MEMGen Unveils '3-D MEMS Design Challenge' Winners

Top three prizes include free prototypes and up to $10,000 cash

Burbank, CA - June 9, 2003 - MEMGen Corporation has announced the winners of its '3-D MEMS Design Challenge.' The contest kicked off on January 13, 2003, and closed on April 30, 2003.

The first place design is a distributed-mass micromachined gyroscope, which can be used for a wide variety of aerospace, military, automotive and consumer electronics applications. The design was submitted by Cenk Acar, a Ph.D. student in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department's MicroSystems Lab at the University of California, Irvine. Acar will receive $10,000 cash, a prototype of the design and a SolidWorks(R) Office 2003 3-D CAD package

In second place is a floating electro mechanical systems (FLEMS) prototype design. Applications include highly sensitive accelerometers, high-Q filters and inertial navigation systems for aerospace and multi-stable systems. This entry was submitted by Jason Clark, a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley's Applied Science and Technology program. The second place prize is $5,000 cash and a prototype of the design.

The third place design is a tactical-grade symmetrical and decoupled micro-gyroscope that can be used for commercial and military applications. The design was submitted jointly by Said Emre Alper and Tayfun Akin, Ph.D. Alper is a research assistant in Middle East Technical University's (Ankara, Turkey) Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Dr. Akin is an associate professor at the university. They will share a cash prize of $2,500 and will receive a free prototype of their design.

Three honorable mentions were also given for designs of a 3-D microconvective heat sink, MEMS thermometer and scanning mass spectrometer.

"EFAB(tm) technology provides many benefits for designing 3-D micro-devices, helping to overcome several major design challenges," said Cenk Acar, Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine, and first place winner of MEMGen's '3-D MEMS Design Challenge.' "For gyroscopes specifically, the most significant benefit is that it allows for truly customized suspension systems that can achieve over an order of magnitude larger stiffness in the undesired oscillation directions. This leads to excellent separation of the undesired resonance modes from the operational modes."

"Additionally, the 3-D capabilities of EFAB technology allow designers to incorporate various mechanical structures in the gyroscope design that will prevent failure of the device under extreme loads," added Acar. "The EFAB process also enables independent control of the suspension thickness and the thickness of the electrostatic drive and sensing capacitors, and allows fabrication of the crucial design concept features."

"We were very impressed with the diversity and the quality of the designs submitted. We have received many innovative designs for a wide range of applications, and it was difficult for the judges to make their final decision," said Vacit Arat, MEMGen president and CEO. "It was very interesting to see what imaginative design concepts people came up with once they were allowed the luxury of true 3-D flexibility and many tens of metal layers."

The '3-D MEMS Challenge' was made possible by MEMGen's proprietary EFAB micro-manufacturing technology, which allows complex 3-D micro-devices to be designed with commonly available 3-D CAD software tools and fabricated in a matter of a few weeks.

MEMGen received 132 applications from individuals who have commercial or research interest in micro-device design, manufacturing or use, including electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, design contractors, university students and faculty. Participation was diverse internationally, with applications received from 24 different countries. Applications were also received from 25 states across the U.S.

The submissions were judged by a panel comprised of independent industry experts, including Al Pisano, Ph.D. of UC Berkeley, Elliott Brown, Ph.D. of UCLA, and Marlene Bourne, senior analyst at In-Stat/MDR. Selection was based on design novelty, effective use of the unique 3-D capabilities of the EFAB process and commercial utility.

Pictures of the winning designs can be viewed at http://www.memgen.com/mdc_winners.

About MEMGen 

Founded in 1999, MEMGen Corporation is a leader in micro-device and micro-system manufacturing. The company's breakthrough proprietary EFAB(tm) technology brings a new paradigm to micro-fabrication, offering unprecedented flexibility, ease-of-use and quick time-to-market in a wide range of applications including biomedicine and electronics. EFAB is the first manufacturing technology that can fabricate intricate, truly three-dimensional micro-devices by depositing many tens-to-hundreds of precision metal layers. The technology opens up a world of possibilities for complex micro-devices and micro-systems previously impossible or impractical to manufacture using other approaches

MEMGen is headquartered in Burbank, California. 

www.memgen.com

 

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