1. MEMS TECHNOLOGY
By Rogerio Furlan

2. & Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) Micromachining
Microelectronics

3. MEMS Development Early 1950s
Discovery of piezoresistivity at Bell Labs stimulated development of silicon sensors
1970s
Development of a micromachined gas chromatograph
Early 1980s
Surface micromachining was applied to make polysilicon microstructures using silicon oxide as a sacrificial layer
1982
Paper published by Petersen summarizing the use of silicon for mechanical structures became a turning point
Transensory Devices - Silicon Valley start-up company focusing on sensors and microstructures
Shipments of pressure sensors grew from about 3 million units to over 50 million units
1990s
Silicon micromachined accelerators moved from research laboratory into the automobile in quantities over the 5 million in 1995 for crash sensing and suspension control applications

4. MEMS Market
Source SPC 1999

5. Bulk Micromachining
Wet etching
Plasma etching
Silicon-glass bonding

6. Surface Micromachinng
Sacrificial layer technology