MEMS on Glass: Technology with applications for fingerprint * 4:15PM, Wed Nov 20, 2002 in Gates B03

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: allison () stanford edu
Reply-To: ee380 () shasta stanford edu
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 10:15:05 -0800 (PST)
To: dave () farber net
Subject: <[CSL Colloq]> MEMS on Glass: Technology with applications for
fingerprint * 4:15PM, Wed Nov 20, 2002 in Gates B03


              COMPUTER SYSTEMS LABORATORY COLLOQUIUM
                 4:15PM, Wednesday, Nov 20, 2002
       NEC Auditorium, Gates Computer Science Building B03
                   http://ee380.stanford.edu<[1]>
                   
Topic:    MEMS on Glass: Technology with applications for fingerprint
          sensors

Speaker:  S. K. Ganapathi
          President and CEO, Fidelica Microsystems

About the talk:

Fidelica Microsystems develops MEMS products in which low-cost at
high volume is the primary competitive advantage. over products
already in the marketplace. The emphasis on cost has led Fidelica
to develop its first product, a low-power, compact, fingerprint
sensor, for production on glass substrates in factories that
produce flat panel displays (FPDs). An ASIC is flip-chip bonded
to the substrate, so that the substrate need not contain any
active electronic elements.

ADVANTAGES OF MEMS ON GLASS

The Fidelica approach has been to develop new designs that use
well-established methods and facilities for high-volume
production. By building MEMS devices on glass, Fidelica is able
to exploit several advantages over more traditional MEMS on
silicon.

· First, because the substrates are much larger, and cost less
per unit area to process, further miniaturization of device
geometries is not the only path to improved cost-competitiveness.
This difference is especially valuable in cases such as the
fingerprint sensor, where application, rather than process
resolution, determines the device size.

· Second, because the resolution requirements are not extreme,
the MEMS devices can be produced in facilities that may not have
the latest photolithography tools, further reducing the costs,
and providing volume production flows to fabrication facilitiess
that might already be seeing falling demand.

· Third, because the substrate need not include active
electronics, the choice of materials in the device is broadened,
so that the material for a layer might be better suited for the
function of that layer.

· Fourth, the optical transparency of the substrate opens the
possibility for several future enhancements of the fingerprint
sensor, in particular.

About the speaker:

Dr. Ganapathi (K. G.) has a Ph. D. in Materials Science and
Engineering from Ohio State University. He started his career as
a post-doctoral research fellow at the Center for Magnetic
Recording Research at the University of California, San Diego. He
then served in various engineering management capacities with
Applied Magnetics Corporation and Read-Rite Corporation, before
joining the founding team of DAS Devices, Inc., a startup in thin
film recording heads. DAS was sold to Applied Magnetics
Corporation in February 1999. Following the merger, Dr. Ganapathi
served as Vice President and General Manager of the San Jose
division of Applied Magnetics, with responsibility for all R,
engineering, customer qualification, and prototype operations.
Dr. Ganapathi founded Fidelica Microsystems in June 1999.

Contact information:

S. K. Ganapathi
423 Dixon Landing Road
Milpitas, CA 95035
ganapathi () fidelica com<[2]>


Embedded Links:
<[ 1 ]>    http://ee380.stanford.edu
<[ 2 ]>    mailto:ganapathi () fidelica com


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