In what may be a first for the MEMS industry, CEA-Leti has manufactured micro-accelerometers on 300mm wafers, a development that could lead to significantly lower MEMS manufacturing costs.

“With more than 200 people involved on micro-systems R&D, Leti is one of the world’s leading research institutes on MEMS, and this demonstration that our 200mm MEMS platform is now compatible with 300mm wafer fabrication shows a significant opportunity to cut MEMS production costs,” said Leti CEO Marie Semeria. “This will be especially important with the worldwide expansion of the Internet of Things and continued growing demand for MEMS in mobile devices.”

Leti is a pioneer and leader in MEMS research and development for sensors and actuators. Building on more than 30 years of MEMS R&D, Leti continues to focus on innovative sensor technologies.

The most advanced is its M&NEMS technology platform based on detection by piezo-resistive silicon nanowires, which reduce sensor size and improve performances of multi-axis sensors. Leti’s inertial-sensor manufacturing concept enables the design and fabrication of combo sensors, such as three-axis accelerometers, three-axis gyroscopes and three-axis magnetometers on the same chip.  This is a key component for Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Leti’s M&NEMS concept, developed with 200mm technology, is currently being transferred to an industrial partner. Demonstration of this technology on 300mm wafers has shown very promising results.

In addition to lowering costs, manufacturing MEMS with 300mm technology enables 3D integration using MEMS CMOS processes in more advanced nodes than on 200mm, and the use of 3D through-silicon-vias (TSV), which is already available in 300mm technology.

Jean-René Lèquepeys, head of Leti’s Silicon Components Division, will present the latest results in Leti’s MEMS technology R&D at the European MEMS Summit 2015, Sept. 17-18 in Milan, Italy.