Harvey C. Nathanson (October 22, 1936 – November 22, 2019) was an American electrical engineer who invented the first

MEMS Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), also written as micro-electro-mechanical systems (or microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems) and the related micromechatronics and microsystems constitute the technology of microscopic devices, ...

(micro-electro-mechanical systems) device of the type now found in products ranging from iPhones to automobiles. MEMS devices, which are made using integrated circuit fabrication techniques, are composed of small moving mechanical elements that generally range from 1 to 100 micrometres (0.001 to 0.1 mm) in size. Typical MEMS devices include the

accelerometers An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is acce ...

found in smartphones and video game controllers, and the gyroscopes used in automobiles and

wearables A wearable computer, also known as a body-borne computer, is a computing device worn on the body. The definition of 'wearable computer' may be narrow or broad, extending to smartphones or even ordinary wristwatches. Wearables may be for general ...

. Nathanson conceived the first MEMS device in 1965 to serve as a tuner for microelectronic radios. It was developed with Robert A. Wickstrom and William E. Newell at Westinghouse Research Labs in Pittsburgh, PA., and patented as a Microelectric Frequency Selective Apparatus. A refined version of the device was subsequently patented as the Resonant Gate Transistor. In his work developing similar devices, Nathanson pioneered a method of batch fabrication in which layers of insulators and metal on silicon wafers are shaped and undercut through the use of masks and sacrificial layers, a process that would later become a mainstay of MEMS manufacturing. In 1973 he patented the use of millions of microscopically small moving mirrors to create a video display of the type now found in digital projectors. In 2000 Nathanson was awarded the Millennium Medal by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for "outstanding contributions to the Society and to the field of electron devices." A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, he holds more than 50 patents in the field of solid-state electronics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathanson, Harvey C. 1936 births American electrical engineers Fellow Members of the IEEE 2019 deaths