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Application Specific Integrated MEMS Process Service (ASIMPS) Head: Gary Fedder Contact: Gary Fedder (fedder@ece.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated lab/group: Microelectromechanical Systems Laboratory For more information, see this project's homepage.

This page last updated - January 1999.

Project Description

Monolithic integration of MEMS processing technology with standard CMOS processes enables the combination of novel sensing and actuation functionality on traditional computing and communication devices allowing the ubiquitous digital computer to interact with the world around it. Paralleling the rest of the semiconductor industry, this integration requires both the ability for rapid custom design for low cost prototyping and design optimzation for high volume manufacturing. In this project, we are creating the design, fabrication and characterization support for achieving this goal.

Potential devices to be designed and fabricated in the process include accelerometers, gyroscopes, radio frequency (RF) MEMS communication systems (with resonator oscillators, RF filters and high-Q inductors), infrared sensors and imagers, electrothermal converters, and force sensors. In additional to individual devices, the technology enables integration of multiple devices on the same chip with supporting electronics. For example, high-Q inductors and micromechanical resonators can be combined for CMOS RF applications. In another example, multiple accelerometers are integrated on chip to create a 3-axis inertial measurement system. Furthermore, both the communications and accelerometer systems can be combined to form a wireless microsensor system. Such a system is primarily driven by low-volume applications and will not be commercially viable if manufactured in today's specialized MEMS processes. Realization of these kinds of systems is within reach of the CMOS micromachining technology and through ASIMPS, reduces to a problem of design effort and end-application know-how, not of process development.

Personnel [Past Members]

	Name	Title	Email Address
	Gary Fedder	Prof. of ECE & Robotics;Director of ICES, RI/ICES	fedder@ece.cmu.edu
	Kaigham Gabriel	Professor, RI/ECE	kgabriel@ece.cmu.edu
	Tamal Mukherjee	Research Engineer, and Assistant Director, CEDA, ECE	tamal@ece.cmu.edu
	John Neumann	Postdoctoral Fellow, ECE	jneumann@ece.cmu.edu

Publications

Note: This list may not be comprehensive. It contains only those publications in the RI publications database. Entries are listed in reverse chronological order.

• Physical Design for Surface-Micromachined MEMS
  G. Fedder and T. Mukherjee
  Proceedings of the Fifth ACM/SIGDA Physical Design Workshop, April, 1996, pp. 53-60. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [119 KB] copyrighted