MEMS - Stands for
Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, and are a trend
in device manufacturing beyond
eletronics. As the name says, we
are talking of devices like
computer chips that include
also
mechanical parts and
optical parts.
Todays uses of MEMS technology seens to focus on creating optical devices with a tiny mounted mirror, that can
project light in any direction, really fast, thus being able to function as
a screen, by projecting this image in a surface, or even in one's
retina.
Existing retinal projection displays using MEMS IC's
exist today (6/2002) and are priced at a U$15000 tag. One of the main corporation
working in MEMS production and fabrications is Microvision. You can
read more about MEMS on their site at:
http://www.mvis.com/tech_more_mems.htm .