News & HighlightsMicroelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Research at the University of PittsburghContact: William W. Clark, wclark@engr.pitt.edu At one time the term “electromechanical system” conjured up images of motors and linkages that were of a scale that allowed people to touch them and manipulate their components. The advent of microelectroelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in the late twentieth century has changed that perception by extrapolating electronics fabrication techniques to develop electromechanical devices that are too small to interact with by hand or in many cases even to be observed without a microscope. By definition, MEMS devices contain components on the order of 1 micrometer to 1 millimeter in size, and they are designed to achieve some engineering function by combining subsystems that carry out electronic, mechanical, chemical, electromagnetic, or optical tasks. The benefit of such small systems can be realized in a number of ways, however the most common reasons for developing MEMS devices are to take advantage of 1) small size (for example to allow miniaturization of components in electronics and automotive applications); 2) batch fabrication processes (as with electronics, the fabrication techniques used for MEMS devices enables very cost-effective scale-up); 3) physical phenomena at small scales (certain characteristics, e.g. material properties and chemical reactions, and dominant forces, e.g. friction and surface area effects, differ greatly between macro and micro scales). MEMS devices generally involve combinations of sensing and actuating components and the associated electronics required to enable those devices to interact with the rest of the world. Applications for MEMS devices are growing steadily. Some of the more well known MEMS devices are motion sensors (accelerometers) used in automobile air bag systems, movable “Digital Light Processing” mirrors in projectors and TV’s, and microfluidic systems in biomedical “lab on a chip” sensors. In order to foster research in the next generation of MEMS technology, The School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh has developed the John A. Swanson Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, a premier research laboratory devoted to the fabrication and testing of micro and nano scale systems. The facility was developed to be used by researchers from all engineering departments; from across the university including medicine, chemistry, physics, and biology; as well as from local industry. The lab contains photolithographic, thin film deposition and removal, and analysis equipment to enable the fabrication and testing of a wide variety of MEMS devices. Current areas of research include microfluidics, sensors and actuators, acoustics, smart materials, micro chemical reactors, radio frequency identification and communications, materials, microelectromechanical systems design and modeling, and bioengineering. |
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