Yu (Joy) Zhao - Caltech Micromachining Laboratory

Yu Zhao
Education
Ph.D. in Microelectromechanical System (MEMS)
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA August, 2009 – present
M.S. in Electrical Engineering
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA September, 2008 – July, 2009
B.S. in Microelectronics
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA September, 2004 – July, 2008
Research Experience
Caltech Micromachining Laboratory, Pasadena, USA
Advisor: Yu-Chong Tai August, 2009 – present
1. Retinal Prostheses Project
Develop a MEMS intraocular origami RF coil and a 3-coil based
inductive resonant coupling scheme for wireless power transfer in
retinal prostheses
2. Zebra fish Wireless ECG Recording Project
Develop a wireless percutaneous implant for long-term zebra fish
epicardial ECG recording to functionally study the heart regeneration
3. Intraocular Pressure Sensor Project
Develop a fully-intraocular implantable pressure sensor combining
wireless telemetric technology for the early-stage Glaucoma detection
4. Impedance Sensor Project
Collaborated with Cardiovascular Laboratory, Department of
biomedical engineering, USC
Develop a catheter-based impedance sensor with expandable balloon
to characterize inflammatory
atherosclerotic plaques
5. Jelly Fish Pacemaker Stimulator Project
Collaborated with Biological Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech
Develop a microstimulator interfacing with jellyfish pacemakers to
control the swimming and maneuvering

National Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Fabrication Technology
Advisors: Wei Wang and Zhihong Li July, 2007 – June, 2008
1. Studies on Nanoparticle-based Nanofabrication
Develop the processes to patterning monolayer nanoparticle with
Microfluidic channel, use nanoparticle as depositing and etching mask
to make Nanofilter
Publications (*co-first authors)
Zebra fish Wireless ECG Recording Project
1. Z. Yu, et al., “A Wearable percutaneous implant for long term zebrafish
epicardial ECG recording,” in Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and
Microsystems Conference (TRANSDUCERS), 2013 17th International,
2013, oral presentation.
2. C. Hung*, Y. Fei*, Z. Yu*, et al, “An implantable MEA to elucidate
heart regeneration in zebra fish,” The Biomedical Engineering Society
(BMES) Annual Meeting, Sep 2013.
3. Y. Fei, Z. Yu, et al., "Flexible microelectrode arrays to interface
epicardial electrical signals with intracardial calcium transients in
zebrafish hearts," Biomedical Microdevices, vol. 14, pp. 357-366,
2012.
Wireless Power Transfer to Retinal Prostheses
1. Z. Yu, et al., "High performance 3-coil wireless power transfer system
for the 512-electrode epiretinal prosthesis," in Engineering in Medicine
and Biology Society (EMBC), 2012 Annual International Conference of
the IEEE, 2012, pp. 6583-6586
2. Z. Yu, et al., "Reduction of AC resistance in MEMS intraocular foil coils
using microfabricated planar Litz structure," in Nano/Micro Engineered
and Molecular Systems (NEMS), 2012 7th IEEE International
Conference on, 2012, pp. 234-237.
3. Z. Yu, et al., "A MEMS intraocular origami coil," in Solid-State Sensors,
Actuators and Microsystems Conference (TRANSDUCERS), 2011 16th
International, 2011, pp. 2172-2175.
4. Z. Yu, et al., “An optimal power coil configuration to minimize surgical
incision for intraocular retinal prostheses, ” in The Association for
Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), 2013 annual meeting,
2013
5. C. Han-Chieh, L. Yang, K. Dongyang, Z. Yu, et al., "Packaging study
for a 512-channel intraocular epiretinal implant," in Micro Electro

Mechanical Systems (MEMS), 2013 IEEE 26th International Conference
on, 2013, pp. 1045-1048.
6. M. Monge, M. Raj, M. Honarvar-Nazari, C. Han-Chieh, Z. Yu, et al., "A
fully intraocular 0.0169mm2/pixel 512-channel self-calibrating
epiretinal prosthesis in 65nm CMOS," in Solid-State Circuits
Conference Digest of Technical Papers (ISSCC), 2013 IEEE
International, 2013, pp. 296-297.
Intraocular Pressure Sensor
1. L. Jeffrey, Z. Yu, et al., "High quality factor parylene-based intraocular
pressure sensor," in Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems
(NEMS), 2012 7th IEEE International Conference on, 2012, pp. 137-
140, Presented by Z. Yu, Best Student Paper.
2. L. Jeffrey, Z. Yu, et al., "Feeling the Pressure: A Parylene-Based
Intraocular Pressure Sensor," Nanotechnology Magazine, IEEE, vol. 6,
pp. 8-16, 2012.
Nanoparticle-based microfabrication
1. Z. Yu, et al., "Microfluidic patterning of close-packed nanoparticle
monolayer," in Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, 2008.
NEMS 2008. 3rd IEEE International Conference on, 2008, pp. 622-625.
2. Z. Chen, Z. Yu, et al., "Microfluidic patterning of nanoparticle
monolayers," Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, vol. 7, pp. 585-591, 2009.
3. W. Wang, Z. Yu, et al., "Nanoparticle-based lift-off technique for ultrathin
nanoporous film preparation," Science in China Series F:
Information Sciences, vol. 51, pp. 819-824, 2008
Manuscripts in Preparation (*co-first authors)
1. C. Hung*, Y. Fei*, Z. Yu* , et al., “Flexible and implantable
microelectrodes to assess electrical phenotypes of small animal heart
regeneration,” submitted to Nature Communication, 2013
2. Z. Yu, Y. Fei, et al., “An catheter-based concentric impedance sensor
with an expandable balloon to characterize inflammatory
atherosclerotic plaques, ”
Outreach
1. “Dr Algae”, a low-cost bio-based system for rapid testing the quality of
drink water developed by my friends and I in spare time, to serve our
communities with quality of drinking water in less-developed areas

2. A website that provides an overview of my research empowering the
retinal prosthetic devices, aimed at a general audience such as
scientists in other fields, graduate and undergraduate students, and
even smart high school kids.
http://ocupower.net
3. An NGO named Travolunteer aiming at helping the education of the
migrant children in China.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErLd0D4NgLE
4. Volunteer, Chancellor Place of Pasadena Retirement Homes
5. Executive committee member of Peking University Alumni Association
of Southern California (PUAASC)
6. Vice president of Caltech Chinese Student Association (Caltech C),
2009
Awards and Recognition
1. Caltech Rising Research Symposium, 2nd place, 2011
2. IEEE Presidents’ Change the World Competition; IEEE Distinguished
Student Humanitarian Prize; 2010
3. Caltech Atwood Fellowship, 2008
4. Top Ten Excellent Graduation Thesis in Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science Department of Peking University; Jun, 2008
5. Beijing Outstanding Graduates; Jun, 2008
6. The National Contest for MEMS accelerometer Application; The First
Prize; Sep, 2007
7. The 9th American Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM); The
Second Prize, Mar, 2007
8. The 22th Undergraduate National physics Olympia Competition; The
Third Prize, Dec, 2005
9. First Prize of National Mathematics Olympiad and Physics Olympiad
(senior high school), 2003
Supervised student
1. Caltech Undergraduate student, Debbie Yu July, 2011- Present