TABLE OF CONTENTS In the future, MEMS devices will deal with more material handling and not just ink as seen with ink jet devices. In the case of ink jet printer modules, the fluid reservoir is connected to the MEMS jetting chip and the electrical connection is created with a remarkable pressure type connector that uses a specialized package based on flexible circuitry. But, the ink jet system is the only well-established technology for MEMS material handling chips. We need to look at other materials, different needs, and innovative design concepts. MEMS can likely perform every function and carry out every important process found in the macroworld of manufacturing. Factories handle more solid materials than any other form of matter, but fluids and gases are also important. Fluidized solid conveyance, common in manufacturing and even in agriculture, can be scaled to a level where MEMS can mimic these processes. Nanopowder technology should allow MEMS to deal with solid matter including transport through conduits. Analytical methods also sample the three forms of matter, and we can expect MEMS and MOEMS analyzers to do the same.
Design should start with a "clean slate" approach, especially for an area like MEMS that is really just beginning. But after the conceptualization stage, every attempt should be made to adopt existing processes if possible. The next level, when no process will work is to look at new processes with existing packaging equipment. Inertia to change usually has economic routes, so...
