Self-Calibrating Micro Machines For Hyper-Accurate Sensors on Chips
A Self-Calibrating MEMS Device Jason Vaughn Clark, Purdue University Birck Nanotechnology Center Micro electromechanical systems-or MEMS-hold a lot of promise for the future of high tech, but they also have their drawbacks, namely that they aren't very precise. That's because at such small scales there are no standards by which to measure very small forces or distances. But a team of Purdue researchers has developed a way for MEMS to self-calibrate, potentially opening the door to a variety of super-precise sensors and instruments used in everything from medicine to engineering to defense. MEMS inherit their inaccuracy from their minuscule size and the way they are fabricated. At such small size - we're talking sizes down to billionths of a meter - it's not possible to ensure that MEMS are uniform. Since no two MEMS can be reliably manufactured to be exactly the same, there has to be some means of calibrating...