Symposium on Nano-, Micro-, and Mesoscale Technologies
in Science and Engineering
Time: 9.15 a.m - 3p.m, May 13, 1999
Location: Engineering Research Center (ERC)
Rooms 427 and 435.
Micromachining is a branch of experimental microelectronics in which integrated circuit and electronic packaging fabrication techniques are used to create mechanical structures in silicon and other materials, potentially in addition to electronic devices. Due to the manner of their fabrication, micromachined structures share certain attributes with integrated circuits, namely batch fabrication (possibility of realizing arrays and highly interconnected structures), economics (the first one's expensive, but each subsequent one can be cheap), and size (typical sizes range from microns to millimeters). Micromachining can be used to create individual mechanical structures (e.g., piercing structures, optical gratings, etc.); structures which transduce a physical signal into an electrical signal (microsensors); and structures which transduce an electrical signal into a physical signal (microactuators). Systems based on individual micromachined devices, so-called microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), can also be realized.
This talk will give an overview of some of the MEMS projects going on at Georgia Tech in our group, ranging from fabrication technology to microsensors and microactuators to combustion-based power generation on the small scale. In addition to this broad overview, three illustrative projects will be discussed in detail: (1) a mechanical structure project, in which microneedles are used to painlessly pierce skin for transdermal drug delivery; (2) a microsensor project, in which ceramic pressure sensors are demonstrated that can operate in high temperature environments and communicate wirelessly with the outside world; and (3) a microactuator project, in which a fully integrated magnetically actuated micromachined electrical relay is demonstrated.