March 13, 2008: 8th MEMUNITY Workshop held at IMMS in Ilmenau, Germany

On 13 March 2008, the 8th MEMUNITY Workshop took place at IMMS in Ilmenau, Germany. The workshop,Critical Success Factors for Commercialization - Production Test of MEMS at Wafer-Level, attracted over 50 attendees from several European countries.

Technical presentations were held by experts from universities, research institutes and industrial leaders. During breaks, knowledge was exchanged and new networks were created for future projects in wafer-level MEMS test.

The workshop ended with two tours of the IMMS and TU Ilmenau facilities: interested attendees visited the clean room at TU Ilmenau and a fully-operational Vacuum Probe Station that enables wafer-level test of MEMS devices such as micro-mirrors and RF-MEMS switches.

Proceedings from the workshop are available in the Members area. Becoming a member of MEMUNITY is free and can be done here.

About IMMS

The IMMS (Institute for Microelectronic- und Mechatronic Systems) is a state-owned, out-of-university Institute of the Free State Thuringia and a service provider for small and medium-sized companies in the field of application-oriented preparatory research for the development of products of microelectronics and system engineering.

October 23, 2007: 7th MEMUNITY Workshop held at MiPlaza in Eindhoven, Netherlands

The latest MEMUNITY Workshop took place on October 23rd at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. The high number, over 45 participants attended, and involvement of all major universities in the Benelux region showed the continued interest in wafer-level MEMS test.

Already at the beginning of the day, an integrated, wafer-level MEMS test system combining a SUSS MicroTec PM5 and a Polytec MSA-400 from generated a lot of interest among participants. The day consisted of 9 scientific and application-specific presentations from universities, research institutes and industrial partners and included topics about reliability challenges, RF MEMS, probe stations as platforms for early MEMS testing, microstructure characterization, inkjet actuators, 3-D motion characterization and pressure and flow sensors using SOI technology.

Two interesting tours were then held on the large MiPlaza campus: one of the Inkjet Application Center and another of the cleanrooms and reliabilty center. A demonstration of OCE Technology’s semiautomatic test set-up, which qualifies thousands of inkjet actuators, was made as well.

The afternoon consisted of a valuable networking event for attendees to share experiences and exchange ideas.

The presentations from the workshop can be downloaded in the member area.

May 24, 2007: Review on ZVEI workshop in Nuremberg
To give statements about long-term stability and life-time of sensors, one has to consider the overall system. Not only the micro system, but also assembly and packaging have essential influences. Specific knowledge about application related stresses through environmental conditions like high temperatures or corrosive gases is very important.

On May 24, a one-day expert workshop dealing with qualification methods of pressure sensors was held with 54 participants mainly coming from the sensor industry. The workshop was organized by the German federation ZVEI Electronic Components and Systems.

The talks given there focused on test equipment and techniques, test strategies and test experiences. All papers are available in our Member Area, but unfortunately in German only.

March 14, 2007: The MEMUINITY workshop on March 6 took place at the premises of CEA-LETI/ Minatec in Grenoble, France. Overall, it was the second time that MEMUNITY invited MEMS engineers to a workshop outside of Germany. The high number of registrations – the workshop was fully booked – demonstrates the growing interest in the field of wafer-level MEMS test. During the day, solutions for MEMS characterization, reliability, and testing were presented to almost 80 participants as well as a setup of a SUSS PM5 with an MSA400 from Polytec. Furthermore a PAV 150 vacuum probe system also together with an MSA400 was presented.

The workshop included a tour of the nanocharacterization platform with the “Microsystems Characterisation and Reliability Laboratory” and the 200mm MEMS fabrication line in clean room at CEA-LETI. This gave attendees an impression of one of the most modern MEMS facilities around.

Most of the presentations from the workshop are available for download in the member area

December 11, 2006 – MEMUNITY was giving its fifth workshop in Milan, Italy this time together with PATENT-DfMM and the NEXUS Methodology Working Group (MWG). With up to 60 attendees from research, development and industry, the workshop was held at the Politecnico di Milano (Technical University) on November 27 and 28. The Reliability and Test Workshop included hands-on tutorials and demonstrations as well as sessions dedicated to identifying industry needs, ongoing research and services offered.

The presentations from the workshop are now available within the member area.

June 1, 2006 – Parallel to the SENSOR + TEST tradeshow in Nuremberg, Germany, a conference focusing on “Measurement and test technologies for Microsystems and MEMS” took place. More than 250 people from all over the world attended this conference, during which partners of the PAR-TEST project gave presentations on the most recent achievements within their dedicated projects. More about the PAR-TEST project can be found in MEMUNITY’s member area.

April 28, 2006 – The Design, Test, Integration and Packaging (DTIP) conference for MEMS and MOEMS took place in Stresa, Italy this past week. As in 2005, MEMUNITY attended the accompanying exhibition to present applications and solutions for MEMS Test. Showing a combination of a semiautomatic probe station and optical measurement system for dynamic and static parameters, the setup attracted attention and gave everybody the chance to talk about new developments and needs in the market.

March 1, 2006 – MEMUNITY held its first workshop of 2006 in Halle, Germany. Highlights included a talk by Ingrid de Wolf about her work as the lead scientist for MEMS reliability testing at IMEC in Belgium, as well as a presentation by Holger Ross from Robert Bosch GmbH. As the presentations came to an end, an equipment demo was waiting outside for the attendees. MEMUNITY displayed the technologies of two of its partner members for testing MEMS devices. MEMUNITY is already looking forward to the next workshop, currently in the planning stages. More details about the Halle Workshop can be found in MEMUNITY’s member area.