An Introduction to MEMS Technology

Microelectromechanical systems(MEMS)are small integrated devices or systems that combine electrical and mechanical components. They range in size from the sub micrometer (or sub micron) level to the millimeter level, and there can be any number, from a few to millions, in a particular system. MEMS extend the fabrication techniques developed for the integrated circuit industry to add mechanical elements such as beams, gears, diaphragms, and springs to devices.These systems can sense, control, and activate mechanical processes on the micro scale, and function individually or in arrays to generate effects on the macro scale.In this book a detailed description of the design and analysis of MEMS based microheater array on SOI wafer for gas sensor application is proposed.MEMS based array of microheaters of SOI wafer have an added advantage which increases the efficiency of the microheater i.e less power is required to reach high temperature and also the thermal loss is minimized.They are usually produced using a standard CMOS process, have the additional advantages of being readily realized by commercial foundries and amenable to the inculsion of on-chip electronics.