Science Talks

Abstract: TU Delft started working in the field of silicon microsystems in the early 1970s under Professor Simon Middelhoek. Using silicon allowed the development of integrated sensor systems and the group expanded into one of the top laboratories in the field. In the early years the university had a small cleanroom which had simple NMOS and bipolar processes with the ability to combine these circuits with a wide range of sensors. In 1988 a new class 100 cleanroom was built which greatly expanded the possibilities. Within TU Delft, laboratories using the cleanroom come mainly from Electrical engineering, Applied Sciences and Mechanical Engineering, although the cleanroom is open to other internal collaborations and with external partners. Due to the nature of the instrumentation research, we work with many hospitals and companies in the development of sensor systems. This presentation shows how these early developments led to a wide range of research and development. will give an overview of these early developments. This will be followed by an overview of recent developments and present work and also future developments in the field of microsystems.

Paddy French received his B.Sc. in mathematics and M.Sc. in electronics from Southampton University, UK, in 1981 and 1982, respectively. In 1986 he obtained his Ph.D., also from Southampton University, which was a study of the piezoresistive effect in polysilicon. After 18 months as a post-doc at Delft University, The Netherlands, he moved to Japan in 1988. For 3 years he worked on sensors for automotives at the Central Engineering Laboratories of Nissan Motor Company. He returned to Delft University in May 1991 and became a staff member of the Laboratory for Electronic Instrumentation. In 1999 he was awarded the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek chair and was from 2002 to 2012 head of the Electronic Instrumentation Laboratory and from 2012-2019, Professor in the laboratory. In 2019 he moved to the Biomedical Electronics group. He was Editor-in-chief of Sensors and Actuators A and General Editor of Sensors and Actuators A&B from 2001-1018. He has been involved in the organisation of many international conferences including co-chair IEEE MEMS 2004, programme chair of IEEE Sensors 2007-09 and is designated co-chair of IEEE Sensors in 2020. He is IEEE fellow. His research interests are integrated sensor systems, micromachining, in particular for medical applications.