06/30/2004  Paul Kolen and Noel Perkins are independent innovators 2,000 miles apart. But the professors share a passion for microsensors, and moving them out of their labs. Kolen licensed his Inertial Magnetic Motion Capture technology as a golf club maker, while Perkins developed his own motion sensor-based device that provides data on a swing or an angler's casting technique.

06/25/2004  A manned mission to Mars may be one of the greatest technological challenges ever attempted by humankind. To meet such a mission's unprecedented requirements, considerable innovation is needed to further reduce weight, energy consumption and maintenance requirements.

06/15/2004  Sensors have long been on the short list of next big things. And this year’s Sensors Expo clearly showed that the benefits made possible by sensors span a wide array of applications. And if the Sensors Expo showed the variety of markets served by sensors, it also showed how hard companies like Freescale Semiconductor are working to create new markets for sensors.

06/08/2004  Cavendish Kinetics, a Holland-based semiconductor company working to integrate MEMS devices into standard CMOS processes, announced its Nanomech technology for creating submicron structures for use as computer memories.

05/20/2004  Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) is providing accelerometers to InFocus Corp. to correct image distortion in two projectors.

05/10/2004  A strand of customized optical fiber, seen through a microscope, is heated in a miniature oven and rapidly twisted as it is pulled downward. The resulting corkscrew, or chiral, in the core of the fiber is the foundation of Chiral Photonics' business. The startup's first products are in the hands of potential customers. But the technology may also enable more effective lasers and light filters for optical systems.

05/03/2004  (May 3, 2004) Contributed by Jody Mahaffey, JDM Resources.
If you've been reading the trade-press these past couple months, you may think that MEMS are one of the hottest topics in the industry today. It's been reported by varying sources that MEMS revenues are forecast to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 15-20 percent over the next few years, while units shipped are forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25-30 percent.

04/09/2004  Knowles Acoustics of Itasca, Ill., has selected MEMSCAP SA (News, Web) and Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corp. to make its MEMS microphone wafers, according to news releases.

04/01/2004  IntelliSense Software Corp has launched tools for modeling piezoresistive and piezoelectric MEMS devices that could be used for energy and communications, according to a news release.

03/05/2004  MEMSIC Inc., a North Andover, Mass., developer of CMOS-based MEMS accelerometers, opened a 45,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, according to a news release.

03/01/2004  Verimetra Inc., a Pittsburgh-based maker of MEMS devices for the medical industry, received a $100,000 grant to develop tools and technologies that would help surgeons perform fetal heart surgeries.

02/20/2004  Vacuum cleaners that are self-directed, jogging suits that tell you when to run faster, robots that dance. The new millennium brought with it a focus on “smart” devices. Being able to sense rotational movement adds an extra layer of precision and smarts for more-complex next-generation systems – and this is where gyroscopes come into play.

02/19/2004  February 19, 2004 - UK-based AML said it is abandoning the foundry model for fabricating MEMS devices, calling it a "flawed concept" and "not flexible enough" to meet its demands, and is reverting back to in-house fabrication.

02/19/2004  Teravicta Technologies Inc., an Austin, Texas, developer of RF MEMS switches and integrated products, raised $6 million in a second round of funding, according to a news release.

01/22/2004  MEMSCAP SA (News, Web), a France and Silicon Valley-based MEMS designer and manufacturer, released a second version of its MemsMaster design tool, according to a news release.

01/21/2004  Proteus Biomedical, a Menlo Park, Calif., developer of MEMS devices to treat congestive heart failure, raised $5.3 million in a Series B round of financing, according to the company's chief executive. The company’s Series A was a seed round.

01/21/2004  The market for MEMS gyroscopes and accelerometers should continue to be strong during the next few years, with gyros growing at an even faster rate as the technology matures and costs come down, according to a new report.

01/19/2004  SensoNor ASA (News, Web) has chosen SUSS MicroTec AG's (News, Web) MEMS production systems to make tire pressure sensors, according to a news release.

01/13/2004  By the time the 2004 football season rolls around, scientists at Virginia Tech expect small tech to help them better understand how gravitational force triggers head trauma. Researchers say the key to unlocking those secrets lies in data gathered from specially designed helmets equipped with MEMS accelerometers. Selected Virginia Tech football players wore the special headgear during the 2003 season.

12/12/2003  If you believe the hype, small technology will eventually find its way into everything but the kitchen sink. In the white goods category, this may not be too much of an overstatement. Over the next several years, “intelligent” appliances tricked-out with microscale sensors and actuators will hit home.