(October 25, 2010) — MEMS cantilevers are the force and displacement sensor backbone of all of the MEMS sensors in our cars, cell phones, and other products. The basic cantilever can be manipulated to serve cutting-edge research applications in bio mechanics and other fields, says Beth Pruitt, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, speaking at the MEMS Technology Summit (10/19-10/20/10, Stanford University). She speaks with Debra Vogler, senior technical editor, ElectroIQ.
MEMS cantilevers have become a key enabler in science and consumer, aerospace, and automotive applications. Some applications include a novel scanning probe, cantilever-based chemical sensing, and mechano-transduction at the cell and organism level.
Pruitt notes that Stanford takes a "MEMS inside" approach to research — posing a question that can be uniquely solved by MEMS. MEMS cantilevers are improved with medical, physical, and other research needs in mind. Pruitt discusses the merits of cantilevers as well as funding opportunities that leverage these useful mechanisms.
Other research chats from the MEMS Technology Summit 2010:
NASA LCROSS project: Steve Senturia discusses the MEMS-enabled Phazir
Thomas Kenny, Stanford, on DARPA Tip-based nanofabrication program