Events Calendar

EE-Electrophysics Seminar - Axel Scherer

Speaker: Axel Scherer, California Institute of Technology

Talk Title: From Lab-on-a-Chip to Lab-in-the-Body: The Role of Nanotechnology in the Miniaturization of Medical Diagnostic Tools

Abstract: Miniaturization of devices has fueled the rapid evolution of microelectronic systems over the past decades. More recently, silicon has also emerged as an opto-electronic and electro-mechanical material. The manufacturability of high resolution silicon micro- and nanostructures is unparalleled, and the control over the precise geometry of silicon devices has followed the predictable path of Moore's law. In anticipation of the evolution of this trend, we will describe the opportunities of reducing the sizes of silicon devices to below 10nm to control mechanical, optical and electronic properties of silicon – with particular applications in medical instruments. We show some examples of nanostructures with dimensions below 10nm in all dimensions. This control enables many interesting devices with new optical, electrical and mechanical opportunities.
As the size of devices is reduced, it is possible to contemplate their integration within more complex and compact optical and electronic systems. During the second part of the presentation, the opportunities for integrated spectroscopy and data communications systems for implantable health monitors will be explored. The combination of power supply, data communications and biochemical detectors within small chips enables us to contemplate new microsystems for healthcare monitoring. Such systems could be implanted as glucometers, neural probes and other metabolic measurement tools and will enable a new class of continuous digital health monitors that hopefully leads to preventative healthcare at lower cost.

Biography: Axel Scherer is the Bernard A. Neches Professor of Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, Medical Engineering and Physics at Caltech as well as a visiting professor at Dartmouth. He received his PhD in 1985, and after working in the Microstructures Research Group at Bellcore, joined the Electrical Engineering option at Caltech in 1993. Professor Scherer's group now works on micro- and nanofabrication of optical, magnetic and fluidic devices and their integration into microsystems. He has co-authored over 300 publications and holds over 100 patents in the fields of optoelectronics, microfluidics, and nanofabrication. Professor Scherer has co-founded three high-technology companies and built a state of the art cleanroom at Caltech. He has pioneered vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, microdisks, photonic crystals, silicon photonics and surface plasmon nanodevices, as well as microfluidic technologies. His group has perfected the fabrication and characterization of ultra-small structures with sizes down to 2nm, which are used in transistors and sensors. Presently, Professor Scherer works on the integration of microfluidic, electronic, photonic and magnetic devices for the purpose of building wireless implantable health monitors. The goal of this effort is to build inexpensive medical diagnostic tools that can provide feedback for the patients to control their health. Professor Scherer’s group also develops inexpensive and automated point-of-care instruments for clinical pathology.

Host: EE-Electrophysics

Location: EEB 132

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Marilyn Poplawski