Carbon MEMS

Article By:

Wang, Chunlei Department of Mechanical and Aeropace Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California.

Madou, Marc Department of Mechanical and Aeropace Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California.

Last reviewed:2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.YB061750

There has been much recent progress in the field of creating small electrical or mechanical systems known as micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). Most MEMS devices are based on silicon substrates. Various silicon-based devices, such as pressure and acceleration sensors, actuators, mirrors, and gyroscopes, have been widely developed for commercial production. This is not surprising because silicon manufacturing processes are very mature, compared to such processes with any other material. However, silicon has poor mechanical (for example, brittleness) and tribological (for example, stiction) properties, which make it difficult to produce high-performance MEMS devices. Therefore, different materials are being investigated for MEMS applications, such as silicon carbide (SiC), gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), germanium (Ge), quartz, polymeric materials, and carbon.

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