MEMS are micro electro-mechanical systems, with components measured in micrometres. They are seen as a bridge between conventional machines and nanomachines. MEMS are manufactured by surface or mass micromachining, and are used in inkjet printers, accelerometers, and microfluidics. They have potential in medical diagnosis and could increase productivity.
MEMS stands for Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems, referring to functional machine systems with components measured in micrometres. MEMS are often seen as a stepping stone between conventional macroscale machines and futuristic nanomachines. MEMS precursors have been around for some time in the form of microelectronics, but these systems are purely electronic, unable to process or emit anything other than a series of electrical impulses. However, modern MEMS fabrication techniques are largely based on the same technology used to produce integrated circuits – film deposition techniques using photolithography.
Considered largely an enabling technology rather than an end in itself, MEMS fabrication is seen by engineers and technologists as another welcome advance in our ability to synthesize a wider range of physical structures designed to perform useful tasks. Most often mentioned in conjunction with MEMS is the idea of a “lab-on-a-chip,” a device that processes small samples of a chemical and returns useful results. This could prove quite game-changing in the area of medical diagnosis, where lab testing leads to extra costs for medical coverage, delays in diagnosis, and paperwork.
MEMS are manufactured in two ways: either by surface micromachining, where successive layers of material are deposited on a surface and then etched into shape, or by mass micromachining, where the substrate itself is etched to produce a final product. Surface micromachining is more common because it builds on advances in integrated circuits. Unique to MEMS, deposition techniques sometimes leave behind “sacrificial layers,” layers of material meant to be dissolved and washed away at the end of the manufacturing process, leaving a leftover structure. This process allows a MEMS device to have a complex structure in 3 dimensions. Various micro-scale gears, pumps, sensors, tubes and actuators have been manufactured and some of them are already integrated into everyday commercial products.
Examples of modern use of MEMS include inkjet printers, accelerometers in automobiles, pressure sensors, high-precision optics, microfluidics, single neuron monitoring, control systems, and microscopy. There is currently no microscale manufacturing machine system on the order of macroscale manufacturing assembly lines, but it appears that the invention of such a device is only a matter of time. The prospect of manufacturing with MEMS is exciting because arrays of such systems working tangentially could be substantially more productive than macroscale systems occupying the same volume and consuming the same amount of energy. A major limitation, however, would be that macroscale products built with microscale machine systems would have to be composed primarily of prefabricated microscale building blocks.
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