Overseas Trends

Report on the MEMS 2006 International Conference in Istanbul
The 19th International Conference on Micro Electro
Mechanical Systems (MEMS 2006) was held over a
period of five days, January 22---26, 2006. This year,
the venue was in Istanbul, the former capital of threesuccessive empires----Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman---and a city that is still captivating today.
Despite the unfortunate weather that visited
Istanbul during the conference, the total 646
participants was on a level with previous years. The
conference also received many participants fromJapanese universities and companies. The number ofabstracts submitted this year was a record-setting 789(750 were submitted the previous year), while thepercentage of accepted presentations was typicallylow, at 30%. The 239 selected presentations werecharacterized with much originality and included 3
talks by invited speakers, 42 oral presentations, and
194 poster presentations. Despite the heavy snowfall,
the conference was enveloped in an air of enthusiasm.
Countries that gave the largest number ofpresentations this year were the United States with 80(107 the previous year), Japan with 59 (47 theprevious year), South Korea with 24 (16 the previousyear), Taiwan with 22 (4 the previous year), andGermany with 16 (9 the previous year). By region, 82
presentations were given by North America (108 theprevious year), 47 by Europe (35 the previous year),and 51 by Asian countries other than Japan (28 theprevious year). Hence, nearly half of presentations
were given from Asian countries. Of particular surprise
was the daunting increase in the number of Taiwan
presentations.
Among research institutes that gave the largest
number of presentations, the University of Tokyo(Japan) gave 21 presentations; the University ofMichigan (USA) and the University of Freiburg(Germany) gave 10 each; the National Tsing Hua
University (Taiwan) gave 8; Ritsumeikan University(Japan), Stanford University (USA), Korea Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea),
and the University of Illinois (USA) each gave 7; andthe Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) and theUniversity of California at Los Angeles (USA) eachgave 6. Presentations from other universities in Japan
included 4 each from Kyoto University, Nagoya
University, and Tohoku University; and 3 from theUniversity of Hyogo.
Broadly dividing the presentations into
fundamentals and applied devices/systems, the former
occupied 42% of all presentations and the latter 58%.
Hence, applied research remains on top. By field,fluidic, biological, and physical (sensors) applied fields
increased in number, while the fundamental fields
showed increased research on fabrication technologies(non-silicon) and actuators (electrostatic,piezoelectric, etc.). Japan also showed a dramaticincrease in fluidic and biological research, as well as
optics, and Asia in general showed a striking increasein fluidic and biological research. The United States
had an increase in physical (sensors) and biologicalresearch, although research on fluidics and RF-MEMS,
while still high, decreased from the previous year.
Europe gave many presentations on physical (sensors)and fluidic fields.
Although 92% of all presentations were given byresearch institutes of universities and the like, there
were also many interesting research reports frombusinesses. For example, Philips ResearchLaboratories gave a fascinating presentation on“Electrowetting-Based Displays: Bringing Microfluidics
Alive On-Screen” regarding a technique employing
electric voltage to control the surface tension ofdroplets in displays, while Analog Devices gave amemorable presentation entitled “A MEMS Condenser
Microphone for Consumer Applications” on producing
a low-cost silicon microphone with MEMS technology.
These presentations tied ideas in fundamental
research to commercialization.
During the conference, a gala banquet was held in amagnificent palace facing the Bosphorus that survives
from the closing years of the Ottoman Empire. The
banquet featured festive belly dancing and othertraditional dance in which conference attendees also
participated. The ring of dancers that continued togrow late into the night will not soon be forgotten.
The MEMS 2006 conference sponsored this year byIEEE has so far been held in Nara, Oiso, Nagoya,
Miyazaki, and Kyoto. It is only fitting that the next
conference, MEMS 2007, which will mark the 20 thconference, should be held in Kobe. The conference
dates are January 21---25, 2007. I encourage you all toattend.

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