SVTC, AMST Partner for Anti-Stiction Coating

SVTC Technologies, a commercialization service provider for emerging silicon-based technologies in areas such as CMOS, MEMS, photovoltaics and other related nanotechnologies, and Applied Microstructures Inc. (AMST), a provider of MEMS anti-stiction coatings to the MEMS industry, announced that they have entered into a partnership to collaborate on MEMS anti-stiction coating technologies. AMST intends to provide SVTC with access to its MEMS anti-stiction coatings and process services for the benefit of SVTC's customers.

"As our customers increasingly demand more capability from their MEMS production partners, the need for adding new technical capabilities is more important than ever," said Wilbur Catabay, vice president technology and engineering, SVTC Technologies. "Partnering with AMST allows us to offer our customers the advantages of anti-stiction coating technologies which improve their products' performance."

The performance of many MEMS devices suffer from a physical phenomenon called stiction, a significant challenge in the area of MEMS packaging. Stiction is the fundamental property that causes small movable devices to stick to each other when placed in close proximity. Many devices that work properly at the wafer level cannot be effectively packaged for use in real applications or may suffer very low yield in production manufacturing. Anti-stiction thin film coatings provide an elegant and practical solution to this challenging engineering and manufacturing issue.

"As a leader in technology services, SVTC needs access to the industry's most advanced technologies along with the ability to rapidly bring them to market," said Ken Aitchison, CEO and President, Applied Microstructures. "We are very excited to partner with a world-class organization like SVTC."

For more information, visit: www.svtc.com or www.appliedmst.com