EECS Department

My research focuses on the development of enabling materials for micro- and nanosytems. Of principal interest is the development of PECVD and sputtering processes for silicon carbide thin films on temperature sensitive substrates, and rapid thermal CVD processes for 3C-SiC films thermal budget-sensitive substrates. I am also developing bioMEMS devices made from liquid crystal polymers, polyimides and thermal plastic polymers for drug delivery systems, neurostimulation, and cell studies.

Christian A. Zorman, Ph.D. received his B.S. cum laude in physics and B.A. cum laude in economics from the Ohio State University in 1988, and M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from Case Western Reserve University in 1991 and 1994, respectively. His doctoral research involved an investigation of the secondary electron emission properties of CVD diamond films for vacuum electronics. Dr. Zorman joined the MEMS program at CWRU in 1994 as a Research Associate and immediately began working in the SiC MEMS area. He was promoted to Senior Research Associate in 1997 and Researcher in 2000. In addition to his research positions within the University, Dr. Zorman has held appointments as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Interim Administrative Director of the Microfabrication Laboratory. He currently is an Associate Professor in EECS at CWRU. He has been instrumental in the construction of AP- and LPCVD reactors for SiC thin films, and has led the development of recipes for the growth of single and polycrystalline 3C-SiC films for micromachined sensors and actuators. In addition to the development of novel bulk and surface micromachining techniques for SiC, Dr. Zorman was a key contributor in the development of novel polishing, wafer bonding, and low defect density growth processes for SiC. His current research interests include the development of SiC for NEMS. He has published over 120 technical papers, five book chapters, and has taught several short courses on SiC for MEMS. Prof. Zorman is a past chairman of the MEMS Technical Group in the American Vacuum Society and is currently serving as co-chairman.

X. Fu, R. Jezeski, C.A. Zorman and M. Mehregany, “The Use of Deposition Pressure to Control the Residual Stress in Polycrystalline SiC Films,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 84, pp. 341-343, (2004).

D.J. Young, J. Du, C.A. Zorman, and W.H. Ko, “High Temperature Single Crystal 3C-SiC Capacitive Pressure Sensor,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol 4, pp. 464-470, (2004).

X.M.H. Huang, C.A. Zorman, M. Mehregany, and M.L. Roukes, “Microwave-Frequency Nanoelectromechanical Systems,” Nature, vol. 421, pg. 496, (2003).

G. Kotzar, A. Fleischman, J.M. Moran, M. Freas, S. Roy, J. Melzak, P. Abel, C. Zorman, “Evaluation of MEMS Materials of Construction for Implantable Medical Devices,” Biomaterials, vol. 23, pp. 2737-2750, (2002).

S. Roy, R.G. DeAnna, C.A. Zorman, and M. Mehregany, “Fabrication and Characterization of Polycrystalline SiC Resonators,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 49, pp. 2323-2332, (2002).

C.A. Zorman, S. Rajgopal, X.A. Fu, R. Jezeski, J. Melzak, M. Mehregany, “Deposition of polycrystalline 3C-SiC films on 100 mm diameter (100) Si wafers in a large-volume LPCVD furnace,” Electrochemical and Solid State Letters, vol. 5, pp. G99-G101, (2002).

Y.T. Yang, K. L. Ekinci, X.M.H. Huang, L.M. Schiavone, C.A. Zorman, M. Mehregany, and M.L. Roukes, “Monocrystalline Silicon Carbide NEMS,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 78, pp. 162-164, (2001).

A.A. Yasseen, C.H. Wu, C.A. Zorman, and M. Mehregany, “Fabrication and testing of surface micromachined polycrystalline SiC micromotors,” Electron Device Letters, vol. 21, pp. 164-166, (2000).

C.A. Zorman, A.J. Fleischman, A.S. Dewa, M. Mehregany, C. Jacob, S. Nishino, and P. Pirouz, “Epitaxial growth of 3C-SiC films on 4 in. diam (100) silicon wafers by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 78, pp. 5136-5138, (1995).