MEMS technology at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The MEMS Technology Group is part of the Microdevices Laboratory (MDL) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The group pursues the development of a wide range of advanced MEMS technologies that are primarily applicable to NASA's robotic as well as manned exploration missions. Thus these technologies are ideally suited for the demanding requirements of space missions namely, low mass, low power consumption and high reliability, without significant loss of capability. End-to-end development of these technologies is conducted at the MDL, a 38,000 sq. ft. facility with approximately 5500 sq. ft each of cleanroom (class 10 - 100,000) and characterization laboratory space. MDL facilities include computer design and simulation tools, optical and electron-beam lithography, thin film deposition equipment, dry and wet etching facilities including Deep Reactive Ion Etching, device assembly and testing facilities. Following the fabrication of the device prototypes, reliability testing of these devices is conducted at the state-of-the-art Failure Analysis Laboratory at JPL. The MEMS Group is also actively pursuing the rapid, low-cost, space-testing of its devices via a proposed DARPA/NASA/Air Force PICOSAT platform. The space-based tests are expected to provide "space-truth" for critical operational parameters of the MEMS devices that can be correlated to the ground-based reliability assurance testing. Some of the key MEMS technologies being developed currently by the group include a vibratory microgyroscope, LIGA-based devices, micro-propulsion devices, micro-valves, adaptive optics, micro-actuators, biomedical devices, system-on-a-chip, micro-instruments and packaging. Future growth areas for the MEMS group are expected to be in the areas of nano-technology and bio-technology.