A gear the diameter of a human hair and an optical mirror the size of the tip of a pin that can aim beams of light have been created using technology called microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which is the focus of a new academic program at Rose- Hulman Institute of Technology.

A $400,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles has made it possible to develop a new MEMS fabrication and application course and to equip a new MEMS laboratory in Moench Hall. The new class was taught during spring quarter. Remodeling is currently under way in the B Section of the second floor of Moench Hall to change an existing area into a clean lab environment.

The W.M. Keck Foundation is the nation's largest philanthropic foundation that focuses its grantmaking primarily on the areas of medical research, science and engineering.

"MEMS technology creates microscopic, moving, electric devices so small that often gravity doesn't have an impact on their operation," explained Azad Siahmakoun, professor of physics and optical engineering, who is coordinating the introduction of MEMS at Rose-Hulman. "MEMS will result in some of the most significant technical advancements of the 21st century," he stated "It is a technology that has been developed into a multi-billion dollar industry. The grant enables Rose-Hulman to begin educating students to meet the tremendous need for new engineering graduates who will have the expertise to further develop MEMS technology."

In a recent report, the Keck Foundation staff listed miniaturizing sensors, instruments, and computers as one of the five greatest opportunities to advance our knowledge and understanding of nature in the next decade.

Alumnus Chris Mack, who was among three persons that Rose-Hulman sought to review the preliminary proposal to seek funding for the MEMS initiative, says students will learn problem solving skills about unique microstructure problems that will be invaluable.

"Although direct MEMS experience will be valuable to some employers in the near future, more valuable will be the basic concepts of microstructure design and fabrication that students will learn," said Mack, vice president for technology at KLA-Tencor in Austin, Texas. The company is the world's leading supplier of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries.

Because MEMS is having an impact on a wide range of professional fields, the new class is taught by a team of eight professors from five engineering and science departments.

"Students will learn that physics and chemistry influence the choice of materials for fabrication, and how tiny electrical mechanical systems can be developed for data acquisition and analysis," Siahmakoun said in explaining the interdisciplinary impact of the technology.

Chemists have borrowed technologies used in the fabrication of MEMS to develop miniaturized systems for chemical analysis, said Dan Morris, assistant professor of chemistry, who is one of the faculty teaching the new course. These systems are designed to carry out all aspects of chemical analysis, hence the birth of the micro-total analysis system or lab-on-a-chip.

"Performing chemical analyses on microchips offers the advantages of extremely small sample size requirements and superior separation of complicated samples in minimal amounts of time," Morris explained.

"Minimizing the amounts of materials and time required for chemical analysis is attractive, especially when one considers the importance of combinatorial chemistry in drug discovery and the explosion of biotechnology," he stated.

Students will design and fabricate simple MEMS devices using silicon wafers. Tiny mechanical devices with one or more moving parts can be fabricated on the silicon surface. "To enable students to understand such tiny motions, we will require them to design, model and characterize the electrical, mechanical or fluidic behavior of MEMS," Siahmakoun stated. A scanning electron microscope will be used to enable students to examine their device during and immediately after fabrication.