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for Peanuts vs. Pyramids: Two Perspectives on MEMS

Peanuts vs. Pyramids:
Two Perspectives on MEMS

Stephen D. Senturia

Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus, MIT
Chairman and CTO, Polychromix


Mechanics Seminar
Stanford University

May 8, 2008


ABSTRACT

MEMS, the acronym for Microelectromechanical Systems, also known simply as “Microsystems,” come in two main types:  commodity products (the peanuts) and MEMS-enabled products (the pyramids, or, more correctly, the inverted pyramids).  The economics of scale greatly affect how these two classes of products are designed, built, manufactured, and sold.  The contrast is illustrated with two real-world examples:  The Knowles SiSonicTM silicon cell-phone microphone, and the Polychromix PhazIRTM, a fully portable battery-operated hand-held near-infrared spectrometer.  At the denouement, we will discover that in spite of their apparent differences, these two types of MEMS have something very much in common.

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