Micromachined devices

Nowadays many varieties of micromachined MEMS devices exist in the market. Some of them are pressure sensors, inertial sensors, micromotors, micropumps, lateral resonators (comb drives), microconveyer belts, microtips and microgrippers. Medical, automobile and aeronautical industry use pressure sensor.  Novasensors produces good quality pressure sensors. A mass and a spring system are used in inertial sensors. Accelerometer is an inertial sensor fabricated in silicon. Companies like silicon microstructures and ICSensors manufactures good quality accelerometers where a self-tested electrode allows a self test for the sensor. Micromachining can be done to gyroscopes which is an important instrument for navigation. Piezoelectric materials like quartz are essential for this. For the construction of micromachined silicon gyroscopes, three techniques are normally used. They are rotating rings, resonating plate and tuning fork. Micrometers are based on electrostatic and are used in optical choppers. Micropumps have the capacity of pumping fluids upto milliliters per minute. Lateral resonators or comb drives which are micromachined are used in gyroscopes. Microconveyer belts (used in SEM), Microtips (used in AFM and STM) and Microgrippers offer big opportunities in nanotechnology research.