September 10, 2008: Centipede Systems, an emerging supplier of advanced connectors for electronics, announced that Silicon Microstructures Inc. (SMI), has ordered a Centipede Systems tester to speed micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and improve quality at its Milpitas, CA fabrication facility.

SMI, a member of the ELMOS Group, is an ISO 9001 and ISO/TS 16949-certified developer and manufacturer of MEMS-based pressure sensors used in critical automotive, medical and industrial applications, from tire pressure sensing to medical respiration monitoring.

Centipede says the machine will offer SMI a number of benefits including streamlining MEMS test methodologies and enabling faster device characterization. “The Centipede system will enable rapid thermal cycling from -65°C to +160°C,” said Thomas Di Stefano, Centipede founder and president. “Additionally, this new system offers MEMS developers economies-of-scale that have not been achieved in earlier test systems.”

The Centipede Systems MEMS tester can be customized for all levels of productivity from manual to fully automatic.

In the future, the Centipede MEMS tester will be configured to allow for fully automated production test with automatic load and unload via test-in-tray or strip test.

“We expect the Centipede Thermal Forcing Unit to enable us to test parts rapidly through extremes of temperature cycling, saving valuable time and extending the temperature test range,” said Dr. Nicole Kerness, Silicon Microstructures’ VP of product engineering.