简介:

Abstract:

Microsystems are based on micromachining, a manufacturing technology that exploits microfabrication techniques typically used to create integrated circuits, augmented by some specialized microfabrication tools, to also create mechanical structures and devices.  Such microsystems (also called MEMS) have the capability for small size, high functionality, and batch fabrication manufacturing economics.  After a brief review of Georgia Tech, its micro/nanofabrication facilities, and some current microsystems projects in our laboratory, this talk will discuss RF-wireless microsystems and their application in human-implantable biomedical microsensors.

Micromachined sensors based on silica for measurement of pressure within blood vessels of the human body have been developed. These sensors have no internal power supply or circuitry and wirelessly communicate their measured pressure to an external reader. The design and fabrication, as well as medical use, will be discussed. The first medical application of these sensors is as monitors of pressure within the excluded portion of endovascularly-repaired abdominal aortic aneurysms. For this application, the devices must be permanently implanted deep within the electrically lossy medium of the body and be functional for the remainder of the patient's life. Micromachining enables sensors with sizes and form factors suitable for endovascular delivery and permanent implantation. The sensors are interrogated with an external measurement antenna and a real-time waveform of the pressure environment is extracted. These devices are now commercially available in the United States. The second application for these devices involves measurement of pressure in the pulmonary artery for monitoring and control of congestive heart failure.  Sensors are implanted in the patient and home readings are used to communicate vessel pressure through the internet to physicians, who can then adjust medication to keep the patients from decompensation and hospitalization.  These devices are currently in medical trials in the US.

Biography:

Dr. Mark G. Allen received the B.A. degree in Chemistry, the B.S.E. degree in Chemical Engineering, and the B.S.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and the S.M. and Ph.D. (1989) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1989 he joined the faculty of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he currently holds the rank of Regents' Professor and the J.M. Pettit Professorship in Microelectronics. His current research interests are in the field of microfabrication and nanofabrication technology, with emphasis on new approaches to fabricate devices with characteristic lengths in the micro- to nanoscale from both silicon and non-silicon materials. Professor Allen was the co-chair of the 1996 IEEE/ASME Microelectromechanical Systems Conference, is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, and is a member of the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for Sponsored Research. He is also co-founder of several companies, including CardioMEMS (www.cardiomems.com) and Axion Biosystems (www.axionbio.com). Professor Allen has held the position of Senior Vice Provost for Research and Innovation at Georgia Tech since 2007, and in that capacity is charged with overseeing Georgia Tech's interdisciplinary research centers, managing Georgia Tech's sponsored research portfolio, and guiding the commercialization of Georgia Tech research results and intellectual property.