Microsystem Design

The subject matter is wide-ranging: microfabrication, mechanics, heat flow, electronics, noise, and dynamics of systems, with and without feedback. Because it is very difficult to enunciate principles of `good design' in the abstract, the book is organized around a set of Case Studies that are based on real products, or, where appropriately well-documented products could not be found, on thoroughly published prototype work.

The Case Studies were selected to sample a multidimensional space: different manufacturing and fabrication methods, different device applications, and different physical effects used for transduction. The Case Study subjects are: the design and packaging of a piezoresistive pressure sensor, a capacitively-sensed accelerometer, a quartz piezoelectrically-driven and sensed rate gyroscope, two electrostatically-actuated optical projection displays, two microsystems for the amplification of DNA, and a catalytic sensor for combustible gases.

This book is used for a graduate course in `Design and Fabrication of Microelectromechanical Devices (MEMS)' at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is appropriate for textbook use by senior/graduate courses in MEMS, and will be a useful reference for the active MEMS professional.

Each chapter is supplemented with homework problems and suggested related reading. In addition, the book is supported by a web site that will include additional homework exercises, suggested design problems and related teaching materials, and software used in the textbook examples and homework problems.

November 2000, 720 pages