Back Issues

Mar/Apr 2012  

MEMS/ Microfluidics

Top Features

One giant leap for microcontrollers

“Oh boy.” That’s what Dr. Sam Beckett usually uttered after leaping into the life of a new host at the end of each episode of “Quantum Leap,” a weekly science fiction TV show that aired in the early 1990s.

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Sensors: wisdom's 'water carriers'

Little things add up. That’s certainly the case when it comes to microsensors. It’s projected that tens of trillions of them will enter service during the next decade.

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Hitting the small time

With a volume of 16cm3, the Quantum Chip-Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) from Symmetricom Inc., San Jose, Calif., is not only a third the size of its predecessors, it runs on just 1 percent of the power.

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Why MEMS matters

“Manufacturing matters,” as Bennett Harrison, my graduate advisor at Carnegie Mellon University, used to say. It was a main theme of The Deindustrialization of America, a book he co-authored with Barry Bluestone describing the demise of manufacturing jobs in the United States. Today, as I see it, “MEMS matters”—and not just in the U.S. MEMS manufacturing matters worldwide.

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Omron introduces electroformed connectors for smartphones

July, 12, 2011—According to a press release issued by Omron Corp., the Kyoto, Japan-based company has launched the mass-production of a connector using subminiature contacts electroformed through an electroplating process— the first of its kind in the world.

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Canon unveils back-end semiconductor tool for 3-D packaging

Canon Inc., Tokyo, has entered the semiconductor back-end manufacturing tool market with the launch of the FPA-5510iV for next-generation semiconductor packaging, according to a company news release.

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Top Videos

3-D printing merges with printed electronics

soStratasys, Eden Prairie, Minn., and Optomec Inc., Albuquerque, N.M., have partnered in a joint development project to merge 3-D printing and printed electronics to create what Stratasys is calling the first fully printed hybrid structure, according to a release by Stratasys.

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'Fantastic Voyage' moves closer to reality

Stanford University researchers appear to have their sights set on a "Fantastic Voyage." Remember the science-fiction novel that shrunk a handful of scientists and medical personnel and injected them into a person to perform a surgical procedure? If not, don't bother reading the book now because reality is going to be whole lot more interesting.

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Video feed via your contact lens

The digital world is about to get extremely up-close and personal for those who wear the new iOptik contact lens produced by Innovega Inc., Bellevue, Wash. In January, the company announced it intends to accelerate delivery of designs, components and licenses for the technology to selected strategic partners.

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Blog simplifies 3-D chip technology

Recently posted to the Applied Materials Blog, this 5-minute video vignette simplifies the terms and concepts of 3-D semiconductor chips. The Applied Materials Blog is global discussion site that encourages those in the industry to share their ideas, actions and products.

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Ever-shrinking technology restoring vision with minimally invasive implant

Second Sight Medical Products Inc., Sylmar, Calif., which developed a retinal prosthesis for the blind that is said to enable patients to see light patterns, recently announced the first such device was successfully implanted in a patient this fall, according to the company's Web site.

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Top Products

Micromachining, fabrication book available

InTech

InTech micro book thumb"Micromachining Techniques for Fabrication of Micro and Nano Structures," a new book presenting advances in micromanufacturing technology, is available as a free download through InTech, an open access publisher of scholoarly papers and books.

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Kionix rolls out trio of MEMS-related products at CES

Kionix Inc.

Kionix Inc., Ithica, N.Y., introduced a trio of new products at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to a company news release issued Jan. 9. A top-three provider of MEMS inertial sensors for consumer products, Kionix rolled out its first 3-axis accelerometer-gyro ‘combo’ device, a low-power 3-axis consumer-grade gyro, and a 9-axis sensor-fusion software solution targeted at the rapidly growing consumer electronics market.

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High-g triaxial piezoresistive shock accelerometers available

Meggitt Sensing Systems

endevco shock absorber thumbMeggitt Sensing Systems, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., has introduced the Endevco® model 7274 series, a family of high-g triaxial piezoresistive shock accelerometers designed for high-acceleration shock measurements across three mutually perpendicular axes, the company announced in a news release issued Dec. 20.

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Oren Elliott Products offers air-dielectric capacitors

Oren Elliott Products Inc.

Nov. 18, 2011—Oren Elliott Products Inc., a manufacturer of air-dielectric variable capacitors based in Edgerton, Ohio, also makes precision-screw-machined and CNC-machined products, custom sub-assemblies, variable inductors and planetary reduction drives.

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Micrel launches MEMS fab in San Jose

Micrel Inc.

micrel thumbNov. 4, 2011—Micrel Inc., San Jose, Calif., opened the doors to a new MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) manufacturing facility at its San Jose-based wafer and foundry operations.

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