Runar Dahl-Hansen defended his thesis “Reliability of Piezoelectric Microelectromechanical System in Humid Conditions”. Due to COVID19 the defence was organized remotely using Teams. The work has been a collaboration between SINTEF MiNaLab and The Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
The trial lecture was held on the topic:
“Stress effects in piezoelectric thin films for sensors and harvesters”
The following committee was appointed to evaluate his thesis, trial lectures and defence:
- Professor Kyle Webber, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
- Dr. Marco Deluca, Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH
- Associate Professor Julia Glaum, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, NTNU
The work is a significant contribution to our understanding of the mechanisms that leads to device failure due to humidity through generation of protonic species and the impact on the performance of a real micro-mirror device. The thesis also suggests that leakage currents due to such species emerge much sooner than anticipated.
Prof. Thomas Tybell (NTNU) has been Runar’s main supervisor, Dr. Frode Tyholdt (SINTEF) co-supervisor and Prof. Susan Trolier-McKinstry (Penn State University) host-supervisor.
piezoMEMS devices fabricated at SINTEF’s piezoMEMS fabrication line MiNaLab was used. Runar’s work has brought new insights in piezoMEMS components reliability in humid conditions and how smart design and processing can improve it. Visit www.piezomems.com and learn more about our unique offer in thin film deposition and piezoMEMS component development and production.