Dean M Aslam

Michigan State University | MSU · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

I. Introduction: Unlike for physical health, individuals generally lack insight into their own cognitive condition. This blind spot, in addition to the stigma of seeking early help, results in many disorders related to neuroscience going untreated. Although many brain regions have been shown to play a role in cognitive processes, a comprehensive fo...

The Technology Assisted Science, Engineering and Mathematics (TASEM) learning, with major focus on innovations in the use of technology to explain new and complicated concepts rather than on education research, goes far beyond the conventional demos of van de Graaf (VDG) generators to introduce programmable Lego-based VDG (PLVDG) for the first time...

Unlike their physical health, individuals generally lack insight into their psychological/cognitive health which can also lead to body health problems. This blind spot, in addition to the stigma of seeking the help of mental health professionals, results in many disorders related first to brain and then to both body and mind. This ultimately requir...

A comprehensive review is presented on the advances achieved in past years on fundamental and applied materials science of diamond films and engineering to integrate them into new generations of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). Specifically, the review focuses on describing the fundamental science perfo...

Abstract: Creative Functionalized Bricks with Embedded Intelligence (FBEI), using custom-made LEGO-compatible bricks containing electronic circuits & sensors based on new micro & nano technologies, spark the interest of learners with different backgrounds and preparation levels from kindergarten to Ph.D. FBEI modules are based on a concept called T...

Although (a) humans have been dealing with 'what we call mind today' for millions of years and (b) the first use of mind became obvious by works of Socrates (470-399 BC), a universal scientific definition/model of mind, that scientifically links mind to different parts in Central and Enteric Nervous Systems (CNS and ENS), has not been developed. In...

In modern society, road traffic injuries have become an increasingly severe issue, claiming more than 1.25 million lives each year worldwide and draining 3% of the global government GDP. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, 515,000 people were injured in 2014 due to distracted driving car clashes. In this project...

It has been found that diamond columns can be formed unintentionally in reactive ion etching (RIE) with O₂ plasma even without a precoated metal layer. The experimental results indicate that the existence of these diamond columns prevents the effective removal of polycrystalline diamond (poly-C), also known as microcrystalline diamond. A three-step...

Wouldn’t it be nice to brew a cup of coffee in the morning just by thinking about it, or shut off the TV with a blink of an eye? So-called mind-controlled technology may help people accomplish these simple tasks by wearing, say, a sleep mask or pajamas embedded with sensors. http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-topic/mindcontrol...

We present experimental results on a low-cost light source that utilizes commercially available 405-nm/445-nm lasers to drive phosphor-based optical cavities generating speckle-free red, green, and blue (RGB) light at selected etendue and power values. By combining more 405/445-nm laser beams to drive the optical cavities, enough RGB light can be g...

As inspirations from flora and fauna have led to many advances in modern technology, the concept of drawing ideas from nature for design should be reflected in engineering education. This paper focuses on a maple-seed robotic flier (MRF) with various complexities, a robotic platform modeled after the samaras of maple or ash trees, to teach STEM con...

All-diamond micro-machined neural probe is a new generation of neural probes completely fabricated by the poly-carbon process. It has excellent properties required for neural prosthetic applications such as wider potential window, low background current, very high and low electrical resistivities for undoped and doped poly-carbon respectively, mech...

Following the success of summer-camp-based programs, a new program has been developed for in-school sessions focused around LEGO robotics to foster interest in STEM topics at a young age. The program has been implemented in a very diverse school, and preliminary results on the efficacy of the program are presented.

Diamond is a material of interest due to its unique combination of properties, including its chemical inertness and biocompatibility. Polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) has been used in experimental biosensors that utilize electrochemical methods and antigen-antibody binding for the detection of biological molecules. Boron-doped poly-C electrodes hav...

Using piezoresistive detection and piezoelectric actuation, the fabrication and testing of polycrystalline diamond based single-material MEMS (SMM) resonators, with a resonant frequency of 48.2 KHz and a quality factor of 160 in air, is reported for the first time. A 0.6-μm-thick boron-doped poly-C with a resistivity of 9 Ω·cm is used as a piezores...

Diamond, due to its large band gap of 5.5eV, offers the possibility of making MEMS structures out of a single material by varying the doping level to achieve the semiconducting, metallic and insulating (undoped) properties needed in a typical MEMS structure. Polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) is inexpensive and retains many of the unique properties o...

A low-power, low-noise, front-end neural signal amplifier is designed for all-diamond neural recording probes. The neural amplifier provides a gain of 39.6 dB with a high cutoff frequency of 9.8 kHz. It effectively removes DC, with a real-time tunable low cutoff frequency between 10 Hz and 100 Hz. The consumed power is 51 μW with an input referred...

The multi-material MEMS fabrication process often requires a larger number of masks making it more expensive as compared to single-material MEMS (SMM) technology. By varying the doping level in poly-C, semi-conducting, metallic and insulating (undoped) properties are achieved that are needed for poly-C SMM. However, the development of diamond-based...

Large band gap materials such as diamond (5.5 eV) and AlN (6 eV) offer the possibility of making MEMS structures out of a single material by varying the doping level to achieve the semi-conducting, metallic and insulating (undoped) properties needed in a typical MEMS structure. Polycrystalline diamond (poly-C), which has recently been used in the f...

This work reports two designs of a poly-C thin film packaging process, each including an encapsulated poly-C device. The 1st design uses boron-doped poly-C as electrical feedthroughs which can be embedded into the undoped, electrically insulating poly-C package. Access ports were opened along the package edge to release the thin film package and th...

In order to permit (a) lower operating voltage, (b) high accuracy of anode to emitter spacing, and (c) well defined emitter area, a gated poly-C field emission device (FED) is reported. It uses undoped (ρ=109 Ω·cm) as an insulation layer and highly-doped (ρ=10-3 Ω·cm) poly-C as electrodes and interconnects to create an integrated FED (IFED) with a...

This paper reports the successful fabrication and testing of all-diamond micro-electrode-arrays (MEAs) for use in neural recording and chemical detection applications using standard electrochemical methods. The MEAs have been tested through in vivo neural recordings. Also, electrochemical probes are reported using diamond as working and reference e...

A second generation (Gen-2) diamond neural probe equipped with both electrical and electrochemical recording abilities is reported for the first time. Fabrication problems related to the high temperature and power requirements associated with diamond growth and the integration of diamond into neural probe technology have been addressed. In this des...

This paper describes the design, microfabrication, and testing of a novel polycrystalline-diamond (poly-C)-based microprobe for possible applications in neural prosthesis. The probe utilizes undoped poly-C with a resistivity on the order of 10⁵ Omega middot cm as a supporting material, which has a Young's modulus in the range of 400-1000...

This paper presents the technology of single-material field-emission diode using polycrystalline diamond. I-V characteristics are studied at different poly-C doping levels, methane concentrations and temperatures. Field emission characterization system and testing of SMFD diodes are also reported in this presentation.

Design, simulation, fabrication and testing of p-type polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) piezoresistive RFMEMS is reported for the first time. The use piezoresistive detection in RFMEMS can lead to an output impedance in the ranges of 20 - 500 Omega and several MOmega for intra- and inter-grain piezoresistors, respectively. The inter-grain gauge fact...

Microelectrodes are becoming an important tool for sensing of neuro-chemical and neuro-electrical signals for studying neural activities. Although a lot of work has been done for the development of microelectrodes made up of different materials, such as metal micro-wires, ceramic oxide, polymers, carbon fiber microelectrodes and silicon but these a...

Cantilever type MEMS resonators were fabricated using boron-doped (~5 times 10¹⁹ cm^-3) and undoped polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) films that were grown at 600degC or 780degC. The resonator dimensions ranged from 500 mum long, 10 mum wide, and 0.7 mum thick to 40 mum long, 100 nm wide, and 0.6 mum thick. Resonance frequencies...

Fabrication and testing of all-diamond probes for electrochemical applications is reported for the first time. Polycrystalline diamond was used as the structural material of the probe. In addition, highly boron-doped (resistivity of ~10^-3 Omegacm) diamond thin film was used as the electrode material for electrochemical analysis due to it...

Design, fabrication and testing of polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) micro and nano resonators are reported using laser, capacitive or piezoresistive detection. Important diamond MEMS fabrication issues, including micro-masking in dry etching, are also addressed. The resonators consisted of undoped poly-C (grown at 700degC or 780degC) cantilever bea...

The Technology Assisted Science, Engineering and Mathematics (TASEM) learning, with major focus on innovations in the use of technology to explain new and complicated concepts rather than on education research, goes far beyond the conventional demos of van de Graaf (VDG) generators to introduce programmable Lego-based VDG (PLVDG) for the first time...

The highest Q factors for polycrystalline diamond resonators (also the highest Q factors for a cantilever beam made of any polycrystalline material) have been measured, whose undoped poly-C films grown at 780 degC. For boron doped poly-C films or poly-C films grown at a growth temperature of 600 degC, significantly lower Qs were observed. The doped...

ABSTRACT Aminiature,wall climbing ,robot equipped ,with ,two ,smart robotic feet (SRF) is developed ,and tested. It is controlled autonomously,by a ,PIC16F876 microcontroller and a 6 ,volt power supply onboard. Each SRF contains a suction cup with a diameter of 40 mm, a vacuum pump, a pressure sensor, and a micro valve. The robot’s motion is driven...

Understanding internal dissipation in resonant mechanical systems at the micro- and nanoscale is of great technological and fundamental interest. Resonant mechanical systems are central to many sensor technologies, and microscale resonators form the basis of a variety of scanning probe microscopies. Furthermore, coupled resonant mechanical systems...

This paper reports the design, fabrication and testing of a polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) thin film packaging process for a MEMS cantilever type resonator using a 4-mask fabrication process, which integrates chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond thin film technology with an encapsulation packaging process. After poly-C cantilever beam resonato...

A low-resistance ohmic contact between lightly doped polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) and metal was achieved for piezoresistive sensor applications using highly doped poly-C thin interlayer in the contact area for the first time for poly-C. Two Trimethylboron (TMB) doping concentrations were used during the growth of poly-C films using microwave pl...

The Wireless Integrated MicroSystems (WIMS) Engineering Research Center (ERC) has developed a broad comprehensive MEMS and microsystem curriculum suitable for upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, and industry professionals. Five core courses were in the initial curriculum design. The design had flexibility that invited development...

The Wireless Integrated MicroSystems (WIMS) Engineering Research Center (ERC) has developed a broad comprehensive MEMS and microsystem curriculum suitable for upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, and industry professionals. Five core courses were in the initial curriculum design. The design had flexibility that invited development...

This paper reports the fabrication technology and testing of polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) mechanical resonators with dimensions as small as 100 nm for the first time. The fabricated structures include cantilever structures patterned using electron beam lithography to have widths of 100 nm, and torsional paddle resonators with a support beam wid...

This paper reports the development of a polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) thin film encapsulation packaging process which is integrated into the MEMS cantilever resonator fabrication. The high Young's modulus and chemical stability of poly-C make it an excellent candidate material for a thin film package. A test chip is fabricated using a 4-mask pro...

Due to its extreme hardness, chemical and mechanical stability, large band gap and highest thermal conductivity, poly-crystalline diamond (poly-C) is expected to be an excellent packaging material for biomedical and environmental MEMS devices. A poly-C thin film packaging technology has been developed to explore the application of this novel materi...

Due to material limitations of poly-Si resonators, polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) has been explored as a new MEMS resonator material. The poly-C resonators are designed, fabricated and tested using electrostatic (Michigan State University) and piezoelectric (Sandia National Laboratories) actuation methods, and the results are compared. For compar...

Polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) piezoresistive sensors, with high sensitivity, were fabricated and tested for the purpose of integration with Si-based microsystems. The dependence of piezoresistive gauge factor (GF), from 6 to 70, of poly-C films on film resistivities and grain sizes was investigated in detail. Two seeding methods, with high (1010...

This paper reports the highest quality factor (Q) of 116,000 for cantilever beams made from any polycrystalline material, which is also the highest Q for any resonator structure made of polycrystalline diamond (poly-C). These results also include the highest Q of 47,900 for a highly-doped (0.15 Ohm-cm) poly-C resonator structure. A study of the ene...

Polycrystalline diamond (poly-C) was used as a piezoresistive position sensor in a cochlear implant probe for its high piezoresistive sensitivity. Based on previous studies [Spelman, FA, 1999], the rd generation cochlear probe with poly-C position sensors were designed and fabricated with several new improvements for compatibility and integration w...