Medical Sensors Design Conference 2018: MEMS Sensors Suit Many Medical Maneuvers

When it comes to medical procedures, routine and more involved, doctors, healthcare professionals, and patients even more, agree that minimal invasion upon the human body during said procedures is the way to go. It was not very long ago that even simple biopsies required a surgical team including anesthesiologist and the procedure involved a fair amount of cutting and scrapping. In some cases, these “test” procedures would cause complications related and unrelated to the patient’s condition, which he or she is being biopsied for.

 

The onset of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) is quickly making these techniques obsolete. One very small incision or hypodermic injection can implant a sensor that’s nearly microscopic in sized that relay accurate biodata back to a doctor or healthcare practitioner for interpretation, leading to an efficient and successful course of treatment.

 

As the demand for minimally invasive medical procedures rises, this demand will, in turn, drive demand for the tools of the trade, i.e., basic catheters and cardiovascular, urology, intravenous, neurovascular, and specialty catheters. And in turn again, these procedures require small pressure and tactile-type sensors, increasing demand for these devices as well.

 

These sensors need to be small, high-sensitivity components exhibiting a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Equally important, they need to be very stable and accurate with reliable repeatability. And, as you may have surmised, MEMS technology satisfies these requirements.

 

At the Medical Sensors Design Conference 2018 in San Jose, CA, one session that deals with the mechanics of MEMS sensors occurs on Monday, June 25, 2018 and runs from 1:50 PM to 2:30 PM.

 

The session, titled Ultra-Small Catheter Sensors and Sub-Assemblies for FFR and Other Medical Applications will provide attendees with an overview of basic design, fabrication processes, and performance features of a family of ultra-small, assembly-friendly MEMS piezoresistive sensors suitable for wide variety of applications. These include pressure sensors for fractional flow reserve (FFR) and robust force sensors for detecting contact with tissue in ablation catheters.

An expert in the field, Wafer Fab Engineering Manager at Amphenol NovaSensor Dr. Nickolai Belov will be the presenter. Dr. Belov received a MS in electronics and a Ph.D. in microelectronics from the Moscow Physics-Engineering institute (MPhEI). He has worked in the MEMS field 35+ years and his area of expertise includes pressure sensors, accelerometers, and both electrostatic and electromagnetic actuators.

 

Initially, Nickolai held various engineering and management positions at MPhEI including head of the Sensoelectronics Lab. After moving to the US, he is noted for his work at major companies the likes of EG&G, Measurement Specialties, GE, and at startups MegaSense and Nanochip. Currently he is the wafer fab engineering manager at Amphenol NovaSensor.

 

 

If you want to get down into the mechanics of MEMS sensors for medical apps, two very simple actions are required on your part. First, register for the Medical Sensors Design Conference 2018. Second, be at the conference on Monday, June 25, 2018 at 1:50 PM to attend the “Ultra-Small Catheter Sensors and Sub-Assemblies for FFR and Other Medical Applications” session.