MEMS development focusing on collaboration using common facilities: a retrospective view and future directions

Masayoshi Esashi

doi:10.1038/s41378-021-00290-x

MEMS development focusing on collaboration using common facilities: a retrospective view and future directions

Microsyst Nanoeng. 2021 Aug 12:7:60. doi: 10.1038/s41378-021-00290-x. eCollection 2021.

Author

Masayoshi Esashi^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ MEMS CORE Co. Ltd. (CTO), Sendai, 981-3206 Japan.
² Micro System Integration Center (μSIC) (senior research fellow), Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-0845 Japan.

Abstract

I have been developing MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technology and supporting the industry through collaboration. A facility was built in house on a 20 mm square wafer for use in prototyping MEMS and ICs (integrated circuits). The constructed MEMS devices include commercialized integrated capacitive pressure sensors, electrostatically levitated rotational gyroscopes, and two-axis optical scanners. Heterogeneous integration, which is a MEMS on an LSI (large-scale integration), was developed for sophisticated systems using LSI made in a foundry. This technology was applied for tactile sensor networks for safe robots, multi FBAR filters on LSI, active-matrix multielectron emitter arrays, and so on. The facility used to produce MEMS on 4- and 6-inch wafers was developed based on an old semiconductor factory and has been used as an open hands-on access facility by many companies. Future directions of MEMS research are discussed.

Keywords: Electrical and electronic engineering; Sensors.

Publication types

Review