Olympus's MEMS Foundry Service
Ryo Ohta, MEMS Technology Division, Olympus Corporationcommercialization of our AFM cantilever made it
possible for us to develop a foundry for MEMS devices.
Through the micromachine project, we succeeded
in developing various sensors and a 3D packaging
technology integrating ICs with MEMS devices.
Participation in the micromachine project allowed us
to develop such advanced technologies as structureformation using polyimide and on-chip integration ofpiezoelectric materials, which have had a significant
effect on our MEMS development.
Subsequent MEMS activities included thedevelopment and commercialization of optical MEMS
used in optical instruments and research on Bio MEMS
for the human genome. Last year, Olympus wasaccepted in the MEMS Project to develop a fabrication
technology for high-precision optical MEMS aimed at
the optical communications market. Accordingly, we
have been developing advanced fabrication
technologies and introducing state-of-the-art MEMS
fabrication facilities.

1. Outline of MEMS Activities at Olympus
Olympus Corporation is involved in the fields of
medicine, imaging, industry, and life sciences. Our
areas of business rely largely on basic optical andprecision technologies. Micro-electromechanicalsystems (MEMS) is a element technology that hasenabled us to further develop these basic technologies
in line with our goals. In April 2003, Olympus formed
the MEMS Technology Division in order to unify all
MEMS-related departments. Our division is committed
to developing the core competence of MEMS
technology, as well as new business enterprises. The
MEMS Foundry is directly linked to our efforts indeveloping the latter and is expected to yield many
developments.
2. History of Micromachine and MEMS Development
at Olympus
MEMS development at Olympus originated withresearch on semiconductor devices. Beginning around1980, we worked on developing general-purpose
semiconductor devices and imagers for use in theoffice. In the 1990s, our research and development of
MEMS was sparked through participation in the
micromachine project and development of probes for
an atomic force microscope called AFM cantilevers.
An AFM cantilever is a micro-device composed of Si
or Si nitride films formed in a semiconductor process.
The tip of the cantilever is formed of a probe having acurvature radius of 10 nm or less, the production ofwhich requires ultra low stress thin film technology.
This thin film technology differs from ordinary
fabrication technologies for IC devices. Successful

3. Features of Our MEMS Foundry Services
The Olympus foundry handles all phases ofdevelopment and production in accordance with thecustomer's needs, from consulting to device andprocess design and mass-production. We make themost of our accumulated MEMS-related technology
assets and advanced, flexible trial production line. Bymaking use of our accumulated knowledge forcustomer service, we will strive to achieve a highdegree of customer satisfaction.
Please contact us via e-mail at
MEMS_Lab@ot.olympus.co.jp.

AFM Cantilever
1991

Micromachine PJ

Interaction between customers and the MEMS Foundry

2000

Customers

Consultation
Request

4M CMD

Design, simulation

Bio MEMS

Proposal

Bi-CMOS
Began developing
semiconductor technology
1980
Optical MEMS

Analytical sample

Trial production(including process development)

SampleEvaluation, inspection

3D processing
sampleDevice sample

Mass-production
Shipping

Micro scanner
Micro factory5