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Welcome to RAM Lab!

Prof. Ruochen Lu’s research focuses on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for microwave signal processing, sensing, and computing, with emerging applications in quantum and optomechanics.

  • Sub-THz acoustics: suspended and solidly mounted resonators in thin-film scandium-aluminum nitride (ScAlN), lithium niobate (LN), and lithium tantalate (LT) that preserve high electromechanical coupling and quality factor beyond 100 GHz.
  • Quantum, optomechanical, & biomedical microsystems: phononic interfaces to optomechanics/quantum acoustics; infrared detectors in piezoelectric thin films; and magneto-acoustic resonators co-integrated with magnetic films for wireless biomedical sensing and power transfer.
  • RF front-end microsystems: compact low-loss filters spanning 6–50 GHz; chip-scale true-time delay lines; low-noise oscillators; and AI-applied inverse design.
  • Ultrasound & acoustic transducers: high-sensitivity thin-film LN piezoelectric transducers with demonstrated high-temperature operation (up to ~800 °C) for harsh environments; complementary biomedical thrust on high SNR miniature microphones for hearing-assistive devices
  • Piezoelectric resonators for power conversion: high piezoelectric coupling and quality factor spurious-free resonators/transformers that enable compact, high-power-density DC–DC converters (e.g., multi-kW on-board chargers).
  • Nonlinearity and nonreciprocity in MEMS: engineer thin-film acoustic structures to exploit nonlinear effects (phononic combs, frequency conversion), time-varying nonreciprocity, or suppress intermodulation and drift for high-power filters and resonators.
  • Microfabrication and heterogeneous integration: piezoelectric thin-film deposition (e.g., ScAlN on diamond/Bragg reflectors), transferred and bonded wafers (e.g., multi-layer LN), EM-acoustics integration with physics-based modeling and precision microwave metrology.

If you are interested in joining our group as a graduate student, please apply to UT ECE and select Electromagnetics & Acoustics Track. If you believe your interests are compatible with mine, you can email me your CV. We have a few openings for postdocs. If you are interested in joining our group as a postdoc/undergraduate student, please email me your CV.

Ruochen Lu

ruochen@utexas.edu

Ruochen Lu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.

His research focuses on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) that advance chip-scale acoustic and electromagnetic components for microwave signal processing, sensing, and computing. His group develops thin-film piezoelectric platforms and RF front-end microsystems that push operating frequency and transduction efficiency while tightly integrating acoustics with electronics. Complementary thrusts include ultrasound transducers, multiphysics microsystems that couple acoustics with optics and magnetics, engineered nonlinearity/nonreciprocity, along with biomedical, quantum, and power-conversion applications.

He received the IEEE MTT-S Microwave Award in 2022, the IEEE Ultrasonics Early Career Investigator Award in 2024, and the NSF Career Award in 2024. Along with his students, he received Best Student Paper Awards at IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium (IFCS) 2017 and 2023, IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) 2018 and 2022, IEEE International Conference on Microwave Acoustics & Mechanics (IC-MAM) 2022, and third-place Best Student Paper Award at IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS) 2024. He received the Junior Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award in 2024 from the University of Texas at Austin. He is an associate editor of the IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, and the IEEE Journal of Microwaves.

He received the B.E. degree with honors in microelectronics from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2014, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA, in 2017 and 2019, respectively.