Category: MEMS

Following up on a previous Nanodot post (22 January 2002), here are a few additional items of interest to emerge from the MEMS 2002 Conference co-sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Robotics and Automation Society, and held 20-24 January 2002 in Las Vegas, Nevada:

• "Computer chips tied to nanotech's future" (25 January 2002)
• "Nanotech research showing great progress" (27 January)
• "Microelectrodes could help blind see" (23 January). Additional information on this item can be found in this press release (24 January 2002).

Many of these UPI stories, as well as much original coverage of the conference, appeared on the Small Times website.

Amid the conference focused on microdevices, some interesting nanotech-related news emerged from the MEMS 2002 Conference co-sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Robotics and Automation Society, and held 20-24 January 2002 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A good general overview of the conference appeared on the Small Times website ("Record numbers at MEMS conference", by Jane Fried, 22 January 2002). Some of the highlights include:

• United Press International filed an interesting report ("Molecular motors could help research", by Scott R. Burnell, 21 January 2002) on an address by invited speaker Carlo Montemagno, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles and a staff researcher at the California NanoSystems Institute, described the motors and other microscopic devices to a conference on microelectromechanical systems or MEMS. The article is reposted on the Small Times site. "We've just started a project looking at … having small sensors locomote themselves where you want them to go," Montemagno said.
  An interesting point raised in the UPI article was raised by Marlene Bourne, a technology research analyst, who said the biggest hurdle will be moving the devices to clinical applications. "If you start talking about machines in people's bodies, we're getting to the point where there will be some real questions about educating the public," Bourne told UPI. "(Another question is) do we need regulation in terms of how these (motors) will be used, for what purpose, and who gets to benefit from it?" Other roadblocks include working with the motors in a real-world environment, Montemagno said. They currently are limited to water-based solutions. Once the questions are resolved, however, the devices could reach the point of delivering chemotherapy drugs directly to cancer cells, Bourne said.
• Another UPI report ("Micro pump works without moving parts ", by Scott R. Burnell, 21 January 2002) describes work by Michael DeBar, a scientist with Eastman Kodak in Rochester, N.Y., who developed the idea of a "thermocapillary pump" while at the University of California at Berkeley. The article also is reposted on the Small Times site.

from the getting-cute-with-PR dept.
The press accounts indicate that a lot of people are just ga-ga over the silicon micro-device developed at Sandia National Labs. Described as a "Pac-Man-like microstructure" and the "gobbler", the device has silicon microteeth that open and close like jaws. The microjaws fit in a microchannel about one-third the width of a human hair (about 20 microns wide). When the jaws close, they trap a red blood cell. According to a Sandia press release on 20 August 2001, "The jaws, which open and close very rapidly, deform captured cells, and then, in less than the blink of an eye and almost playfully, let the little things loose. The blood cells travel on, regain their former shape and appear unharmed." [Playfully?]
Additional coverage can be found in this article from UPI. And Robert Trombatore writes: "A news item on the Scientific American web site details a just announced microdevice that can grab individual red blood cells flowing through a central channel. So far no practical uses, but the article mentions a few intriguing possibilities!"

TanMauWu writes "Wired has a story about "smart dust" that researchers at UC Berkeley have developed, which are essentially tiny light and temperature sensors that can network together. The suggested use for these sensors is to put lots of them in every room in a building and tie them all to a main computer that can regulate energy usage in the building to save energy. Of course, we can all think of *other* possible uses for this, can't we? Not quite true utility fog, but we're getting there."

from the thousands-of-steps-will-get-somewhere dept.
SteveLenhert writes "Integration of basic MEMS components is bridging the gap between micro- and nanotechnology. Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) of basic electronic components such as diodes and transistors is well established. This article on Mechanical VLSI describes approaches to (and implications of) VLSI of mechanical components such as actuators and cantilevers.