MEMS goes mainstream

It seems that it was not that long ago that microelectromechanical systems were regarded as laboratory curiosities. I guess most of us can remember seeing SEM images of tiny cogwheels and escape mechanisms that were dwarfed by the head of an ant that looked like it came straight out of the 1950s sci-fi movie Them.

Personally, I remember visiting Leti in Grenoble, France, in October 1992 and marveling at the cantilevered MEMS device they had fabricated, while wondering just what it could be used for. Even in the early 2000s, MEMS were being seen as simply one-off devices that, while they might find a few significant niche markets, would never achieve the success of mass-produced and -applied semiconductors.

Now it seems that hardly a day goes by without an announcement of some new device based on MEMS technology crossing my desk. And just as with semiconductors, MEMS devices today are being created by fabless design houses and are being sent to MEMS foundries for manufacture and shipping.

This change in the MEMS biosphere will be discussed in a Webinar this week — on Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 11:30 a.m. EDT — by Karen Lightman, Director of the MEMS Industry Group. The Webinar is part of the roll-up to the MEMS Executive Congress, which returns to Monterrey, CA, this November and whose theme this year is “MEMS in the Mainstream!” Lightman’s knowledge of the industry is both broad and deep, and she always provides practical insights that you can use to inform your work. To attend the Webinar, go to https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/649396182 to register. I’m sure you’ll find it 45 minutes well spent.