Katsuo Kurabayashi, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

 

katsuo@umich.edu

2272 G.G. Brown Lab

2350 Hayward Street

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2125

 

Voice: (734) 615-5211

Fax: (734) 647-3170

* Contents                                            

*  Research Interests

*  Education

*  Professional Experience

*  Honors and Awards

*  Biographical Information

*  Current Projects

*  Publications

*  Slide Presentations

 

* Research Interests

*  Micoelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)

*  Nanoengineering

*    Thermal Energy Transport Phenomena in Electronic Systems

*    Micro Optical Devices

*    MEMS/Biomolecular Hybrid Technology

 

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* Education

* B.S. in Precision Engineering, University of Tokyo, 1992

* M.S. in Materials Science (Physics of Solids), Stanford University, 1994

* Ph.D. in Materials Science with Electrical Engineering minor, Stanford University, 1998

 

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* Professional Experiences

*    Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2000 – present

*    Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, University of Michigan, 2004 – present

      Teaching undergraduate and graduate course on mechanical design and conducting research on micro/nano-scale thermal phenomena in electronic and MEMS devices.

 

* Research Associate, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1999 – 2000

Initiated collaboration with IBM Almaden Research Center for studying heat transport phenomena in conductive polymer films as an extension of the thesis research. Helped initiate a DARPA-funded project on development of microfluidic cooling MEMS devices driven by electrokinetics with Dr. Goodson.

 

* Summer Intern, Components Research, Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, June 1997 – Sept. 1997

Developed an experimental technique for measuring thermal conductivities of novel dielectric layers and thermal resistance at metal/dielectric interfaces as a technology transfer from academia to industry. The measured thermal parameters are being used in thermal simulations of the next-generation intel microprocessors.

 

* Research Assistant, MTMC Lab and Stanford Solid State Electronics Lab, Stanford University, 1994 – 1998

Managed proposal writing, reporting, and company site visits for Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) contract 357 (packaging sciences). The contract supported the dissertation research on the thermal transport properties of polymer films, and was chosen by the member companies as a 1998 “compelling reason” for joining the SRC.

 

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* Honors and Awards

*    Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Best Paper Award, TECHCON '98, September 1998

*    International VLSI Multilevel Interconnection Conference Outstanding Paper Award, October 1998

*    National Science Foundation CAREER Award 2001 – 2005

*    University of Michigan Robert Caddell Memorial Award 2004-2005

*    Co-author of SPIE Best Student Paper Award, Optics East 2004 (with Yi-Chung Tung), October 2004

 

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* Biographical Information

 

Dr. Kurabayashi received his Bachelor’s degree in Precision Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 1992 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering with Electrical Engineering Minor from Stanford University, in 1994 and 1998, respectively. Upon completion of his Ph.D. program, he was hired as a Physical Science Research Associate with the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University and participated, for a year, in a DARPA funded project aiming to develop MEMS-based microfluidic technology for future IC cooling.  Since 2000, he has been an Assistant Professor with the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan, investigating novel actuator and micro-mechanism designs for MEMS, multi-physics domain analysis of RF MEMS, nano-scale thermal energy transport in electronic devices and MEMS structures, and polymer-based microfabrication. He authored and co-authored more than 40 journal and conference papers, two of which received a best paper award (Semiconductor Research Corporation Best Paper Award in 1998, and International VLSI Multilevel Interconnection Conference Outstanding Paper Award in 1998).  He is a recipient of the 2001 National Science Foundation (NSF) Early Faculty Career Development (CAREER) Award for his contribution to a study of thermal energy transport in micromachined polysilicon structures at high temperatures.  Dr. Kurabayashi has given seminars as an invited speaker at industrial laboratories, such as Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories between 1999 and 2001 and serves as member of the NSF panel committee for Nanoscale Exploratory Research (NER) Program in 2001.

 

At the University of Michigan, Dr. Kurabayashi has developed a graduate-level course on MEMS. This course covers highly interdisciplinary teaching materials such as semiconductor physics, micromachining, transducer fundamentals, thin-film mechanics, and heat transfer, which are all necessary for designing the modern MEMS-based sensors and actuators.  Students from a variety of graduate programs, including Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics, take this course and are asked to make a team effort to propose a new MEMS design using the knowledge obtained through the course. The course project has resulted in two publications and one provisional U.S. patent since the course started in winter, 2000. He has also developed a research laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department, “Micro Systems Technology and Science Lab (MSTS Lab),” which is currently available full-time for dynamic, thermal, and electrical design and characterization of MEMS and electronic devices.

 

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* Current Project

*    Strain-Tunable Nanophtonic Devices (NSF)

*    Integrated Electromagnetic/Thermal/Mechanical Analysis for RF MEMS (NSF)

*    Low-volume, Low-power, Low-cost Wireless Microsystems (Department of Central Intelligence)

*    Biomolecular Motor Nanotechnology (DARPA)

*    Near-Field Optics Laser Nanomachining (NSF)

    

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*    Selected Publications

Archival Journals

2005

Tung, Y.-C., and Kurabayashi, K., “Nanoimprinted Strain-Controlled Elastomeric Gratings for Optical Wavelength Tuning with Visible Light,” accepted to Appl. Phys. Lett. (as a cover photo article) in press. (April 2005)

 

Jensen, B.D., Huwang, K, Chow, L.L.-W., and Kurabayashi, K., ”Low-Force Contact Heating and Softening using Micromechanical Switches in Diffusive-Ballistic Electron Transport Transition,” Appl. Phys. Lett. vol. 86, No. 023507, 2005. (also published in Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, vol. 11, no. 2, 2005.)

 

Lin, C.-T., Kao, M.-T., Kurabayashi, K., and Meyhofer, E., “Efficient Designs for Powering Microscale Devices with Nanoscale Biomolecular Motors,” submitted to Nano Letters.

 

Tung, Y.-C., and Kurabayashi, K., “A Metal-Coated Polymer Micromirror for Strain-Driven High-Speed Multi-Axis Optical Scanning,” accepted to IEEE Photonics Tech. Lett. in press. (June 2005)

 

Tung, Y.-C., and Kurabayashi, K., “A Single-Layer PDMS-on-Silicon Hybrid Micro Actuator with Multi-Axis Out-of-Plane Motion Capabilities: Part I: Modeling and Design,” accepted to J. Microelectromechanical Systems. in press. (June 2005)

 

Tung, Y.-C., and Kurabayashi, K., “A Single-Layer PDMS-on-Silicon Hybrid Micro Actuator with Multi-Axis Out-of-Plane Motion Capabilities: Part II: Fabrication and Characterization,” accepted to J. Microelectromechanical Systems. in press. (June 2005)

 

2004

Jensen, B.D., Huwang, K, Chow, L.L.-W., and Kurabayashi, K., “Adhesion Effects on Contact Opening Dynamics in Micromachined Switches,” submitted to J. Appl. Phys.

 

Jensen, B.D., Chow, L. L.-W., Huang, K., Saitou, K., Volakis, J.L., and Kurabayashi, K., “Contact Heating for Control of Contact Resistance in RF MEMS Switches,” submitted to J. Microelectromechanical Systems.

 

Wang, Z., Jensen, B, Volakis, J., Saitou, K., and Kurabayashi, K., “Integrated Full-Wave Electromagnetic and Thermal Modeling for Prediction of Heat-Induced RF MEMS Switch Failure” submitted to J. Microelectromechanical Systems.

 

Wang, Z., Volakis, J., Kurabayashi, K., and Saitou, K., “An Efficient Preconditioner (LESP) for Hybrid Matrices Arising in RF MEMS Switch Analysis,“ submitted to IEEE Antenna and Propagation.

 

Tung, Y.-C., Zhang, M., Lin, C.-T., Kurabayashi, K., and Skerlos, S.J., “PDMS-based opto-fluidic micro flow cytometer with two-color, multi-angle fluorescence detection capability using PIN photodiodes,” Sensors and Actuators B, vol. 98, no. 2-3, pp 356-367, 2004.

 

2003

Wang, Z., Volakis, J., Saitou, K., and Kurabayashi, K., “Comparison of semi-analytical formulations and Gaussian-quadrature rules for quasi-static double-surface potential integrals,” IEEE Antenna and Propagation Magazine, vol. 45 no.6, pp. 96-102, 2003.

 

Huh, D., Tkaczky, A.H., Bahng, J.H., Chang, Y., Wei, H.-H., Grotberg, J.B., Kim, C.-J., Kurabayashi, K., and Takayama, S., “Reversible Switching of High-Speed Air-Liquid Two-Phase Flows Using Electrowetting-Assisted Flow-Pattern Change,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. vol. 125, no. 48, pp. 14678-14679, 2003.

 

Jensen, B.D., Saitou, K., Volakis, J.L., and Kurabayashi, K. “Fully Integrated Electrothermal Multi-Domain Modeling of RF MEMS Switches,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 13, no. 9, pp. 364-366, 2003. (PDF)

 

Kurabayashi, K. and Khalkhali, H. “Anisotropic Thermal Energy Transport in Polarized Liquid Crystalline (LC) Polymers under Electric Fields,” Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 87-99, 2003.

 

Jensen, B.D., Mutlu, S., Miller, S., Kurabayashi, K., and Allen, J.J., “Shaped Comb Fingers for Compensation of Mechanical Restoring Force in Tunable Resonators,” J. Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 373-383, 2003.

 

2002

Asheghi, M., K. Kurabayashi, Kasnavi, R., and Goodson, K.E., “Thermal Conduction in Doped Single-Crystal Silicon Films,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 91, no. 8, pp. 5079-5088, 2002.(PDF)

 

Huh, D., Tung, Y-C., Grotberg, J.B., Skerlos, S., Kurabayashi, K., and Takayama, S., “Air-Liquid Two-Phase Microfluidic System for Low-Cost, Low-Volume, and Low-Power Micro Flow Cytometer,” Biomedical Microdevices, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 141-149, 2002. (PDF)

 

2001

Kurabayashi, K., “Anisotropic Thermal Properties of Solid Polymers,” International Journal of Thermophysics, vol. 22, no.1, pp 277-288, 2001. (PDF)

 

Srinivasan, U., McConnell, A.D., Asheghi, M., Kurabayashi, K., and Goodson, K.E., “Temperature Dependent Thermal Conductivity of Undoped Polycrystalline Silicon Layers,” International Journal of Thermophysics, vol. 22, no.2, pp. 650-616, 2001. (PDF)

 

1999

Kurabayashi, K., and Goodson, K.E., “Impact of Molecular Orientation on Heat Transport in Linear-Chain Polymer Thin Films,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 86, pp. 1925-1931, 1999. (PDF)

 

Kurabayashi, K., Asheghi, M., Touzelbaev, M., and Goodson, K.E., “Measurement of the Thermal Conductivity Anisotropy in Polyimide Films,” J. Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 8, pp. 180-191, 1999. (PDF)

 

Ju, Y.S., Kurabayashi, K., and Goodson, K.E., “Measurement of Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of Thin Dielectric Films using Harmonic Joule Heating,’ Thin Solid Films vol. 339, pp. 160-164, 1999. (PDF)

 

1998

Kurabayashi, K. and Goodson, K.E., “Precision Measurement and Mapping of Die-Attach Thermal Resistance,” IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology, Part A, Vol. 21, pp. 506-514, 1998. (PDF)

 

Ju, Y.S., Kurabayashi, K., and Goodson, K.E., “Picosecond Differential Transmission Measurements Using Joule Heating and Optical Thermometry,” Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, Vol. 2, pp.101-110, 1998.

 

1997

Goodson, K.E., Kurabayashi, K., and Pease, R.F.W., “Improved Heat Sinking for Laser-Diode Arrays using Microchannels in CVD Diamond,” IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology, Part B: Advanced Packaging, Vol. 20, pp.104-109, 1997. (PDF)

 

Refereed Conference and Symposium Proceedings

2005

Chow, L. L. W., Wang, Z., Jensen, B. D., Saitou, K., Volakis, J. L., and Kurabayashi, K., “Skin Effect Aggregated Heating in RF MEMS Suspended Structures,” Proc. 2005 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, Long Beach, CA, June 11-17, 2005.

 

Tung, Y.-C., and Kurabayashi, K. “A Nanoimprinted Strain-Induced Reconfigurable Polymer Micro-Optical Grating,” Proc. 18h IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, Miami Beach, FL, Jan. 30 – Feb.-3, 2005.

 

2004

Tung, Y.-C., and Kurabayashi, K. ”Multi-axis single-layer PDMS-on-silicon micro optical reflector,” Proc. SPIE Optomechatronic Micro/Nano Components, Devices, and Systems (Y. Katagiri Ed.), Vol. 5604, pp. 126-135, , 2004. (Best Student Paper Award)

 

Frost, A., Lin, C.-T., Meyhofer, E., and Kurabayashi, K., “Electrically Tunable, Reprogrammable Protein Patterning Using Fluorocarbon Polymer-Coated Electrode Patterns,” Proc. 8th International Symposium on Micro Total Analysis Systems  (mTAS), Malmo, Sweden, Sept. 26-30, 2004.

 

Wang, Z., Jensen, B., Chow, L., Volakis, L., Saitou, K., and Kurabayashi, K., “Effects of Dimple Geometry on RF MEMS Switch Heating,” Proc. 10th International Symposium on Antenna Technology and Applied Electromagnetics (ANTEM 2004), Ontario, Canada, July 20-23, 2004.

 

Jensen, B.D., Huwang, K., Chow, L., Saitou, K., Volakis, J.L, and Kurabayashi, K., “Asperity Heating for Repair of Metal Contact RF MEMS Switches,” Proc. 2004 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, vol. 3, pp. 1939-1942, Fort Worth, Texas, June 6-11, 2004.

 

Jensen, B.D. Chow, L.W., Webbink, R.F., Saitou, K., Volakis, J.L., and Kurabayashi, K., “Force Dependence of RF MEMS Switch Contact Heating,” Proc. 17th IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, Maastricht, The Netherlands, pp. 137-140, Jan. 25-29, 2004.

 

2003

Kim, T.S., Nanjundaswamy, H.K., Lin, C.-T., Lakamper S., Cheng L.J., Hoff, D., Hasselbrink, E.F., Guo, L.J., Kurabayashi, K., Hunt, A.J., and Meyhofer, E., “Biomolecular Motors as Novel Prime Movers for Micro-TAS: Microfabrication and Materials Issues,: Proc. The 7th International Symposium on Micro Total Analysis Systems  (mTAS), Squaw Valley, CA, vol. 1, pp. 33-36, Oct. 5-9, 2003.

 

Wang, Z., Jensen, B., Volakis, J., Saitou, K., and Kurabayashi, K., “Analysis of RF-MEMS switches using finite element-boundary integration with moment method,” Proc. IEEE International Symposium on Antenna and Propagation Society, vol. 2, pp. 173-176, June 22-27, 2003.

 

Tkaczyk, A.H., Huh, D., Bahng, J.H., Chang, Y., WSei, H.H., Kurabayashi, K., Grotberg, J.B., Kim, C.J., and Takayama, S., “Fluidic Switching of High-Speed Air-Liquid Two-Phase Flows Using Electrowetting-on-Dielectrics,” Proc. 7th International Symposium on Micro Total Analysis Systems  (mTAS), Squaw Valley, CA, vol. 1, pp. 461-464, Oct. 5-9, 2003.

 

2002