MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) technology has undergone almost 40 years of development, with significant technology advancement and successful commercialization of single-functional MEMS devices, such as pressure sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, microphones, micro-mirrors, etc. In this context of MEMS technology, this paper introduces our studies and developments of novel micro/nano-mechanical sensors and actuators based on silicon- on-insulator (SOI)-MEMS technology, as well as fundamental research on piezoresistive effects in single-crystal silicon nanowires (SiNWs). In the first area, novel mechanical sensors, such as 6-DOF micro-force moment sensors, multi-axis inertial sensors and micro-electrostatic actuators developed with SOI-MEMS technology will be presented. In the second area, we have combined atomic-level simulation and experimental evaluation methods to explain the giant piezoresistive effect in single crystalline SiNWs along different crystallographic orientations. This discovery is significant for developing more highly sensitive and miniaturized mechanical sensors in the near future.

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A novel air-flow generator based on the effect of ion wind has been developed by the simultaneous generation of both positive and negative ions using two electrodes of opposite polarity placed in parallel. Unlike the conventional unipolar-generators, this bipolar configuration creates an ion wind, which moves away from both electrodes and yields a very low net charge on the device. The electro-hydrodynamic behaviour of air-flow has been experimentally and numerically studied. The velocity of ion wind reaches values up to 1.25 m/s using low discharge current 5 μA with the kinetic conversion efficiency of 0.65% and the released net charge of -30 fA, 8 orders of magnitude smaller compared with the discharge current. Due to easy scalability and low net charge, the present configuration is beneficial to applications with space constraints and/or where neutralized discharge process is required, such as inertial fluidic units, circulatory flow heat transfer, electrospun polymer nanofiber to overcome the intrinsically instability of the process, or the formation of low charged aerosol.

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