Abstract :
Smart dust is a tiny dust size device
with extra-ordinary capabilities. Smart dust combines sensing, computing, wireless
communication capabilities and autonomous power supply within volume of only
few millimeters and that too at low cost. These devices are proposed to be so
small and light in weight that they can remain suspended in the environment like an ordinary dust particle.
These properties of Smart Dust will
render it useful in monitoring real world phenomenon without disturbing the
original process to an observable extends. Presently the achievable size of
Smart Dust is about 5mm cube, but we hope that it will eventually be as small as a speck of dust.
Individual sensors of smart dust are
often referred to as motes because of their small size. These devices are also
known as MEMS, which stands for micro electro- mechanical sensors.
Smart dust requires mainly
revolutionary advances in miniaturization, integration & energy management.
Hence designers have used MEMS technology to build small sensors, optical
communication components, and power supplies. Microelectro mechanical systems consists of extremely tiny
mechanical elements, often integrated together with electronic circuitory. They
are measured in micrometers, that is millions of a meter. They are made in a
similar fashion as computer chips. The advantage of this manufacturing process is not simply that small
structures can be achieved but also that thousands or even millions of system
elements can be fabricated simultaneously. This allows systems to be both
highly complex and extremely low-cost.
Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) is the integration of
mechanical elements, sensors, actuators, and electronics on a common silicon
substrate through microfabrication technology. While the electronics are
fabricated using integrated circuit (IC) process sequences (e.g., CMOS, Bipolar processes), the
micromechanical components are fabricated using compatible
"micromachining" processes that selectively etch away parts of the
silicon wafer or add new structural layers to form the mechanical and
electromechanical devices. MEMS realizes a complete System On chip technology.
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