MEMS sensors and micro systems

MEMS based sensors and sensor systems dominate the sensor market today and are the obvious choice for automotive and consumer products. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and Micro System Technology (MST), enables the manufacturing of miniaturised mechanical and electromechanical devices in batches.

MEMS densitometer manufactured using. "sacrifical" aluminum etching. The liquid is sucked by the capillary forces into the square frame that is excited at its resonant frequency which varies depending on the density of the liquid.

There are today commercial MEMS sensors for many applications, often with performance exciding their macroscopic counterparts, e.g. sensors for pressure, acceleration, rotation, chemical substances, particles, magnetic field, radiation, etc. MEMS technology is also used for manufacturing of actuators, microfluidic system, microscale reaction chambers, energy harvesting, etc.

MEMS design, protype manufacturing and test

We at RISE have a comprehensive expertise in MEMS and Micro system technology that encompasses the entire chain from idea to product. We are internationally recognized for having generated several unique MEMS solutions and have experience in commercialising MEMS products.

We have a complete design environment including CAD (L-Edit MEMS and Cadence), Modeling tools (Comsol Multiphysics, ANSYS, Mathlab, Simulink, Mathcad, etc.) and Process simulation tools (Silvaco, etc.). For manufacturing we use commercial foundries like Silex or advanced research cleanrooms such as the Electrum Laboratory and the Nanofabrication Laboratory at Chalmers.

RISE have also very well-equipped laboratories for characterisation and testing of MEMS sensors. Behavioural models must be confirmed by electrical or optical measurements often under the influence of mechanical stimuli. Our characterisation laboratories are one of the most well-equipped in Sweden for this task.