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Can MEMS become an Academic Discipline?
Osamu Tabata, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University
One of the many questions that I have long been asking
myself is "Can MEMS become an academic discipline?" If it wereyou, how would you answer? Here I would like to present thebackground behind this question and my own tentative answer,
which has finally begun to take shape. I would appreciate any
comments you may have.

term. I regard an "academic discipline" as a research field inwhich the essence of various phenomena and questions
pertaining to a particular field are probed and theories
explaining the structures and phenomena therein andtechniques for resolving these questions are systemized. There
are sure to be some fields in which this cannot be achieved bysimply adapting theories and techniques developed in otherdisciplines. Taking mechanical engineering as an example, it
used to be that the so-called "3 dynamics" -hydrodynamics,
thermodynamics, and material mechanics - were the basic"academic disciplines." These "academic disciplines" centeredon analysis, and it was the vital mission of those in academiainvolved with mechanical engineering to perpetuate and deepen
these "academic disciplines." However, when MEMS came on
the scene in the late 1980s, it took the opposite approach tothat of conventional "academic disciplines." MEMS is asystemized body of knowledge incorporating a broad range ofscience and technology that supports modern civilized society.
In other words, it is an unprecedented, sophisticated system
built from a base comprising various conventional "academicdisciplines": at its core is not analysis, but synthesis(generation/combination). This complex system involving
synthesis in areas measuring several tens of millimeters or less,as a result of complex interactions between physicochemical
phenomena, is gradually showing the way to an amazing rangeof new possibilities.

Before getting into the main topic, I would like to explain
briefly about how I become involved with MEMS. I first became
interested in the field commonly known as MEMS in 1979 when
I was a 1st year Master's student. I was part of Prof. Naito's
research laboratory in the Instrumentation Engineering
Department of the Nagoya Institute of Technology, but I also
researched information processing of electrocardiogram underProf. Yamada of the Division of Circulation, Research Instituteof Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University (RIEM), withwhich our department conducted joint research. My days weretaken up with conducting animal tests jointly with medical
doctors; devising an machine language for programming thejust-released microprocessor, 8080, jointly with engineers
working for medical instrument manufacturers; and going backand forth to the computing center, my arms heavy with bundlesof punch cards. One day, when I was in the RIEM libraryreading the Journal of Bio Medical Engineering, my eyes werearrested by an article on silicon chip with multi hole active
electrodes that could be used to measure the action potential of
nerve fiber bundles.(1) This was my first encounter with silicon
microfabrication technology, and I was fascinated. This led tomy meeting with the late Dr. Igarashi, who was conducting
research on silicon piezo-resistive semiconductor pressure
sensors, and to my joining in 1981 Toyota Central R&D Labs.,
Inc., where I was involved in research on silicon micro-flow
sensors. At that time, the terms "Micro Electro MechanicalSystems (MEMS)" and "micromachines" did not exist. K.
Petersen's historic review(2) was published the following year,
and I remember my excitement as I collected and read throughall the reference materials listed. After that, the micromachineboom began in earnest with the release of the microgear(3), andas many of you will know, the Micromachine Project was begun
in 1991 under the direction of the former Ministry ofInternational Trade and Industry (now the Ministry ofEconomy, Trade and Industry). In 1996, I moved toRitsumeikan University and poured my energies into
establishing a MEMS research laboratory even as I pondered
how MEMS research could be integrated into academia. In
September 2003 I moved to Kyoto University, where I am incharge of micromachine engineering.

After much thought, I decided to clearly acknowledge thatsynthesis, which had not conventionally been regarded as an"academic discipline," was in fact an academic discipline. By
doing this, I am able to answer the question I posed initially,"Can MEMS become an academic discipline?" with a "Yes."
However, at the present time MEMS is still far from being an"academic discipline." The insight and efforts of many people isstill very much needed if MEMS is to not simply adopt theories
and techniques from other fields, but to systemize knowledge
and theories as to how best to create a system that mosteffectively synthesizes multidisciplinary phenomena in minuteareas. In MEMS, which has shifted focus from analysis tosynthesis, there are many opportunities for young researchers
who can perform synthesis without being influenced by theconventional "academic discipline" framework. One of mycolleagues, who specializes in heat transfer engineering, told methat when he recently reviewed the latest heat transfer
developments in the MEMS field, he had been impressed by theremarkable contributions of young researchers. At the first
faculty meeting I attended after arriving at Kyoto University, all
the newly appointed Professors and their areas of specialization
were introduced by the director of graduate school ofengieering. In the introduction I wrote for myself, I listed myareas of specialization as "cutting-edge processing," "nanosystem integration engineering," "micromachines/micro-electro
mechanical systems."

To think, it's been 25 years since my introduction to MEMS
in 1979. During this time, I have been frequently asked, "What's
your background?" My reply is always, "I began in
instrumentation engineering, which is a jack-of-all-trades field
including electricity/electronics, machinery, physics, control,and mathematics, so it was excellent preparation for MEMS
research." Certainly, on the one hand, the field of MEMS
research has thus far more than satisfied my intellectualinterest and curiosity. However, on the other hand, I am always
asking myself, "What is my field of specialization?" and I foundthat there was a part of me that was not satisfied by the answer"MEMS." This was because I felt uncomfortable claiming as myspecialization a field that was not recognized as an academicdiscipline.

References(1) Jun Yamaguchi. Trial Production of multi hole active
electrodes for Use with Nerve Fiber Bundles. 17 th ME
Society Meeting 1978; awarded the Science News Research
Advances Prize, April 28, 1979
(2) K. Petersen. 1982. Silicon as a Mechanical Material. Proc.
IEEE, Vol.70, No.5: 420-457.
(3) Fan L.S., Tai Y.C., Muller R.S. Pin joints, gears, springs,cranks and other novel microstructures. Tech. Dig., 4th Int.
Conf. on Solid-state Actuators and Sensors: 849-852.

Here I will use my own definition of "academic discipline"
without delving into a deep discussion of how to define the6