• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

banner logo

University of California, Berkeley Mechanical Engineering

MENUMENU
  • Prospective Students
  • Industry
  • Contact us
  • Give Now
  • About
    • From the Chair
    • Honors and Rankings
    • Visitor Information
    • Equity and Inclusion
    • 150 Years of Women in ME
    • Make a Gift
    • Contact us
  • People
    • Faculty
      • Faculty by Research Area
      • Faculty Books
    • Staff
      • Administrative
      • Facilities
      • Financial
      • Information Technology
      • Student Services
      • Student Machine Shops
    • Community Spotlight
    • External Advisory Board
    • Open Positions
      • Lecturer Positions
    • Visiting Scholars
  • Undergraduate
    • Degree Requirements
    • Curriculum Flowchart
    • ME + Business
    • ME/MSE Joint Major
    • ME/NE Joint Major
    • Aerospace Engineering Minor
    • ME Minor
    • Fifth Year B.S./M.S. Program
    • Simultaneous Degrees
    • Advising
      • Semesterly Advising
      • Faculty Adviser Assignments
      • Faculty Office Hours
      • Forms
      • Career Planning Maps
    • Admissions
      • Applying to Engineering
      • The Application
      • Junior Transfers
      • Credit from Exams
      • Financial Resources
      • Drake Scholarship
      • Visit Us
    • ME Courses
      • Technical Electives
      • Design Electives
        • Design Course Transition
      • Tentative ME Course Schedule
      • Quantitative Science
      • Humanities & Social Sciences Courses
      • Undergrad Course Syllabi
      • ME DeCal Courses
    • Undergraduate Research
      • Credit for Research
      • Research Samples
    • Awards and Scholarships
      • Past Prize Winners
    • Student Academic Resources
      • Student Life Resources
    • Jobs and Internships
    • Program Objectives and Outcomes (ABET)
  • Graduate Programs
    • Ph.D. & D.Eng.
    • Master of Science
    • Master of Engineering
    • Fifth Year B.S./M.S. Program
      • Degree Requirements
      • 5th Year Masters Program Handbook
    • Special Programs
    • Admissions
      • M.S., Ph.D., D.Eng. & CWO Application
      • MEng Application
      • 5th Year Masters Admissions
      • Application Tips
      • Fees and Financial Support
      • Readmission / Change of Major
    • Graduate Resources
      • Graduate Handbook
      • Graduate Forms
      • Prelim Exams
      • Research Areas and Major Fields
      • Major Field Advisors
      • Grant Writing
      • Grad Division Resources
      • MEGSCo
      • COE Graduate Guide
    • GSI/Reader Information
      • GSI/Reader Forms
    • Course Information
      • Tentative ME course schedule
    • Graduate Course Syllabi
  • Research
    • Research Areas and Major Fields
    • Faculty by Research Area
    • Laboratories
    • Research Centers
  • Resources
    • Student Academic Resources
    • Graduate Resources
    • Student Life Resources
      • ME Student Groups
    • Virtual Career Panel Series
    • Equity and Inclusion
    • Jobs and Internships
    • Room Reservations
    • Key Requests
    • Mail & Office Administration
    • Financial Services
    • IT Services
    • Safety Information
    • Sexual Violence & Sexual Harassment Prevention
    • Faculty & Staff Resources
  • ME Shops
    • Shop Training
    • Services Provided
    • Shop Equipment
    • Student Electronics Shop
    • Shop Safety
  • Coronavirus Resources
  • News
    • Alumni Newsletter
    • Mechanical Engineering Seminars
    • Events
    • Videos
MENUMENU
  • About
    • From the Chair
    • Honors and Rankings
    • Visitor Information
    • Equity and Inclusion
    • 150 Years of Women in ME
    • Make a Gift
    • Contact us
  • People
    • Faculty
      • Faculty by Research Area
      • Faculty Books
    • Staff
      • Administrative
      • Facilities
      • Financial
      • Information Technology
      • Student Services
      • Student Machine Shops
    • Community Spotlight
    • External Advisory Board
    • Open Positions
      • Lecturer Positions
    • Visiting Scholars
  • Undergraduate
    • Degree Requirements
    • Curriculum Flowchart
    • ME + Business
    • ME/MSE Joint Major
    • ME/NE Joint Major
    • Aerospace Engineering Minor
    • ME Minor
    • Fifth Year B.S./M.S. Program
    • Simultaneous Degrees
    • Advising
      • Semesterly Advising
      • Faculty Adviser Assignments
      • Faculty Office Hours
      • Forms
      • Career Planning Maps
    • Admissions
      • Applying to Engineering
      • The Application
      • Junior Transfers
      • Credit from Exams
      • Financial Resources
      • Drake Scholarship
      • Visit Us
    • ME Courses
      • Technical Electives
      • Design Electives
        • Design Course Transition
      • Tentative ME Course Schedule
      • Quantitative Science
      • Humanities & Social Sciences Courses
      • Undergrad Course Syllabi
      • ME DeCal Courses
    • Undergraduate Research
      • Credit for Research
      • Research Samples
    • Awards and Scholarships
      • Past Prize Winners
    • Student Academic Resources
      • Student Life Resources
    • Jobs and Internships
    • Program Objectives and Outcomes (ABET)
  • Graduate Programs
    • Ph.D. & D.Eng.
    • Master of Science
    • Master of Engineering
    • Fifth Year B.S./M.S. Program
      • Degree Requirements
      • 5th Year Masters Program Handbook
    • Special Programs
    • Admissions
      • M.S., Ph.D., D.Eng. & CWO Application
      • MEng Application
      • 5th Year Masters Admissions
      • Application Tips
      • Fees and Financial Support
      • Readmission / Change of Major
    • Graduate Resources
      • Graduate Handbook
      • Graduate Forms
      • Prelim Exams
      • Research Areas and Major Fields
      • Major Field Advisors
      • Grant Writing
      • Grad Division Resources
      • MEGSCo
      • COE Graduate Guide
    • GSI/Reader Information
      • GSI/Reader Forms
    • Course Information
      • Tentative ME course schedule
    • Graduate Course Syllabi
  • Research
    • Research Areas and Major Fields
    • Faculty by Research Area
    • Laboratories
    • Research Centers
  • Resources
    • Student Academic Resources
    • Graduate Resources
    • Student Life Resources
      • ME Student Groups
    • Virtual Career Panel Series
    • Equity and Inclusion
    • Jobs and Internships
    • Room Reservations
    • Key Requests
    • Mail & Office Administration
    • Financial Services
    • IT Services
    • Safety Information
    • Sexual Violence & Sexual Harassment Prevention
    • Faculty & Staff Resources
  • ME Shops
    • Shop Training
    • Services Provided
    • Shop Equipment
    • Student Electronics Shop
    • Shop Safety
  • Coronavirus Resources
  • News
    • Alumni Newsletter
    • Mechanical Engineering Seminars
    • Events
    • Videos
MEMS image

MEMS and Nano

You are here: Home / Research Areas and Major Fields / MEMS and Nano

Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS)

Over the past 20 years, the application of microelectronic technology to the fabrication of mechanical devices has revolutionized the research in microsensors and microactuators. Micromachining technologies take advantage of batch processing to address the manufacturing and performance requirements of the sensor industry.

The extraordinary versatility of semiconductor materials and the miniaturization of VLSI patterning techniques promise new sensors and actuators with increased capabilities and improved performance-to-cost ratio, which far surpass conventionally machined devices. Our faculty is actively involved in collaborative research efforts in Silicon Valley, the heart of the semiconductor and MEMS industries. These collaborations draw heavily upon our expertise in mechanical engineering as it applies to a broad range of issues in miniaturization, including solid, materials, design, manufacturing, fluidics, heat transfer, dynamics, control, environmental, and bioengineering. In addition, close ties to other departments and research centers such as BSAC (Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center) further strengthen our program.

Nanoengineering

Significant breakthroughs over the past two decades in a wide range of disciplines have generated new interest in science and engineering at nanometer scales. The invention of the scanning tunneling microscope, the discovery of the fullerene family of molecules, the development of materials with size-dependent properties, and the ability to encode with and manipulate biological molecules such as DNA, are a few of the crucial developments that have changed this field.

Continued research in nanoscale science and engineering promises to revolutionize many fields and lead to a new technological base and infrastructure that will have major impact on the US and world economies. The impact will be felt in areas as diverse as computing and information technology, health care and biotechnology, environment, energy, transportation, and space exploration, to name a few.

Our department is committed to the development of nanoengineering, with several groups conducting research in this field. Some key areas of research include nanoinstrumentation nano energy conversion, nano bioengineering and nano computing storage.

The field of nanoengineering is highly interdisciplinary, requiring knowledge drawn from a variety of scientific and engineering departments. In addition to traditional courses covering fundamentals of mechanical engineering, our department offers a series of specialized courses in microscale thermophysics, micro and nanoscale tribology, cellular and sub-cellular level transport phenomena and mechanics, physicochemical hydrodynamics of ultra-thin fluid films, and microfabrication.

The Major Field Advisors for each research area are listed here.

Core Faculty:
Lin

Liwei Lin

Lydia Sohn

Lydia Sohn

Faculty with research interests that relate to MEMS/Nano issues include Professors M. Reza Alam, Chris Dames, Costas Grigoropoulos, Roberto Horowitz, David Horsley, Kyriakos Komvopolous, Dorian Liepmann, Mohammad R. K. Mofrad, Ravi Prasher, Hayden Taylor, and Vassilia Zorba.

 

MEMS/Nano Labs:
origami electronics

Lin Lab

The Lin Lab focuses on applying the principles of mechanical engineering to a wide range of applications in growing fields, ...
Read More
Sohn Research Laboratory

Sohn Research Laboratory

Our lab broadly focuses on two major themes: cancer and stem-cell biology. For cancer, we are developing and employing quantitative, label-free ...
Read More

 

Berkeley MEMS/Nano Research in the News:
Science Daily: New Technique 'Prints' Cells to Create Diverse Biological Environments

Science Daily: New Technique ‘Prints’ Cells to Create Diverse Biological Environments

New Technique ‘Prints’ Cells to Create Diverse Biological Environments

New Technique ‘Prints’ Cells to Create Diverse Biological Environments

VR/AR Designs Could Gain Touch Capability

VR/AR Designs Could Gain Touch Capability

Adding Touch to Virtual and Augmented Reality

Adding Touch to Virtual and Augmented Reality

Are We on the Cusp of Frictionless Mechanical Systems?

Are We on the Cusp of Frictionless Mechanical Systems?

ME PostDoc Jeongmin Kim Wins 2019 PicoQuant Young Investigator Award at SPIE BiOS

ME PostDoc Jeongmin Kim Wins 2019 PicoQuant Young Investigator Award at SPIE BiOS

origami electronics

Lin Lab Engineers Develop Origami Electronics Using Cheap, Foldable Paper

Sohn Lab Engineers Squeeze Cells Through Microtubes to Detect Cancer

Sohn Lab Engineers Squeeze Cells Through Microtubes to Detect Cancer

MEMS image

Nature’s Microsystems & Nanoengineering Spotlights Sohn Research Lab’s Paper as Featured Article

Scientists Discover ‘Chiral Phonons’ – Atomic Rotations in a 2-D Semiconductor Crystal

Scientists Discover ‘Chiral Phonons’ – Atomic Rotations in a 2-D Semiconductor Crystal

The Lin Lab's New Hybrid Supercapacitor is Super-Charged

The Lin Lab’s New Hybrid Supercapacitor is Super-Charged

ME PhD Student Yumeng Liu Wins Outstanding Paper Award at Transducers 2017

ME PhD Student Yumeng Liu Wins Outstanding Paper Award at Transducers 2017

Lin Lab Members Win Best Student Paper Award at MEMS 2017

Lin Lab Members Win Best Student Paper Award at MEMS 2017

ME Professor Lydia Sohn to be Inducted into Medical and Biological Engineering Elite

ME Professor Lydia Sohn to be Inducted into Medical and Biological Engineering Elite

American Society of Mechanical Engineers Features ME Professor Xiang Zhang in New Video

American Society of Mechanical Engineers Features ME Professor Xiang Zhang in New Video

ME Professor Liwei Lin's 3D-Printed Smart Cap in the News

ME Professor Liwei Lin’s 3D-Printed Smart Cap in the News

Primary Sidebar

  • Research Areas and Major Fields
  • Laboratories
  • Research Centers
  • Faculty by Research Area
  • Contact
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Nondiscrimination
  • UC Berkeley
  • Berkeley Engineering
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineering · All Rights Reserved ·