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September/October 1999
MEMS Mania: A Sampler
Company Goal Status Analog Devices Micromachined accelerometers and actuators Commercial products BF Goodrich Aerospace sensors Research Caliper Technologies (1995 startup: Mountain View, CA) Lab-on-a-chip for microscopic fluid handling Commercial products Cepheid (1996 startup; Sunnyvale, CA) Micro-chips for processing of DNA samples Commercial products Goodyear Tire Intelligent tires that sense pressure Prototypes Hewlett-Packard High-capacity data storage Research Honeywell Polymer actuators capable of affecting macroscale objects Research IBM Terabit data storage devices Research Lucent Technologies Components for optical communications Prototypes Rockwell Radio frequency switches for communication systems Research Seagate Technology Optical-based data storage devices Prototypes Texas Instruments Digital projection systems Commercial TRW, Caltech Digital propulsion for micro-satellites Flight-ready Prototypes Xerox PARC Microscopic controls for macroscopic systems Research Silicon Light Machine (1994 startup; Sunnyvale, CA) High-resolution displays Product development Leading MEMS projects by industrial groups in the United States. Source: Company reports and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).