August 2005: First Inertial MEMS made in Catalonia

The fabrication of the first inertial MEMS made in Catalonia has been possible through the efforts of several researchers involved in the California-Catalonia Engineering Innovation Program and Balsells Fellowship. UCI’s state-of-the-art fabrication facilities and expertise in design, modeling, and characterization of inertial and optical micro-sensors enabled the researchers involved in the project to successfully complete the fabrication of these miniature devices.

The project “Embedded MEMS-based sensor net for safety and comfort of public transportation systems” is led by Professor Andrei Shkel, Director of UCI’s Microsystems Laboratory and by Professor Jasmina Casals (Balsells fellow 2001) of UPC Terrassa. Former Balsells fellow Andreu Fargas-SENER is also a participant. Fargas and Casals went through training in the Microsystems Laboratory during their M.S. degree studies at UCI and are very well familiar with the challenges and advantages of MEMS technology.

Their knowledge has been adapted to the fabrication facilities at CNM in Catalonia. The fabrication process is based in SOI wafers and provides high-aspect ratio structures (see figure) with only one mask process. This characteristic makes the process very suitable for inertial MEMS. These devices are part of a project whose goal is to propose MEMS-based sensor network technologies that will contribute to future transportation systems with enhanced reliability, comfort, and safety. Devices include linear and angular accelerometers, angular rate and absolute angle measuring gyroscopes, and other sensors for conventional and harsh environments, such as low-power microswitches.