Microsystem
Delft Technical University's lab-on-chip development has achieved commercial success with US bio-technology company WaferGen planning to produce three micro laboratories on three different sensor chips developed from the Dutch research. WaferGen will acquire licences for the patented design. In return for the licences, TU Delft will receive royalties and shares in the US company.
Delft researchers will remain involved in the further development of the technologies at WaferGen. Professor Dr IT Young, leader of the 'Intelligent Molecular Diagnostic Systems' research programme at TU Delft, expects that it will take one and a half to two years for the chips to reach the market. Applications for the chips can be found in the medical sector, the bio-technological industry and in a number of research fields such as biology and pharmacology. PhD student Ventzeslav Iordanov developed the chips at the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.
One of the 'labs on a chip' measures the presence of the substance NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), which plays a role in the conversion of sugars into energy. The second chip registers conversion of ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate) molecules, which deliver energy to cells. For the third chip, Iordanov developed a system that quickly replicates small pieces of DNA through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process that is used to amplify samples for gene analysis.
These labs on a chip can work with much smaller samples than regular equipment and measurements are expected to be quicker and cheaper. Bio-reactors will be created with a content of only a few nanolitres. Motorola subsidiary Freescale Semiconductor has developed an acceleration sensor series for the consumer market. The MMA62xxQ micro-electromechanical-system (MEMS) sensors are designed for end products or embedded systems that need to measure small forces resulting from tilt, motion, positioning, shock or vibration.
The low-gravity (low-g) range senses from 1.5g to 10g and detects movement in two directions (X and Y axes). The MMA62xxQ sensors are housed in a 6x6x1.98mm, quad flat no-lead (QFN) package that is 73% smaller in footprint than the SOIC-20 package. The company sees opportunities in replacing buttons with natural human movements to control device inputs and responses. By reducing the number of buttons, designers can incorporate larger displays and add new features without increasing overall device size.
To help demonstrate the many applications possible with the dual-axis sensors, Freescale has developed an evaluation board. The board includes two low-g accelerometers, a MC6908KX8 microcontroller (MCU), serial communication circuitry, EEPROM and a piezohorn. The board displays a three-axis solution with two accelerometers in the QFN package.
Kyocera has partnered with US-based software company Coventor in micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) design and analysis software development. The resulting software is called CoventorWare and contains Kyocera's standard ceramic packages material and design data. This enables MEMS device designers to simulate the behaviour of MEMS devices coupled with the package right from the developmental stage, reducing development time and costs. Both companies will continue marketing and developing the package library with distribution to users expected in Q3 2004.
