Cavendish Kinetics is a privately held MEMS company that has developed 3^rd generation MEMS technology. Based on technology developed at Cambridge University by Dr. Charles Smith, the company has assembled MEMS designers, process engineers and IC designers to develop applications of the technology.

This novel technology creates pristine cavities in the metal interconnect system of standard IC processes. No special processing, materials or equipment is necessary beyond what is found in a typical wafer fab. Since the MEMS functions are contained in the existing metal stack of the IC, no special handling or packaging is required. This enables the integration of one MEMS function, or multiple MEMS functions, in an IC at the lowest possible cost.

The processing does not impact the Front End Of Line (FEOL) process or transistor characteristics. It can be integrated into any process that has a metal system and is compatible with any wafer size. The MEMS devices may be placed anywhere on the die, including on top of any existing logic.

The first application developed was a non-volatile memory cell. Semiconductor products under development include RF components, I/V switches, resonators, temperature sensors, metal-based logic, light sensors and inertial measurement units.  Devices based on Cavendish's NanoMech™ MEMS platform can operate at native voltage, are ultra-low power, have high immunity to radiation effects and function over a large temperature range.