ECE Departmental Seminar - MEMS Waves for Communication
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Nikola Tesla once remarked: “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.” Waves are a natural embodiment of these three elements, carrying energy while encoding information through frequency and vibration. From ancient times to the present, and from the natural world to modern technology, waves have continuously shaped the ways humans sense, connect, and communicate. Today, as communication systems push toward higher frequencies, wider bandwidths, and more compact implementations, controlling waves with greater precision and efficiency has become a central challenge. This trend has brought renewed attention to micro-scale platforms that can directly generate, manipulate, and process waves in integrated forms.
Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices, driven by the flourishing advancement of micromachining industries, have undergone a significant transformation in functional domains, contributing to more physical domains beyond electronics and mechanics. These miniaturized devices create versatile platforms that broaden the wave spectrum from MHz to mmWave frequencies. The renewed interest in this broad spectrum has spurred the development of innovative techniques, including ultrasonic sensing transducers and ultra-compact radio-frequency spectral processing components, shaped by their architecture and frequency characteristics. The ability of MEMS wave devices to launch, manipulate, and utilize waves has facilitated the transition of scientific concepts into commercial consumer electronics. This talk will introduce a series of wave platforms based on piezoelectric thin films and unique fabrication technologies to cover an unprecedentedly wide frequency range with more efficient transduction.
Before joining HKUST, Yansong Yang was a postdoc research associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 2017 and 2019. He received his Bachelor degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). He won 2nd Place in the Best Paper Competition at the 2018 IEEE International Microwave Symposium and the Best Paper award at the 2019 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium. He was also a finalist for the Advanced Practices Paper Competition Award at the 2020 IEEE International Microwave Symposium and the Best Paper Award at the 2018 IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium. He is also a recipient of the 2019 P. D. Coleman Graduate Research Award from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UIUC. He also received the 2022 Microwave Prize from the IEEE Microwave Theory & Technology Society. He is awarded the 2023 Early Career Award from the IEEE Electron Devices Society.
His works have been awarded Best Paper Awards 6 times and Best Paper finalists 2 times in top-tier international conferences. His publications have been awarded as "JMEMS RightNow Papers" of the IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems. He has more than 20 patents granted or pending in the U.S. and China, and his published works have been adopted in hundreds of patents of RF companies.
His lab focuses on developing multi-physics (including electrical, mechanical, and optical domains) hybrid microsystems for signal processing, sensing, and computing on a single chip. The related work includes the design and nano-microfabrication techniques of novel RF MEMS platforms (resonators, filters, delay lines, switches, etc.) and photonic integrated circuits for higher operating frequencies and efficiency.