Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems

Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MOEMS) are not a special class of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) but rather the combination of MEMS merged with Micro-optics; this involves sensing or manipulating optical signals on a very small size scale using integrated mechanical, optical, and electrical systems. MOEMS includes a wide variety of devices including optical switch, optical cross-connect, tunable VCSEL, microbolometers amongst others. These devices are usually fabricated using micro-optics and standard micromachining technologies using materials like silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride and gallium arsenide.

MOEMS includes two major technologies, MEMS and Micro-optics. Both these two technologies independently involve in batch processing similar to integrated circuits, and micromachining similar to fabrication of microsensor.

MEMS offers inherently device miniaturization and wide applications in sensors and actuators, robotics, accelerometers, microvalves, flow controllers, global positioning systems (GPS) component miniaturization; and a host of other sensors and actuators for applications to space, air, land, and sea vehicles, as well as industrial, biotechnology, and consumer electronics

During the 1980s the acronym of MEMS created a fortune for publication, getting government contracts and publicity. DARPA assigned a program manager for this field and significantly soon MEMS is promoted to be the king of the technology. Several high tech journals that were originated were attached to MEMS by supporting miniaturization and low cost manufacturing. Many private companies which did not have sufficient knowledge about MEMS also started jumping on the bandwagon.

Parallel with MEMS developments and even earlier, sensor technology advanced to microsensors and joining with microactuators. Development of microsensors and microactuators were also due to a mother technology of micromachining. Micromachining is the root of everything we have today in high technology. This technology was never credited in history as it deserved. It was commercially used during the 1960s in Switzerland, for micromachining quartz orders of magnitudes harder than micromachining silicon. MEMS acronym was so powerful during the 1980s, that with no choice microsensors and microactuators that included micromachining, all joined MEMS by a soft landing. As a result, the MEMS acronym was more attractive for publicity and even today MEMS, is dominating in microtechnologies without giving credit to its real parents.

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