Activities of the BEANS Laboratory

Achievements and Activities of the BEANS ProjectCenter, two by the 3D BEANS Center, and one by the Life
BEANS Center Kyushu, resulting in extensive publicity for theBEANS Project. The significance of the research conducted at
the Life BEANS Center also received a boost in publicity when
researcher Nobuo Misawa received the Igarashi Award for hispresentation.
(1) Presentations by the Macro BEANS Center• Thin film deposition technologies on fibers by inkjet (Akio
Mimura senior researcher; Sensor Symposium)• High speed thin film coating process on fiber-type substrates
with die coater (Norihisa Shibayama, researcher; SensorSymposium)• Structual properties of Si films deposited by plasma enhanced
chemical transport method under atomospheric pressure(Takaaki Murakami, senior researcher; Sensor Symposium)• Ejection of microparticulate silicon using mist-jet technology(Yoshinori Yokoyama, senior researcher; Sensor Symposium)• Flexible sheet device by weaving functional fibers (Takeshi
Kobayashi, researcher; Micro-Nano Symposium)• Microfabrication process of cellular structures in hollow fibershaped substrates (Sohei Matsumoto, senior researcher;
Micro-Nano Symposium)(2) Presentations by the Life BEANS Center• A consideration on mechanisms of droplet formation in flow
focusing devices (Yukihito Suzuki, researcher; SensorSymposium)• Multichannel chemical sensors using cells expressing
olfactory receptors (Nobuo Misawa, researcher; SensorSymposium)• Subcutaneous implantable blood glucose sensors using
glucose responsive fluorescent gel beads (Hideaki Shibata,researcher; Sensor Symposium)(3) Presentations by the 3D BEANS Center• Fabrication and control of InAlGaN quaternary quantum dotswith deep-UV emission (Takayoshi Takano, researcher;Sensor Symposium)• The analysis of a comb-drive actuator with the considerationof depletion layer (Shinji Ueki, researcher; SensorSymposium)(4) Presentations by the Life BEANS Center Kyushu• Thermal properties of nano-structured materials and thermalmeasurements by MEMS (Koji Miyazaki, senior researcher;Micro-Nano Symposium)

At its five research centers (Life BEANS Center, Life
BEANS Center Kyushu, 3D BEANS Center, 3D BEANS Center
Shiga, and Macro BEANS Center) and its head office, theBEANS Laboratory has been conducting R&D on processtechnologies for integrating biomaterials, integrating organicmatter, fabricating 3D nanostructures, fabricating 3D
nanostructures for space applications, and large-area
continuous manufacturing of micro/nanostructures, and has
been building up of a knowledge database in heterogeneoustechnology convergence process development. In this fiscalyear, we have so far presented our research achievements atdomestic and overseas academic conferences, including the 26th
Symposium on Sensors, Micromachines & Applied Systems(hereinafter “Sensor Symposium”), through forty-four
presentations and eight paper submissions, and haveadditionally applied for sixteen patents. In order to further
publicize the achievements of the BEANS Project, we held
seminars at BEANS research centers (AIST on October 2 andthe University of Tokyo on November 25), promoted technology
exchange with LETI of France and ITRI of Taiwan, andparticipated in a panel discussion at the MEMS Executive
Congress (held on November 4–6 and organized by the MEMS
Industry Group) to introduce the activities of the BEANSProject.
This article describes our participation in the 26 th Sensor
Symposium, where we gave various presentations on theachievements of the BEANS Project as part of our activities.

1. The 26th Sensor Symposium
Sponsored by the IEEJ Sensors and Micromachines Society,the Sensor Symposium is the largest symposium in Japan on
sensors, MEMS, and micromachines. At the 25 t h Sensor
Symposium held in Okinawa in 2008, the first session on
BEANS was held together with the Professional Committee ofMicro-Nano Engineering of the Japan Society of MechanicalEngineers (JSME). However, a BEANS session was notincluded in the 26th Sensor Symposium, which was held October
15–16, 2009 at Tower Hall Funabori, Tokyo. Still, the 26thSensor Symposium, which was held jointly with the 1 s t
Symposium on Micro-Nano Engineering (hereinafter “MicroNano Symposium”) organized by the Professional Committee ofMicro-Nano Engineering of JSME and the Symposium on
Integrated MEMS Technology organized by the Study Group ofthe Integrated MEMS of the Japan Society of Applied Physics(JSAP), lived up to its name as the largest symposium on
sensors, MEMS, and micromachines.
The BEANS Project selected these symposia as the primaryvenues for presenting the achievements of the Project, givingnine presentations at the 26th Sensor Symposium and three atthe Micro-Nano Symposium, for a total of twelve presentations.
Since the 26th Sensor Symposium featured 153 presentations inall, including invited lectures, and the Micro-Nano Symposium
56 presentations, the BEANS Project accounted for 5.9% and5.4% of the respective symposia, exceeding 5% overall.
Broken down by research center, six presentations weregiven by the Macro BEANS Center, three by the Life BEANS

Nobuo Misawa receiving the Igarashi Award6