CAPABILITIES

 

• Glass and silicon MEMS design and processing

  • Integrated temperature control, rapid heating and cooling

  • Low thermal mass and power consumption

  • Ultra fast GC separations

• Modular electric and fluidic connections

  • Zero dead volume o-ring technology

  • Thermal isolation of active areas from contacting surfaces

• Chemical deactivation

  • Industry-leading inertness of glass and silicon surfaces

• Thin-film coatings

  • Deposition of reactive and interactive films to enable analytical features

• Industry-leading gas chromatography capabilities

  • No team in history is as experienced and skilled in achieving industry-relevant performance from miniaturized gas chromatographs

THE MEMS TEAM

 

Dr. William Steinecker, PhD

Inventor, Founder & CTO
Specialties: MEMS Deactivation and Coating

• 18 years of experience in sensors and analytical systems

• 15 years of experience in portable/micro gas chromatography solutions

• Leading expert in thin film depositions on analytical components for applications such as stationary phases and chemical deactivation

• Founder of VGC Chromatography (manufacturer of ultra-performance GC columns)

• Inventor of remote/autonomous electronics architecture, enabling all TCM equipment

• Inventor of variable geometry columns, enabling differential acceleration

• Co-inventor of zero dead volume, low thermal mass (ZDV-LTM) o-ring solution

• Experienced in wide range of mGC applications, ranging from remote monitoring in harsh environments to wearable instrumentation

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Dr. Joseph Potkay, PhD

Specialties: MEMS Design and Fabrication

• Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan under the direction of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) pioneer Dr. Ken Wise in 2006.

• Designed, constructed, and characterized the micro-columns and micro-valves for a high performance, low power micro gas chromatography (mGC) system with temperature and pressure programming capabilities. At the time of development, the columns were the fastest and lowest power mGC columns to date.

• Authored or co-authored 14 peer reviewed publications on various mGC -related technologies.

• Currently co-leading the development of two mGC -related technologies through his academic appointment at the University of Michigan: 1) a microfluidic device that harnesses advantages at the micro scale to achieve efficient extraction of vapors from liquid media; and, 2) a low power, passive MEMS-based preconcentrator technology.

• Additional experience in analog and digital circuits, sensors and sensor interface circuitry, and firmware and software development.

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