Page 22 - Semiconductor For Micro- and Nanotechnology An Introduction For Engineers

Popular Definitions and Acronyms
1.2.4 Passive Devices
In combination with other materials, engineers have managed to minia-
turize every possible discrete circuit component known, so that it is pos-
sible to create entire electronics using just one process: resistors,
capacitors, inductors and interconnect wires, to name the most obvious.

For electromagnetic radiation, waveguides, filters, interferometers and
more have been constructed, and for light and other forms of energy or
matter, an entirely new industry under the name of microsystems has
emerged, which we now briefly consider.

1.2.5 Microsystems: MEMS, MOEMS, NEMS, POEMS, etc.

In North America, the acronym MEMS is used to refer to micro-electro-
mechanical systems, and what is being implied are the devices at the
length scale of microelectronics that include some non-electrical signal,
and very often the devices feature mechanical moving parts and electro-
static actuation and detection mechanisms, and these mostly couple with
some underlying electrical circuitry. A highly successful CMOS MEMS,
produced by Infineon Technologies, is shown in Figure 1.1. The device,

a)

Figure 1.1. MEMS device. a) Infi-
neon’s surface micromachined
capacitive pressure sensor with
interdigitated signal conditioning
b)
Type KP120 for automotive BAP
and MAP applications. b) SEM
photograph of the pressure sensor
cells compared with a human hair.
Image © Infineon Technologies,
Munich [1.2].

Semiconductors for Micro and Nanosystem Technology 21