A new age for MEMS

There have been significant changes in the MEMS community during the past 30 years: huge improvements in the technology, large MEMS infrastructure in place, significant design wins now in production (pressure sensors, accelerometers, ink jet print heads, digital mirror displays), and a general acceptance of MEMS within the integrated circuit community. Nevertheless, we must recognize that MEMS basically lags integrated circuits by 15-20 years. While the IC came into production in the mid 60s, silicon pressure sensors did not come into high volume production (millions/year) until the early 80s. Today, however, the maturity and the dominance of the integrated circuit industry, together with new MEMS technologies, are creating new opportunities for MEMS.