IMT and Peking University Jointly Enable the Acceleration of MEMS Technology Solutions in the United States and China Markets

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.

Innovative Micro Technology (IMT), the largest provider of MEMS technology and manufacturing services in the United States, is proud to announce the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with Peking University. The agreement is intended to create a framework for the two organizations to work together on technology development and MEMS manufacturing as well as promote MEMS technology to undergraduate and graduate studies within Peking University.

MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) devices are used to create various types of sensing devices that are the “real world” interface to today’s electronics. These sensing devices are commonly found in the electronics that touch our everyday lives like smart phones, tablets, automobiles and other connected devices that make up the “Internet of Things”. Both IMT and Peking University have had intensive activities involved in MEMS research and development for many years and each has contributed numerous technical advancements to the industry.

As part of the agreement, IMT will provide scholarship funds for specific areas of MEMS research and development within Peking University, especially emphasizing MEMS processing development. On an annual basis, IMT has agreed to offer scholarships to three individual students or teams that are doing specific research in the field of MEMS technology. The purpose is to encourage innovation among students attending Peking University and to provide industry wide visibility to the benefit of MEMS processing technologies in global communications, human health, agricultural optimization, and renewable energy, etc. Both organizations share a common goal to enable the rapid expansion of the “Internet of Things” through MEMS based sensing technologies.

“For several decades, the focus of Peking University on the development of MEMS technologies has resulted in many technology advancements and breakthroughs,” said Craig Ensley, CEO of IMT. “We believe the opportunity for IMT to partner with the faculties and students will benefit both organizations and also raise the visibility of MEMS processing technologies across the entire electronics industry. We look forward to working jointly to improve MEMS functionality and manufacturability with the purpose of creating broader industry adoption of sensing technologies.”

“With cooperation with the world leading MEMS processing company like IMT, especially via IME/Peking Univ. – IMT’s MEMS processing scholarship program, ” said Prof. Zhihong Li of IME/Peking Univ., “we make students see the industrial and commercial values of MEMS processing development in manufacturing MEMS devices, encourage them to pay great effort on MEMS processing development by showing them a high-value career path to work in the MEMS IDMs or open foundries as processing development engineers after their graduations. In addition, since IME/Peiking Univ. has been doing many MEMS projects and also has been jointly developing many MEMS devices with/for commercial companies, the cooperation between IME/Peking Univ. and IMT can greatly shorten or speed up transition from MEMS R&D prototyping to commercial mass production.”

In September, following intensive evaluations and interviews of IME/Peking University’s faculty members to all applied candidates, IMT awarded three 2015 scholarships. The following Ph.D. students, who were granted scholarships are: Mr. Peng Liu, Mr. Hongze Zhang, and the team of Ms. Yaoping Liu and Ms.Lingqian Zhang. These students displayed outstanding achievement in related MEMS processing developments which achieved breakthroughs in MEMS processing and have great potential for both MEMS device manufacturing and corresponding applications. This is the first type of scholarship focused on MEMS processing development in China.

About Innovative Micro Technology

IMT is the world’s leading MEMS manufacturer/foundry partner with a diversified range of customers and products. IMT was formed in 2000, specifically to produce MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) devices. IMT’s 130,000 sq ft facility contains a 30,000 sq ft Class 100 clean room/fab, one of the largest and best-equipped independent MEMS fabs in the world. The company was built for volume manufacturing, and provides complete manufacturing services from design through production. IMT currently has > 50 customers in diverse applications, including relays and relay arrays, drug discovery, drug delivery, biomedical implants and cell purifiers, microfluidics, displays, inertial navigation, optical telecommunications, printing, various sensors, night vision, IR emitters, telephone/DSL switching, RF devices, power management, and others. IMT’s overriding goal is to partner with companies to develop and manufacture products based on MEMS technology.

About IME/Peking Univ.

The Institute of Microelectronics (IME) of Peking University is a top research and education base in China for micro/nanoelectronic science and technology. It features a complete system of teaching, training and research, replete with advanced facilities. The institute’s stature is reflected in its complement of faculty and staff: 22 professors, four professor-level senior engineers, 22 associate professors, nine senior engineers, and 12 assistant professors. Among them are recognized microelectronics experts, including the world-famous scientist, Professor Yangyuan WANG, who is a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The institute also maintains three national or ministry-level key laboratories with emerging equipments, comparable to those at other highly-regarded universities throughout the world. Every year, the institute conveys degrees upon 70 or so undergraduate students, and enrolls more than 40 master students and doctoral students.

Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) Center of IME/Peking Univ. was formed in 1996 as a part of The National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication. It encompasses fundamental and applied research on silicon-based micro/nano fabrication, micro/nano sensors and actuators, and micro/nano integrated systems. In the past five years, more than 50 high-quality research papers have been published in top conferences and journals (such as IEEE MEMS, Transducers, MicroTAS, Small, Lab Chip, JMEMS, and JMM). The center also endeavors to industrialize its research. The First MEMS Co. Ltd. innovates in mainland China through its application of MEMS technology to produce pressure sensors by batch production.

For more detailed information, please visit www.ime.pku.edu.cn.

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Innovative Micro Technology
Theodore Chi, 805-681-2852
Fax: 805-967-2677
ted@imtmems.com
www.imtmems.com