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| ARC Fund Helps Bulgarian Industrial Companies Incorporate Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MOEMS) in Their Products |
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 Since 2002 ARC Fund is a member of the MOEMS (Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems) Competence Center working for dissemination of knowledge about MOEMS and ways from first concepts to manufacturing, and raising awareness about MOEMS and promotion of MOEMS application in Europe. The MOEMS Competence Center is part of the European Commission's initiative EUROPRACTICE (www.europractice.com) and its purpose is to assist European industries in incorporating MOEMS in their products, to help industrial customers implementing existing technologies and to develop new MOEMS components and technology for their products and systems, in order to increase their competitiveness.
A MOEMS is a miniaturized system combining optics and micro-mechanics, usually fabricated using semiconductor materials and technology. Progress has been made in guided optics devices, optical sources and photo-detectors, and passive free space micro-optics, aimed at telecom and peripherals applications. Micro-optical devices offer complex functions such as micro-lens arrays, laser scanning micro-units and spectral analysis, all at reduced cost and improved reliability. Many devices and components have already been industrialized.
ARC Fund provides Bulgarian customers with guidance in choosing existing technologies, information on the European MOEMS infrastructure, and assists them to order customized components when necessary. ARC Fund provides access to the following services of the MOEMS Competence Center:
• Evaluation and feasibility studies and expertise.
• Assistance in selecting technical solutions.
• Design house service including all available kits from the European foundries.
• Assistance for the development of technical solutions, from design to manufacturing.
• Access to available MOEMS technologies, MOEMS providers and foundry services
• Training and dissemination activity for industries wishing to introduce micro-system technology in their micro-system production capacity.
• Setting of projects
• Cost estimates of R&D projects and production processes.
During 2003 ARC Fund carried out a national field survey on the interests, activities, opportunities and contacts of relevant organizations working in the optoelectronic and micro-optoelectronic sectors in Bulgaria. The survey was aimed at identifying and analyzing the current state of industrial companies, and scientific and academic organizations operating in the field of MOEMS in Bulgaria. Over 30 research and academic organizations, and private companies throughout the country working were visited and face-to-face meetings and interviews with heads of companies and RTD organizations were conducted. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect information on the name of the research unit; place of the unit within the organizational structure; substructure of the research unit; head of the research unit; contact person; telephone, fax, e-mail, URL; main fields of interest; strategic goals; human capital; publications in the field of interest; infrastructure; successful projects and products; main problems; partnering organizations at home; potential for future development of partnerships at home; partnering organizations aboard; potential for future development of partnerships abroad; recommendations for the coordination of the research activates in the field of optoelectronic and micro optoelectronic in Bulgaria; and main customers of the surveyed organizations.
Download a summary of the MOEMS survey (in pdf)
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