Magnetic and Piezoelectric Material Selection for MEMS Current Sensor

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SiliconPro is an Ottawa-based company partnering with customers in the architecture, design and verification of complex FPGA and ASIC devices. They have developed Silicon IP in high performance Forward Error Correction (FEC) and are attempting to exploit it in the wireless and optical markets as a means of improving communication channels. The first embodiment of this technology will be a novel, low-power sensor network to be employed in power monitoring in the Electric Power Grid. SiliconPro has developed a PZT-based macro prototype of the sensor for this application and is working with MEMS industry partners to redesign it into a cost effective MEMS-scale version, similar to the conceptual design envisioned by the UofA MEMS/NEMS Advanced Design Lab (ADL). One current roadblock to commercialization is the lack of a standard MEMS process for the production of high strength, rare earth micromagnets that can be reproducibly patterned and fabricated at the MEMS scale. Similarly, few MEMS foundries have a proven piezoelectric material deposition process that can produce a MEMS-scale piezoelectric element sensitive to high frequency variations in applied strain. SiliconPro is searching for research partners who can develop solutions for these two key elements of the sensor using materials that can eventually be introduced or transferred into a commercial fab for high volume, low cost fabrication.