Plastic printing breakthrough points to better prostheses

MEMS are usually produced from silicon but the TAU researchers - engineering doctoral candidates Leeya Engel and Jenny Shklovsky - have created a novel micro-printing process to create a flexible and non-toxic organic polymer suitable for use with MEMS. It is claimed the resulting components can be more comfortably and safely used in the human body and expend less energy.

MEMS have applications in consumer electronics, cars, and medicine. MEMS sensors, accelerometers that orient smartphone screens vertically or horizontally, gather information from their surroundings by converting movement or chemical signals into electrical signals. MEMS actuators execute commands by converting electrical signals into movement.

Both, however, rely on micro- and nano-sized components, such as membranes, either to measure or produce the necessary movement.

MEMS membranes, like other MEMS components, can be fabricated from silicon using processes used by semiconductor industry. TAU’s new printing process, published in Microelectronic Engineering and presented at the AVS 59th International Symposium in Tampa, Florida, yields rubbery, paper-thin membranes made of a particular kind of organic polymer.