5 Ws of 3D-Printed MEMS

A team at KTH Royal Institute of Technology has developed a new 3D printing technique that could be used to produce customized chip-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

Designing a Silicon Photonic MEMS Phase Shifter with Simulation

Existing infrastructure still relies on many electrical signal processing components embedded inside fiber optic networks.

Forecast 2022 for Sensors/MEMS

This article is a marked departure from my annual reporting on the past year’s performance of the health of the MEMS industry vis-à-vis my MEMS Industry Commercialization Report Card. ^[1] ...

5 Ws of the Winged Flying Microchip

About the size of a grain of sand, the flying microchip (or microflier) does not have a motor or engine.

Engine Made as a Single Calcium Ion

The engine is approximately 10 billion times smaller than a car engine.

Small and Dexterous Cockroach-Inspired Robot

This robot can run, jump, carry heavy payloads, and turn on a dime.

Miniature Lung-Heart Sensor on a Chip

A tiny sensor chip records multiple lung and heart signals along with body movements.

Sensing Hazardous Gases Can Save Lives

Pellistor/Catalytic Bead (CB) sensors can respond to flammable gases such as hydrogen, oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, methane, butane, propane, and carbon monoxide.

Next-Generation MEMS IMUs — High Performance, Scalable

Editor Ed Brown explores what’s ahead for MEMS automobile navigation systems.

Smart Sensors Are Improving Medical Care

Over the last 75 years, sensors have played an increasingly significant part in the advancement of medicine.

Next-Generation MEMS Multi-Gas Sensing

The MPS Flammable Gas Sensor can detect and identify the concentrations of 12 of the most common combustible gases,

What’s New in MEMS Sensors for Wearables

MEMS sensors have been around for a long time, but requests from the market for new applications are driving upgrades in the technology.

Accelerometer and Gyroscope Designs Based on Carbon Nanotube Tape

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center developed designs for two micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) motion and position sensors: a single-axis accelerometer and a gyroscope....

Metamaterial Morphs into New Shapes and Takes on New Properties

A newly developed architected metamaterial has the ability to change shape in a tunable fashion.

Miniscule Robots of Metal and Plastic

A technique enables manufacturing of minuscule robots by interlocking multiple materials in a complex way.

Next-Generation Non-Contact Body-Temperature Monitoring

A far infrared temperature sensor is small in size but big in performance.

MEMS — Smart Sensors for the IoT

Tim Brosnihan, Executive Director of SEMI’s MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG), talks about the current state of the MEMS industry and trends for the future,

Battlefield Navigation with MEMS

Soldiers tend to dodge, dive, duck, and run, creating motion measurement challenges.

Products of Tomorrow

A cryptographic ID tag, a high-reliability NASA switch, and a stretchable thermoelectric generator...

Optical Gyroscope-on-a-Chip

The gyroscope is smaller than a grain of rice — about 500 times smaller than the current state-of-the-art device.

High-Reliability Radio Frequency MEMS Switch

Applications include homeland security, vehicle anti-collision systems, telecommunications systems, and industrial instrumentation.

SiC-Based Microstructures for Sensors

Ultra-thin SiC microstructures enable batch fabrication of MEMS, NEMS, pressure sensors, and biosensors.

Q&A: Innovative Linear Electrostatic MEMS Actuator

Sherry Towfighian and her team made a big improvement on how microphones are manufactured.

Products of Tomorrow

This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that innovation.

High-Sensitivity, Low-Noise MEMS Accelerometer

A high-sensitivity and low-noise MEMS accelerometer was developed using multi-layer metal structures composed of multiple metal layers. The accelerometer achieves 1 μG level resolution that has...

Measuring Stickiness of Microscale Surfaces

At the scale of bridges or buildings, the most important force that engineered structures need to deal with is gravity. But at the scale of microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) — devices like...

All-Silicon MEMS Inertial Sensing at Fiber Optic Gyro Performance Levels

There is increasing demand in many high-end commercial and industrial markets for precision motion sensing for a diversity of applications.

Wafer-Level Microchannel Fabrication Process for Lab-on-a-Chip Devices

Microchannels fabricated into a silicon-Pyrex wafer with a diameter of 75 m and total channel length of 40, 60, 80, or 100 mm — characterized by specialized microbeads...

When You Need a Machine for Breathing, You’d Better Have Accurate Sensors

Medical ventilation technology has come far since the original iron lung was first used more than 90 years ago. Using negative pressure to ventilate, the patient was...