Franck Chollet

School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,

50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798 Singapore

E-mail: mfachollet@ntu.edu.sg Tel: +65 790-6399

Micro-electro-mechanical systems are becoming more and more prominent in everyday life. Still, if the MEMS crash sensor, used for airbag, or the MEMS pressure sensor, are beginning to be recognized as the best in their class of product, there is a whole bunch of new products using this fascinating technology that are waiting for success.

Moreover, many industries that could benefit enormously from this technology still remain unaware of it ("A what? A memse?"), don’t understand its principle ("But this small things will break, for sure!"), or its capabilities ("You’ll never be able to fabricate something measuring displacement a fraction of Å!").But, actually, what is a MEMS? It is by giving an answer to this question, reviewing some typical MEMS products coming from various branches of industry, that we will start our journey in the micro-world. Then, as big figures always succeed in convincing the most sceptical manager, we will provide some, revealing the bright future forecast for this new industry, and showing the tremendous activity in MEMS all around the world.

The second part of the talk will be focused on the design and the fabrication of the MEMS, and more specifically the fabrication technology used for MEMS based on silicon. We will see the different steps existing in the conception, from design to fabrication, simulation to packaging, trying to highlight the impact of the material science in these crucial steps. We will also explore briefly the other side of the picture, and show how the MEMS technology, and more specifically the micro-fabrication technology, could impact the material science.

Eventually, along with concluding remarks, we will try to guess some of the challenges that lie in the near future.