Microelectronics: Wireless Technology and MEMS in the Developing Countries

Microelectronics is the cornerstone of the information technologies that pervade virtually every aspect of contemporary life. This publication contains contributions from renowned experts and status reports on the subject from several developing countries: Cuba, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Turkey.

Microelectronics is the cornerstone of the information technologies that pervade virtually every aspect of contemporary life. Its is difficult to imagine any field of science or technology that has had a more profound impact on the latter half of 20th century than microelectronics. Microelectronics industry has been able to provide transistors, chips, and products that are becoming smaller, faster, cheaper, and better every year. As transistors become smaller, they become faster, more and more of such transistors can be packed on a chip, and thus chips are able to store and process more information. In microelectromechanical systems – the microelectronics, micro-fabrication and micro-machining technologies, collectively known as MEMS - is being applied to biomedical applications and has been used to make computer chips ever more powerful and less expensive.

Human body is the perfect example of a smart system, having sensors, actuators and brain as intelligent control. If we consider the same system at micro scale, such as a mosquito or an insect possessing similar elements, then a machine developed of the insect size and having similar functions would be called as MEMS. MEMS are intelligent micro-machines having sensors, actuators and signal processing electronics gathered at one place. Known by different names, such as smart systems, micro systems etc., these are non –biological systems but analogous to biological systems. MEMS technology has revolutionized every field by bringing together silicon based microelectronics and micro-machining technologies. It is the general impression that MEMS technology will transform our present day life in a similar way as computers did to us in last decade. The next revolution in silicon technology would be in the direction of the development of MEMS and this would be in the direction of the development of MEMS and would be different from the previous transformation, which aimed at only the packaging of more transistors onto the silicon chip. The power of the chips will not be restricted to merely storing and processing the information. Currently the incorporation of new type of functionality on the chip is making the structures to sense, act and communicate as well. This is making a chip to have ability to acquire information from the surroundings and communicate what it knows.

Recently developed Nanotechnology has given big hopes to yield many new structures, which will lead to the new revolution. Technology has been developed to make nano-structures by building up atoms and molecules using bottom up approach and the functionality developed in these have been studied from the materials point of view. MEMS technologies can make it possible to achieve the applications of these nanomaterials by combining the functionality of these nanomaterials with micron size devices.
The volume contains contributions from renowned experts and status reports on the subject from several developing countries, viz. Cuba, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Turkey. The compiled information will facilitate the developing countries in working out appropriate plans and strategies to exploit new technologies and research results for prosperity of masses. It will be highly useful for many others as well as will be useful in networking among different countries.

Microelectronics: Wireless Technology and MEMS in the Developing Countries
Editor: Dr. V.K. Jain
Published By: Centre for Science & Technology of Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre)
Year of Publication: 2006
Price: Rs. 750/US $ 36 ISBN: 81-7035-444-7

Published: 15 Apr 2007

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Centre for Science & Technology of Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre), Core 6A, 2nd Floor, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110003, INDIA

(+91)(11) 24645134/24644974 (O)
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