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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Measurement Of Metal Migration On Thick Film Piezoresistors And Their Termination, David V. Kerns, C Song, J L. Davidson, D L. Kinser Apr 2012

Measurement Of Metal Migration On Thick Film Piezoresistors And Their Termination, David V. Kerns, C Song, J L. Davidson, D L. Kinser

David V. Kerns

Metal migration from the thick-film termination can affect not only the electrical characteristics but also the gauge factor or piezoresistive coefficient of thick-film sensors. Four sets of sensors with different ratios were designed to test the influence of the terminal metal migration effects on the gauge factors and resistivity of thick-film resistors. In all the cases, the shortest resistors have a lower gauge factor and a large deviation ofresistances. The longer resistors will have better electrical parameters. SEM (scanning electron microscope) studies showed this interaction at the interface between the terminal and the resistor. The same distance of terminal diffusion …


A Novel Wide-Band-Gap Semiconductor Based Microelectronic Gas Sensor, David V. Kerns, W P. Kang, J L. Davidson, B Henderson, Y Gurbuz Apr 2012

A Novel Wide-Band-Gap Semiconductor Based Microelectronic Gas Sensor, David V. Kerns, W P. Kang, J L. Davidson, B Henderson, Y Gurbuz

David V. Kerns

Summary form only given. A wide-band-gap semiconductor, high temperature tolerant microelectronic gas sensor of diamond has been developed for oxygen, hydrogen and CO gas detection. This new device has been fabricated in the form of catalyst-adsorptive oxide(Pt-SnOx )/i(intrinsic)-diamond/p+(doped)diamond, representing a CAIS device structure. The key elements in this structure are SnOx as a gas sensitive layer and PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited) diamond for high temperature operations. The major advantages of using diamond based structures with SnOx for gas sensing are higher operating temperature range, higher gas sensitivity and selectivity, reliable sensing performance in harsh environments, simplicity in fabrication …


The Search For Design In Electrical Engineering Education, David V. Kerns, Sherra E. Kerns, Mark Somerville, Gill Pratt, Jill Crisman Apr 2012

The Search For Design In Electrical Engineering Education, David V. Kerns, Sherra E. Kerns, Mark Somerville, Gill Pratt, Jill Crisman

David V. Kerns

The importance of "design" in engineering education is well established and a cornerstone of most new engineering curricula as well as accreditation criteria Electrical and computer engineering (ECE) programs view many elements of design in ways similar to other engineering disciplines. However, in some respects other disciplines within engineering, such as Mechanical Engineering (ME), view design in broader terms, and perhaps gain value that electrical and computer engineering educators may miss. This paper describes how design is typically viewed in ECE programs, bow it's viewed in other engineering areas, particularly ME, and suggests some new possibilities for enhancing design education …


Evaluation And Design Optimization Of Piezoresistive Gauge Factor Of Thick-Film Resistors, Sherra E. Kerns, David V. Kerns, C Song, J. L. Davidson, W. P. Kang Apr 2012

Evaluation And Design Optimization Of Piezoresistive Gauge Factor Of Thick-Film Resistors, Sherra E. Kerns, David V. Kerns, C Song, J. L. Davidson, W. P. Kang

David V. Kerns

On the basis of the analysis of all the thick- film design methodologies, the authors designed a test sample on which four different length-over-width ratios of resistors were designed. They found that the length-over-width ratio will substantially affect the gauge factor in some cases, in contrast to prior research. This can be modeled to generate a linear predictive model, The sensors designed on the insulator and the sensors underneath the insulator were also studied in order to simulate the multilayer hybrid technology and study the effects of insulator-resistor-substrate surface interaction. It is demonstrated that design techniques can affect the strain …