Laboratory equipment manufacturers told of improved MEMS inspection

Laboratory equipment manufacturers could soon have access to faster, cheaper options for inspecting microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

Researchers at SINTEF, Scandinavia's largest independent research organisation, are working on parallel inspection processes for silicon wafers.

This could help to remove one of the bottlenecks faced by laboratory equipment manufacturers who currently have to inspect MEMS one by one.

Improved manufacturing processes could have implications for a broad range of electronic systems, including mobile phones, car airbag sensors and microphones.

The team hopes to create a method capable of testing 100 MEMS structures on a silicon wafer at the same time.

Compared with serial analysis, this promises to cut processing time to tens of seconds rather than tens of minutes.

Key to the improved process is the use of interferometers, highly responsive sensors that can detect tiny changes in vibration or shape.

Kay Gastinger, project manager, says: "We have already produced a prototype measuring station that is capable of measuring five structures at a time."