Micro-electro-mechanical systems

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are mechanical devices, which exhibit also electrical properties. The simplest and first commercialized MEMS1 was the accelerometer, which takes advantage of the inertial principle to sense acceleration. The inertial mass displacement is transduced to an electrical signal by detecting the change of capacitance between the moving mass and a fixed electrode. Several types of MEMS devices are now commercially available2 (gyroscopes, micromirrors, pressure sensors, microphones, real-time clocks, etc.), while several other are being developed (magnetometers3, energy-harvesters4, MEMS for photonics5, etc.). MEMS have also been widely used to modulate the magnetic signal in magnetoresistive sensors6. Integrating MEMS with magnetic elements can enable new applications (magnonics and more generally spintronics) and strengthen existing ones (micromirrors, microspeakers, etc.).

<sup>1</sup> J.-P. Polizzi, F. Maspero et al., “Chapter 45 – Accelerometer” in Handbook of Silicon Based MEMS Materials & Technologies (third Edition), M. Tilli, M. Paulasto-Krockel, M. Petzold, H. Theuss, T. Motooka, and V. Lindroos, Eds. Elsevier, 879 (2020)


21
Yole Development, “Status of the MEMS industry 2019.”
22 C. Errando-Herranz, A. Y. Takabayashi, P. Edinger, H. Sattari, K. B. Gylfason, and N. Quack, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in
Quantum Electronics, 26, 1 (2020)
23 A. Guedes et al., “Towards picoTesla Magnetic Field Detection Using a GMR-MEMS Hybrid Device,” IEEE Transactions on
Magnetics, 48, 4115 (2012)

F. Maspero, G. Gatani, S. Cuccurullo, and R. Bertacco, in 2021 IEEE 34th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical
Systems (MEMS), 374 (2021)

6
S. Roy, D. Mallick, and K. Paul, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 55, 15 (2019)