High efficiency, highly integrated DC-DC converter for 48V data centers with standard CMOS and GaN devices

This thesis presents a 48V-to-1V 10-level dual inductor hybrid converter (DIHC) containing 11 on-chip switches and an off-chip Gallium Nitride (GaN) switch. Thanks to the 10-level Dickson switched-capacitor (SC) circuit, most of the voltage stress will be taken over by off-chip capacitors, which reduces the voltage stress of each switch to 4.8 V...

Liquid dosing on the micro-scale: A quest for increased resolution

The processes that take place within cells are complex. Single-cell analysis is a method that is employed to gain further understanding of the working mechanisms on a single-cellular level. The controlled transport of substances through the cell membrane is important for studying the behaviour and responses of single living cells. Femtopipettes...

Multiscale 3D printed polymer probes for single cell experiments: A rapid prototyping method to fabricate microfluidic atomic force microscopy cantilevers for single cell studies

Facioscapulohumeral muscle dystrophy (FSHD) is the third most common muscle disease in the world. No cure has been found for FSHD, and current treatments focus on alleviating the symptoms. The disease is caused by a genetic error in 1/1000 - 1/200 of the nuclei in a multinucleated skeletal muscle cell. Studying that specific nucleus, by removing...

Investigation of the nonlinear dynamics of a diamagnetically levitating plate

Over the past decades the diamagnetic effect has been used for a variety of applications. This ranges from levitating a living frog to stabilizing a force sensor, designing an acceleration sensor and determin­ing the power of a laser. Diamagnetic levitation is the only method in which a passive stable levitation of an object can be achieved....

Frequency stability of graphene nonlinear resonators

In pursuit of extremely sensitive sensors, the dimensions of these sensors get smaller and smaller. Small scale resonators are commonly used as sensors by relating changes in the dynamic behaviour to a sensed quantity. Conventionally, the dynamics used for sensing are in the linear regime. But at smaller scales the dynamic range of the linear...

Precision Error in Mass Measurements using Metal-coated Microchannel Resonators

The suspended microchannel resonator is one of the most reliable devices for the mass measurement of biological and chemical specimens. Since it works in vacuum, the energy dissipation is decreased to the minimum. In this case, the instability related to the thermoelastic coupling effect has become a major source of uncertainty and a main...