CAREER: Micromechanical Engineering and MEMS

微机电系统（MEMS）是一项使能技术，开辟了新的科学前沿。一个根本的问题是，传统的工程科学在微米尺度上并不总是有效的。由于人类经验和我们所受教育的知识可能无法在微尺度上进行适当的工程，因此引导学生重建他们的知识体系并形成自己的微工程学科是很重要的。建立一个系统有效的机械工程MEMS教育结构是我在学术界的目标。我相信，其效果是通过利用MEMS技术来推进机械工程领域，并丰富MEMS研究，提供更平衡的专业知识。为了实现这一目标，我们正在加州大学洛杉矶分校的机械和航空航天工程系设立博士专业。研究计划是使用微米大小的液态金属液滴作为MEMS的另一个构建块。在我的实验室中已经证明，在衬底上所需的位置可以形成微米数量级的金属液滴阵列。液态金属以其独特的性能为MEMS器件开辟了新的可能性。目前正在考虑汞和低熔点金属合金。本课题旨在发展具有微继电器功能优势和半导体晶体管大规模集成的大规模集成继电器（large Integrated Relay， LSIR）。基于基于液滴的中继单元，它具有非常简单的结构和小的脚面积，预计LSIR芯片上包含10 K到1 M的双稳态中继呼叫。将开发用于信号多路复用的高性能、低密度LSIR和用于非易失性、辐射硬存储器的高密度器件，并与CMOS芯片集成。在教育计划中描述的MEMS课程中所研究的尺度效应和表面物理将在理解液滴的行为方面发挥关键作用。我们的目标是将从研究中获得的信息，如微滴现象和制造技术，纳入MEMS课程。＊＊＊

9702875 Kim Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is an enabling technology, opening a new scientific frontier. A fundamental issue is that the conventional engineering science is not always valid at the micrometer scale. Since human experience and our educated knowledge may defy proper engineering in microscale, it is important to lead students to re-construct their body of knowledge and form a discipline of its own for microengineering. It is my goal in academia to establish a systematic and effective structure for MEMS education in mechanical engineering. The effect, I believe, is advancement of mechanical engineering areas by taking advantage of MEMS technologies and also enrichment of MEMS research with more balanced expertise available. To reach this goal, we are establishing a Ph.D. major field in our Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department of UCLA. The research plan is to use micron-sized liquid-metal droplet as another building block for MEMS. It has been shown in my lab that an array of metal droplets on the order of micrometers can be formed at desired locations on substrate. With its unique properties, liquid metals can open new possibilities for MEMS devices. Mercury and low-melting-temperature metal alloys are being considered. The proposal is directed towards the development of Large-Scale Integrated Relay (LSIR), which has both the functional superiority of microrelays and the large-scale integration of semiconductor transistors. Based on the droplet-based relay cell, which has dramatically simple configuration and small foot area, an LSIR chip is expected to contain 10 K to 1 M calls of bistable relay on it. A high performance, low density LSIR will be developed for signal multiplexing and a high density device for non-volatile, radiation-hard memory to be integrated with CMOS chips. The scale effects and surface physics studied in the MEMS courses described in the education plan will play a critical role in understanding the behavior of the droplets. It is an objective of the proposal that the information obtained from the research, such as microscale phenomena of droplets and fabrication techniques, be incorporated into MEMS courses. ***