Category Archives: Packaging and Testing

Semiconductor equipment manufacturer ClassOne Technology announced today that it has signed a joint electrochemical deposition (ECD) applications lab agreement with Shanghai Sinyang Semiconductor Materials Co., Ltd.  Sinyang, China’s premier supplier of ECD chemicals, is purchasing ClassOne electroplating equipment and will be providing a site for demonstrating ClassOne’s tools in the Chinese marketplace. SPM International Ltd., ClassOne’s representative in China will also be providing product support and process assistance.

“This collaborative lab will be the first of its kind in the region,” said Byron Exarcos, President of ClassOne Technology. “Now, in a single location, users will be able to see the advanced performance of ClassOne’s electroplating tools and Sinyang’s electroplating chemicals and also be able to evaluate processes. It allows us to provide a complete solution — and a significant convenience — to users throughout the region.”

“We are looking forward to working with customers on the Solstice LT plating system because it is a high-performance tool and will provide an excellent real-world laboratory for ongoing enhancement of our chemicals,” said Dr. Wang Su, Vice President of Sinyang. “The new working arrangement will also enable us to provide direct input to ClassOne as they develop future generations of wet processing equipment.”

Shanghai Sinyang is purchasing ClassOne’s Solstice LT Electroplating System and Trident Spin Rinse Dryer (SRD). The Solstice LT is a two-chamber plating development tool designed for <200mm wafers. In Sinyang’s applications, one chamber will be dedicated to copper plating and the second to nickel plating, with the Trident SRD servicing both process streams. This will provide significant flexibility while substantially reducing cycle time and streamlining process development. The new equipment will be installed at the Sinyang lab facility in Shanghai, which is scheduled to begin live demonstrations in late May. The lab will be able to plate virtually all metals except gold, and it can also cross-reference with all chemicals for comparison benchmarks.

In addition to the LT development tool, ClassOne also offers the Solstice S8, an 8-chamber, fully-automated electroplating system for high-volume production needs. These tools are particularly well suited to wafer level packaging (WLP), through silicon via (TSV) and other applications that are important for MEMS, Sensors, LEDs, RF, Power and many other devices.

ClassOne Technology products have been described as “Advanced Wet Processing Tools for the Rest of Us” because they address the needs of many cost-conscious users. The company’s stated aim is to provide advanced yet affordable alternatives to the large systems from the large manufacturers. ClassOne supplies a range of innovative new wet processing tools, including its Solstice Electroplating Systems, Trident Spin Rinse Dryers and Trident Spray Solvent Tools (SSTs).

Sensor shipments are getting a big boost from the spread of embedded measurement functions for automated intelligent controls in systems and new high-volume applications—such as wearable electronics and the huge potential of the Internet of Things (IoT)—but sales growth is being pulled down significantly by price erosion in this once high-flying semiconductor marketplace, according to IC Insights’ new 2015 O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discretes.

Average selling prices (ASPs) for all types of semiconductor sensors are forecast to fall by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -5 percent in the next five years, which is double the rate of decline in the previous five years (2009-2014), says the new IC Insights report. Unit volume growth is expected to climb by a strong CAGR of 11.4 percent in the 2014-2019 timeframe and reach 19.1 billion sensor shipments worldwide in five years and revenue growth is projected to rise by an annual rate of 6.0 percent in the forecast period. In comparison, sensor sales grew by a CAGR of 17.1 percent between 2009 and 2014 to reach a new record high of $5.7 billion last year, according to analysis found in the 360-page annual O-S-D Report, which also covers actuators, optoelectronics, and discrete semiconductors.

ASP erosion is partly a result of intense competition among a growing number of sensor suppliers pursuing new portable, consumer, and IoT applications. Sensor ASPs are also being driven much lower because many new high-volume applications require rock-bottom prices. The fall in prices is not only undermining revenue growth in the highly competitive sensor segment, but it is also now squeezing profit margins among suppliers.

Semiconductor sensors make up nearly two-thirds of the total sensor/actuator market segment, according to the 2015 O-S-D Report. As shown in Figure 1, acceleration/yaw sensors (i.e., accelerometers and gyroscope devices) remained the largest sensor category, in terms of dollar sales volume, accounting for 26 percent of the total sensor/actuator market. The acceleration/yaw sensor category continued to struggle due to price erosion and a significant deceleration in unit growth to just 1 percent in 2014, which resulted in a 4 percent drop in worldwide sales to $2.4 billion after falling 2 percent in 2013. Magnetic-field sensors (including electronic compass chips) rebounded in 2014 with an 11 percent increase in sales to set a new record high of about $1.6 billion after slumping 1 percent in 2013. Pressure sensor sales remained strong in 2014, growing 15 percent to a new record-high $1.5 billion after climbing 16 percent in 2013.

sensor shipments

Figure 1

 

The forecast in the O-S-D Report shows total sensor sales growing 7 percent in 2015 to $6.1 billion after rising just 5 percent in 2014. Sensor shipments are projected to climb 16 percent in 2015 to 12.9 billion units after a 13 percent increase in 2014.

About 80 percent of the sensors/actuators market’s sales in 2014 came from semiconductors built with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology—primarily pressure and acceleration/yaw sensors and actuator devices.  MEMS-based product sales grew about 5 percent to a record-high $7.4 billion in 2014 from $7.0 billion in 2013.  Sensors accounted for 53 percent of MEMS-based semiconductor sales in 2014 ($3.9 billion) while 46 percent of the total ($3.5 billion) came from actuators, such as micro-mirrors for displays and digital projectors, microfluidic devices for inkjet printer nozzles and other application, radio frequency (RF) MEMS filters, and timekeeping silicon oscillators.

In terms of unit volumes, sensors represented 80 percent of the 5.1 billion MEMS-based semiconductors shipped in 2014 (4.1 billion) with the remaining 20 percent being actuators (about 1.0 billion).

After dropping slightly more than 1 percent in 2012 and being flat in 2013, sales of MEMS-based semiconductors recovered in 2014 with actuators ending a two-year decline, rising 7 percent, and pressure sensors continuing double-digit growth with a 15 percent increase in the year.  Sales of MEMS-based sensors and actuators are forecast to grow 7 percent in 2015 to $7.9 billion and reach $9.8 billion in 2019, representing a CAGR of 12.0 percent from 2014.

The market for MEMS has been growing at a fast rate.  Gyroscopes and accelerometers will account for a significant amount of the MEMS revenues.  But growth will come as a result of a wide variety of emerging MEMS and will be driven by the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), where MEMS devices will replace conventional sensors, and by the introduction of new sensor technologies.  The new Semico Research report “MEMS Market Update: The New Driving Forces” projects that MEMS shipments will reach 43.3 billion units by 2018.

“Going forward, industrial and home automation are the new drivers for MEMS innovation as more devices with new sensing technologies are connected to the IoT,” says Tony Massimini, Semico Research’s Chief of Technology. “MEMS are growing in part as they replace conventional non-MEMS sensors in automotive and industrial applications. Accelerometers and microphones will account for the bulk of these shipments.  Magnetometers, gyroscopes, pressure sensors, and actuators will also have significant volumes.”

Key findings of the report include:

  • Sales of MEMS devices exceeded $14.3 billion in 2014.
  • MEMS unit shipments grew 36.6 percent annually in 2014.
  • From 2013 to 2018, Semico projects a CAGR of 28.4 percent for MEMS units.
  • By 2018, industrial will be the second largest market reaching $5.3 billion.

In its recent report “MEMS Market Update: The New Driving Forces” (MP109-15), Semico Research presents the MEMS market and forecasts by the device type and  by key end use markets.  Readers will see which MEMS are growing fastest and in which market segments.

The report also discusses the latest trends in Sensor Fusion, the use of MEMS and sensors in IoT, and collaboration among companies and organizations involved with MEMS and sensors.  The report is 52 pages long and includes 26 tables and 27 figures.

STATS ChipPAC Ltd., a provider of advanced semiconductor packaging and test services, today announced that Cavendish Kinetics, a provider of high performance RF MEMS tuning solutions for LTE smartphones and wearable devices, has adopted its advanced wafer level packaging technology to deliver Cavendish’s SmarTune RF MEMS tuners in the smallest possible form factor, as a 2mm2 chip scale package.

LTE smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are rapidly adopting antenna tuning solutions to be able to provide the required signal strength across the large number of LTE spectrum bands used globally. Cavendish’s SmarTune RF MEMS tuners outperform traditional RF silicon-on-insulator (SOI) switch-based antenna tuning solutions by 2-3dB, resulting in much higher data rates (up to 2x) and improved battery life (up to 40 percent). Cavendish RF MEMS tuner shipments are ramping aggressively and can now be found in six different smartphone models across China, Europe and North America, with many additional designs in development.

“Our RF MEMS tuners present demanding packaging requirements, including the need to deliver the smallest possible form factor in a process that protects the integrity of our hermetically sealed MEMS structure,” said Atul Shingal, Executive Vice President of Operations, Cavendish Kinetics. “STATS ChipPAC’s wafer level packaging platform provided advantages in package size, performance and scalability, and a proven, cost effective manufacturing process that supports our accelerating volume production.”

STATS ChipPAC provides a comprehensive platform of wafer level technology from Fan-in Wafer Level Packaging (FIWLP) to highly integrated Fan-out Wafer Level Packaging (FOWLP) solutions known as embedded Wafer Level Ball Grid Array (eWLB). Cavendish Kinetics and STATS ChipPAC are jointly working to utilize the inherent benefits of wafer level packaging technology to drive further RF antenna tuning innovations for the smartphone market.

“Through our successful partnership, Cavendish Kinetics has been able to implement their current generation industry leading MEMS-based antenna tuning solution. In future products, we will be able to provide Cavendish Kinetics with options for greater functional integration and silicon partitioning capabilities that are only feasible with our industry leading fan-out eWLB technology,” said Dr. Rajendra Pendse, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, STATS ChipPAC.

Consider these eight issues where the packaging team should be closely involved with the circuit design team.

BY JOHN T. MACKAY, Semi-Pac, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA

Today’s integrated circuit designs are driven by size, performance, cost, reliability, and time- to-market. In order to optimize these design drivers, the requirements of the entire system should be considered at the beginning of the design cycle—from the end system product down to the chips and their packages. Failure to include packaging in this holistic view can result in missing market windows or getting to market with a product that is more costly and problematic to build than an optimized product.

Chip design

As a starting consideration, chip packaging strategies should be developed prior to chip design completion. System timing budgets, power management, and thermal behavior can be defined at the beginning of the design cycle, eliminating the sometimes impossible constraints that are given to the package engineering team at the end of the design. In many instances chip designs end up being unnecessarily difficult to manufacture, have higher than necessary assembly costs and have reduced manufacturing yields because the chip design team used minimum design rules when looser rules could have been used.

Examples of these are using minimum pad-to-pad spacing when the pads could have been spread out or using unnecessary minimum metal to pad clearance (FIGURE 1). These hard taught lessons are well understood by the large chip manufacturers, yet often resurface with newer companies and design teams that have not experienced these lessons. Using design rule minimums puts unnecessary pressure on the manufacturing process resulting in lower overall manufacturing yields.

Packaging 1

FIGURE 1. In this image, the bonding pads are grouped in tight clusters rather than evenly distributed across the edge of the chip. This makes it harder to bond to the pads and requires more-precise equipment to do the bonding, thus unnecessarily increasing the assembly cost and potentially impacting device reliability.

Packaging

Semiconductor packaging has often been seen as a necessary evil, with most chip designers relying on existing packages rather than package customization for optimal performance. Wafer level and chipscale packaging methods have further perpetuated the belief that the package is less important and can be eliminated, saving cost and improving performance. The real fact is that the semiconductor package provides six essential functions: power in, heat out, signal I/O, environmental protection, fan-out/compatibility to surface mounting (SMD), and managing reliability. These functions do not disappear with the implementation of chipscale packaging, they only transfer over to the printed circuit board (PCB) designer. Passing the buck does not solve the problem since the PCB designers and their tools are not usually expected to provide optimal consideration to the essential semiconductor die requirements.

Packages

Packaging technology has considerably evolved over the past 40 years. The evolution has kept pace with Moore’s Law increasing density while at the same time reducing cost and size. Hermetic pin grid arrays (PGAs) and side-brazed packages have mostly been replaced by the lead-frame-based plastic quad flat packs (QFP). Following those developments, laminate based ball grid arrays (BGA), quad flat pack no leads (QFN), chip scale and flip-chip direct attach became the dominate choice for packages.

The next generation of packages will employ through-silicon vias to allow 3D packaging with chip-on-chip or chip-on-interposer stacking. Such approaches promise to solve many of the packaging problems and usher in a new era. The reality is that each package type has its benefits and drawbacks and no package type ever seems to be completely extinct. The designer needs to have an in-depth understand of all of the packaging options to determine how each die design might benefit or suffer drawbacks from the use of any particular package type. If the designer does not have this expertise, it is wise to call in a packaging team that possesses this expertise.

Miniaturization

The push to put more and more electronics into a smaller space can inadvertently lead to unnec- essary packaging complications. The ever increasing push to produce thinner packages is a compromise against reliability and manufacturability. Putting unpackaged die on the board definitely saves space and can produce thinner assemblies such as smart card applications. This chip-on-board (COB) approach often has problems since the die are difficult to bond because of their tight proximity to other components or have unnecessarily long bond wires or wires at acute angles that can cause shorts as PCB designers attempt to accommodate both board manufacturing line and space realities with wire bond requirements.

Additionally, the use of minimum PCB design rules can complicate the assembly process since the PCB etch-process variations must be accommodated. Picking the right PCB manufacturer is important too as laminate substrate manufacturers and standard PCB shops are most often seen as equals by many users. Often, designers will use material selections and metal systems that were designed for surface mounting but turn out to be difficult to wire bond. Picking a supplier that makes the right metallization tradeoffs and process disciplines is important in order to maximize manufacturing yields

Power

Power distribution, including decoupling capaci- tance and copper ground and power planes have been mostly a job for the PCB designer. This is a wonder to most users as to why decoupling is rarely embedded into the package as a complete unit. Cost or package size limitations are typically the reasons cited as to why this isn’t done. The reality is that semiconductor component suppliers usually don’t know the system requirements, power fluctuation tolerance and switching noise mitigation in any particular installation. Therefore power management is left to the system designer at the board level.

Thermal Management

Miniaturization results in less volume and heat spreading to dissipate heat. Often, there is no room or project funds available for heat sinks. Managing junction temperature has always been the job of the packaging engineer who must balance operating and ambient temperatures and packaging heat flow.

Once again, it is important to develop a thermal strategy early in the design cycle that includes die specifics, die attachment material specification, heat spreading die attachment pad, thermal balls on BGA and direct thermal pad attachment during surface mount.

Signal input/output

Managing signal integrity has always been the primary concern of the packaging engineer. Minimizing parasitics, crosstalk, impedance mismatch, transmission line effects and signal atten- uation are all challenges that must be addressed. The package must handle the input/output signal requirements at the desired operating frequencies without a significant decrease in signal integrity. All packages have signal characteristics specific to the materials and package designs.

Performance

There are a number of factors that impact perfor- mance including: on-chip drivers, impedance matching, crosstalk, power supply shielding, noise and PCB materials to name a few. The performance goals must be defined at the beginning of the design cycle and tradeoffs made throughout the design process.

Environmental protection

The designer must also be aware that packaging choices have an impact on protecting the die from environmental contamination and/or damage. Next- generation chip-scale packaging (CSP) and flip chip technologies can expose the die to contami- nation. While the fab, packaging and manufacturing engineers are responsible for coming up with solutions that protect the die, the design engineer needs to understand the impact that these packaging technologies have on manufacturing yields and long-term reliability.

Involve your packaging team

Hopefully, these points have provided some insights on how packaging impacts many aspects of design and should not be relegated to just picking the right package at the end of the chip design. It is important that your packaging team be involved in the design process from initial specification through the final design review.

In today’s fast moving markets, market windows are shrinking so time to market is often the important differentiator between success and failure. Not involving your packaging team early in the design cycle can result in costly rework cycles at the end of the project, having manufacturing issues that delay the product introduction or, even worse, having impossible problems to solve that could have been eliminated had packaging been considered at the beginning of the design cycle.

System design incorporates many different design disciplines. Most designers are proficient in their domain specialty and not all domains. An important byproduct of these cross-functional teams is the spreading of design knowledge throughout the teams, resulting in more robust and cost effective designs.

Bosch #1

Bosch reinforced its leadership in the MEMS industry in 2014 with a 16.6 percent increase to $1167 million up from $1001 million in 2013. Bosch alone held 12 percent of the very fragmented MEMS market in 2014 compared to 11 percent in 2012.

Bosch took the leadership in 2013 thanks to its design in the Apple iPhone 5s and iPad with its accelerometer. Apple boosted Bosch’s MEMS revenue in 2014 again as Bosch is the sole supplier of the pressure sensors added to the iPhone 6 and 6+. Besides Apple, Bosch enjoyed a strong growth of its motion combo sensors with Sony both for gaming with the Sony PS4 and for handsets and tablets. Bosch started going after the consumer MEMS market in 2005 when it created Bosch Sensortec. It added MEMS microphone to its portfolio with the acquisition of Akustica in 2009. Bosch’s bet on consumer applications paid off as this segment now accounted for a third of Bosch’s total MEMS revenue in 2014 compared to less than 18 percent in 2012.

The legacy automotive business continues to dominate Bosch’s MEMS revenue with 67 percent in 2014. Bosch is the undisputed leader in automotive MEMS with 30 percent market shares in 2014 and with revenue more than three times as high as the 2nd largest Automotive MEMS maker Denso.

Texas Instrument #2

Texas Instrument enjoyed a rebound of its Digital Light Processing business in 2014 with an estimated $805 million up from $709 million in 2013. The business growth in 2014 was seen mostly in the main business line of DLP business projector segment using TI’s Digital Micromirror Device (DMD). TI’s DLP business had declined from 2010 to 2013 as Epson – TI’s DLP’s main competitor with its (non-MEMS) LCD technology – won shares in the projector business. Also the business projector market suffered in the past few years from the competition from low cost LCD flat panels being used as an alternative to projectors for many conference rooms, especially in Asia region. TI won back shares in the projection display market against Epson’s LCD technology last year.

STMicroelectronics #3

ST’s MEMS business suffered a 19 percent decline in revenue from $777 million to $630 million. ST is still the #1 MEMS manufacturer for consumer and mobile applications with 15 percent of this segment. The historical MEMS business of ST i.e. motion sensors for consumer applications has been hit as ST lost its spot in the latest iPhone for the accelerometer in 2013 and for the gyroscope in 2014 and as well as for the combo motion sensors in the Samsung Galaxy S5. In this game of musical chair ST mitigated the damage however by winning 100 percent of the pressure sensor in the Galaxy S5.

ST has laid in 2014 the foundation for a rebound of its MEMS business in 2015. Especially ST’s MEMS microphone is growing very fast thanks to the design win in the iPhone 6 in addition to ST’s existing microphone sales into the iPad. ST’s MEMS microphone shipment grew more than 2.5 times in 2014 and IHS expects the Apple design win to attract further customers.

The decline of inkjet makers (HP #4th and Canon #7th) 

HP #4th and Canon #7th continue to see the revenue associated to their MEMS inkjet printheads declining. Canon saw a slight decline of its inkjet printer sales. Sales of inkjet printers were up 1 percent for HP in 2014 but the shipment of inkjet is declining since HP started the transition from disposable printheads (which are part of the ink cartridge) to permanent printheads in 2006.

Knowles #5 

After enjoying a 19 percent and 50 percent growth respectively in 2012 and 2013, Knowles saw its MEMS microphone revenue decline 9 percent from $505 to $460 million in 2014. While Apple was largely responsible for the formidable year 2013 as Knowles won a second spot in the iPhone 5S, the decline in 2014 was also related to the iPhone. Early teardowns by IHS of the iPhone 6 and 6+ reveal that Knowles was present with ST and AAC in the first batch of iPhones. Knowles dropped out of the supply chain however due to a technical defect leaving the business to ST, AAC and the new-comer Goertek. Still Knowles remains by far the top MEMS microphone supplier with more than 45 percent units shares. It is also the second largest MEMS manufacturer for consumer and mobile applications with 12 percent revenue share. IHS believes that Knowles will resume with revenue growth in 2015 as it starts shipping to Apple again.

BAW filters makers continue to thrive on LTE (Avago #6th and TriQuint)

Avago and TriQuint grew 6 percent and 15 percent respectively their MEMS based BAW filter business. The LTE band is a boon for the two BAW filter makers, especially in the 2.3 GHz to 2.7 GHz bands, as BAW devices perform better than SAW filters at these frequencies, and solve the coexistence issues of Wi-Fi and LTE. The BAW filter market is currently experiencing resurgence thanks to LTE and as the number of bands of in handsets keeps increasing.

InvenSense # 8

InvenSense was the fastest growing company in the top 10 with an impressive 34 percent jump to $332 million. The vast majority of his jump comes from InvenSense win of the 6-axis motion combo sensor in the iPhone 6 and 6+. InvenSense has also been very successful with its gyroscope built into camera modules for Optical Image Stabilization (OIS).

Freescale # 10

Rounding up the top 10, Freescale saw its MEMS revenue grow 6 percent to $271 million in 2014. Automotive continue to make up for around 80 percent of Freescale’s. Freescale enjoyed especially a robust expansion of its pressure sensor sales for Tire Pressure Monitoring Applications.

In March 2015 NXP and Freescale announced a merger. There is no overlap on the sensor side. NXP has had various MEMS developments in the past 10 years (RF MEMS switches, MEMS timing…) but nothing has come in production yet. NXP is however one of the leading magnetic sensor suppliers for automotive. The new entity will become the leading merchant supplier of automotive semiconductor sensors with a very strong positon in chassis and safety applications especially. NXP is also the leading suppliers of microcontrollers used as sensor hubs as it produces the sensor hubs for the Apple iPhone and iPads.

Reference: IHS MEMS Market Tracker Q1 2015

top 10 mems -2

With an impressive 20 percent growth in MEMS revenue compared to 2013, and sales revenues of more than $1.2B, Robert Bosch GmbH is the clear #1.

illus_top30mems_march2015

From Yole Développement’s yearly analysis of “TOP 100 MEMS Players,” analysts have released the “2014 TOP 20 MEMS Players Ranking.” This ranking shows the clear emergence of what could be a future “MEMS titan”: Robert Bosch (Bosch). Driven by MEMS for smartphone sales – including pressure sensors -, Bosch’s MEMS revenue increased by 20 percent in 2014, and totaling $1.2B. The gap between Bosch and STMicroelectronics now stands at more than $400M

“The top five remains unchanged from 2013, but Bosch now accounts for one-third of the $3.8B MEMS revenue shared by the top five MEMS companies. Together, these five companies account for around one- third of the total MEMS business,” details Jean-Christophe Eloy, President & CEO, Yole Développement (Yole). “It’s also interesting to see that among the top thirty players, almost every one increased its revenue in 2014,” he adds.

In other noteworthy news, Texas Instruments’ sales saw a slight increase thanks to its DLP projection business. RF companies also enjoyed impressive growth, with a 23 percent increase for Avago Technologies (close to $400M) and a 141 percent increase for Qorvo (formerly TriQuint), to $350M.

Meanwhile, the inertial market keeps growing. This growth is beneficial to InvenSense, which continues its rise with a 32 percent increase in 2014, up to $329M revenue. Accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers are not the only devices contributing to MEMS companies’ growth. Pressure sensors also made a nice contribution, especially in automotive and consumer sectors. Specifically, Freescale Semiconductor saw a 33 percent increase in pressure revenue, driven by the Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) business for automotive. On the down side, ink jet head companies still face hard times, with Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Canon both seeing revenues decrease. However, new markets are being targeted. Though thus far limited to consumer printers, MEMS technology is set to expand into the office and industrial markets as a substitute for laser printing technology (office) and inkjet piezo machining technology (for industrial & graphics).

“What we see is an industry that will generally evolve in four stages over the next 25 years. This is true for both CMOS Image Sensors and MEMS,” explains Dr Eric Mounier, Senior Technology & Market Analyst, MEMS devices & Technologies at Yole. He explains: “The “opening stage” generally begins when the top three companies hold no more than 10 – 30 percent market share. Later on, the industry enters the “scale stage” through consolidation, when the top three increases its collective market share to 45 percent.”

According to Yole, the “More than Moore” market research and strategy consulting company, MEMS industry has now entered the “Expansion Stage.”

“Key players are expanding, and we’re starting to see some companies surpassing others (i.e. Bosch’s rise to the top). If we follow this model, the next step will be the “Balance & Alliance” stage, characterized by the top three holding up to 90 percent of market share”, comments Dr Mounier.

Among the 10 or so MEMS titans currently sharing most of the MEMS markets, Yole’s analysts have separated them into two categories:

  • “Titans with Momentum” and “Struggling Titans”. In the first category we include Bosch, InvenSense, Avago Technologies and Qorvo. Bosch’s case is particularly noteworthy, since it’s currently the only MEMS company with dual markets (automotive and consumer) and the right R&D/production infrastructure.
  • On the “Struggling Titans” side, Yole identifies STMicroelectronics, HP, Texas Instruments, Canon, Knowles, Denso and Panasonic. These companies are currently struggling to find an efficient growth engine.

 

Without question, both Bosch and InvenSense are growing, while others like STMicroelectronics and Knowles are suffering a slow-down or MEMS sales decrease.

Another interesting fact about Yole’s 2014 TOP MEMS Ranking is that there are no new entrants (and thus no exits).

More market figures and analysis on MEMS, the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables can be found in Yole’s 2014 IoT report (Technologies & Sensors for Internet of Things: Business & Market Trends, June 2014), and the upcoming “Sensors for Wearables and Mobile” report.

Also, Yole is currently preparing the 2015 release of its “MEMS Industry Status.” This will be issued in April and will delve deeper into MEMS markets, strategies and players analyses.

Silicon Labs, a provider of semiconductor and software solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Digi-Key, a developer of electronic component selection, availability and delivery, today announced an IoT design contest for pioneering developers who want to create connected “things” that will help make the world a smarter, more connected and energy-friendly place. Co-sponsored by Silicon Labs and Digi-Key, the “Your IoT Connected World” design contest is open to inventors of all skill levels, from professional embedded developers and seasoned makers to electronics enthusiasts.

The contest runs now through July 17, with three winners to be announced on August 3, 2015. Visitors to the www.YourIoTContest.com site will vote to decide on 15 finalists, and expert judges from Silicon Labs and Digi-Key will choose the three winners. Each winner will select the Silicon Labs components they need (microcontrollers, wireless chips, sensors, boards and more – valued up to $10,000) to bring their prize-winning IoT ideas to market as commercially viable products.

“The silicon and software technology needed to make ‘your IoT’ a reality is available today, and it’s up to pioneering developers like you to create the next IoT innovations that will help save time and energy, enhance health and security, and improve the quality of life for people everywhere,” said Peter Vancorenland, vice president of engineering and IoT solutions at Silicon Labs. “This is your chance to bring your groundbreaking IoT ideas to market, enabled by Silicon Labs development tools and kickstarted by $10,000 in Silicon Labs components.”

“Whether designers are solving an existing problem or creating a totally new invention, ideas are limited only by the developer’s imagination,” said David Sandys, director of technical marketing for Digi-Key. “Winning IoT designs may include innovations like connected home devices, smart appliances, lighting control systems, wearable technology, security systems, wireless sensor networks and much more.”

To get started, simply visit www.YourIoTContest.com. All IoT designs must contain a Silicon Labs microcontroller (MCU) product. Each contestant must submit photos or a brief video overview of their IoT product design. Silicon Labs offers a wide array of 8-bit and 32-bit MCUs, wireless ICs, interface chips, optical and environmental sensors, and development tools for IoT applications, all available through Digi-Key. To help simplify the evaluation, design and prototyping process, Silicon Labs’ Simplicity Studio development platform can be downloaded at no charge at www.silabs.com/simplicity-studio.

The competition is open to contestants in selected countries in the Americas and EMEA including Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada (excluding Quebec), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Samsung, Apple and Chinese OEMs will drive revenue in the light sensor market to grow 16 percent between 2013 and 2016, according to a new report released today from IHS Inc., a global source of critical information and insight.

The latest MEMS & Sensors report from IHS, Shining a Light on a Colourful Market, found that revenues will reach $767 million in 2016, a 16 percent rise in three years (2013 to 2016).

“Between 2013 and 2015, there has been a rapid adoption of light sensor units, mostly thanks to Samsung,” said Marwan Boustany, senior analyst for MEMS and Sensors at IHS Technology. “Samsung has led the mass adoption of RGB sensors, gesture sensors, optical pulse sensors and even UV sensors in this timeframe.”

Apple and Samsung lead the pack, but Chinese firms are on their heels

In 2014, Samsung accounted for 43 percent of light sensor spending in handsets. The company spent $271.8 million on light sensors in 2014, with a sizeable portion of this coming from the apathetically received pulse sensor.

Apple is the second largest buyer of light sensors after Samsung and spent $129.5 million in 2014. Apple accounted for 19 percent of light sensor spending in handsets in 2014 because Apple uses custom and high performance parts. IHS forecasts that by 2017, Apple will adopt a 3-in-1 package because solutions that offer both the size and performance it seeks should be available by this time.

Chinese Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) represented 23 percent of light sensor spending in 2014, mostly on standard low cost components and a small percentage of high cost, high performance parts.

“The Chinese market remains a place where anything and everything can be tried as companies try to find any and every means to differentiate or at least match flagships from Samsung and Apple,” Boustany said. “Chinese OEMs are also characterized by preferring to have several suppliers for their sensors, ranging from three to six or more suppliers. The Chinese market is very competitive with price being the key element for most OEMs.”

Top sensor suppliers and new champions

Ams claimed the top spot in terms of revenue and units thanks to its range of customers and its key design wins with Samsung flagships and its spread across Apple products. Ams shipped 744 million sensors in 2014.

Maxim followed in second place. “Maxim managed to be a top performer in the consumer light sensor market, with 132 million light sensors shipped in 2014, with the majority of these being optical pulse sensors going into Samsung’s flagship devices.

The important news in 2014 is the rapid rise of companies like Sitronix, Elan and Everlight. “Sitronix has been successful at being a second or third source to a range of top tier companies, which means it can grow safely and rapidly,” Boustany said. “In 2014, it achieved about $25 million for a 69 percent revenue growth.”

Light_sensor_units_-_IHS_Technology

A team of Columbia Engineering researchers has invented a technology–full-duplex radio integrated circuits (ICs)–that can be implemented in nanoscale CMOS to enable simultaneous transmission and reception at the same frequency in a wireless radio. Up to now, this has been thought to be impossible: transmitters and receivers either work at different times or at the same time but at different frequencies. The Columbia team, led by Electrical Engineering Associate Professor Harish Krishnaswamy, is the first to demonstrate an IC that can accomplish this. The researchers presented their work at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco on February 25.

“This is a game-changer,” says Krishnaswamy. “By leveraging our new technology, networks can effectively double the frequency spectrum resources available for devices like smartphones and tablets.”

CoSMIC (Columbia high-Speed and Mm-wave IC) Lab full-duplex transceiver IC that can be implemented in nanoscale CMOS to enable simultaneous transmission and reception at the same frequency in a wireless radio. Image courtesy Jin Zhou and Harish Krishnaswamy, Columbia Engineering

CoSMIC (Columbia high-Speed and Mm-wave IC) Lab full-duplex transceiver IC that can be implemented in nanoscale CMOS to enable simultaneous transmission and reception at the same frequency in a wireless radio.
Image courtesy Jin Zhou and Harish Krishnaswamy, Columbia Engineering

In the era of Big Data, the current frequency spectrum crisis is one of the biggest challenges researchers are grappling with and it is clear that today’s wireless networks will not be able to support tomorrow’s data deluge. Today’s standards, such as 4G/LTE, already support 40 different frequency bands, and there is no space left at radio frequencies for future expansion. At the same time, the grand challenge of the next-generation 5G network is to increase the data capacity by 1,000 times.

So the ability to have a transmitter and receiver re-use the same frequency has the potential to immediately double the data capacity of today’s networks. Krishnaswamy notes that other research groups and startup companies have demonstrated the theoretical feasibility of simultaneous transmission and reception at the same frequency, but no one has yet been able to build tiny nanoscale ICs with this capability.

“Our work is the first to demonstrate an IC that can receive and transmit simultaneously,” he says. “Doing this in an IC is critical if we are to have widespread impact and bring this functionality to handheld devices such as cellular handsets, mobile devices such as tablets for WiFi, and in cellular and WiFi base stations to support full duplex communications.”

The biggest challenge the team faced with full duplex was canceling the transmitter’s echo. Imagine that you are trying to listen to someone whisper from far away while at the same time someone else is yelling while standing next to you. If you can cancel the echo of the person yelling, you can hear the other person whispering.

“If everyone could do this, everyone could talk and listen at the same time, and conversations would take half the amount of time and resources as they take right now,” explains Jin Zhou, Krishnaswamy’s PhD student and the paper’s lead author. “Transmitter echo or ‘self-interference’ cancellation has been a fundamental challenge, especially when performed in a tiny nanoscale IC, and we have found a way to solve that challenge.”

Krishnaswamy and Zhou plan next to test a number of full-duplex nodes to understand what the gains are at the network level. “We are working closely with Electrical Engineering Associate Professor Gil Zussman’s group, who are network theory experts here at Columbia Engineering,” Krishnaswamy adds. “It will be very exciting if we are indeed able to deliver the promised performance gains.”