Jan 19 2009
New trends in miniaturized components and systems - high technologies from Japan and Korea and energy applications at the IVAM Product Market
Silicon wafer with vacuum-encapsulated micro mirror scanners. Source: Fraunhofer ISIT, Itzehoe.
New trends and applications from various high-tech areas will be presented again this year by the exhibitors of the Product Market "Micro, Nano & Materials" at MicroTechnology/HANNOVER MESSE from April 20 to 24, 2009 in Hanover, Germany. Organizer of the joint pavilion is IVAM Microtechnology Network. The exhibitor number already approaches the past year’s record level. In April 2008, 73 companies and institutes presented themselves on 1,000 square meters.
After the successful premier of the special show "Lasers for Micromachining and Microproduction" in 2008, laser technology will be in focus again at HANNOVER MESSE 2009. Additionally, IVAM will exhibit new subjects. The topic micro- and nanostructure technology will be presented for the first time under the roof of a Surface Pavilion. Also energy applications, among them the so-called micro energy harvesting for process and systems engineering, will be highlighted.
Korea, which is partner country of HANNOVER MESSE 2009, will be represented at the IVAM booth as well as Japanese companies and research institutions. Like in the previous years, IVAM again organizes the forum "Innovations for Industry", whose single sessions will be dedicated to the different main subjects of the IVAM Product Market. The latter will include numerous product highlights, which are introduced in the following.
Microsystems’ integration
Nowadays nothing works without highly integrated microelectronics and microsystems technology. Reliable and cost-effective assembly and interconnection technologies are the foundation of integrating these into products. Key topics of the Application Center at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM Berlin are integration technologies for wireless automation, high-temperature interconnection and intelligent power electronics as well as micro energy technology and solutions for the preventive maintenance of microsystems. At the IVAM joint pavilion, sensor nodes and the exact readout of RFID will be presented.
iX-factory GmbH offers a broad spectrum of services based on microsystems. As a specialist in glass and silicon or a combination of both, the company uses various technologies such as dry etching, wet etching, multi-stack bonding, wafer bonding (anodic, eutectic), powderblasting, CVD and PVD deposition, and lithography. iX-factory’s services include project development, prototyping, product conception to (series) production, MEMS foundry services and second sourcing. The combination of integrated optics and microfluidics is the basis of iX-factory’s competence in the areas of (bio) sensors, labs-on-a-chip and micro reactors.
Processing of diverse materials
The Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Materials Research IFAM shows the diversity of materials processable by micro injection molding and micro extrusion at HANNOVER MESSE. The techniques are suitable for a wide range of polymers, metals, ceramics and composites. Smallest functionalized parts with a complex shape are manufactured via these economic serial processes. The freedom of design and the flexibility of the materials open up application opportunities in nearly every industrial sector like medical technology, sensor technology, microfluidics, energy and environmental technology. Products with microstructured surfaces, which are needed for example in implant technology, can be processed by the micro injection molding of biocompatible materials.
Etchform BV offers various services, such as the production of thin metal precision parts by means of photo- and electrochemical precision etching, sample and mass production, additional surface and heat treatment, and precision mechanical as well as assembly services. The company solves technical problems of metal precision parts from standard as well as exotic materials, such as copper and stainless steel alloys, elgiloy/phynox, gold, invar/kovar, molybdenum, silver and titanium. This includes the fine line etching on flexible materials. Applications are, amongst others, casings, contact springs, cooling plates, connectors, electrode grids, filters, flow meters, position masks, shielding covers and sieves.
Microfluidics "in action"
cetoni GmbH is an expert for laboratory devices in microfluidics and lab automation. Numerous innovations can be experienced "in action" at the company’s booth: The product range includes a modular syringe pump system for dosing fluid streams pulsation-free and in nanoliter precision, which is very important in microreaction technology as well as in chemical and biotechnological applications. For dosing fluids with pressures up to 250 bar cetoni developed a modular high-pressure syringe pump system, whereas for dosing particle or cell suspensions a special syringe stirring system can be used. It helps realizing a fluid stream with an optimized particle distribution in the liquid.
The new micropump mp6 from Bartels Mikrotechnik GmbH is the smallest serial produced piezoelectric diaphragm pump made from plastic on the market. The double actuator system reaches a maximum flow rate of 6 ml/min respectively a maximum back pressure of 550 mbar pumping water at a size of only 30 x 15 x 3,8 mm³. The powerful flow performance will be demonstrated to interested customers at the IVAM Product Market. "Visitors at the fair should convince themselves of the other benefits like the improved gas bubble tolerance and self-priming behaviour of the mp6", advises product manager Severin Dahms, "Due to my present experience in customer-specific requirements, I can say that the mp6 offers the right solution for many applications in different branches", adds Dahms.