More than moore: micro-machined products enable new applications and open new markets
Benedetto Vigna · 2006
Moore's law and its mapping into International Technology Roadmap of Semiconductors have been the most powerful drivers for the development of the microelectronic industry. In the same silicon manufacturing facilities, micro-electro-mechanical systems have made their appearance, but, unlike CMOS, MEMS' development doesn't need to follow the lithography scaling law for technical and economical reasons. Micro-machined products are penetrating automotive, industrial, medical, and lately, consumer applications. But this is only the beginning. Future wireless sensor networks, domestic robots, smart pills and labs-on-chips have benefit tremendously from next generation, tiny, inexpensive, and low power-consumption MEMS devices