Enhanced vibration resistance expected to extend operational lifetime of MEMS devices

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it has confirmed the world’s first self-recovery property of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), a van der Waals (vdW)-layered material, in joint research with the Solid Mechanics Laboratory (Hirakata Laboratory) of Kyoto University's Graduate School of Engineering. This achievement is expected to extend the operational lifetime of micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) by utilizing vdW-layered materials, thereby contributing to the reliability of devices equipped with MEMS.

The demand for MEMS including accelerometers and pressure sensors is rapidly expanding, driven by the advancement of smartphone functionality, the increasing sophistication of autonomous driving and safety controls in automotive systems, and the widespread adoption of wearable devices. There is a growing need to achieve weight reduction while ensuring durability capable of withstanding prolonged vibration and shock. Against this backdrop, the application of vdW-layered materials—lightweight, flexible, and possessing high strength—to MEMS has been regarded as promising. However, producing micro-scale test specimens of vdW-layered materials is technically challenging, and testing methods have not yet been established. As a result, their medium- to long-term reliability, particularly fatigue properties under repeated loading, has remained unexplored until now.

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