Speaker: V. Ramgopal Rao
Affiliation: Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Topic: "Polymer Based Sensor Systems for Health Care and Homeland Security"

Abstract:

Micro fabricated sensors based on the detection of nanomechanical motion are known to be promising for biochemical sensing. The use of conventional silicon based materials to fabricate microcantilevers results in a lower sensitivity and higher cost for the sensor depending on the Young’s modulus of the structural material, the geometrical dimensions, as well as the process complexity. UV patternable polymer materials such as SU-8 have a very low Young’s modulus compared to the silicon (Si) based materials, are cheaper, and show excellent promise as structural layers. In this talk, we discuss the progress made at IIT Bombay towards the development of a SU-8 microcantilever platform for sensing applications. The three approaches, namely the optical, piezo-resistive (with polysilicon films as well as with conductive nanoparticles dispersed in an epoxy matrix) and piezo-electric (based on a novel multi-ferroic material synthesized at IIT Bombay) read out schemes, have been implemented using a low-cost polymeric cantilever platform. We demonstrate practical applications involving these novel cantilever platforms for cardiac diagnostics and explosive detection.

About the speaker:

Dr. V. Ramgopal Rao is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Dr. Rao has over 200 publications in the area of Electron Devices & Nanoelectronics in refereed international journals and conference proceedings and holds three patents, with seven US patents currently pending.

Prof. Rao received the coveted Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences (the highest scientific award for researchers in India) awarded by the Honorable Prime Minister, Government of India in 2005 for his work on Electron Devices. He is also a recipient of the 2004 Swarnajayanti Fellowship Award from DST, the 2007 IBM Faculty Award, and the 2008 MRSI-ICSC Annual Prize. He is an editor for the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices in the CMOS Devices and Technology area and serves on the editorial boards of three other international journals. Dr. Rao is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Electron Devices Society and interacts closely with many semiconductor industries. He has served on the program/organizing committees of a large number of international conferences in the area of electron devices and was Chairman, IEEE AP/ED Bombay Chapter during 2002-2003. He currently serves on the executive committee of the IEEE Bombay Section and is also the vice-chair, IEEE Asia-Pacific Regions/Chapters Subcommittee.