The development of MEMS technology opens up a whole new technical field and industry, using MEMS technology to produce microsensors, microactuators, micro components, micro-mechanical optics, vacuum microelectronic devices, power electronics, etc. in the aviation, aerospace, automotive, biomedicine, environmental monitoring, military, and almost all the fields that people come into contact with have a very broad range of applications. MEMS technology is developing into a huge industry, like the microelectronics industry and the computer industry in the past 20 years to bring great changes to mankind, MEMS is also breeding a profound technological change and a new round of impact on human society. Currently the leading products in the MEMS market are pressure sensors, accelerometers, micro gyroscopes, ink nozzles and hard disk drive heads. Most industrial observers predict that the next five years, MEMS device sales will be rapid growth trend, the average annual rate of increase of about 18%, so the development of mechanical and electrical engineering, precision machinery and instrumentation, semiconductor physics and other disciplines provide excellent opportunities and serious challenges.
Microelectromechanical systems MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) is a new must be considered at the same time a variety of physical field mixing effect of the research and development field, relative to the traditional machinery, they are smaller in size, the largest not more than a centimeter, or even just a few microns, the thickness of its even more tiny. Excellent electrical properties are achieved by using materials based on silicon, which has strength, hardness and Young's modulus comparable to that of iron, density similar to that of aluminum, and thermal conductivity close to that of molybdenum and tungsten. The use of integrated circuits (IC) similar to the generation of technology, can be a large number of IC production in the use of mature technologies, processes, high-volume, low-cost production, so that the cost-effective relative to the traditional "mechanical" manufacturing technology has increased dramatically.
The complete MEMS is an integrated miniature device system consisting of microsensors, microactuators, signal processing and control circuits, communication interfaces and power supply components. The goal is to integrate information acquisition, processing and execution together to form a miniature system with multi-functionality that can be integrated into a large-size system, thus substantially improving the automation, intelligence and reliability level of the system.
Along the development direction of system and product miniaturization, intelligence and integration, it can be predicted that: MEMS will bring another technological revolution to the human society, which will have a far-reaching impact on the science and technology of the 21st century, the mode of production and the quality of human production, and it is a key technology related to the country's scientific and technological development, national defense security and economic prosperity.
Manufacturers are continually refining handheld devices, offering products that are smaller in size and more versatile. But the paradox is that as technology improves, prices tend to skyrocket, so that leads to a problem: Manufacturers are forced to deal with conflicting demands -- to make their products superbly functional while keeping their costs down.
One solution to this dilemma is the use of microelectromechanical systems, more popularly known as MEMS, which allow manufacturers to integrate all of the functionality of a product onto a single chip. the ultimate impact of MEMS on consumer electronics will be not only in terms of cost reductions but also in terms of the size and weight that can be achieved without sacrificing performance. In fact, the performance of MEMS components used in most consumer electronics products is significantly better than comparable technologies that are already available. Although MEMS has been limited to automotive, industrial and medical applications in the past, research firms estimate that "MEMS consumer electronics sales will reach $1.5 billion by 2005."
Handheld device manufacturers are increasingly realizing the value of MEMS and the benefits the technology offers -- high volume, low cost, small size -- and are beginning to turn to successful MEMS companies, with the magnitude of cost reductions achieved affecting the entire consumer electronics world, not just high-end devices. .