SILICON SENSORS MlCROENGINEERING: LAST OCTOBER BNF‐FULMER OFFICIALLY LAUNCED ITS MICROENGINEERING CENTRE FOR DESIGN AND WAFER SCALE PRODUCTION OF SILICON SENSORS AND ACTUATORS. IF THE CENTRE GROWS AS EXPECTED IT WILL ESTABLISH A EUROPEAN IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGY

Sensors engineered on silicon chips have tremendous development potential and are attracting considerable attention in the USA and Japan. By contrast British research and development activities in this area have been weak, even compared with the work at other centres in Europe. BNF‐Fulmer has already completed construction of a clean room with a range of processing equipment and, in expanding its Microengineering Centre for contract and joint R&D projects with other companies, the organization is hoping to put the UK in the lead of European work, filling a vital gap between university research and the large microelectronics silicon foundries.