Modern MicroFab and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)

Name: Modern MicroFab and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
Rating: 4.8 (19 reviews)

The marvel of small world - circuits, sensors, and micro mechanics

Created byChang Liu

Last updated 12/2025

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Understand foundations of micro fabrication technology
Author has 35 years MEMS experience in academia, silicon valley and Shenzhen, as researchers, developer, and CEO
Understand how sensors for modern robotics and neural interfaces are made
Understand the cost and practices of modern fab foundry
Challenges faced by design, materials and fabrication to enable successful products

Course content

5 sections • 16 lectures • 3h 21m total length

Real American foundry behind the door tour by a foundry integration engineer14:35
Inside vlog tour and integration engineer share of foundry life.
Introduction10:36
Introduce microelectromechanical systems (mems) and their link to semiconductor chips, covering fabrication, micromachining, etching, transducers, sensors, actuators, and industrial applications.
Cleanroom and costs7:11
Explore why semiconductor cleanrooms cost so much, from air cleanliness and filtration to an army of lithography, deposition, and etching equipment in large, high-volume fabs.
Basic mechanics and mechanical design10:09
Explore basic mechanics and mechanical design in mems, focusing on electrostatic parallel-plate actuators, sensing via capacitance, beam boundary conditions, stress, displacement, and resonance.
MEMS foundry operations and cost24:53
Learn how MEMS and semiconductor foundries operate cost effectively, collaborating with customers to develop first articles, optimize wafer yield, and reduce cycle time in a cleanroom environment.

Basic semiconductor processes collection20:33
Learn semiconductor processes behind mEMS, from single-crystal silicon wafers to deposition, lithography, etching, and doping. Explore wafer sizes, materials, and CVD techniques shaping modern device fabrication.
Surface micromachining15:10
Explore surface micromachining as a silicon-based MEMS fabrication method, detailing sacrificial and structural layers, conformal deposition, etching, and release processes for freestanding beams and membranes.
3D MEMS processes20:27
Explore 3D MEMS processes, including deep reactive ion etching, electroplating, and gas-phase etches, enabling high-aspect ratio 3D silicon structures, 3D assemblies, and robust pressure sensor membranes.
Silicon wet etching10:49
Learn silicon wet etching in MEMS, compare anisotropic and isotropic strategies, 111 slow etch, inverted self-limiting pyramids, and robust cavities for pressure sensors; include bromine trifluoride and xenon difluoride etchants.
Gas phase etching1:23
Explore gas-phase and plasma etching using bromine trifluoride and xenon difluoride to isotropically etch silicon, creating undercuts that shape the silicon mechanical structure.
Process integration22:38
Learn to integrate design, fabrication, and materials in mems process integration, balancing selectivity, etch rates, temperature, and intrinsic stress to achieve high yield in robust devices.

High volume manufacturing and quality control7:40
Examine high volume production yield and strict quality control for MEMS. Learn how testing, wafer probing, and process metrics like yield, cycle time, and facility utilization guide scalable manufacturing.
Examples of MEMS startups and fates22:47
MEMS sensors and actuators basics3:28
Explore MEMS transducers—sensors and actuators—and how energy transfers among electrical, mechanical, chemical, radiative, magnetic, and thermal domains drive sensing and actuation.

Pure play MEMS foundry - business model and how it works3:37
A MEMS foundry is a hybrid research and production facility. It operates both a production team and an engineering team. The production team keeps lots running using run cards. Some lots are production lots and some are research/engineering ones.
There are also wafers used for calibration and PQ (production qualification).
Some facilities are more research than production (such as Skorpios), and some more production than research (such as TSMC). The production must be able to handle the volume of production runs. The lower the yield, the more wafers are need

Requirements

Freshman engineering fundamentals

Description

Microfabrication is used for making integrated circuits and micro sensors. These devices are used in smart phones, automotives, AI data centers, humanoid robots, and neural link probes. How are they made? what are the technical foundations that enable these to be made? how much is the cost?

Dr. Chang Liu was a professor for 25 years at UIUC and Northwestern. He published "Foundations of MEMS" as solo author of Pearson publishing. He has startup experience in MEMS sensors in China, and worked in Semiconductor foundry in Austin and Livermore CA for over 5 years, developing high volume MEMS products.

This course is a survey of MEMS and microfab technology. The author has both theoretical background in academia and industrial foundry production experience.

MEMS stands for Micro Electromechanical Systems, or micromachining. Think about machine shops making metal components - now think about making them 100 times smaller using silicon, and mass producible volume production. The dramatic lowering of costs of sensors and electronics create hardware revolution.

MEMS is used everywhere - microphones, accelerometers, gyro, neuron probes, microphones, printers at home, and theater projectors. They are made in silicon in semiconductor processing steps similar to integrated circuits. In the future, MEMS will be used for robotics, cars, transportation, and smart IoT devices.

In this class you will understand how people made MEMS devices - the fundamental sensors found in all modern electronics and phones. We will discuss

- semiconductor materials and their electronics properties

- mechanical properties of semiconductor materials and thin films

- fundamental processing technology of wafers

- basics of mechanics and materials

- silicon micromachining processes

- MEMS foundry for volume production

- cleanroom processing and cost

Prof. Chang Liu is a fellow of IEEE in the field of MEMS. He has extensive experience in academic and industry. He has also built products and entrepreneurial merchandise in both USA and China. Dr. Liu has a PhD degree from Electrical Engineering of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. He is an expert of MEMS bioinspired sensors.

Who this course is for:

Beginner students in semiconductor and MEMS sensors field.

Modern MicroFab and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction5 lectures • 1hr 7min

MEMS and semiconductor processes6 lectures • 1hr 31min

Technology commercialization and insights3 lectures • 34min

Case studies of successful MEMS 20251 lecture • 4min

High volume production1 lecture • 5min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: