Olivier N. Pierron

Assistant Professor

Office:	Love Building, Room 228
Lab:	Love Building, Room 301
Phone:	404.894.7877
Fax:	404.894.8496
E-mail:

Education

• Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University, 2005
• M.S., The Pennsylvania State University, 2002
• Engineering Degree, Ecole Nationale Suprieure des Mines de Paris, 2000

Research Areas and Descriptors

• Mechanics of Materials and Microelectromechanical Systems; Fatigue, failure analysis, fracture mechanics, thin film materials, and nuclear materials

Background

Dr. Pierron joined Georgia Tech in summer 2007. Prior, he was a senior engineer at the R&D center of Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, Inc. in San Jose, California. There, he worked on the development of a revolutionary MEMS-based reflective flat panel display, and performed root cause failure analyses.

Research

Dr. Pierron's research investigates the mechanisms responsible for the degradation of structural materials. His expertise includes hydrogen embrittlement of zirconium-based alloy cladding tubes for the nuclear industry and fatigue properties of silicon thin films for the microelectromechanical system (MEMS) industry. He is particularly interested in studying the size effects on the mechanical properties (e.g., strength, creep, fatigue) of thin film materials, as well as environmental effects. Ultimately, these properties must be well established to ensure reliable MEMS devices.

In addition to learning the fundamentals of the mechanical properties of materials in a multi-disciplinary environment, Dr. Pierron's students are exposed to a series of valuable engineering disciplines, such as design, numerical modeling, test development/automation, and failure analysis.

Distinctions

• Newport Research Excellence Award Photonics West, 2005
• Materials Research Institute Student Research Award, 2003
• Kennametal Fellowship Award, 2003

Representative Publications

• O. N. Pierron and C. L. Muhlstein. 2006. The Critical Role of Environment in Fatigue Damage Accumulation in Deep-Reactive Ion-Etched Single-Crystal Silicon Structural Films. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems 15(1), 111-119.
• O. N. Pierron, C. C. Abnet and C. L. Muhlstein. 2006. Methodology for Low- and High-Cycle Fatigue Characterization with kHz-Frequency Resonators. Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical 128(1), 140-150.
• O. N. Pierron, D. D. MacDonald and C .L. Muhlstein. 2005. Galvanic Effects in Si-Based Microelectromechanical Systems: Thick Oxide Formation and Its Implications for Fatigue Reliability. Applied Physics Letters 86(21), 211919.
• O. N. Pierron and C. L. Muhlstein. 2005. The Extended Range of Reaction-Layer Fatigue Susceptibility of Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Films. International Journal of Fracture 135(1-4), 1-18.
• O. N. Pierron, et al. 2003. The Influence of Hydride Blisters on the Fracture of Zircaloy-4. Journal of Nuclear Materials 322(1), 21-35.