Category Archives: Packaging and Testing

The international technology group SCHOTT is expanding its HermeS wafers with hermetically sealed, solid through glass vias (TGV) into MEMS applications. HermeS glass substrates are fully gastight, and therefore enable long-term, robust enclosures for MEMS devices. The fine-pitched vias reliably conduct electrical signals and guide power into and out of the MEMS device. Since HermeS glass can be placed directly under the silicon MEMS, it makes miniaturized, fully hermetic 3-D wafer-level chip-size packaging (WLCSP) possible. Thanks to its extremely high reliability, HermeS wafers provide advantages for MEMS devices used in industrial, medical, and radio-frequency (RF) applications.

MEMS-powered devices and sensors must function perfectly over long periods of time, even when they are exposed to extremely harsh environments, such as pressure sensors in corrosive industrial production lines. The reliability and performance of the MEMS device depends on the long-term robustness of the MEMS packaging technology. SCHOTT’s HermeS solution with TGV offers several customer advantages over other technologies, such as through silicon vias or hermetic ceramic packaging, due to glass’ superior material characteristics compared to silicon or ceramics.

First, due to the higher mechanical, thermal, and chemical resistance of glass, the packaging is especially reliable, leading to long-term performance of the MEMS device. Second, thanks to the low dielectric constant of glass and the ability to use highly conductive via materials, HermeS wafer packaging also offers excellent RF performance. Finally, the optical transparency of the glass wafer enables better processing and quality control during the production process of a MEMS device.

“Based on the key features of our material, SCHOTT identified three major applications in which the HermeS TGV substrates offer significant advantages over competitive solutions,” said Yutaka Onezawa, Sales Manager for HermeS at SCHOTT Electronic Packaging. When used in industrial hermetic MEMS sensors, HermeS glass wafers enable long-term, reliable, and extremely rugged packaging of industrial sensors. Equipped with SCHOTT’s product, medical electronics can be packaged robustly to withstand body fluids and sterilization cycles over long periods of time. For RF MEMS, HermeS wafers provide superior RF properties through absolute hermeticity in an extremely miniaturized design.

SCHOTT’s HermeS TGV substrates also allow for the miniaturization of MEMS-powered devices, a reduction in package die size, and a more compact design. The footprint can be reduced by up to 80 percent compared to conventional ceramic packaging.

“We are also able to apply state-of-the-art, wafer-scale bonding, such as anodic bonding with silicon, glass frit, and solder. Thanks to our vast competencies, our customers can rely on a complete packaged solution with a total cost-of-ownership advantage regarding yield and process reduction,” added Onezawa.

SCHOTT offers HermeS TGV substrates made from three proprietary glass types: BOROFLOAT 33 floated borosilicate glass, AF32 eco alkali-free flat glass, and D263 T eco borosilicate glass. HermeS TGV substrates are one example of how SCHOTT’s 130 years of expertise in special-purpose glass and 70 years of experience in electronic packaging help guide the development and production of the company’s new products.

Holst Centre, set up by the Belgian nanoelectronics research center imec and the Dutch research institute TNO, and Cartamundi NV have announced a collaboration to develop ultra-thin flexible near field communication (NFC) tags. The partners will develop these new NFC tags using metal-oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) technology on plastic film. The flexible chips will be integrated into game cards as a part of Cartamundi’s larger strategy of developing game cards for the connected generation.

Holst Centre, imec and Cartamundi engineers will look into NFC circuit design and TFT processing options, and will investigate routes for up-scaling of the production. By realizing the NFC tags using chips based on IGZO TFT technology on plastic film, the manufacturing cost can be kept low. Moreover, the ultra-thin and flexible form factor required for paper-embedded NFC applications can be realized.

Currently, Cartamundi NV embeds silicon-based NFC chips in their game cards, connecting traditional game play with electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets. The advanced IGZO TFT technology that will be used addresses the game card industry call for much thinner, more flexible and virtually unbreakable NFC chips. Such chips are essential to improve and broaden the applicability of interactive technology for game cards, compared to the currently-used silicon based NFC chips. Next to technical specifications, this next-generation of NFC tags will better balance manufacturing cost and additional functionalities.

Chris Van Doorslaer, CEO of Cartamundi, explains: “Cartamundi is committed to creating products that connect families and friends of every generation to enhance the valuable quality time they share during the day. With Holst Centre’s and imec’s thin-film and nano-electronics expertise, we’re connecting the physical with the digital which will enable lightweight smart devices with additional value and content for consumers.”

“Not only will Cartamundi be working on the NFC chip of the future, but it will also reinvent the industry’s standards in assembly process and the conversion into game cards,” says  Steven Nietvelt, chief innovation and marketing officer at Cartamundi. “All of this is part of an ongoing process of technological innovation inside Cartamundi. I am glad our innovation engineers will collaborate with the strongest technological researchers and developers in the field at imec and Holst Centre. We are going to need all expertise on board. Because basically what we are creating is game-changing technology.”

“Imec and Holst Centre aim to shape the future and our collaboration with Cartamundi  will do so for the future of gaming technology and connected devices,” says Paul Heremans, Department Director Thin Film Electronics at imec and Technology Director at the Holst Centre. “Chip technology has penetrated society’s daily life right down to game cards. We are excited to work with Cartamundi to improve the personal experience that gaming delivers.”

mCube, provider of the world’s smallest MEMS motion sensors, today announced the company secured three awards at last week’s MEMS Executive Congress for its significant innovations in MEMS and sensors. Based on online votes from colleagues, partners, suppliers and customers, mCube was named “MEMS Start-Up of the Year” and its leading accelerometers secured runner up for “Best MEMS/Sensor Device of the Year.” In addition, mCube’s iGyro, the industry’s first software-based gyroscope, took first place in the MEMS & Sensors Technology Showcase, where six finalists competed on stage and were voted on by conference attendees.

Named MEMS Start-Up of the Year

mCube was honored as the “MEMS Start-Up the Year” in the second annual “Best in MEMS and Sensors Innovation Awards” celebrating innovation in the MEMS and sensors industry. These awards are granted to individuals, organizations and businesses that have made a positive and substantive impact on the world through their MEMS and sensors technology, and are selected via online votes by colleagues, partners, suppliers, and customers.

mCube took first place in the 4th Annual MEMS/Sensors Technology Showcase, a live demo where six finalists competed for attendees’ votes and the title of “winner.” As part of the showcase, mCube demonstrated the industry’s first software-based gyroscope optimized for Android smartphones and tablets. By enabling “virtual” gyroscope functionality on all mobile devices, mCube’s iGyro delivers immersive, 9DoF (9 Degrees of Freedom) motion gaming and augmented reality experiences to phone and tablet users, while halving the power, cost and board space compared to hardware-based discrete solutions.

With more than 70 million units of its leading accelerometers shipped, mCube was voted runner up for the “Best MEMS/Sensor Device of the Year.” The award is granted to individuals, organizations and businesses that have impacted the world with its MEMS and sensor technology, and highlights the rapid success mCube has made since its inception in 2009.

Cavendish Kinetics, the provider of high-performance RF MEMS tuning solutions for mobile and wearable devices, today announced the closing of a $7 million funding round as well as the appointment of Gilles Delfassy to its board of directors. The round was co-led by Tallwood Venture Capital and Wellington Partners, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures and other existing investors.

The funding will be used to support Cavendish’s growing number of customer design-wins, following Cavendish’s first commercial product launch earlier this year. The nubia Z7 LTE smartphone for China Mobile uses Cavendish’s RF MEMS tuner to exceed China Mobile’s radio performance requirements for the 2GHz LTE frequency bands.

“The explosive growth of smartphones and wireless network traffic is driving the use of additional spectrum, which traditional smartphones cannot support efficiently. Cavendish’s innovative RF MEMS solutions are dramatically improving smartphone connection speed and battery life over the entire LTE spectrum, resolving this conundrum.” said Paul Dal Santo, CEO of Cavendish Kinetics. “The continued support of our investors and the addition of industry veteran Gilles Delfassy to our board is a strong endorsement of our roadmap and achievements thus far.”

Gilles Delfassy is a highly experienced and respected expert in the semiconductor and mobile/wireless industry. He began his career with Texas Instruments, where he created and built the company’s wireless business, which has helped to shape the industry. He has also served as president and CEO of ANADIGICS and ST-Ericsson.

“The growth opportunities for Cavendish are very exciting as the wireless industry is beginning to push for better radio performance,” said Delfassy. “Cavendish solutions have the potential to disrupt the LTE RF component market by significantly improving signal strength, data throughput and battery life of mobile devices.”

Sand 9, Inc., a developer of piezoelectric micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) timing products for wireless and wired applications, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted the company a core patent based on the use of piezoelectric MEMS for a wafer-level, chip-scale packaged (WLCSP) microphone (US20140084395 A1).

Today, most microphones are condenser microphones, which typically feature a fixed electrode (back plate) in close proximity to a moveable electrode (diaphragm). The back plate is usually rigid and is necessary because condenser microphones use electrostatic (i.e., capacitive) transduction between the diaphragm and the back plate to convert acoustic pressure into an electrical signal.

Condenser microphones typically use a small gap between the respective electrodes to achieve high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), frequently resulting in reliability challenges such as stiction. Such a small gap can also degrade the thermal-mechanical noise performance by damping the overall mechanical structure. Moreover, a DC bias between the electrodes is normally required to enable capacitive detection of motion, which can be a significant source of power consumption.

In contrast, piezoelectric MEMS microphones offer high electromechanical coupling compared with electrostatic transduction, enabling improved SNR with lower power consumption. Piezoelectric MEMS structures are not susceptible to stiction from particles or other contaminants, resulting in a significantly higher quality product for OEMs. Finally, piezoelectric MEMS can be implemented in WLCSP with through-silicon-vias (TSVs) to support both top and bottom port configurations with matched performance in the smallest package size.

“We are delighted to receive this latest patent,” said Sand 9’s CEO, Vince Graziani. “This brings our total number of issued patents to 52, covering an array of piezoelectric MEMS products including timing devices, microphones, and gyroscopes. It validates our belief that piezoelectric MEMS technology offers significant advantages over traditional electrostatic technology to enable higher levels of performance and quality in an ultra-small form factor.”

MEMS Executive Congress — Karen Lightman, executive director of MEMS Industry Group (MIG), today announced the first open-source algorithm cooperative, Accelerated Innovation Community (AIC), during her opening remarks at MEMS Executive Congress US 2014.

Facilitated by MIG with support and innovation from inaugural AIC member, Freescale Semiconductor, the purpose of AIC is to reduce time-to-market, startup costs, risk and barriers-to-entry by encouraging inputs and collaboration from across the MEMS/sensors supply chain.

“When companies are developing products that use MEMS/sensors, they often have to develop algorithms from scratch. This inhibits innovation by compelling designers to reinvent the wheel on common algorithms every time they want to add or change functionality in their product,” said Karen Lightman, executive director, MEMS Industry Group. “Giving them access to an open-source library of introductory algorithms fundamentally changes the development paradigm. Product designers can use field-proven, open-source algorithms supplied by MIG member companies to jumpstart their development process, enabling them to gain all the benefits of MEMS/sensors that much faster.”

Steve Whalley, chief strategy officer at MIG and a former director of sensors at Intel, foresees the evolution of AIC: “Freescale played the role of catalyst in first realizing AIC, and we have been working closely with them to launch the MIG Open Source Sensor Fusion site. The site already includes open-source algorithms from Freescale, including C source library for 3-, 6- and 9-axis sensor fusion. Freescale will continue to populate the site over the coming months.”

Whalley added that MIG is already seeing more industry support for AIC: “Analog Devices, Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center (BSAC), Carnegie Mellon University, Kionix, and NISThave already come on board, and PNI Sensor Corp. will contribute three algorithms: quaternion to heading pitch and roll; heart rate monitoring using PPG sensor; and step counting. We also fully expect other MIG member companies to add further algorithms to AIC over the next 30 to 60 days, providing a rich baseline algorithm capability to assist developers with sensor fusion solutions.”

Propelled by the race between Apple and Samsung to enhance their mobile products with cutting-edge sensor technology, the market for sensors in cellphones and tablets is set to nearly triple from 2012 through 2018, according to IHS Technology.

Worldwide market revenue for sensors used in mobile handsets and media tablets will rise to $6.5 billion in 2018, up from $2.3 billion in 2012, as presented in the figure below. The fastest-expanding portion of the mobile sensor segment will be emerging devices, whose revenue will surge to $2.3 billion in 2018, up from just $24 million in 2012. In 2013, this segment posted dramatic growth, with revenue rising to more than $500 million.

2014-10-21_Sensors

“The next wave of sensor technology in smartphones and tablets has arrived,” said Marwan Boustany, IHS senior analyst for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors. “Led by Apple and Samsung, the mobile market is moving beyond simply integrating established devices like motion sensors and now is including next-generation features like fingerprint and environment/health sensors. Adoption of these newer devices will drive the expansion of the mobile sensor device market in the coming years.”

Established sensors in mobile devices include motion sensors, light sensors and MEMS microphones. Emerging sensors consist of new devices including fingerprint, optical pulse, humidity, gas, ultraviolet (UV) and thermal imaging.

Information in this media release is contained in the new IHS Technology report entitled Emerging Sensors in Handsets & Tablets Report – 2014 from the Semiconductors & Components service.

Heightened sensors

Apple initiated the market for fingerprint sensors in mobile devices with the release of the iPhone 5s in 2013.

“Fingerprint sensors have arrived in force. IHS forecasts that shipments of fingerprint-enabled devices will reach 1.4 billion units in 2020,” Boustany said. “This is more than four times the 317 million units expected to be shipped by the end of 2014.”

The fingerprint sensor market is beginning to gain traction at other companies outside of Apple. New devices with fingerprint sensors include Samsung’s flagship model—the Galaxy S5—and Huawei’s top-of-the-line smartphone, the Ascend Mate 7, both of which began shipping in 2014.

For its part, Samsung has pioneered the deployment of other devices, including environmental and health sensors in the flagship models introduced by the company during the last 18 months. Samsung rolled out a humidity sensor in the Galaxy S4, a pulse sensor in the Galaxy S5 and a UV sensor in the Note 4.

Asian sensation

Fingerprint sensors play a key role in mobile payment services, providing authentication for systems like Apple Pay. Other banks and financial institutions, including Visa, MasterCard and PayPal are also working to support mobile payments and biometric authentication.

“This fingerprint market has all its requirements for success converging at the right time,” Boustany said.

Mobile payment services are expected to gain popularity not just in Europe and North America, but also in Asia.

With the increasing demand for sensor technology in Asia, IHS expects Chinese smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to be the next driver for a new generation of sensors.

Humidity sensors have been used in Chinese handsets since 2011. In the future, air-quality sensors will experience growing usage in China.

The first gas sensors have just been designed in by Chinese smartphone OEMs. IHS expects these phones will enter the market during the first half of 2015. There is also a specific demand for sensors that can detect particle pollution in large Chinese cities such as Beijing or Shanghai.

Extrasensory perception

In terms of revenue, fingerprint sensors now dominate the mobile market, followed by optical pulse sensors, humidity and UV sensors. IHS anticipates gas sensors will join the fray in 2015 and thermal imagers will arrive during the 2018 time period.

Thermal imagers using microbolometer sensors emerged from the technology of forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems in 2014 as accessories for the iPhone 5s. However, it will take a few more years before these sensors decline enough in pricing to be embedded in smartphones.

IHS predicts that Samsung will adopt gas/chemical sensors in the Note 6 that will be introduced in 2016. This is because gas/chemical sensor technology will have matured and use cases will be more clearly defined by then.

Some sensors that have appeared in smartphones are likely to migrate to wearables, which in some cases are better platforms for health or environmental sensors.

SiTime Corporation, a MEMS and analog semiconductor company, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement under which MegaChips Corporation, a top 25 fabless semiconductor company based in Japan, will acquire SiTime for $200 million in cash. This transaction combines two complementary fabless semiconductor companies that provide solutions for the growing wearables, mobile and Internet of Things markets.

“SiTime’s founders, Markus Lutz and Dr. Aaron Partridge, started the company with a vision of developing game-changing MEMS and analog technology to revolutionize the $5 billion timing industry,” said Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime. “Through innovation, passion and focus, we’ve successfully delivered on this vision. Today, SiTime is the overwhelming leader – we have 1000 customers, 250 million units shipped, major design wins in all electronics segments, and a roadmap that extends SiTime’s MEMS technology to all timing markets.”

“Every SiTime employee is excited to be part of MegaChips as we share a common entrepreneurial culture,” continued Vashist. “MegaChips’ financial strength and scale, with SiTime’s innovation and passion, will rapidly accelerate the adoption of MEMS timing solutions.”

While the world of electronics has delivered many innovations, the clock function, which is the heartbeat in all electronics, still uses 75-year-old quartz technology. SiTime’s MEMS timing solutions replace dated quartz products in the telecom, networking, computing, storage and consumer markets, with the benefits of higher performance, smaller size, and lower power and cost.

“MegaChips has an aggressive growth strategy with a vision to become one of the top ten fabless semiconductor companies through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions,” said Akira Takata, President and CEO of MegaChips Corporation. “MEMS components are fuelling the growth of the semiconductor industry. Through the acquisition of SiTime, MegaChips becomes a leader in MEMS. SiTime will help us expand our portfolio and diversify our customer base. SiTime technology is the perfect match for MegaChips’ solutions that target Wearables, Mobile and IoT markets such as “frizz”, our ultra-low-power smart phone Sensor Hub LSI and BlueChip Wireless, a sub-GHz RF LSI.”

“As a founding investor in SiTime, Bosch recognized early on the tremendous vision and innovation behind SiTime’s approach to MEMS timing,” said Dr. Volkmar Denner, Chairman, Board of Management of Robert Bosch GmbH. “We have closely followed their success from a Silicon Valley startup to a revenue-generating company that sells to some of the world’s largest electronics companies. We are pleased that MegaChips is acquiring SiTime and we expect a bright future for the combined companies.”

“We are delighted by this merger. MegaChips and SiTime are very complementary companies with similar innovative and entrepreneurial cultures, and a unified vision that can transform the electronics industry,” said Joe Horowitz, Managing General Partner at Jafco Ventures and a SiTime Board Member. “By leveraging SiTime’s proprietary technologies and highly differentiated products, I have no doubt this combination is just at its opening act with a great future ahead.”

“Over the past ten years, SiTime has built an extraordinary technology platform and a family of products that is in high demand at leading customers,” said Brooke Seawell, a Venture Partner at New Enterprise Associates and a founding investor and Board Member at SiTime. “With MegaChips’ operational and global scale, SiTime’s future is bright. The combined company will accelerate the adoption of MEMS timing solutions and will become a leading supplier to the electronics industry.”

Upon closing, scheduled for November 2014 pending regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, SiTime will retain its name and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of MegaChips. During this transaction, Needham & Company, LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to SiTime.

MegaChips Corporation was established in 1990 as a fabless company dedicated to ASICs and system LSIs with the goal of integrating LSIs and systems knowledge and solutions.

IMAPS Award Winners for 2014


October 24, 2014

By Dr. Phil Garrou, Contributing Editor

At the IMAPS (International Microelecronics & Packaging Society) meeting last week, several of their key annual awards were given out.

IMAPS 1Dr. Harry Charles of Johns Hopkins was given the IMAPS Lifetime Achievement Award for “for a lifetime of achievement and invaluable contributions to microelectronics technology; the microelectronics industrial development; and IMAPS.”

 

 

IMAPS 2Dr. Andy Mackie of Indium Corp. received the William Ashman Achievement Award “for his technical contributions in solder joint reliability and emerging microelectronics packaging and semiconductor technologies.”

 

 

 

IMAPS 3Dr. Jeff Gotro, retired VP of Technology at Ablestick and currently consultant at Innocentrix, received the John Wagoner technical achievement award for  “…his numerous technical contributions to Microelectronics and Electronics packaging.”

 

 

IMAPS also awarded the following individuals the level of Fellow of the Society: Ken Kuang – Torrey Hills Technologies; Dr. Robert Dean Jr – Auburn; Dr. Ivan Ndip – Fraunhoffr IZM and  Dr. Jeff Gotro – Innocentrix

STMicroelectronics announced it has shipped five billion MEMS sensors.

Beyond gaming systems, smartphones, tablets, navigation systems, and other widely adopted applications, ST’s sensors have also been used in thousands of other useful, fun, and valuable applications including weather stations, bicycle helmets, smart and sport watches, and other sporting goods as well as a host of automotive and Internet-of-Things products.

In addition, engineers have designed ST sensors into an amazing range of applications, including physiotherapy monitoring devices that monitor and help correct exercise movements; input devices that perform complex gesture recognition, including signature detection; safety products that prevent runaway child strollers and baby carriages; and snake-like robots for subaqueous environments, in design contests held around the world.

“The excitement around the Internet of Things and wearable applications combines with the added value of sensors and micro-actuators to create an ever-expanding number of applications that will drive this market’s continued strong growth,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst for MEMS and Sensors at IHS Inc., an independent provider of business information and analytics. “ST’s broad range of sensors and micro-actuators clearly positions it as the company with the most comprehensive portfolio.”

“We have barely scratched the surface of the valuable role sensors and micro-actuators will play in improving the quality of our lives at home, at work and at play by making us safer and products easier to use,” said Benedetto Vigna, ST Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Analog, MEMS & Sensors Group. “With the industry’s most diverse portfolio ideally suited to the most dynamic industries, we are the only company that can continue to enable wave after wave of innovation in our homes, cars, and workplace, changing everyone’s life for the better.”

With almost 1000 MEMS-related patent families and close customer relationships with many of the markets’ top companies, ST is at the forefront of MEMS technology development.