The vantage point, published.
The full MEMS Journal archive — 441 articles across two decades of sensors, MEMS, and microtechnology.
Optical MEMS finally arriving
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal Optical MEMS have long been a goal of forward-thinking electronics innovators , but these technologies have had a rocky development road. Lately, however, the big money in semiconductor research – IBM and Intel – have reported significant successes in…
RF MEMS aim for cell phone on-a-chip
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal RF MEMS devices are tiny replacements for the dozens of discrete components used in conventional radios and hold the possibility of enabling an entire cell phone to be cast onto a single CMOS chip . Instead of duplicating the circuitry for each band…
MEMS applications for treatment of nervous system disorders
by Paul Pyzowski , Guest Contributor I had recently written an article here on the use of MEMS in neuroscience research applications , and Colin Johnson penned a separate article on how MEMS are enabling systems to restore sight for the blind . This article focuses on the increasing use of MEMS for treating…
MEMS turning mobile devices into a worldwide sensor network
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been exploring ways to deploy sensors nationwide by riding on the existing infrastructure , such utility poles, street lights, traffic signals and government weather stations, all of which have been proposed as…
MEMS market to propel toward double-digit growth in 2010
Powered by the seemingly recession-proof performance of the mobile phone and consumer electronics segments, the market for MEMS sensors is set to return to growth in 2010 after two straight years of decline, according to iSuppli Corp . Approaching a point close to the historical peak of 2007 , MEMS revenue this…
MEMS microbots harness insect “know-how”
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal Microbots based on MEMS have long been sought to collect environmental samples , to search for survivors in collapsed buildings and for other reconnaissance style missions that are ill-suited for people. Although decades in the making, one major…
MOEMS actuator moves FTIR spectrometers from lab to the field
by John Williamson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal Conventional FTIR spectrometers are characterized as bulky and sensitive to vibration and mechanical shock. This sensitivity causes spectrometer mirror plates to come out of adjustment thereby rendering the instrument to be unusable until it is…
Groups partner on TSV process development for 3D MEMS and IC integration
EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, and the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research ( A*STAR ), announced that they have entered into a two-year cooperation agreement to…
MEMS restoring sight to the blind
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal Over a decade has passed since hope was raised worldwide that MEMS could make blindness a curable condition . Now the long wait is finally over, with all the necessary tests and clinical trials clearing the final hurdles. Last month, the U.S. Food and…
RF MEMS switches are reliable: a comprehensive technology overview
by John Maciel, Ph.D. Chief Operating Officer, Radant MEMS, Inc. MEMS switches have been in development for over 20 years at numerous industrial, academic and government research laboratories. Low insertion loss , high isolation, l ow power consumption , extreme linearity and the ability to be integrated with other…
MEMS Structural Reliability and Deep Reactive Ion Etch: How Are They Related? (Webinar Archive)
Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 Time: 2PM EST / 11AM PST Sponsor: Tegal Corporation Speaker: Alissa M. Fitzgerald, Ph.D., Managing Member, AM Fitzgerald & Associates Archive: to request a copy of the webinar slides, please email Mike Pinelis at mike@memsinvestorjournal.com Topics include: * Results of a brand new…
iPhone 4 carries bill of materials of $187.51, according to iSuppli
The iPhone 4’s design may be radically different -- but the strategy remains the same, with the latest member of the product line carrying a bill of materials (BOM) that should continue to generate high profit margins for Apple Inc., according to iSuppli . The 16Gbyte version of the iPhone 4 carries a BOM of…
MEMS automotive sensors to recover in 2010
Following its toughest year in recent memory, the market for MEMS automotive sensors will rebound sharply in 2010 , but continued high sales might lead to an overheated market that could push the industry back into depression, according to new research from iSuppli Corp . Global shipments of automotive MEMS sensors…
MEMS for neuroscience research applications
by Paul Pyzowski , Guest Contributor Most articles on MEMS related topics tend to cover large markets in automotive and consumer electronics, not the treatment of debilitating illnesses of the nervous system . But even though the market for neurological applications today is small, MEMS and microfabrication…
MEMS gyro maker InvenSense files for IPO
After raising a total of $38 million in venture capital funding since the company’s founding in 2004, MEMS gyro maker InvenSense has filed for IPO this week. The company’s main focus has been MEMS gyro sensors for consumer application segments such as console and portable video gaming devices, digital television…
MEMS industry overview: the past, the present and the future
As the MEMS marketplace continues to evolve at a rapid pace, many new and exciting trends are taking shape. To provide some perspective, we recently spoke with Dr. Kurt Petersen , a MEMS industry veteran and highly successful entrepreneur who founded such companies as NovaSensor , Cepheid and SiTime . In this…
Microstaq aims microfluidics at HVAC
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration ( HVAC/R ) today use bulky solenoid-controlled valves to manage the flow of refrigerants. But Microstaq claims its MEMS based silicon expansion valve (SEV) is smaller and more accurate than both…
Military enlists microfluidic hospital on-a-chip
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal The aim of a $1.6 million Office of Naval Research program is to create a microfluidic hospital on-a-chip by 2012 that can be deployed on the battlefield to monitor a soldier's injuries and administer medications. Today injured soldiers are left where…
IMEC crafts SiGe MEMS foundry
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal IMEC, Europe's largest independent research center in MEMS and nanotechnology, is offering a monolithically integrated silicon-germanium (SiGe) MEMS process as a foundry service. IMEC’s new MEMS fabrication capability extends its more-than-CMOS (CMORE)…
MEMS based sensors enable protein analysis system
by John Williamson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal Conventional immunoassay technologies such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA ) and western blot for life sciences and diagnostic applications are time consuming, requiring multiple manual steps in order to achieve assay results. To address…
MEMS device for in vivo diagnosis of cancer
by John Williamson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be more than 1.5 million new cancer cases diagnosed in 2010. A biopsy is a widely used method of identifying malignant tumors by studying surgically removed tissue under the microscope. It is a…
Self charging pacemakers to harvest heart's own energy
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal Applications are years away yet, but Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have demonstrated that piezoelectric nanowires can harvest energy from repetitive motions inside the body -- even the beating of your heart. Future applications could…
Supercapacitors wrought from thin films
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal Supercapacitors are touted as the enablers of MEMS battery technologies , but so far thin film and other supercapacitor topologies have come up short of fulfilling the dream. Now researchers at Drexel University claim to have discovered a method that…
MEMS sensors meet low pressure challenge
by R. Colin Johnson Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal Ultra low pressure sensing got a microsystem solution recently when fabless MEMS pressure sensor specialist Acuity Inc. (Fremont, Calif.) decreased its full-scale reading to 10 mbar -- suitable for a wide range of low pressure applications like medical…