Translational Engineering: Best Practices in Developing MEMS for Volume Manufacturing

New MEMS devices are usually invented by academics having the goal of advancing the technology and knowledge in their field. Along the way, market opportunities are often found, and then a new goal arises, to commercialize the technology. However, the initial prototype was never engineered to meet this new goal. Before a new MEMS device can be commercialized, it must be reengineered and adapted for the volume manufacturing environment. In this paper, we describe our method of "translational engineering", developed over the past 15 years, to translate proof-of-concept prototypes made by academic inventors into robust, advanced prototypes that can be successfully transferred to production.