Download Statement of Purpose-1khji3g - Sites@PSU

"You will be an electrical engineer. You are expected to make a new perfect pair of legs for
me!" Mie said two years ago. He was my friend and lost both his legs in a car accident. So my
dream of being an Electrical Engineer and doing research on electronic devices and sensors
started from my friend's desire and has kept me on track.
Before Mie’s prodding I was already headed toward engineering. I was born and grew up in
China. When I went to the college, the professionalism and sophisticated engineering qualities
of my father, a civil engineer, led me to pursue a technical career. In my sophomore year, I took
a course introducing the microprocessor. I was grabbed by the apparent intelligence of logic
circuits and deeply interested in how semiconductor devices were used to construct these
systems. To dig deeper in devices and broaden my experience, in 2014 I transferred to Penn
State University and changed my major to Electrical and Electronic engineering. Mie’s words
drove me to a special interest in the field of Electrical Engineering. In considering prosthetic
limbs most people think first of movement. But I was fascinated by the question of how a
prosthetic limb could be made to feel. Parts of this area of electronic device and sensor
technology are sometimes called “sensitive skin”. In this way I hold strong research interest in
semiconductor electronic devices and a particular passion for sensors.
For the sake of consolidating my scientific background, I greatly appreciated the experiences
studying in CUMTB (China University of Mining and Technology in Beijing) and Penn State
as well as doing research in JERG (Professor Tom Jackson’s Research Group). My first task
was helping to construct a LabVIEW to control a remote-plasma plasma enhanced atomic layer
deposition system (RP-PEALD). In my part, I wrote a cascaded double inner loop with an outer
loop for the multilayer deposition by ALD or RP-PEALD. In order to be familiar with the
deposition technology, I borrowed the book in fabrication engineering and took the related
course in the following semester. Then, I got an independent work on developing a program to
convert CIF-format mask data to the format needed for a Mann 3600 pattern generator. During
the programming, I gained plenty of experiences in patterning design varying from thin film
and bulk materials. After the first program test, there were huge offsets of the patterns which
caused by the inaccuracy of the formation of large quadrangular light filter (length/width >
2mm). I referenced the previous method of the conversion and created a "while" loop as a
feedback inspection to reduce large areas into three quadrangles and enlarged the size of the
center part in segmentation directions to overlap adjacent items. This semester, I have begun
literature review and device planning for polymeric substrate PZT sensors and actuators. The
goal is PZT piezoelectric sensors and actuators integrated with ZnO thin film transistor (TFT)
control electronics. The interaction with Dr. Jackson and colleagues stimulated my insights of
devices and responsibility in lab maintenance.
Moreover, I have finished a systematic literature reviews of electronic skin and arose my
personal opinions on it. Although the exhilarated progress in flexible sensors of extremely high
revolution deeply heartened me, some current artificial skins squeeze functional categories into
mono-sensors to increase the sensor density, for example, blurring the discrepancy of static and
dynamic forces. However, the signal transmission of human neural fascicles classified by
functions. Since then the regenerative action potentials are expected to be distinguished to
guarantee the fidelity of tactile experiences. So that to avert the tradeoffs between devices
density and functions differentiation, I am inspired by the reversible spontaneous electric
polarization of ferroelectricity and following signal processing. Surpassing the passive sensors,
bilateral transducers convert energy directions not only for energy harvesting but also
augmenting sensations in 3D. In this wise, shall we sense the world beyond physical touching?
I am looking for seizing the clue in graduate school.
In graduate school I hope to consolidate my science background in microelectronics, especially
in sensors and actuators. Meanwhile, I hold strong feelings to draw on my micro devices
knowledge and research experiences as a foundation for studying more advanced ideas and
methodologies. Hence I will be enthusiastically dedicated in reflecting the scientific theories
to thrive the human-caring semiconductors physics and devices.
After achieving my Master’s degree, I would like to work toward an academic career to build
more technology into human and other bio-inspired sensor structures. Specifically, I will be
always on the way answering the question in 3D sensing. In addition, for the improvement of
the micro devices engineering, I plan to continue the exploration in facilitating the fabrication
methodologies and the application of new materials.