Axel Miranda
Mechanical engineering
Hometown: San Luis, Arizona, United States
Graduation date: Spring 2025
Additional details: First-generation college student
FURI | Spring 2025
Understanding the Effect of Metallic Seed Layers on the Crystallization of Amorphous NiTi Thin Films
NiTi films are widely used as sensors, actuators, and switches in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The high-temperature annealing required to crystallize the NiTi films leads to undesirable thermal stresses and fabrication inefficiencies in MEMS. This project seeks to reduce the crystallization temperature of amorphous NiTi films using carefully selected metallic seed layers. The proposed research will test different metallic seed layers with low/high lattice mismatch to determine their effects on crystallization temperature and kinetics. This approach can help systematically control the crystallization temperature of NiTi films, leading to faster and more energy-efficient MEMS fabrication and fewer post-fabrication failures.
Mentor: Jagannathan Rajagopalan
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