Clark Nguyen

Professor

Research Areas

• Micro/Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
• Integrated Circuits (INC)
• Physical Electronics (PHY)
• Design, Modeling and Analysis (DMA)

Research Centers

• Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center (BSAC)

Teaching Schedule (Spring 2013)

• EE 140. Linear Integrated Circuits, TuTh 3:30-5:00P, 540AB Cory
• EE 240A. Linear Integrated Circuits, TT 3:30-5:00P, 540A/B Cory

Biography

Clark T.-C. Nguyen received the B. S., M. S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989, 1991, and 1994, respectively, all in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. In 1995, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he was a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science up until mid-2006. In 2006, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley, where he is now a Professor and a co-Director of the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center. His research interests focus on micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) and include integrated micromechanical signal processors and sensors, merged circuit/micromechanical technologies, RF communication architectures, and integrated circuit design and technology. From 1995 to 1997, he was a member of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s New Millennium Integrated Product Development Team on Communications, which roadmapped future communications technologies for NASA use into the turn of the century. In 2001, Prof. Nguyen founded Discera, Inc., a company aimed at commercializing communication products, based upon MEMS technology, with an initial focus on the very vibrating micromechanical resonators pioneered by his research. He served as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Discera until mid-2002, at which point he joined the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on an IPA, where he served for 3.5 years as the Program Manager of the MEMS, Micro Power Generation (MPG), Chip-Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC), MEMS Exchange (MX), Harsh Environment Robust Micromechanical Technology (HERMIT), Micro Gas Analyzers (MGA), Radio Isotope Micropower Sources (RIMS), RF MEMS Improvement (RFMIP), Navigation-Grade Integrated Micro Gyroscopes (NGIMG), and Micro Cryogenic Coolers (MCC) programs, in the Microsystems Technology Office of DARPA.

While at the University of Michigan, Prof. Nguyen received the 1938E Award for Research and Teaching Excellence in 1998, an EECS Departmental Achievement Award in 1999, the Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Teaching Excellence in 2000, the 2001 Henry Russel Award, and the Cady Award from the 2006 IEEE Frequency Control Symposium. He became an IEEE Fellow in January of 2007. Among his publication accolades are the Jack Raper Award from the 2005 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference; the 2004 DARPA Best Technical Presentation Award; the Best Invited Paper Award at the 2004 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference; and together with his students, the Best Student Paper Award in Category 1 at the 2005 Joint IEEE Frequency Control/Precise Time and Timing Interval (PTTI) Symposium; the Best Student Paper Award in the Frequency Control Category at the 2004 IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Symposium; and the Roger A. Haken Best Student Paper Awards at the 1998 and 2003 IEEE International Electron Devices Meetings.

Selected Publications

• S. Li, Y. Lin, Z. Ren, and C. Nguyen, "An MSI micromechanical differential disk-array filter," in 14th Intl. Conf. on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (TRANSDUCERS 2007). Digest of Technical Papers, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2007, pp. 307-311.
• C. Nguyen, "MEMS technology for timing and frequency control," IEEE Trans. Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 251-270, Feb. 2007.
• M. U. Demirci and C. Nguyen, "Mechanically corner-coupled square microresonator array for reduced series motional resistance," IEEE/ASME J. Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 1419-1436, Dec. 2006.
• J. R. Clark, W. Hsu, M. A. Abdelmoneum, and C. Nguyen, "High-Q UHF micromechanical radial-contour mode disk resonators," IEEE/ASME J. Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 1298-1310, Dec. 2005.
• Y. Lin, S. Li, Z. Ren, and C. Nguyen, "Third-order intermodulation distortion in capacitively-driven VHF micromechanical resonators," in Proc. 2005 IEEE Ultrasonics Symp., Vol. 3, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2005, pp. 1592-1593.
• Y. Lin, S. Li, Z. Ren, and C. Nguyen, "Vibrating micromechanical resonators with solid dielectric capacitive transducer gaps (Best Frequency Control Paper Award)," in Proc. 2005 IEEE Intl. Frequency Control Symp. and Exposition (IFCS '05), Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2005, pp. 128-134.
• C. Nguyen and J. Kitching, "Towards chip-scale atomic clocks (Jack Raper Award for Best Paper Award)," in 2005 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conf. (ISSCC 2005). Digest of Technical Papers., Vol. 1, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2005, pp. 84-85.
• J. Wang, Z. Ren, and C. Nguyen, "1.156-GHz self-aligned vibrating micromechanical disk resonator," IEEE Trans. Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, vol. 51, no. 12, pp. 1607-1628, Dec. 2004.
• Y. Lin, S. Lee, S. Li, Y. Xie, Z. Ren, and C. Nguyen, "Series-resonant VHF micromechanical resonator reference oscillators," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 39, no. 12, pp. 2477-2491, Dec. 2004.
• C. Nguyen, "Vibrating RF MEMS for next generation wireless applications (Best Invited Paper Award)," in Proc. IEEE 2004 Custom Integrated Circuits Conf., Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2004, pp. 257-264.
• S. Lee and C. Nguyen, "Mechanically-coupled micromechanical resonator arrays for improved phase noise (Best Frequency Control Paper Award )," in Proc. 2004 IEEE Intl. Frequency Control Symp. and Exhibition, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2004, pp. 144-150.
• A. Wong and C. Nguyen, "Micromechanical mixer-filters ("mixlers")," IEEE/ASME J. Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 100-112, Feb. 2004.
• Y. Xie, S. Li, Y. Lin, Z. Ren, and C. Nguyen, "UHF micromechanical extensional wine-glass mode ring resonators (Roger A. Haken Best Student Paper Award)," in 2003 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM '03) Technical Digest, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2003, pp. 953-956.
• K. Wang, A. Wong, and C. Nguyen, "VHF free-free beam high-Q micromechanical resonators," IEEE/ASME J. Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 347-360, Sep. 2000.
• F. D. Bannon III, J. R. Clark, and C. Nguyen, "High-Q HF microelectromechanical filters," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 512-526, April 2000.
• K. Wang and C. Nguyen, "High-order medium frequency micromechanical electronic filters," IEEE/ASME J. Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 534-557, Dec. 1999.
• C. Nguyen, "Frequency-selective MEMS for miniaturized low-power communication devices (Invited Paper)," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 47, no. 8, pp. 1486-1503, Aug. 1999.
• L. Lin, C. T. Nguyen, R. T. Howe, and A. Pisano, "Microelectromechanical signal processors," U.S. Patent 5,455,547. Oct. 1995.