MEMS, Microfluidics and Microsystems Executive Review

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) initiative to include a new polysilicon-germanium process that allows both the CMOS and MEMS devices on the same chip.  Polysilicon-germanium can be deposited at significantly lower temperatures than traditional polysilicon, permitting MEMS devices to be fabricated atop already finished CMOS chips without damaging their delicate circuitry.

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 this, BioScale, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) has integrated sample preparation and microparticle techniques with non-optical MEMS based detection and quantification technology.  

Based on the company’s acoustic membrane microparticle platform, only a few basic steps are needed for lab technicians to run an assay, and multiple assays can be run at the same time.   BioScale is marketing its products in bioanalytic and bioprocess markets – both areas that the company says require better analytical tools that work well in complex samples.

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 include powering implants -- such as pacemakers -- that today require periodic surgeries just to change their batteries.

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 time-consuming and stressful process even if the tumor proves benign. In fact, a large percentage of biopsies come up negative.

To address this problem, Dresden based Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems is now developing a MEMS device that allows in vivo diagnostic procedures using an endoscope.  Expected to be available in the near future, it is a minimally invasive alternative to biopsies with the added advantage of providing diagnosis in real time.

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 doubles the capacity of thin film supercapacitors.  Such MEMS capacitors could enable chips to house their own rechargeable power sources, extending the battery lifetimes of all types of mobile devices from handsets to laptop computers.

Top MEMS chip suppliers survive recession intact

by R. Colin Johnson
Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal

Despite a slowdown from the global recession, there were no major reshuffles in the ranking of top semiconductor Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDM) and fabless makers of MEMS chips in 2009, according to iSuppli Corp.

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 ventilation and respiration, industrial pressure and flow applications, as well as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Wireless MEMS sensor for monitoring pulmonary artery pressure

by John Williamson
Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal

CardioMEMS, Inc. currently has its latest wireless MEMS device in clinical trials -- an implantable heart failure monitor designed to measure pulmonary artery pressure.  High pulmonary artery pressure is associated with fluid build-up in the lungs that occurs with the progression of heart failure.  It is a condition in which a weakened heart muscle cannot pump enough blood through the body that affects over 5 million Americans and is the leading cause of hospitalization in the United States.

Tufts harnesses MEMS mics to monitor jet aircraft

by R. Colin Johnson
Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal

An innovative micro-electro-mechanical system of 64 silicon microphones has been crafted as a hypersensitive audio array for detailed monitoring of the forces causing turbulence around jet aircraft.

NASA tests MEMS in harsh environment of space

by R. Colin Johnson
Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal

Sandia Passive ISS Research Experiments (SPIRE) is currently testing a variety of materials and devices in the harsh space environment at the International Space Station (ISS).

The SPIRE program was an accelerated 18-month development effort that is claimed to cost just one-fifth as much as previous similar efforts.  SPIRE's Passive Experiment Container (PEC) was delivered to ISS late last year, and is expected to be retrieved after a six month exposure to the cold, vacuum and cosmic radiation of empty space.  15 passive experiments are contained in the PEC that make up SPIRE including MEMS latching impact sensors, radiation-shielding structural composites, doped laser fibers, pure tin finished parts and gallium arsenide photodiodes.