Integrating microelectromechanical systems with integrated circuits

From the very beginning, integration of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) with integrated circuits (ICs) was a major attraction of silicon micromachining technology. Significant progress toward integrating MEMS with ICs technologies has been made over the last four decades. Many products have been introduced and the benefits of such integration have been demonstrated. One of the most attractive developments, during the period of time called the Optical Bubble, was the vertical MEMS-IC integration, pioneered by Transparent Networks. It enabled a short path to merging VLSI electronics with MEMS. This approach can be easily applied to capacitive sensors, such as pressure, acceleration, gyro, and vacuum sensors, as well as to a broad range of other products.