Nanostructure Science and Technology - World Technology ...

Appendix D. Site Reports—Japan 291
bulk materials), and Professor T. Yao (semiconductor nanodevices). Brief
descriptions of these research efforts are given below. In addition to visiting
IMR, the WTEC team visited the Tohoku University laboratory of Professor
Esashi in the Department of Machine Intelligence and Systems Engineering.
Professor Esashi’s research on micro/nano machines is also described.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS
Prof. M. Esashi (Lynn Jelinski)
Microsystems by Silicon Machining: This program at Tohoku
University, under the direction of Prof. M. Esashi, is located on the
“mountain” campus of Tohoku, about a 15-minute drive from the main
campus. The program has five components and is staffed by 35
professionals. The components are:
• active catheter and piezoelectric films
• inertia measurement systems
• microactuators and thermal and fluidic micro systems
• ultrasensitive sensors and nanostructures
• semiconductor research institute
The professionals comprised postdoctoral fellows from a number of
countries, resident staff, and employees of a number of companies, including
Samsung, Ford, Hitachi, Asahi Optical, and Honda.
Prof. Esashi has been working in the area of microelectromechanical
systems (MEMS) devices for the past 25 years and over that time built up a
fairly sophisticated, albeit homemade, facility for producing MEMS devices
and another facility for characterizing them. A number of biomedical
devices have been produced over the years, including blood gas sensors, a
1 mm diameter, navigable catheter based on shape-memory alloy material,
produced with an STM tip, using a heated silicon substrate.
In the past several years there have been major capital investments into
the program, resulting in the building and equipping of a microfabrication
facility and a separate nanofabrication facility.
The microfabrication facility, also called a Venture Business Laboratory,
was constructed and outfitted with government money. Companies are
encouraged to make use of the facilities. The names of 27 companies, most
of them large and well known, were displayed in the entryway.
The microfabrication facility consisted of a 0.5 micron CMOS line for
2-inch wafers, and housed an impressive array of modern equipment,
including He-Cd and Ar lasers for laser fabrication, and laser-induced CVD.