Design, Fabrication and Characterization of MEMS Micro-resistojet Thrusters

Small satellites require efficient propulsion systems for attitude and orbit control. This thesis focuses on the development and characterization of two distinct types of micro-resistojet thrusters, namely Vaporizing Liquid Micro-resistojet (VLM) and Low Pressure Micro-resistojet (LPM). Both concepts are developed at TU Delft and are designed to...

A Capacitive Hair-like MEMS Airflow Sensor for Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles

Airspeed information plays a crucial role in the takeoff, flight, and landing processes in animal flyers and aerial vehicles. Among the aerial vehicles, Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles (FWMAVs) represent the novel engineering approach of learning and mimicking animal flyers in the past two decades. A few prototypes of various sizes and...

Understand the Physics of Solder Joint Degradation in Board Level Reliability Vibration and Thermal Cycle Test

Board-level reliability (BLR) looks at the reliability problem in the package and PCB interconnection, which is an important topic in microelectronics. The current criterion in the BLR test is to look if the connection is open, which can only detect the failure and there is no available method that can detect the degradation of the solder joints...

Design and fabrication of smart vaporizing liquid microthruster for Cubesat applications

Propulsion systems capable of providing attitude and orbit control are an essential part of small satellites. In particular, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Vaporizing Liquid Micro- thrusters (VLM), using water as a propellant, meets the requirements for launch-safety, simplicity and cost. Moreover, MEMS technology also enables the...

Concentrating and inactivating the surrogate of SARS CoV-2 using electric fields on micro-chip platforms

Since the unravelling of the Covid-19 pandemic, studying methods of virus inactivation have become more important than ever. Many studies focus on the chemical and optical methods of inactivation. Very limited work has been carried out in studying the electrical methods of virus inactivation. The work presented in this thesis attempts to pioneer...

Route towards power MOSFET large thin die mechanical robustness: Masters thesis report

Today’s cars are undergoing the greatest transformation the industry has seen. Power MOSFETs play a crucial role in making electronics more energy efficient by driving down switching losses and Rdson using a combination of next-generation trench technology and ultra-thin dies. Power MOSFET dies are becoming larger ( > 5 X 5 mm ) and thinner (...

A combined vertical interconnect/underfill process for high density I/O flip chip bonding

This thesis investigates the all-copper fine pitch bonding process with photoimageable underfill. NanoCU paste is used as interconnect material. A bi-layer photo resist structure is manufactured and lithographic stencil printing is used to apply nanoCu paste. A new underfill injection method is realized by using epoxy resin based photo resist as...

mm-Wave Heatsink Antenna Array Design for Low-Sidelobe and Low-Temperature

The development of fifth-generation (5G) technology is the beginning of a rapid transition in the world of wireless communications. Gbps data rates, minimal latency, and good connectivity are the ultimate aims of 5G. To achieve them, 5G systems employ the mm-Wave frequency band which has a frequency range above 24GHz and so allows for higher...

Lab-on-a-chip for individual cell response to light stimulation: A three-layer MEMS device

Analyzing the different signaling pathways of cells is key in understanding the basic functions of the cells in all organic systems from algae to humans. Not only do they help solve our questions on how organisms function, they also allow for new cures to be explored. A large variety of these signaling pathways can be influenced by light and can...

A MHz Switching Active Clamp Flyback Converter as a Power Factor Correction Stage for Lighting

A driver with high power factor, high efficiency and safety isolation are more attractive in the lighting application. Flyback is an ideal choice to be the power factor stage in LED driver. But one of the most difficulty in flyback topology is the energy stored in its leakage inductance. This part of the energy will introduce very high voltage...