Wireless Microsystems for Augmented Machine and Human Intelligence

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Disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence, the internet of things and augmented reality are transforming our lives. A joining with microsystems is inevitable to fully realize their potential. Microsystems are millimeter-scale systems that include microelectronics for processing or communication and transducers for sensing and actuation. They can offer the highly integrated functionalities required to create sensor nodes to densely feed the ever-increasing appetite of these technologies for data, and the compactness they require to provide feedback to users or machines (e.g., with a wearable). Accordingly, microsystems can augment machine and human intelligence by enabling the capabilities for these technologies to thrive. The challenges lie not only in miniaturization, but also in low-power operation and wireless connectivity for ubiquitous deployment and maximal enablement. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are a natural choice to fulfil the sensing and actuation functionalities in microsystems, and integrated circuits (IC) are well-suited to create their electronics. Still, IC and MEMS remain hard to integrate due to fabrication process incompatibilities, design intricacies and co-optimization challenges. Furthermore, energy efficiency complicates integration, as microsystems need to operate in wireless wearables and nodes with very stringent energy constraints, making the energy draw of these functionalities currently too prohibitive. Their efficiency can be increased by reducing their components' power consumption and harvesting energy. The long term objective is to create a new class of energy-efficient microsystems that will integrate in a unique way wireless connectivity, energy harvesting, transducers and their interfaces into a miniature form-factor. We will focus on 3 short term objectives to advance toward the LTO: 1) Elaborate above-IC-compatible MEMS transducers that support multi-sensing functions and leverage resonant operation along with carbon materials to enhance performance. 2) Design energy-efficient wireless transceivers and interface circuits for integration with MEMS transducers. 3) Create mechanical energy harvesters to improve the efficiency of microsystems by using low-temperature cofired ceramics to increase energy generation. The outcome will be a new integration platform enabling microsystems that can be used in a variety of environments and applications to augment human and machine intelligence. This will yield advances in the fields of MEMS, energy harvesting, sensing, low-power ICs and integration, which represent significant contributions to research in Canada. These novel devices will have an overarching applicability and impact sectors such as transportation, healthcare, environment and industrial processes, strengthening Canada's competitiveness. The 11 HQP trained (2 BEng, 4 MASc, 5 PhD) will gain valuable and marketable advanced manufacturing and design skills for the Canadian economy.