Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

August 16, 2011 — At the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Integrated Actuactors Laboratory (IAL), researchers have constructed an electromagnetic three-phase motor that could make watches 3x more efficient and add telephony, compass navigation, and other applications to time keeping.

The micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) based device at the core of this watch technology outputs 3x as much energy as a traditional motor. It differs from typical MEMS, based on electrostatics. This MEMS is an electromagnetic drive system that uses a fixed magnet and three phases instead of a single phase.

Also read: Hard disk drive performance enhanced by MEMS devices

Fabrication took place in a cleanroom in 24 operations. This method produces components at a lower cost than traditional methods, according to Yves Perriard, head of LAI. Fixed parts of the motor were engraved in silicon wafers in bulk, simultaneously. This cut down on the form factor of a three-phase motor as well. LAI reinvented configuration and geometry for the motor, Perriard notes.

Researchers had to redesign the command electronics to handle a three-phase motor. The motor needs to "locate the rotor, or the rotating part, at any point in time," to tell time accurately, explains Perriard. Sensors would accomplish the task, but be prohibitively expensive. Instead, signal processing techniques use the motor’s voltage and current to derive location.

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August 16, 2011 — Stanford University will install 3 Plasma-Therm dry etch systems (based on its VERSALINE technology suite) in its research facility for nanotechnology and photonics, joining 2 Plasma-Therm deposition systems the university requisitioned during a facility upgrade in February 2010.

The 3 new inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etchers will etch advanced silicon, metal, dielectric, and other materialsin Stanford’s Nanofabrication Facility (SNF). The VERSALINE suite targets deep silicon etch (DSE) for silicon on insulator (SOI) structures, among other projects.

Over 600 users have access to the SNF, performing R&D and production-level tasks. It serves academic, industrial and governmental researchers across the US, focusing on optics, MEMS, biology, and chemistry, as well as traditional electronics device fabrication and process characterization. The SNF is a 10,000sq.ft. class-100 cleanroom. It is part of the NSF’s National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN).

Plasma-Therm manufactures advanced plasma processing equipment for specialty semiconductor markets including R&D, solid state lighting, data storage, renewable energy, MEMS, nanotechnology and compound semiconductor. Learn more at www.plasmatherm.com.

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August 16, 2011 — University of Tübingen researchers are making surface plasmons interact with cold atoms by illuminating gold nanowires with lasers. The laser light concentrates the light field at the surface of the wires, generating surface plasmons. These bound light fields could lead to optical computing advances and quantum computing.

The surface plasmons (data transfer) must be coupled to data storage, such as atoms. The research team, lead by Dr. Sebastian Slama and Prof. Claus Zimmermann are developing techniques for positioning cold atoms very close to surfaces so they interact with bound light waves. They collaborated with the nanotechnology group of Prof. Dieter Kern and Dr. Monika Fleischer, who fabricated the gold structures.

Atomic gases are cooled to a few hundred Nanokelvin in vacuum chambers. The temperatures force atoms to act unlike classical gases. They form a Bose-Einstein condensate, in which all atoms are in the same quantum state. The condensate can be regarded as a single huge super-atom and can be shifted by external magnetic fields to the surface, where it feels the influence of the plasmon. Some plasmons attract atoms and others repel them. "By structuring the surface we can tailor almost arbitrary potential landscapes for the atoms," says Dr. Slama.

Christian Stehle, PhD thesis candidate, measured the data together with Helmar Bender, who is now postdoc at the University of Sao Carlos in Brazil.

Results are published in Nature Photonics. Christian Stehle, Helmar Bender, Claus Zimmermann, Dieter Kern, Monika Fleischer, and Sebastian Slama, "Plasmonically tailored micropotentials for ultracold atoms," Nature Photonics 5, 494-498 (2011), www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v5/n8/full/nphoton.2011.159.html and News and Views: James P. Shaffer, "Marriage of atoms and plasmons," Nature Photonics 5, 451-452 (2011), www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v5/n8/full/nphoton.2011.174.html

The researchers are aiming to build hybrid devices for optical computing and quantum information, says Dr. Slama.

Learn more at Universität Tübingen, www.uni-tuebingen.de

August 15, 2011 — MKS Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) introduced the elite RF Power Generator for RF deposition and etch in amorphous silicon photovoltaics (a-Si PV), light emitting diode (LED), and micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) manufacturing.

The 13.56MHz elite RF generator features an integrated, single-PCBA design and a compact, air-cooled form factor. It is designed to be cost-effective and easy to install. The generator is available in 2U full rack (pictured above) and 3U half rack (below) enclosures to allow for rack mounting and is available in power levels of 300W, 600W and 750W.

The full rack design eliminates cables and connectors; an inductive clamp technology protects the generator from adverse VSWR load conditions.

The generator is used in passivation, etch, physical (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), strip, cleaning, surface treatment, and coating, as well as back-end electronic packaging steps.

MKS Instruments Inc. is provides technologies to power, control, deliver, monitor, measure and analyze advanced processes in high-growth markets. Learn more at http://www.mksinst.com/.

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August 12, 2011 — FEI Company (NASDAQ:FEIC) released the Titan G2 80-200 scanning/transmission electron microscope (S/TEM) with ChemiSTEM Technology and accelerating voltage range of 200-80kV.

The combination of Titan electron optics with ChemiSTEM Technology analytics allows atomic resolution elemental maps to be created in minutes. New capabilities are also enabled for materials science, chemistry and nanotechnology applications, such as studying atomic species polarity and atomic chemical termination at interfaces, measuring trace elemental concentrations as low as 0.01 wt%, mapping chemical composition over large fields of view, and determining elemental composition in three dimensions.

Sandia National Labs chose the FEI Titan G2 80-200 for its "probe-correction technology and large solid-angle, windowless silicon-drift x-ray detectors (SDDs)," said Dr. Paul Kotula of Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia Labs expects to gain 50 to 100X analytical sensitivity, speed, and spatial resolution improvements over its existing FEG analytical electron microscope. Sandia will use the microscope for atomic resolution x-ray microanalysis as well, studying more of the periodic table and using existing quantification methods to routinely analyze many materials at the highest resolution and sensitivity needed, Kotula adds. Sandia National Laboratory will be the first 80-200 installation in North America.

The Titan G2 platform includes the X-FEG high brightness gun and the next-generation DCOR probe corrector, acheiving spatial resolution of 0.8 Angstroms in STEM and 0.9 Angstroms in TEM, with a large and flexible working sample area. The large tilt-range, when combined with ChemiSTEM Technology’s symetrically distributed 4-SDD detector architecture, permits EDX Tomography. 3D elemental composition can be obtained with standard FIB-prepared lamella samples mounted in standard holders in an S/TEM. High-speed mapping electronics are capable of acquiring 100,000 spectra/second.

Figure. The GaAs [110] dumbbell splitting of 0.14nm is clearly resolved by chemical mapping using energy dispersive x-ray analysis with a Titan G2 80-200 with ChemiSTEM Technology and a probe Cs-corrector at 200 kV acceleration voltage, using a 200 pA probe current. On the right hand side the atomic structure of GaAs the [110] projection is shown along with the grayscale HAADF-STEM image. This represents the highest resolution ever obtained in atomic elemental mapping by any technique using an S/TEM.

FEI (Nasdaq: FEIC) is a scientific instruments company providing electron- and ion-beam microscopes and tools for nanoscale applications. For more information, visit www.fei.com/chemistem.

August 11, 2011 — The CES, annual consumer electronics show, will feature for the first time a MEMS TechZone and MEMS conference program at CES 2012. The MEMS Industry Group (MIG) will spearhead this new effort.

CES takes place January 10-13 in Las Vegas, NV.

MEMS TechZone showcases the adoption of MEMS, micro electro mechanical systems, in mobile phones, game consoles, tablet PCs and other consumer-electronic devices. MIG will co-exhibit with several members including Bosch/Bosch Sensortec/Akustica, VTI Technologies and WiSpry.

The MEMS TechZone will take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), South Hall 2.

A panel on consumer devices enabled by MEMS will take place Wednesday, January 12 at 11:30am in N254, North Hall of the LVCC.

More information is available at www.cesweb.org/showFloor/techzones.asp#5320

2011’s CES was a staging ground for the new TV remote enabled by MEMS

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August 11, 2011 — Asylum Research, scanning probe/atomic force microscopy (AFM/SPM) maker, installed the first Cypher AFM system in China at the South China Normal University in Guangzhou. Professor Xingsen Gao at the SCNU Institute for Advanced Materials will use the Cypher for piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and multiferroic research.

Asylum Research and Grapes Hangzhou Technology Co. Ltd, Asylum’s representative in China, installed the system.

The "true atomic resolution and sophisticated PFM imaging" were reasons for installing the Cypher, said Professor Gao, who plans to probe nanoscale properties on multifunctional materials with integration of other electrical characterization methods.

The system offers fast scanning, high resolution, and advanced PFM modes such as Dual AC Resonance Tracking (DART) and Band Excitation (BE). Cypher provides low-drift closed loop atomic resolution, >20x faster AC imaging with small cantilevers, Spot-On automated laser and photodetector alignment for easy set-up, integrated thermal, acoustic and vibration control, and broad support for AFM/SPM scanning modes and capabilities.  

Asylum Research manufactures atomic force and scanning probe microscopy (AFM/SPM) for materials and bioscience applications. Learn more at www.AsylumResearch.com.

August 10, 2011 — University of Nottingham scientists have developed a method to manufacture nanowires using carbon nanotubes (CNT) to host chemical reactions.

Dr Andrei Khlobystov in Nottingham’s School of Chemistry, theoretical chemists based in the university’s School of Chemistry and electron microscopists from Ulm University in Germany collaborated to create chemical reactions in carbon nanotubes. Carbon and sulphur atoms inside a nanotube generate atomic strips of carbon, or graphene nanoribbons, with sulphur atoms around the edge.

The team’s technique of confining the chemical reactions within a nanoscale "container" improves the ease with which nanoribbons are produced, noted Khlobstov. The researchers also discovered that nanoribbons follow an unprecedented helical twist that changes over time. That structure coul allow scientists to control electrical conductivity and other physical properties.

Devices based on nanoribbons could be used as nano-switches, nano-actuators and nano-transistors integrated in computers or data storage devices.

The work is reported in Nature Materials, in "Self-assemby of a Sulphur-Terminated Graphene Nanoribbon within a Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube." Access the paper at http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat3082.html Contact Dr Andrei Khlobystov on +44 (0)115 951 3917, [email protected]

The University of Nottingham operates campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia, hosting 40,000 students. More than 90% of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. More news from the University at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/news.

August 10, 2011 – Marketwire — Sensors are experiencing faster growth than the overall semiconductor chip industry, according to the Q3 Sensors and MEMS Market Tracker released by MarketResearch.com. Sensors hit almost $7 billion in 2010, with 6.5 million units shipped.

The WSTS expects sensors to surge 18% in 2011 to $8.18 billion, and another 11% in 2012 to $9 billion. For 2013 the WSTS projects nearly another 10% for sensors sales (still almost twice the overall market) to just under $10 billion.

After unprecedented 2010 increases, total optoelectronics, sensors, and discretes (O-S-D) revenues are predicted to hit $58.3 billion in 2011, says IC Insights.

Touch and orientation electronics require sensors to operate, and are being integrated into increasing numbers of applications. Other sensors are also seeing strong demand from automotive, medical electronics, and security applications.

The micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors tracker vital market statistics on revenue by product, market forecasts, regional forecasts, and breakouts for each application sector, such as computers and automotive.

MarketResearch.com provides global market intelligence products and services. Learn more at http://www.marketresearch.com/product/display.asp?ProductID=6479420.

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August 10, 2011 – Two researchers at Mexico’s Monterrey Technological Institute have reportedly been the subjects of a targeted attack by an "anti-technology anarchist group" for their work in nanotechnology including MEMS, according to various reports.

A partially destroyed message at the scene outside Mexico City identified the attackers as "Individuals Tending to Savagery," a group that opposes nanotech development and its purported dangers to native species and ties to natural disasters, and have apparently struck before in other areas of the world, according to the reports.

The two workers — cited as different people by different news outlets — were injured by the package bomb but apparently did not suffer life-threatening injuries. The institute names two of its professors as the victims, José Armando Herrera Corral and Alejandro Aceves López. They have ties to the school’s engineering sciences unit, which includes robotics, microsystems, optics, and electronics, as well as materials research. The AP report cites a different intended victim, Oscar Camacho, who works in microelectromechanical systems, whom the group claims to have targeted earlier this year in similar fashion.

Few details are in the Mexican Attorney General’s bulletin.