Sensors Expo to tackle MEMS challenges

Setting the theme for this year’s Sensors Expo in Rosemont, IL, Monday’s technical sessions will challenge attendees to “Think Outside the Chip” when it comes to MEMS devices, and examine system solutions to the application of the devices. The all-day seminar on Monday, June 8, is organized and chaired by MEMS industry expert Roger Grace. It, will bring together 20 internationally recognized MEMS leaders representing North America, Asia, and Europe to present information on partitioning, integrating, creating, and applying MEMS-based systems.

Grace notes that “the typical MEMS device constitutes approximately 25% to 35% of the total solution cost of a MEMS-based system. The major cost factors are the other electronic components which make up the system, the packaging and test.” Hence his object for the session will be to examine the critical importance of MEMS system integration issues and tradeoffs “as well as the numerous examples of their far reaching applications from both a current and future perspective.”

A full-day tutorial on MEMS devices will focus on the systems aspects of producing integrated MEMS systems, such as this three-axis accelerometer made at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM.

Two internationally recognized experts on MEMS system integration will keynote the session. The morning keynote entitled, ”Smart System Integration through Micro and Nanotechnologies” will be given by Thomas Gessner, Director of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Electronic Nano Systems (ENS), Chemnitz, Germany. The afternoon keynote, “Integration Issues and Tradeoffs for Microsystems: Strategies and Applications” will be given by Professor Khalil Najafi, who is the Assistant Director of the University of Michigan’s Wireless Integrated Microsystems Research Center (WIMS).

Chip Spangler of Aspen Technologies will give an invited presentation entitled, “Packaging and Assembly Issues for MEMS, Microsystems and Sensors”, and a panel of industry experts will address MEMS design as it relates to manufacturing, assembly, and test, which will conclude Monday’s MEMS meeting.

To kick off the technical session tracks on Tuesday, June 9, Kevin R. Grazier, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Investigation Scientist & Science Planning Engineer for the Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan will deliver the opening day keynote: “Five Years at Saturn: The Cassini/Huygens Mission.” In orbit around Saturn for nearly five years, the Cassini spacecraft has been completely rewriting the book about the ringed planet. Grazier will provide an overview of the technical hurdles involved in delivering a spacecraft to Saturn, examine recent scientific results, and discuss plans for the spacecraft’s future.

The keynote on Wednesday, June 10, will be given by Beth Wozniak, President of Sensing and Control of Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions. In her presentation, “A World of Interconnected Sensors,” she will broadly discuss the evolution of computing, with specific attention to human-machine interaction and how sensor technologies and applications have brought us to the verge of truly pervasive sensing networks.

The three-day conference will offer three intensive full-day tutorials and 18 tracks encompassing 55 conference sessions. Topics include energy harvesting, environmental monitoring, wireless sensor networks, low-power sensing, fiber optics, smart materials, and biodetection. The technical exhibition will be open on June 9 and 10.

Richard Comerford

Sensors Expo will be held at the Donald E. Stephens Conference Center in Rosemont, IL, from June 8 to 10. For more information, visit www.sensorsexpo.com.