Category Archives: Packaging and Testing

MEMS microphones, used in best-selling devices like Apple’s iPhone, face a resonant future as the market keeps climbing in the coming years, according to a new report from IHS Technology.

Global revenue for MEMS microphones is forecast to reach $1.04 billion this year, up a robust 24 percent from $836.9 million in 2013.

Less than a decade was needed for the MEMS microphone market to cross the billion-dollar threshold. While this year continues the galloping growth the industry has seen during the last few years, the rate of expansion is slowing as revenue has expanded.

Even so, the next few years will continue to yield solid results for the business, and revenue by 2017 will amount to a projected $1.37 billion, as shown in the attached figure, equivalent to a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 percent from 2012 to 2017. Shipments at the end of the forecast window will equal 5.4 billion units, up from 1.9 billion in 2012.

MEMS mics

“The MEMS microphone segment has successfully capitalized on the value delivered by audible improvements in microphones to propel the industry forward,” said Marwan Boustany, senior analyst for MEMS & sensors at IHS. “Especially in an age in which devices are increasingly uniform, sound can be a real and important differentiator, in features such as voice command or crystal-clear audio in high-definition video—qualities that are possible only through high-performance MEMS microphones.”

Handsets and tablets account for the majority of MEMS microphone consumption, and Apple and Samsung are the biggest buyers at present, Boustany noted.

These findings are contained in the report, “MEMS and Sensors Report – Microphones – 2014,” from the Semiconductors & Components service of IHS.

Audibly improved: the difference matters

Two of the main measures for MEMS microphone quality are signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the maximum sound-pressure level (SPL). These define the lowest and highest sound levels, respectively—or dynamic range—that can be gauged by a microphone with a linear response. The measures apply to both analog and digital MEMS microphones, and have been used as the basis for microphone quality in marketing by firms such as Nokia and HTC.

At the top performance level, very-high-SNR microphones feature a signal-to-noise ratio level of greater than, or equal to, 64 decibels. These are the microphones projected to have the greatest growth in the coming years, with an estimated five-year CAGR of 40 percent from 2012 to 2017, IHS analysis shows.

In the past, low-SNR microphones, featuring a signal-to-noise ratio of less than 60 decibels, were the standard device in many handsets. Acceptable for phone calls, low-SNR microphones have shown their limitations in performance, as in cases where there is some distance between the source of the recorded sound and the microphone, such as for video recording and voice commands. In such instances, low-SNR microphones can miss out on  lower volume elements of the sound, which can result in a loss of data important for voice commands and a degradation of the richness in recorded sounds for video.

Low-SNR microphones are also not up to the task of ambient-noise cancellation, in which the microphones help to neutralize surrounding noise levels in order to better focus on the immediate sound intended for transmission or reception. Here, better-SNR microphones are the key factor as well to an improved listening experience, Boustany said.

Very-high-SNR microphones were first used in 2012 by Apple in the iPhone 5, and subsequent generations of the popular smartphone continued to utilize these MEMS microphones. After Apple, Samsung joined in, using very-high-SNR MEMS microphones in its S4 and Note 3 flagship handsets. Together the two brands made up 96 percent of revenue for the very-high-SNR MEMS microphone market in 2013.

Another advantage of very-high-SNR microphones is enhanced support for voice commands, helpful for Apple’s Siri or Google Now. The Motorola Moto X, for instance, includes multiple very-high-SNR microphones that improve the handset’s ability to capture voice commands.

Between the very-high-SNR and low-SNR categories sits a third class of MEMS microphones, the high-SNR devices with a signal-to-noise ratio between 59 and 64 decibels, which will be what lower midrange devices may choose to transition from low-SNR microphones. Growth of this segment during the next few years will be lower than that of very-high-SNR types, but higher than in the low-SNR segment that is headed for decline.

Finding their way into the most popular consumer gadgets

MEMS microphones are deployed the most in handsets and tablets, which last year accounted for 93 percent of revenue in very-high-SNR microphones. Apple and Samsung each have up to three microphones for their handsets that could possibly climb to four, and the multiple numbers no doubt help increase overall revenue for MEMS suppliers.

The rapidly growing tablet space is also a vigorous market driver, with the Apple iPad product line now outfitted with two microphones and with Samsung also adding multiple microphones to some of its tablets.

Very-high-SNR microphones are making inroads into hearing aids, too. The ReSound LiNX, for instance, uses two such devices, for noise cancellation and improved performance, with an additional beneficial capability that ties in Bluetooth connectivity with an iPhone—enabling the hearing aid to act as a headset as well.

High-performance MEMS microphones will also become increasingly prominent in the automotive space, helping support voice commands and hands-free calling. Harman has announced the use of two MEMS microphones for such use in Germany’s Daimler vehicles, to start in 2016.

Eveon and CEA-Leti today announced the demonstration of liquid-pumping for smart drug delivery in the bolus mode using a silicon-based micro-pump fabricated with a standard MEMS process.

The milestone is the first functional micro-pump integration using MEMS standard process on Leti’s 200mm line. It is a result of FluMin3, Eveon and Leti’s three-year joint-development project to produce an automatic drug-delivery system integrating a MEMS micro-pump that reduces patient discomfort by delivering medicine with very high accuracy, minimal loss and high flow rates.

FluMin3 is a major R&D program supported by the Rhone-Alpes competitive cluster MINALOGIC in collaboration with CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES and IMEP-LAHC, the Institute of Microelectronics Electromagnetism and Photonics, and Microwave and Characterization Laboratory.

The micro-pump is based on core technology initiated by Eveon and IMEP-LAHC. The pump demonstrator is made from silicon wafers, which include a thin deformable membrane sealed over a fluidic cavity and fluidic valves determining inlet and outlet. A dedicated electromagnetic actuator developed by CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES shapes the membrane.

First fluidic characterization of this device showed very promising pumping results with typical water-flow rates of 12 ml/min without any counter-pressure, and up to six ml/min under 1 bar counter-pressure. These results surpass the performance of state-of-the-art commercial micro-pumps whose typical water-flow rate capacity today is six ml/min without any counter-pressure and two ml/min under 0.5 bar counter-pressure.

These encouraging results already match bolus-mode injection requirements. In addition, new designs under development by Eveon and Leti are expected to improve fluidic performances. At the same time, MEMS flow sensors designed to be finally integrated in the micro-pump have been fabricated and used to achieve an accurate liquid dosing using micro-diaphragm pumps with a dosing error below 5 percent for different counter-pressures.

Eveon, which coordinated this project, and Leti are continuing their work to stabilize relevant MEMS processes before industrialization and to integrate MEMS sensors inside the micro-pump to demonstrate an automatically controlled smart drug-delivery device.

More technical detailed concerning the architecture, the process of fabrication and performances of this new micro-pump should be published and presented in coming conferences.

Read more: Exploring the MEMS-enabled life: A preview of the MEMS Executive Congress Europe 2014

Akustica, Inc., a Bosch Group company and provider of MEMS microphones, has added four new high-performance analog microphones to its high definition (HD) voice product line, including the AKU346, the industry’’s smallest MEMS microphone to achieve 64dB SNR.  Designed to meet the size-performance constraints of smartphones and even the smallest wearables, the new HD voice microphones combine small footprint, high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), tight sensitivity matching, and a super-wideband frequency response to improve intelligibility and speech-recognition accuracy in consumer-electronic devices.

New innovations in design and manufacturing enable an inherently guaranteed +/-1dB sensitivity matching between microphones.  This microphone-to-microphone uniformity, along with the high SNR of the new HD voice microphones, fulfills a critical need for consumer-electronic device manufacturers who incorporate more than one microphone along with noise suppression algorithms into their devices.  These algorithms generally rely on well-matched, high-performance microphones for optimization of noise cancellation and speech recognition accuracy.

Particularly challenging use cases for speech recognition are noisy environments and applications where the speaker is far away (>3 feet) from the microphones.  In these situations, testing has shown that even a small improvement in SNR (1-2dB) can lead to dramatic improvements in command accuracy rates (>5%).  A few percentage points of accuracy can make the difference between speech recognition ubiquity and obsolescence.  This has led device manufacturers to continually look for higher performance and more uniform microphones that can meet the needs of their multi-microphone application without incurring the extra costs commonly charged today for binning and sorting after final test.

“”The need for the highest-performing multi-microphone solutions is growing rapidly in the smartphone market, where the average number of microphones per phone has been steadily increasing for the last few years,”” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst, MEMS & Sensors, IHS.  “”Today, the use of two microphones has become a standard feature for smartphones.  Higher-end phones can have upwards of four microphones, further increasing the need for high SNR and tighter sensitivity matching like that provided by Akustica’ s new microphones.””

Bouchaud also pointed out that MEMS microphones achieving >64dB SNR comprise the fastest-growing portion of the overall MEMS microphone market and are expected to generate 50 percent of the revenue of this important market segment by 2017.

Read more: MEMS is still on a dynamic growth path

With a footprint of just 6mm2 and an ultra-thin 0.93mm height, the AKU346 utilizes 33 percent less design space than a typical industry standard bottom-port microphone but still achieves a 64dB SNR–making it particularly well suited for use in small wearable accessories such as wired and wireless headsets, smartwatches and glasses.

AKU143, AKU345, AKU344

The AKU143, AKU345, and AKU344 are top- and bottom-port microphones with a higher SNR of 65dB, and are footprint and pin-for-pin compatible with previous generations of Akustica HD voice microphones.  The industry standard form factors of all three microphones provide a straightforward path for upgrading performance of current designs.

All four of the new microphones can also support ultrasonic applications such as gesture recognition, gaming, pens and location detection.

Samples of all four new HD voice microphones are available now for customers with mass production planned for Q2 2014.

Read more: Leading MEMS microphone suppliers ride Apple’s gravy train to the top

Global failure analysis equipment market was valued at USD 4.08 billion in 2012, growing at a CAGR of 8.8% from 2013 to 2019, according to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research “Failure Analysis Equipment Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2012 – 2019.”

Rapid growth in nanotechnology coupled with growth in medical applications in the Asia Pacific region has fueled the growth of failure analysis equipment market. In addition, increased investments in research and education infrastructure are also propelling the growth of failure analysis equipment market. Furthermore, emerging innovative techniques such as super-resolution microscopy and correlative light and electron microscopy are excellent opportunities for the market which are expected to bolster the failure analysis equipments market in the years to come.

Transmission Electron Microscope and Focused Ion Beam system accounted for majority market share in 2012, owing to rapid usage of these equipments. However, Dual Beams systems are expected to grow at the fastest pace in the years to come owing to the several advantages over a single-beam FIB system. The Dual Beam systems are expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.3% over the forecast period.

Secondary ion mass spectroscopy accounted for majority market share in the year 2012 owing to several advantages over other technologies such as the ability to identify all elements, and the ability to identify elements present in very low concentration levels. In terms of failure analysis, FIB techniques are used in a wide array of applications such as die surface milling or cross-sectioning, high magnification microscopy and material deposition. Thus, the FIB technology is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.7% over the forecasted period, owing to its wide range of applications.

In 2012, Asia Pacific was the largest revenue generator for the failure analysis equipment market. The dominance by Asia Pacific is due to large number of countries such as China, India, Japan, Taiwan and Australia among others investing heavily in research and development infrastructure and nanotechnology as well as medical technologies. Similarly, North America and Europe collectively accounted for over one-third of the market share, as these have been continually focusing on research and development and have been using failure analysis equipment for the same.

The key market participants in the industry include FEI Company, Hitachi High-Technologies Europe GmbH, Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH and JEOL, Ltd. among others. The report provides an overview of these companies followed by their financial revenue, business strategies, and recent developments.

Early this year, Multitest shipped the first fully integrated test cell for a pressure sensor application consisting of handling systems, ATE and contactors including the pressure unit.

The test cell consists of Multitest equipment as well as third party equipment that has been integrated into this comprehensive set-up. Effectively, the customer only specified the overall test cell requirements in terms of test condition, yield and output. The Multitest team then translated these requirements into specification for each individual test cell element with a strong focus on optimization of the overall functionalities, interactions and interdependencies. The process was finalized with mechanical and electrical quality check and a comprehensive buy-off including correlation validation prior to the shipment. The customer did not need to assign own resources for the integration process and the risk for him out of the project was minimized, as he got the test cell ready to be deployed.

Andy Ludwig, Product Manager, comments: “In this project the customer had to handle a fast ramp with a very small team. So relying on the Multitest experience for sensor test and test cell integration enabled his team to focus on their core tasks in production planning. This way getting an integrated, turn-key solution was a substantial success factor for the customer.”

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) announced a partnership to accelerate validation and commercialization of promising new sensors, algorithms, and digital health technologies for preventive health solutions. The two organizations will jointly establish the UCSF-Samsung Digital Health Innovation Lab, a new space located in UCSF’s Mission Bay campus in San Francisco, where some of the world’s leading researchers and technologists will be able to develop and run trials to validate exciting new mobile health technologies. The joint innovation lab will be a first-of-its-kind test bed where entrepreneurs and innovators will be able to validate their technologies and accelerate the adoption of new preventive health solutions.

“Harnessing new preventative health technologies to help people live healthier lives is the next great opportunity of our generation,” said Young Sohn, president and chief strategy officer of Samsung Electronics. “We invite the world’s innovators and entrepreneurs to join us to validate their new sensors, analytics, and preventive health solutions in a world class setting. Samsung’s global Digital Health Innovation Lab initiative is aimed at enabling great new ideas to be tested, validated, and commercialized more quickly, thereby making lives better for millions of people around the world.”

The mobile health field is rapidly evolving. Advances in technologies such as wearable computing, health sensors, and cloud-based analytics promise to help people take control of their own health and to improve the quality of life for millions of people. However, without systematic, rigorous validation of these technologies, mobile health has struggled to achieve its potential and gain widespread adoption by consumers and healthcare professionals. Samsung and UCSF aim to address this challenge by leveraging UCSF’s deep expertise in medicine and digital health and Samsung’s leadership in electronics and mobile technologies, to rapidly develop new, effective technologies.

“There are many new sensors and devices coming onto the market for consumers, but without medical validation, most of these will have limited impacts on health. Meanwhile, many practitioners also have creative ideas for new devices, but they lack the technological knowledge to fully develop them,” said Michael Blum, MD, UCSF’s associate vice chancellor for Informatics. “This partnership will bring together these two very different worlds of expertise with the resources needed to accelerate new and disruptive technologies that will truly change lives.”

The UCSF Mission Bay campus is an ideal location for the UCSF-Samsung Digital Health Innovation Lab and will lead to further collaborations with the broader healthcare ecosystem. The expansive new bioscience campus is a vibrant ecosystem of innovation and biotech hub, with more than 50 bioscience startups, nine established pharmaceutical and biotech companies and 10 venture capital firms.

The Digital Health Innovation Lab is part of Samsung’s efforts to partner with leading global healthcare institutions to validate next-generation preventative health technologies. It also reflects a strategic goal of the UCSF Office of Innovation, Technology and Alliances to forge innovative industry partnerships that advance its work at the forefront of health and medicine.

“Nanoscale Processing for NEMS and MEMS” is the topic for the next Oxford Instruments technical workshop, being hosted in conjunction with the Institute of Electronics Micro-electronics and Nanotechnology (IEMN) in Lille, France on 8th April 2014. This one day event aimed at scientists working in research and manufacturing with an interest in MEMS and NEMS, is designed to keep participants abreast of the latest technologies and trends in these hot industry research topics. Participants will be able to listen to a range of talks, including research results from guest speakers, process and application talks and advice, hints and tips from the experts at Oxford Instruments. There will be plenty of time for discussions, and to see process/technical posters.

Talks will include:
·         MEMS – how to make the macro-world smaller
·         Nanoscale etch
·         MEMS research applications and results – IEMN
·         Looking towards the next generation of MEMS devices – a leading research organisation
·         ALD for MEMS – Eindhoven University
·         ALD research and results – Guest speaker

The prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay hosted our most recent Workshop in December 2013, and Prof V. Ramgopal Rao, from IIT commented, “It was a pleasure for me to introduce the plenary sessions at IIT Bombay, and to give a talk on MEMS & Sensors for Healthcare & Homeland Security. Events such as this are an excellent opportunity not just for our researchers at IIT Bombay to learn about latest techniques but also for our colleagues outside this establishment to network and keep up to date with scientific advances”

Dr David Haynes, Sales and Marketing Director at Oxford Instruments said, “We organize an annual series of technical events worldwide, with extremely informative talks from a diverse range of speakers. They are a great means of finding out about new techniques and meeting colleagues facing the same challenges and opportunities in an informal setting.”

Presto Engineering, Inc. and DelfMEMS announced today that they have worked together to design, from specification to integration, the first full PXI-based test system for ultra-fast characterization testing of radio frequency (RF) micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS). The PXI-based test cell significantly reduces total cost-of-ownership and speeds time-to-volume and yield optimization compared to currently prevailing test methods.

DelfMEMS, the first to market RF systems based on MEMS ohmic switches for mobile telephony applications, needed an innovative test solution. According to Karim Segueni, CTO, DelfMEMS, “Presto Engineering exceeded our expectations in designing and developing this custom test system – meeting all of our specifications on time, and on budget. The new system has reduced wafer test time by a factor of ten compared to the manual bench test setup we were using. We will use it to validate the design of our new 4G LTE RF MEMS SPNT chip, and the faster cycle time will enable us to ramp to high-volume production more quickly and with better yield predictability.”

Standard RF wafer probing approaches on automatic test equipment (ATE) are not cost-effective for device characterization during a ramp phase. Because of their high capital cost, ATE is best suited for high-volume production. Increasing throughput via parallel testing (several sites tested simultaneously) can reduce costs. This is especially true for the extremely low-cost, high-volume devices, such as RF MEMS for mobile phones. Characterization testing of these devices during the ramp phase, using either an ATE or bench test system, is, respectively, too expensive or too slow to meet the time-to-volume objective.

“Our innovative solution automates volume collection of data during the ramp phase with minimal cost-of-ownership. It is designed to facilitate easy re-use on devices regardless of their pin configurations, and is flexible enough to enable fast characterization for yield learning,” stated Cédric Mayor, vice president technology & marketing, Presto Engineering. “Our biggest challenge in developing this system was achieving customer targets for <1 Ohm contact resistance and S-parameter on N-input/output for each device, keeping in mind a sufficient throughput capability.”

The new test bench enables intensive device characterization during ramp-up phase by using an industrial solution capable of volume test production. It has been designed has a versatile measurement platform in order to fully characterize, both in the time-domain and frequency-domain, various RF-MEMS chips from the SPST till the SP16T configuration. It provides transient Kelvin measurement with a high-sampling rate (every 250ns) in order to characterize the dynamic operation (ON-state, OFF-state and switching events) and the lifetime of the RF MEMS relays from a mechanical and electrical standpoint. The same measurement hardware is also capable of performing RF measurement up to 6 GHz. The PXI-based solution easily handles the high volume of data typically collected in the characterization phase. In addition to characterizing RF-MEMS chips, the new test bench can serve as a platform to develop and validate test routines for volume-test production with ATE.

MEMS Industry Group (MIG) will host its third annual MEMS Executive Congress® Europe, 11 March, 2014 in Munich, Germany. This European edition of MIG’s highly successful executive event features an opening presentation by MIG Executive Director Karen Lightman and keynotes by X-FAB Group CEO Rudi de Winter and Robert Bosch President of Automotive Electronics Klaus Meder. Panels exploring micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) as a core enabling technology in automotive, consumer, and health and wellness—as well as several featured speakers—complete the one-day conference program.

“From the smartwatch on your wrist to the thermostat on your wall, MEMS is dramatically improving the consumer experience at decreasing price points,” said Karen Lightman, executive director, MEMS Industry Group. “MEMS is the foundation of the connected car, connected home and even the connected city. And it is advancing new classes of health and wellness products that will enhance our quality of life in countless ways. With European companies and research organizations at the forefront of new developments in these markets, MEMS Executive Congress Europe allows the global MEMS community to tap into European innovation. Event attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the technology behind a ‘MEMS-enabled life.’”

KEYNOTES
· Rudi de Winter, CEO, X-FAB Silicon Foundries

· Klaus Meder, president of Automotive Electronics, Robert Bosch GmbH

PANELS
· MEMS in Automotive

o   Marc Osajda (moderator), director, Freescale Pressure Sensor Business Unit, Freescale Semiconductor – Germany
o   Richard Dixon (panelist), principal analyst, MEMS & Sensors, IHS iSuppli
o   Frank Schäfer (panelist), senior manager product management, Automotive MEMS, Robert Bosch GmbH
·       MEMS in Consumer Products

o   Dr. Roland Helm (moderator), director & segment head, Microphone & Reliability, Infineon Technologies AG
o   Jean-Christophe Eloy (panelist), president & CEO, Yole Développement
o   Dr. Yannick Levy (panelist), vice president of corporate business development, Parrot SA
o   Teemu Rämö (panelist), senior manager, Audio HW, Nokia Lumia Technology

OTHER FEATURED SPEAKERS
·        Dr. Andreas Schüele, MedLab business manager, FESTO AG & Co. KG—will participate in the panel, MEMS in Health and Wellness

·       Dr. Jörk Habenstreit, managing director, Research & Development Technology Software, Testo—will give a featured presentation

MEMS Executive Congress Europe 2014 brings together senior executives from the MEMS supply chain and companies integrating MEMS in a broad range of applications, from automotive and consumer to health & wellness.

Compiled by Pete Singer, Editor-in-Chief; Edited by Shannon Davis, Web Editor

Internet of Things

We asked leading industry experts and analysts to give us their perspectives on what we can expect in 2014. All expect it to be a banner year for the semiconductor industry, as the world’s demand for electronics continues unabated. However, most believe we are seeing an era of unprecedented change, driven by a shift to mobile computing, the Internet of Things, higher wafer costs and difficult technical challenges. To address these challenges, new levels of innovation and collaboration will be needed.

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