-8, 2002. M. W. Pruessner, T. King, D. Kelly and R. Ghodssi, "Towards III-V Optical MEMS: Mechanical Property Measurement of Indium Phosphide," 2002 Solid-State Sensor, Actuator and Microsystems Workshop (Hilton Head 2002), Open Poster Session, Hilton Head, SC, June 2-6, 2002. M. W. Pruessner, R. Grover, L. Calhoun and R. Ghodssi, "Development of InP-based Test Structures for Optical MEMS Applications," Proceedings of the 2001 International Semiconductor Device Research Symposium (ISDRS), pp. 178-181, Washington, DC, December 5-7, 2001.