Sensors and Actuators

By Prof. Hardik Jeetendra Pandya | IISc Bangalore

Learners enrolled: 3912 | Exam registration: 123

ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course is designed with an aim of educating students in microtechnology and its use to fabricate sensors and systems. The students will have an exposure to sensors and its importance in the real world. The students will also able to understand how to fabricate some of those sensors. Students will have an exposure towards how to fabricate the sensors and its application in real world. The students will provide an understanding on modern day microsensors and micro actuators. The students will have an idea about how to simulate some of those sensors and characterise before fabricating it. Below are some of the course objectives. The first objective of this course is to understand basics of sensors, actuators and their operating principle. The second objective is to educate the students on different types of microfabrication techniques for designing and developing sensors (Several applications from Electronics to Biomedical will be covered). The third objective is to explain working of various types of electrochemical sensors and actuators. Fourth objective is to provide information about interfacing of sensors and signal conditioning circuits to establish any control system or monitoring system. Fifth objective is to provide knowledge about simulation and characterization of different sensors. The final objective is to provide an understanding on characteristic parameters to evaluate sensor performance. INTENDED AUDIENCE: Engineering Students, Faculty from Engineering Colleges PREREQUISITES: Basic Electronics

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering Control and Instrumentation Robotics
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	20 Jan 2025
End Date :	11 Apr 2025
Enrollment Ends :	27 Jan 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	14 Feb 2025
Exam Date :	27 Apr 2025 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Basics of Energy Transformation: Transducers, Sensors and Actuators

Week 2: Understanding of thin film physics: Application in MOSFET and its variants

Week 3: Thin Film Deposition Techniques: Chemical Vapor Deposition (APCVD, LPCVD, UHVCVD, PECVD, ALCVD, HPCVD, MOCVD)

Week 4: Thin Film Deposition Techniques: Physical Vapor Deposition (Thermal Deposition, E-beam Evaporation, Sputtering, Pulsed Laser Deposition)

Week 5: Basics understanding of Photolithography for pattering layer. Detailed overview of Etching methods.

Week 6: Understanding various gas sensors: Optical gas sensor, Metal oxide semiconductor gas sensor, Field effect transistor gas sensor, Piezoelectric gas sensor, Polymer gas sensor, Nano-structured based gas sensors

Week 7:   Design and fabrication process of Microsensors: Force Sensors, Pressure Sensors, Strain gauges and practical applications

Week 8: Explain working principles of Actuators. Piezoelectric and Piezoresistive actuators, micropumps and micro actuators with practical applications
Week 9: Understanding basics of microfluidics to assist Photomask design using Clewin Software, pattern transfer techniques, PDMS moulding and degassing, device bonding techniques.
Week 10: Simulation, Optimization and characterization of various sensors using COMSOL Multiphysics
Week 11: Understanding of Sensor Interfacing with Microprocessor to build electronic system
Week 12: Static and Dynamic Characteristic Parameters for Sensors and Actuators, Calibration of Sensor based electronics systems.

Books and references

1. Lecture notes on some topics will be provided by the instructor Pallás-Areny Ramón, and John G. Webster.

2. Sensors and Signal Conditioning Wiley-Blackwell, 2008 Jacob Fraden, Handbook of modern sensors, Springer, Stefan Johann Rupitsch.

3. Piezoelectric Sensors and Actuators: Fundamentals and Applications, Springer, 2018 Senturia S. D.

4. Microsystem Design, Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2001 J.D. Plummer, M.D. Deal, P.G. Griffin

5. Silicon VLSI Technology, Pearson Education, 2001 S.M. Sze (Ed)

6. VLSI Technology, 2 Edition, McGraw Hill, 1988 Madou

7. M Fundamentals of Microfabrication, CRC Press, 1997.

Instructor bio

Prof. Hardik Jeetendra Pandya

IISc Bangalore

Prof. Hardik J. Pandya is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering, Division of EECS, and Associate Faculty, Department of Design and Manufacturing, Division of Mechanical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Dr. Pandya heads three laboratories in ESE focused on developing a new class of biomedical devices and technologies. Before joining IISc, he worked as a postdoctoral scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maryland Robotics Center, University of Maryland, College Park (2012- 2016) and in the Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital–Harvard Medical School (2016-2017). He obtained his Ph.D. in microengineering systems from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (2013). His lab comprises twenty- eight scholars (twelve Ph.D., ten M.Tech., and six project assistants). In the last six years and nine months, he graduated five Ph.D. scholars and fifteen M.Tech. scholars, in addition to guiding three postdoctoral fellows and several research staff. Alums from his lab have pursued roles in academia and prominent industries, joining esteemed institutions and companies like A*STAR, IMEC, IIITDM Kancheepuram, Intel, NVIDIA, MAXLINEAR, Texas Instruments, Samsung, IIT Gandhinagar, and Delft University. His current research focuses on minimally invasive and non-invasive technologies with an emphasis on but not limited to cancer diagnosis (brain, breast, head, and neck), e- nose (diabetes, breast cancer screening), and Neuroprotective Therapies for Acute Stroke and Epilepsy. He received the prestigious Early Career Research Award from the Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India 2017. Dr. Pandya received the prestigious ISSS Award 2020 under the Young Scientist Award category for the work done in India in micro and smart systems. He also received Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST) Abdul Kalam Technology Innovation National Fellowship in 2023. His work has resulted in five granted patents, eleven Indian patent applications, five international patent applications, three book chapters, and around sixty-five publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, including journals like Nature Microsystems and Nanoengineering, IEEE TBioCAS, IEEE Sensors, Journal of Biophotonics, and IEEE TBME. His work has been highlighted as "Breaking Research News" by The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The work on a portable cancer diagnosis tool was also featured in Science Translational Medicine as an Editorial Choice, Breast Cancer Diagnosis, March 2016, and has been highlighted on the CapeRay blog as "Biochips and Diagnostic tools" in April 2016. Dr. Pandya is a non- executive Director (Technical advisor) to two Indian MedTech companies. He is also the founder and Director of Scilogic Applied Research Private Limited, a Startup focused on translating biomedical devices and technologies to market.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 27, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.

Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IISc Bangalore .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team