(IJCH) Those Wonderful Toys! - How? (Answer: MEMS)

IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (meaning: My warped, personal opinions and musings)

From the Author

Salutations.

I am JaiChai.

And if I haven't had the pleasure to make your acquaintance, it's always nice to meet a fellow Steemian.

MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) is an advanced fabrication technology.

It's an innovative method of making batches of complicated micromachines (similar to integrated chip manufacturing) at a high volume and low cost.

Accelerometer, Motorola Xoom (Android tablet chip), 2015.

Machines smaller than a human hair with moving parts, micro channels to guide the flow of fluids or frequencies of light and sensors to measure inertia are already hidden in our laptops, smartphones, automobiles, inkjet printers, insect-size military drones, E-noses, fighter jet gyroscopes, satellites, and medical devices.

Pundits estimate a MEMS market growth rate of at least 50% annually - reaching, at a minimum, $21 billion by the year 2021.

Future MEMS-based machines will have a great, far reaching impact on all aspects of our society (e.g., computing, science, medicine, military, communications, manufacturing, transportation, disaster relief, etc.).

The Big Three

Although there are several methods of building MEMS-based machines - and new ones such as hot plastic injection procedures are being developed everyday, Surface Micromachining, Bulk Micromachining and LIGA still are widely considered the most viable MEMS production methods.

Surface Micromachining

Surface micromachining is used to manufacture low aspect ratio (short and broad) objects.

Surface micromachining manufactures microstructures by depositing layers onto a substrate (think 3D printing at microscale resolution).

Flat panel tv screens and solar cells are made by surface micromachining.

Bulk Micromachining

Bulk micromachining is used for manufacturing intricate structures from "a block" of material.

In bulk micromachining, a silicon substrate (wafer) is selectively etched to produce intricate microdevices (think Michaelangelo; anything that is not the statue is etched away).

In short, in Etching: What Shows, Goes.

SEM picture of an ant carrying a LIGA micro gear. This picture made the cover of Scientific American in November 1992 (G. Stix, Scientific American 267, 5 (1992)).

LIGA

"LIGA is a German acronym for Lithographie, Galvanoformung, Abformung (Lithography, Electroplating, and Molding) that describes a fabrication technology used to create high-aspect-ratio microstructures."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIGA

Affectionately retermed as "Long Involved German Acronym", LIGA is the preferred method of creating high aspect ratio (tall and slim) objects.

Lithography, electroplating and molding (in that order) allows LIGA to produce extremely detailed microstructures not confined to the low aspect ratio category.

Commonly, X-Ray LIGA is used for high aspect ratio structures; while UV LIGA is used for low aspect ratio components/machines.

Depending on the response to this post, I will craft additional, more in depth articles on the Wonderful World of MEMS.

By JaiChai

Many thanks for reading my post. And if you enjoyed it, please: Upvote, Follow, Comment and Resteem.

- JaiChai "My mind was a terrible thing to waste..."

About the Author

JaiChai has been in the Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency spaces for many years. He is an enigma, regarded by his cohorts as sarcastic, funny, intuitive, but most of all - elusive. He’s known for randomly submitting philosophical and contrarian posts on most forums.

JaiChai alternates long dormant periods with concentrated episodes of frenzied commentary - only to go silent again.

When asked about his vanishing acts, he says, "I’m just somebody who enjoys being nobody because I look like everybody. Besides, time checking things off my 'bucket list’ - sans notoriety - is time well spent.”

Parting Shot -