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What are MEMS/MOEMS? While neither term is quite yet a household acronym, the term MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) is more common than MOEMS (Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems), though both refer to essentially the same technology. The information here will acquaint you with the meaning of these terms and how these technologies at MEMS Optical, Inc. will make you more competitive in the marketplace. What are MEMS/MOEMS? The basis for these technologies is micromachining which involves the manufacture of mechanical structures in the micron to millimeter range. Precision machining is typically work done above the mm range and molecular machining is work done in the nanometer or molecular regime. When you combine micro-machined devices with our micro-electronics and micro-optics, MEMS/MOEMS technology is the result. From here on I will refer to this as MOEMS technology, though we can work in any one of the component areas of MOEMS: micro-machines, micro-integrated circuits, micro-optics (diffractive optics). MOEMS technology requires a different set of rules for operation as opposed to common sense in our normal macro world. Many physical properties are proportional to area or volume (such as heat transfer, surface area, and mass) which scale respectively as the square or cube of linear dimension. For example, a cube may be shrunk by a factor of ten, but its surface area will shrink by a factor of 100 and its mass by a factor of 1000. On a microscale, intermolecular forces are so strong that the pages of a micro book cannot be separated. But, just as laser speckle was a problem until we learned how to use it to our advantage, such potential problems on a microscale can be turned to our advantage once we learn how to use them. For example, the deformation of a beam anchored at one end is proportional to its mass. This means that comparing the deformation of a one millimeter long beam to a one micron long beam, the microbeam appears much stiffer by having a deformation one billionth of the mini-beam and only being a thousand times smaller. This makes a very good proof mass for accelerometers as it is very strong against shocks.
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MEMS Optical,
Inc.
205 Import Circle, Huntsville, AL 35806 USA Phone: 256-859-1886, FAX: 256-859-5890 Send us feedback or contact us Copyright 2002. All Rights Reserved. |
