MICRO AND NANO SENSORS

The goal of this class consists in providing to students basic and advanced concepts regarding sensors, transducers, design methodologies and fabrication technologies. In particular micro and nano fabrication technologies will be studied. Moreover conditioning signal processing methods and design methodologies for circuits will be studied. 

Concepts and knowledge gained in this class will allow future engineers to properly face sensor developments and design problem, to perform device design, to identify the most appropriate fabrication technologies, Finally sensor calibration methods will be studied.

Knowledge and understanding

Students will gain knowledge about methods for designing sensors and transducers, for developing the full measurement and transduction chain. Attention will be posed over identification and compensation of interferying and modifying inputs. Finally fabrication precess issues will be considered with respect to their influence on the sensor design and on the device performances.

Applications to sensors for measuring both electrical and non electrical quantities will be considered.

Applying knowledge and understanding

At the end of this class students will have enough competences and knowledge to effectively analyze a measurement system, to identify main functioinalities of measurement systems together with interferying and modifying inputs and appropriate compensating methods. Moreover students will be able to design MEMS and microsensors together with the correspondent signal conditioning circuits.

Making judgements

At the end of this class students will gain adequate maturity level and autonomy for operating as engineers expert in measurement systems and specifically in micro and nano sensors. These skills will be enforced through an intense experimental  activity in laboratory.  

Communication skills

Students will gain adequate communication skills thanks to the knowledege of technical languages in the field of metrology and measurements. Team working skills will be enforced through laboratory activities organized in small groups. 

Learning skills

Students will be able to autonomously expand his/her knowledges in the specific field of instrumentation and measurements and micro and nano sensors through the study of specialized books suggested during the lectures, scientific journals and seminars given by experts in the field. 

The class on Micro and Nano sensors includes both lectures and expereimental laboratory activities. Whenever possible highly specialized seminars will be organized with highly qualified national and international speakers from industry and academia.

Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

This course is aimed to provide basic and some advance knowledege on sensors, microsensors, MEMS and related fabrication technologies.

Nanotechnologies will be also addressed together with some information on instrumentation for devices analysis and fabrication.

Microsensors design methodologies will be presented together with CAD tools.

Several different transduction methodologies will be presented together with sensors and transducers at micro and nano scale.

Extensive laboratory activities are planned, students wil be involved in the running laboratory activities and will be challenged to develop experimental activities at several different stages of the sensor development. 

Laboratory activity will be a fundumental part of the oral exam.

- Individual notes taken in class

- slides provided by the Professor

- Books:

• Webster, Pallas-Areny, “Sensors and signal conditioning”, Wiley, 2002
• G. T. A. Kovacs, “Micromachined transducers sourcebook”, Mc-Graw Hill, 1998
• M. Madou, Fundamentals of microfabrication, CRC Press
• E. O. Doebelin, Strumenti e Metodi Di Misura - MCGRAW-HILL - Ed 2008