August 15, 2001 – Tokyo, Japan – Dai Nippon Printing Co. will begin a consignment business fabricating micrometer-scale structures on silicon substrates for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

MEMS are miniature devices that integrate microscopic mechanical structures and electronic circuitry on the same silicon substrate. They are the subject of active research around the globe and are expected to find use in a variety of applications, including small parts for printers and optical communications equipment.

Dai Nippon Printing will leverage its experience in semiconductor manufacturing to offer a wide variety of MEMS processing tasks. It expects this line of business to generate revenues of 4 billion yen in fiscal 2003.

The company has created a menu of manufacturing technologies that can meet the needs for a diverse range of prototype MEMS structures. It will use the semiconductor manufacturing equipment at its R&D center in Chiba Prefecture to form films on silicon wafers and to fashion various structures, including comblike shapes and other 3-D forms and deep holes that are 20 microns wide and 200 microns deep.