What are mems?
MEMS means micro-mechanical systems , with reference to functional machine systems with components measured in micrometers. MEMS is often perceived as a springboard between the conventional macrocale machines and futuristic nanomachines. MEMS precursors have been in the form of microelectronics for some time, but these systems are purely electronic, unable to process or issue anything other than a number of electrical pulses. Modern MEMS-Fabrication techniques, however, are largely based on the same technology used to produce integrated circuits, ie techniques of film deposition that use photolithography. The most commonly mentioned in conjunction with MEMS is the idea of "Lab-on-A-Chip," a device that processes small samples of chemicals and returns useful results. This could prove quite revolutionary in the field of medical diagnosis where laboratory analysis results in medical coverage costs, delay in diagnosis and uncomfortable paperwork.
MEMS are made in one of the two ways: either a surface micromachining in which they are placed on the surface of the material layers and then elabed to shape or through volume micromachining where the substrate itself is ethged to produce the final product. The most common is surface micromachinization because it builds on progress of integrated circuits. Unique for MEMS, deposition techniques sometimes leave "sacrificial layers", material layers were to be dissolved and washed away at the end of the production process, leaving the remaining structure. This process allows MEMS to have a comprehensive structure in 3 dimensions. Various gears, pumps, sensors, pipes and action members were made, and some of them are already integrated into everyday commercial products.
Examples of Modern MEMS use include inkjet printers, accelerometers in cars, pressure sensors, highly accurateOptics, microfluids, monitoring individual neurons, control systems and microscopy. At present, there is no such thing as a system of productive machines on the microscopic system on the order of productive mounting lines macrocale, but it seems that the invention of such a device is only a matter of time. The prospect of MEMS production is exciting, because the fields of such systems working in tangent could be significantly more productive than macro -trap systems that occupy the same volume and consume the same amount of energy. One of the prominent constraints, however, would be that the products of macrocale created by microscopic machines systems would have to be composed mainly of prefabricated micro -lamp blocks.