ABSTRACT
Selection of appropriate materials is critical to the success of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices (or any manmade engineering device for that purpose). Many well-known engineering failures (e.g., the space shuttle Challenger disaster) could have been avoided with a proper material selection and an appreciation for its properties. In particular, we are faced with incomplete knowledge of material properties at the micro-and nanoscales. For example, most material properties are only available for bulk materials, but MEMS rely on thin film versions, which, in this format, can have significant differences from bulk properties. Also, more so than in conventional bulk materials, the manner in which a material is processed impacts its final properties and behavior. With these factors in mind, we begin our study of biomedical MEMS (bioMEMS) with materials first and then continue with the fabrication of these devices in Chapter 3.
