My Expertise
I research the design, fabrication and measurements of micro and nano scale actuators and sensors on silicon substrates. Areas of expertise includes
- micro/nano fabrication techniques of the integrated circuit technology, the technology which underpins the semiconductor industries such as Intel, Samsung etc,
- micro/nano electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), the technology which enabled tiny gyroscopes, accelerometers, microphones, pressure sensors, inkjet printers, micro-scanners and etc
- piezoelectric actuators and sensors on-chip
Keywords
Fields of Research (FoR)
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS), Nanoelectromechanical Systems, Optical Physics not elsewhere classifiedSEO tags
Biography
Dr.Aron Michael received the B.E . (Hons.) degree ( in electrical engineering ) from UOA , MEngSc degree ( in electrical engineering) from UNSW, and PhD degree (in electrical engineering) from UNSW. He was appointed lecturer (in 2013) in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunication, UNSW and is currently a senior lecturer with the same school. His current research interest is Nano/Micro electro mechanical systems (N/MEMS) for...view more
Dr.Aron Michael received the B.E . (Hons.) degree ( in electrical engineering ) from UOA , MEngSc degree ( in electrical engineering) from UNSW, and PhD degree (in electrical engineering) from UNSW. He was appointed lecturer (in 2013) in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunication, UNSW and is currently a senior lecturer with the same school. His current research interest is Nano/Micro electro mechanical systems (N/MEMS) for optical switching, interconnect, micro-optics, piezoelectric actuators for micro-optics, low thermal budget silicon films, silicon photonics, and carbon nanofibers for flexible sensors. He has published more than 90 scientific publications in these areas.
My Grants
- 2021 ARC LIEF for "Advanced Maskless Lithography for Western Australia" LE210100126 $527K
- 2018 Research Infrastructure Scheme
- Maintenance and upgrades for Micro/Nano fabrication and measurement tools
- $180000
- Investigator: Dr. Aron Michael, Scientia Prof. Nigel Novell, Prof. Rodica Ramer, Prof. Chee Kwok, Prof Francois Ladouceur, Prof. Gang Ding Peng, A/Prof. Torsten Lehmann, and Dr. Victoria Timchenko.
- 2018 Innovation Connect grant – Department of industry, innovation and science with Baraja Pty ltd
- Feasibility study of MEMS based tunable diffraction grating for self-driving vehicles
- $120000
- Investigator: Dr. Aron Michael
- 2017 Global Connections Fund – Bridging Grant from Australian Academy of Sciences and
Engineering (ATSE)
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- Development of Carbon nanofiber flow sensor prototype for biomedical application
- $46500
- Investigator: Dr. Aron Michael
- 2016 Research Infrastructure Scheme
- High Sensitivity Single Photon Spectroscopy System (SPSS)
- $64,750
- Investigators: Prof. Peng Gang-Ding, Prof. Kwok Chee Yee, Prof. Ladouceur Francois, Prof Barton Michael, A/Prof Li Yong, Prof. Bao Jie, Prof Wang Jun, Prof. Prusty Gangadhara, Dr. Michael Aron, Dr. Obbard Edward, Dr. Burr Patrick, Dr. Wang Danyang, Dr. Luo Yanhua
- 2015 Major Research Equipment Grant
- fs Broadband Tunable Laser System
- $133,035
- Investigators: Prof. Peng Gang-Ding, Prof. Kwok Chee Yee, Prof. Ladouceur Francois, Dr. Michael Aron, Prof. Amal Rose, Prof. Bao Jie, Prof. Lovell Nigel, Dr. Green Rylie, Prof. Wang Jun, Prof. Prusty Gangadhara, Dr. Taylor Robert, Prof. Li Sean
- 2015 Major Research Equipment Grant
- A high-resolution Raman microspectrometer for materials characterization and imaging
- $175000
- Investigators: Anne Rich, James Hook, Martin Van Kranendonk, Greg Leslie, Jun Wang, Gavin Conibeer, Chris Sorrell, Oleg Ostrovski, Richard Collins, Ziv Hameiri, Arnaud Castel, Megan Zhang, Francois Aguey-Zinsou, Anita Ho-Baillie, Pramod Koshy, Da-Wei Wang, Jason Scott, Yun Hau Ng, Michael Aron, Huang Shujuan, Hao Xiaojing, Green Martin, Gooding Justin.
- 2014 Major Research Equipment Grant
- Equipment to enhance MEMS/NEMS research
- $58,000
- Investigators: Prof. Chee Yee Kwok, Dr. Aron Michael, Dr. Robert Norden, A/Prof Francois Ladouceur, Dr. Victoria Timechenko
- 2014 Faculty Research Grant/Early Researcher Grants Program
- Ultra-sensitive in-plane displacement sensors with optical readout
- $40,000
- Investigator: Dr. Aron Michael
- 2012 Faculty Research Grant program/Early Researcher Grants Program
- Miniaturized and fast Atomic Force Microscopy
- $20,000
- Investigator: Dr. Aron Michael
- 2011 Minor Research Equipment
- Precision LC200V system
- $10,975
- Investigator: Dr. Aron Michael
- 2011 Major Research Equipment Grant
- Polytec Microsystem Analyzer
- $150000
- Investigators: Prof. Chee Kwok, A/Prof Francois Ladouceur, Prof. Nigel Novell, Prof. Gang Ding Peng, Dr. Aron Michael, Dr.Robert Norden, A/Prof Gary Rosengarten, Dr. Victoria Timchenko, Dr. Peng Zhongziao, and Prof. Rodica Ramer
My Qualifications
- BE in Electrical Engineering from AAU
- MEngSc in Electronics and Communication from School of EE&T, UNSW
- PhD in Electrical Engineering from School of EE&T, UNSW
My Awards
2010 NSI UNSW, Inventor of the year award, staff category for “3D- Optical Interconnect”
My Research Activities
y research interest is in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) in general and Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MOEMS) in particular. Specific research interests include
- Novel Micro/Nano silicon based fabrication techniques
- On-chip PZT based piezo-electric actuation mechanisms
- CMOS-MEMS integration
- Studying UHV e-beam evaporated silicon films for MEMS and integrated photonics
- Development of on-chip high speed parallel Atomic Force Microscopy system
- On-chip optical in-plane displacement sensors based on integrated silicon photonics
- Design, modeling, and simulation of MEMS
- Microelectronics for sensors and actuators
- 3D optical interconnect for integrated circuit stacks
- MEMS based cooling system for 3D integrated circuit stacks
- Carbon nanofibers for flexible and wearable applications
Applications of research interests
- Micro-optics and on-chip energy harvesting for implantable devices
- System-on-Chip
- Nanomachines and microactuators
- Miniaturized and high performance optical devices with large optical zooming and fast auto focus capability for mobile handsets, security, medical, and automotive applications.
- MicroLidar - MEMS based approaches
- High performance on-chip Inertial Measurement Units (accelerometers and gyroscopes);
- High resolution scanning probe lithography techniques for the next generation atomic scale fabrication, high density storage, nano-metrology, and visualization of nano scale bio-molecular and chemical dynamic processes in large scale.
- MEMS based 3D integration of stacked chips - optical interconnect
- MEMS cooling solution for Tera-bit computation
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
Areas of supervision are in Nano/Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (N/MEMS) in general and Nano/Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems (N/MOEMS) in particular. Specific research interests include
- Novel Micro/Nano fabrication techniques for MEMS/NEMS applications
- Silicon film technologies for integrating MEMS(NEMS)-silicon photonics on top of CMOS.
- Novel Micro/Nano actuation and sensing mechanisms
- Silicon photonics and Nanomechanics for high performance displacement sensors
- High speed on-chip parallel Atomic Force Microscopy systems and cantilever probe tips
- Design, modeling, and simulation of MEMS
- PZT based piezoelectric micro-lens actuators for micro-optics applications
- Microelectronics for sensors and actuators
- MEMS based optical switching
- 3D optical interconnect for integrated circuit stacks
- MEMS based cooling system for 3D integrated circuit stacks
- Carbon nanofibers for flexible sensors
I have supervised five PhD students to completion including three as primary supervisor. List of supervised PhD students
Chuang, Ian - PhD Thesis title "Ultra-Hugh Vacuum E-beam Evaporated Polysilicon for Potential Integration of MEMS on CMOS" - 2019 (Primary supervisor)
Chen, Ssu-Han - PhD Thesis title "PZT-Based Piezoelectrically Driven Microlens Actuator For Potentaial Application in MIcro-Optics" -2018 (Primary supervisor)
Wang, Peng - PhD Thesis title "Silicon waveguides, coupler, and high aspect ratio nano-tips for enabling on-chip parallel high speed atomic force microscopy" -2018 (Primary supervisor)
Xu, Yiwei - PhD Thesis title "Optical interconnects for system in package by MEMS technology" - 2011 (secondary supervisor)
Al Hafix, Md. Abdullah, PhD Thesis title "Optical Interconnect for integrated circuits" - 2011 (secondary supervisor)
Currently supervising
Currently, I am supervising four PhD students
Yen Nee - 1st PhD student (Primary supervisor)
Fawwaz - 1st PhD student (Primary supervisor)
Mohammad Haq - 2nd year PhD student (Joint supervisor)
Syed Mamun - 2nd year PhD student (Joint supervisor)
My Engagement
- Actively engaged with academics and industries for collaborative research opportunities. Some notable examples innovation bridging grant in 2017 from ATSE with Sensornomics - start up company in Singapore, European camera phone developer companies, Polight and Miniswsys, and Baraja Pty Ltd, a start-up company which is developing a LiDAR technology for autonomous vehicles
- Serving as technical and program committee for APCOT and Transducers major international conference in MEMS fields
- Served as guest editor for special issue in Micromachine journal.
- Regular reviewer in high tier journals in the field - Journal of MEMS, Sensors and actuators A: Physical, Micromachines, Journal of microengineering and micromechanics, Electron Device Letters...
- Taste of Research coordinator in 2016.
- Deputy director of academic study - Thesis coordinator since 2017
- Casual academic coordinator in 2017 and 2018.
- AEC (Academic Executive Committee) and assessment committee member at School.
- Invited to “Digital uplift” panel – Engineering Course Design Institute.
- Participated in Défense showcase.
My Teaching
My area of teaching expertise lies within the field of microsystems under electrical engineering. I have taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
- Teaching undergraduate courses
ELEC2141: Digital Systems design
ELEC2142: Embedded Systems
ELEC2133: Analogue Electronics
- Teaching postgraduate courses
ELEC9703: Integrated Circuit Technology (VLSI technology)
ELEC9704: Microsystems technology
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4088-4256
Related Links
High aspect ratio sharp nano tips for nano-cantilever
Array of high aspect ratio sharp tips integrated with submicron wide cantilever beams. This is the first time that sharp nanotips are integrated with submicron wide cantilever. The tip sharpness of less than 5nm is enabled by thermal evaporation of chromium tips for the first time with ...
Cantilever inverse tapered coupler
Misalignment tolerant and low loss cantilever inverse taper couplers is designed by introducing a SiO2 gap with an optimal length and width in front of a tapered end of silicon waveguide for a desired input spot size. A 6μm x 6μm coupler with 10μm SiO2 gap shows that coupling loss less ...
Low thermal budget low stress thick poly-silicon film
Thick polysilicon, as thick as 63um, at the temperature less than 500C is formed with low stress for the first time using ultra high vacuum e-beam evaporation. The stress is slightly compressive of less than 10MPa and stress gradient of less than 1.1MPa/um. The Young's Modulus is 1...
Piezoelectric micro-actuators and sensors
We design, simulate, fabricate and test piezoelectric micro-actuators for micro-optics application. Recently, we reported piezoelectric micro-lens actuator that generates large stroke at faster speed. The design methodology and measurement results from fabricated novel actuator are pre...