1975, Kurt? Kurt Petersen was a young and intelligent researcher at that time. He had just obtained a doctorate in electronic engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked at IBM almaden Research Center in California. He is a member of the optical research group of the center. However, he often feels bored. One day, he wandered around a huge building complex and found a large black stain on the linoleum tile of an ordinary corridor. It is this stain that changed his life and changed the whole industry.
In order to find the source of the stain (he is also very idle), Peterson walked into the nearest laboratory. Finally, he found that the stain was formed by spilled ink. This is a laboratory that develops nozzles for inkjet printers. In the process of research and development, it is necessary to punch holes in silicon materials.
Punch holes in silicon material? Peterson has never heard of it, but he remembers seeing an advertisement about a silicon-based micro accelerator before. Suddenly, a bigger scene came to his mind: people are actually making micro-mechanical parts, all of which are only a few microns and made of silicon. Today, we call this device MEMS. Peterson also wants to be a MEMS.
Therefore, he opened up a new career path-specializing in MEMS technology, including the equipment now used to scan all mail in the United States to prevent anthrax, and founded a MEMS enterprise. Because of this contribution, Peterson won the 20 19 IEEE Medal of Honor.
Shortly after the discovery of ink, Peterson began to read all the materials he could find about the use of silicon materials to manufacture micro-mechanical devices, including various journals and magazines, such as IEEE Electronic Equipment Bulletin, Applied Physics Express and Journal of Electrochemical Society. At that time, there was no specific name for such devices, and there were few MEMS products on the market. He found that "many people in the world have made different mechanical equipment with silicon, but they have not yet formed related groups." Most people who study this kind of equipment do not know it. "
Then Peterson set about making his first device. Looking at the inkjet printer nozzle under the microscope, he said, "If there is a defect, I can see it at a glance. There are some tiny, independent and very thin silica gel columns under the microscope. I think maybe these tiny mechanical structures can move around. They may turn on the lights, and I can make a dimmer. " His research and development process is similar to today's MEMS manufacturing process. Firstly, a layer of silicon dioxide is laid on the epitaxial silicon sacrificial layer, and then the sacrificial layer is etched away. Finally, only the silicon dioxide cantilever beam is left, and the top is a thin metal layer.
It took him three months to manufacture several micro-adjusters, each about 100 micron long and about 0.5 micron thick. He took these regulators to the laboratory equipped with IBM scanning electron microscope, where a technician helped him install the wires, and then he connected these devices to the power supply and observed their operation.
"She was fascinated." Peterson recalled, "She said that she had never seen equipment running under a microscope."
Later, Peterson spent another five years making as many micromechanical devices as possible with silicon materials, including accelerators and electronic switches. He left the optical research group and entered a specially customized laboratory, which can only accommodate him and an intern.
Based on the in-depth study of literature and his own work, Peterson wrote an internal report on emerging technologies. "Many mechanical structures may be valuable to IBM," he said. For example, the read-write heads of optical and mechanical disk drives and the more complicated nozzles of inkjet printers are not of interest to IBM.
Peterson was disappointed, but he also realized that such equipment was not IBM's key business. So he revised the report, deleted the proprietary information of IBM, and submitted it to IEEE Journal, accounting for 50 pages of the whole journal. The article entitled "Silicon as a Mechanical Material" became the cover article of May 1982, which established MEMS as an independent technical branch.
The content of this paper is very comprehensive, discussing the mechanical properties of integrated circuit materials and various methods of etching this material into corresponding shapes and structures. "The article infers things that may appear in the future, such as deep reactive ion etching (DRIE), which has brought about a complete change in this field." He said, "Even today, many people tell me that it was that article that made them interested in MEMS."
"We all read this article when we were graduate students." Greg, currently the chief technology officer of Stanford International Research Institute? Greg kovac said the institute is located in Menlo Park, California. "He has played a huge role in the field of MEMS. What he accomplished is more important than creating this field, and he promoted the development of this field. To me, he is a superhero. "
As soon as IEEE Proceedings' paper was published, Peterson was invited to speak at conferences around the world, and researchers came to Almaden to visit the author. "People who do all kinds of crazy research will get in touch with me in some way, such as the researchers of microfluidic cryocoolers." He said. It seems that he became the head of MEMS technology overnight.
This field has been developing steadily in the 1980s. When Peterson's paper was published, about thirty or forty people around the world were studying this technology. By 1990, he estimated that about 600 people were studying this technology. Pressure sensors for disposable sphygmomanometers and new fuel-controlled carburetors have appeared in the market. MEMS-based accelerators have also been used in the aerospace industry. The print head of the first micro-mechanical inkjet printer entered mass production. At that time, many startups appeared, and they were eager to develop with this technology. Peterson said that the field was officially named at the seminar of 1987 National Science Foundation.
As expected, several companies contacted Peterson. Finally, he accepted the invitation and met Jim at 1982. Jim Knutti co-founded Transensory Devices to develop and manufacture MEMS devices.
He recalled that giving up the stable research work in the enterprise made him feel "nervous". He has two young sons, so financial security is very important. About $6,543,800+000 of venture capital ultimately comes from out-of-state oil investors, not Silicon Valley investors. "At that time, there were some startups in Silicon Valley, but this was not the case at all. It was very difficult to raise funds at that time. " He said.
Their team later moved to a 280-square-meter laboratory in fremont, California, and built some equipment of their own, including wafer bonding equipment for packaging and protecting silicon wafers. They signed contracts with big companies to produce samples for them, including dimmers made by Peterson of IBM. At the same time, they began to develop their own MEMS devices.
"We showed a lot of equipment," Peterson said, "but none of them were put into production." Once, a tire pressure sensor used for truck transportation almost succeeded, but the supervisor who worked with them died. Peterson believes that it is precisely because of their lack of manufacturing experience that Knut did not commercialize their research results.
Contract production makes Transensory run smoothly, but Peterson still hopes to bring his MEMS equipment to market. He thinks it's time to set up a second company.
1985, Peterson and jankowski? Janusz Blazek and Joseph? Joseph Mallon co-founded NovaSensor Company, and the start-up capital of $5 million came from Schlumberger, an oilfield service giant. Brezek previously co-founded two companies to develop MEMS pressure sensors. "jankowski and his partners have production and manufacturing experience," which Transensory lacks, Peterson said.
After the establishment of NovaSensor, it began to manufacture three kinds of pressure sensors: one for the aerospace industry, one for the petroleum industry, and one for the high-temperature pressure sensor that is not targeted at a specific market. Facts have proved that the last one has achieved the greatest success, and even the tires of the space shuttle have adopted this pressure sensor. "We found a method to isolate the resistor from the substrate by MEMS technology. We use the pressure sensor diaphragm to bond the monocrystalline silicon wafer to the oxidized silicon wafer, and then etch away most of the upper silicon wafer, leaving only the resistance. " Peterson said. He believes that this sensor is the first silicon crystal insulator device and has been widely used since then.
199 1 year, LucasIndustry co., ltd. acquired NovaSensor, making Peterson one of the "MEMS millionaires". NovaSensor's production line is now sold by Amphenol.
In the following years, Peterson's equity share increased continuously. In the meantime, he focused on fusion bonding, which required etching two wafers with different patterns and then connecting them together. This process can make very complex devices, such as gyroscopes. His business card has been printed with photos of the first batch of equipment made by this process.
When Peterson left NovaSensor on 1995, MEMS pressure sensors have been widely used in many systems, including diving equipment and HVAC control systems, and MEMS accelerators have just begun to be used in collision sensing systems in automobile airbags.
Peterson left NovaSensor without making any arrangements. Lawrence? Allen, researcher at Livermore National Laboratory? Northrup once suggested to him that MEMS devices can greatly accelerate the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which is a relatively new method to replicate DNA sequences.
A friend of Peterson's wife, Bill who works in biotechnology? Bill McMillan affirmed the development prospect of PCR. Subsequently, Peterson began to draft a plan to reduce the size and cost of PCR machinery, with the goal of manufacturing handheld devices that doctors can use in the office.
He and Macmillan had lunch at Mulan Cafe in Palo Alto. "I gave him a general introduction of my ideas, and he began to draw business plans on paper placemats." Peterson said. He still has the placemat.
Peterson's paper published in 1982 implies the possibility of deep reactive ion etching, which can carve deeper holes and grooves in silicon materials compared with the traditional chip production process. He began to apply deep reactive ion etching to microfluidic chips and sent a small amount of liquid into precise channels.
"At that time, we had an idea that we could use MEMS technology and microfluidic technology to quickly heat and cool samples to make a small but fast-responding PCR device that doctors could use for diagnosis in the office." Peterson said.
In order to realize the commercialization of technology, Peterson co-founded Zao Fu Company in 1996, and started from Lawrence? Livermore National Laboratory has obtained the basic technology license. By 1997, the company has raised $3.2 million from the US Department of Defense, hoping that the company can develop a biological weapon detector. The first equipment developed by Zao Fu Company is called Smart Cyclist, which uses MEMS structure to realize rapid heating and cooling of several microliters of liquid, and uses fluorescent sensor to monitor the progress of the reaction. It's not a handheld device, but that's not a problem. More importantly, it automates the PCR process.
Zao Fu's second product is GeneXpert, which aims to further simplify PCR. It can automatically extract DNA from biological samples and then add reagents needed for detection.
The company went public in 2000 when the technology bubble burst. Before the market shrank, "we were one of the last successful IPO companies." Peterson said.
Through the public offering of shares, the company obtained enough funds, and the team put Smart Cyclist into production. By the end of the summer of 20001year, the company had delivered 80 sets of equipment. After the first prototype was produced in February, 200 1, 1, the research and development work of GeneXpert is still going on step by step.
Then there was an anthrax terrorist attack in the United States. In late September of 2000 1 year and in October of 20001year1month, letters carrying anthrax spores were mailed to American news media and members of the US Senate, which eventually led to more than 20 people being infected and 5 people dying.
At that time, Zao Fu Company had proved that its technology could quickly detect anthrax bacteria, so it became famous overnight. "We and sanjay? Dr. Sanjay Gupta conducted a live PCR test through Good Morning America and CNN. " Peterson recalled.
The US Postal Service is worried that there will be biological attacks carried by letters in the future, so it invites all companies that have mastered biosensor technology to display their products. Zao Fu's device passed the test in 20065438+065438+February. "It works very well. , "Peterson said.
After several months of additional testing, the company cooperated with Northrop Grumman to develop a PCR biosensor, which can be easily connected to the mail sorter. This product was introduced to the market in 2003. Today, all letters in the United States still have to be screened for anthrax by the Zao Fu machine, Peterson said. Now, the company's system is mainly used for medical diagnosis of streptococcus, norwalk virus, influenza, chlamydia and other related diseases. The company has sold more than 20 tests approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and applicable to Zao Fu Machine.
By 2003, Peterson was ready to start a new chapter in his career. This time, he wants to develop a silicon resonator, which can generate a constant frequency and can be used for accurate timing. "I made part of the first batch of MEMS resonators when I was at IBM, but it was not ideal. They are not comparable to quartz crystal oscillators. " He said.
Tom? Tom kenny and Marcus? Marcus Lutz and Aaron? Three researchers, Aaron Partridge)3, proposed a better plan. "They use monocrystalline silicon to make resonators, which is the most perfect material in the world," Peterson said. "When polycrystalline materials are under pressure, they will produce tiny displacements at grain boundaries." With the passage of time, even if only one or two atoms are displaced, the mechanical properties will change. "Monocrystalline silicon will not change with time, but its resonance frequency will change with the change of temperature. Therefore, the difficulty lies in how to solve the temperature dependence problem.
Peterson, Kenny, Lutz, partridge and Joe? Joe Brown (Peterson's colleague at IBM, who worked with him at Transensory and NovaSensor) once again had a meal at Magnolia Cafe and drafted a business plan on the paper placemats. Robert? Bosch Co., Ltd. owns some core intellectual property rights, so in addition to attracting investors, Peterson must also convince Bosch executives in Germany to obtain technology licenses.
"In Stuttgart, I had a big meeting with their board of directors," he said. "I told them,' That's all I did. I started a company, and our company's equipment is responsible for anthrax screening of all letters in the United States. "Their board of directors not only approved the technology license, but also made a major investment in our company."
SiTime is a new company, which was founded in February 2004. Its goal is to transform the materials worth billions of dollars in the timekeeping industry from timely to silicon. The company's first batch of resonators were delivered in 2007. Today, the company's MEMS oscillators are widely used in timing systems of mobile devices and other electronic instruments.
In 2008, when SiTime was running well, Macmillan, one of Peterson's partners in Zao Fu, put forward another entrepreneurial idea to him: developing an implantable continuous blood glucose monitor. "People have been working hard for this for 30 years, but no one has succeeded." Peterson said. Once the sensor is implanted in the body, "the body will use collagen to isolate it and eventually prevent blood sugar from contacting the sensor." He explained.
Therefore, Macmillan and Duke University researcher Natalie? Natalie Nisski collaborated to propose a solution: using structured hydrogels to avoid foreign body reactions, and measuring blood sugar concentration through fluorescence readings. Peterson used his previous optical knowledge to help develop this product and spent a year in the startup Profusa. The company now has about 30 employees with a total capital of $654.38 billion.
Peterson said that running this company will be his last full-time job. "I just don't want to continue to deal with the daily affairs of the company. I started investing in angels, which is more interesting. "
He can't resist the temptation to set up another team. Two students from Berkeley have developed technologies related to MEMS resonators, but they have been trying to commercialize this technology. Peterson and K.G. Ganapathi joined the two students' companies. Later, the company changed its name to Verreon, and Peterson served as the company's chief technology officer to help coordinate the company's sales to Qualcomm in 20 10.
This is the third time Peterson has served as chief technology officer or similar position. Among all his startups, he only served as CEO of SiTime. "When I was at NovaSensor, the other two wanted to be the chairman." Roger, the marketing consultant of the company? Roger Grace said, "Kurt doesn't care. He is the chief technology officer. He is not a self-righteous person. "
"In the field of MEMS, people praise Kurt. He is kind, considerate and helpful. " Grace said, "There are many smart people, but he is unique. He is very modest. You will feel at ease getting along with him. "
Ganapathi agrees: "It's hard to find someone as successful as Kurt and loved by everyone."
At present, Peterson has returned to the great cause of angel investment, and the investment targets are MEMS companies, medical devices and biotechnology. He said that he has invested in about 70 companies, nearly half of which are successful, and the return on investment is 350%, which is an excellent record, because a recent study shows that generally speaking, the return on investment of long-term angel investors with a wide range of investments is 250%.
"He seems to have a mysterious power to detect promising products. The success of a product takes 3 years or 15 years, but it has a keen sense of smell in this respect. " Ganapati said.
In 20 12, Peterson joined the angel investment group in silicon valley, an inviting organization with about 200 investors. They meet regularly to learn and share information. Now, he is the head of the hardware department of the organization. At the same time, he is also a director of two companies and serves as a consultant in dozens of other companies. Every day, he meets several people who come to consult and contacts companies in Canada and the eastern coastal areas of the United States by telephone.
Peterson is 7 1 year old this year, but he has no plans to retire. "Entrepreneurs are energetic, energetic and ambitious, and it is a pleasure to deal with them." He said.
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