WIMS2 Seminar/Webinar on MEMS hair type Sensors

Nature and biology utilize a myriad of structures, materials, and schemes to achieve superb sensing performance with extreme
reliability and robustness. One structure used more commonly in nature is the "hair". Hair-like sensors are used for acoustic, chemical,
flow, pressure, and gas sensing, among others. Hair-like actuators and passive structures are also used for thermal management, filtering,
fluid flow control, etc. This talk discusses opportunities and approaches for developing hair-like biomimetic structures for sensing
applications. It presents examples of hair structures used in biology for achieving specific sensing functions, and provides a review of past
work, fabrication technologies, transduction mechanisms, and the role of electronics. Examples of micro hair sensor for measuring air flow
speed and direction at the University of Michigan based on hot wire anemometry and hydraulic amplification are presented as examples
of biomimetic hair sensors.
Khalil Najafi is the Schlumberger Professor of Engineering, and Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of
Michigan since September 2008. He served as the Director of the Solid-State Electronics Laboratory from 1998-2005, the Deputy Director
of the NSF ERC on Wireless Integrated MicroSystems (WIMS) from 2000-2009, and has been the Director of NSF's National Nanotechnology
Infrastructure Network (NNIN) since 2004. He received the B.S., M.S., and the Ph.D. degree in 1980, 1981, and 1986, respectively, all in
Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research interests include: micromachining technologies, micromachined
sensors, actuators, and MEMS; analog integrated circuits; implantable biomedical microsystems; micropackaging; and lowpower
wireless sensing/actuating systems.
Dr. Najafi has been active in the field of solid-state sensors and actuators for thirty years. He has been involved in several conferences
and workshops dealing with micro sensors, actuators, and microsystems, including the International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and
Actuators, the Hilton-Head Solid-State Sensors and Actuators Workshop, and the IEEE/ASME Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) Conference.
He has served as associate editor or editor of several journals. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the AIBME.