The recent advent of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or micro-devices has generated excitement in many diverse fields. In the area of micro-fluidics liquid pumps are highly desirable for fluid transport and atomization. A recent and popular example of this is the inkjet, which self-aspirates ink from a reservoir and then transports it to a chamber for expulsion as a single droplet during ...

The ability to control nonlinear interactions of suspended mechanical structures offers a unique opportunity to engineer rich dynamical behavior that extends the dynamic range and ultimate device sensitivity. We demonstrate a displacement sensing technique based on resonant frequency monitoring of curved, doubly clamped, bistable micromechanical beams interacting with a movable electrode. In th...

This paper investigates an alternative mass sensing technique based on nonlinear micro/nanoelectromechanical resonant sensors. The proposed approach takes advantage of multi-stability and bifurcations of the hysteretic frequency responses of the electrostatically-actuated resonator. For this purpose, a reduced-order model is considered. Numerical results show that sudden jumps in amplitude make...

Compressible squeeze film damping is a phenomenon of great importance for micromachines. For example, for the optimal design of an electrostatically actuated micro-cantilever mass sensor that operates in air, it is essential to have a model for the system behavior that can be evaluated efficiently. An analytical model that is based upon a solution of the linearized Reynolds equation has been gi...

Mid-infrared detectors that are sensitive only in a tunable narrow spectral band are presented. They are based on the Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detector (RCED) principle and employing a thin active region using IV-VI narrow gap semiconductor layers. A Fabry-Pérot cavity is formed by two mirrors. The active layer is grown onto one mirror, while the second mirror can be displaced. This changes the...