February 24, 2012 — STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) has shipped 2 billion micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) sensors to date. ST reached the 1 billion MEMS sensors milestone only 15 months ago. STM recently increased its MEMS production capacity to more than 3 million sensors a day.
ST’s consumer MEMS sales grew more than 80% in 2011, totalling approximately $650 million (ST net revenues were $9.73 billion). ST’s MEMS sensors are integrated into consumer devices for motion-activated user interfaces, and for free-fall protection in laptop hard-disk drives, implantable devices and other healthcare products, and car infotainment and navigation. Future applications include automotive MEMS devices in airbags and tire pressure monitors.
ST set up a dedicated 8" wafer MEMS fabrication line in 2006, meeting the yield requirements of high-volume consumer and portable electronics applications.
ST offers micro-machined accelerometers, gyroscopes, pressure sensors, magnetic sensors, and microphones and has the capability to integrate these in multi-sensor combos with on-board processing and wireless connectivity. The company has some 600 MEMS-related patent families.
ST provides semiconductors for sense and power technologies and multimedia convergence applications. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.