by Neha K. Choksi, SmallTech Consulting LLC

February 8, 2010 – Historically, the microfluidics industry has been challenged to achieve a strong return on investment. With the exception of inkjet printing, a key killer application has yet to be identified. This leaves many wondering whether the field has true potential or whether reality is masked in hype. Dr. Holger Becker, co-founder and CSO of microfluidic ChipShop GmbH, shared insights and perspective gained from his nearly 20 years in the industry with the Bay Area MEMS Journal Club on January 28, 2010. 

The interest in microfluidics gained steam in the early 1990s with the idea of microTas (micro total analysis systems). But by 2005, many investors became disenchanted with the field because much of their investment had not paid off. Thanks to a better understanding of what microfluidics can do, microfluidics is gaining back its popularity — but with wiser and more open eyes.

Despite his optimism for the industry, Becker encourages realistic expectations for product development. Even with the advances in simulation capability, multiple design iterations should be anticipated. However, in the last few years alone, process know-how has increased significantly. The resistance to adoption is another huge, usually unanticipated hurdle. Microfluidics offers its advantages, but convincing users to switch from existing technologies can be challenging. One pathway to address their reluctance is to make microfluidic systems compatible with existing technology. For example, microfluidic ChipShop has created off-the-shelf items of the same form factor as lab slides, or that can be used with an adapter frame for a microtiter plate format, enabling users to interface with standard laboratory automation. 

To create a successful product, Becker emphasizes the need to assemble the right development team. Because of the multidisciplinary nature of the field, the team must include expertise in microfluidics, materials, manufacturability, and a strong understanding of the application. A common mistake that developers make, according to Becker, is spending 80% of their focus on the front-end — when in reality, 80% of the production cost is often back-end processing. Including manufacturing conversations in early stages is critical to the product’s overall feasibility.

Another avoidable pitfall is changing the technology in the middle of production, deviating from that of the initial design. A change in technology, whether it is material, design, or processing, can have large implications on the performance of the device. To ensure that lessons learned during the initial design phase can be transferrable to production, Becker advises that the prototypes be made in a scalable, production-compatible technology.

The opportunities

By being cognizant of the potential pitfalls and acting accordingly, a product developer has many opportunities for success. Becker predicts that market entry is likely to be successful in high-end application niches such as cancer diagnostics. Other opportunities such as food and water diagnostics and veterinary medicine may have lower barriers for entry and the potential for large volume economics. Interest in microfluidics is emerging as a potential key enabler for other products in addition to possible end-user applications.

In addition to direct prospects in microfluidics, Becker sees opportunities to support the field. In many cases, the application does not require the large volumes that the automotive, mobile device, and printing applications offer. Therefore, there is a need for cost-effective, yet flexible manufacturing techniques. Choosing the optimal material is also difficult. A huge variety of polymers are available, but a consolidated standardized database that lists all the particular characteristics that a designer may need would be a very useful tool. Because the material selection is so vast, literature tends to focus on a few "favorite" materials with which the industry is already familiar or experienced, but may, or may not, be optimal for the application. Production worthy quality control process improvements are also necessary in order to reduce screening cycle time of the complex devices that microfluidics entail.

With the right multidisciplinary team, planning for manufacturability, and vigilance towards understanding the application and its barriers to entry, microfluidics has a bright future. In Becker’s words: "Microfluidics has, after following a typical high-tech market acceptance curve with ups and downs, emerged as a true enabler for a multitude of products in the analytical and life science industry. It has taken longer than anticipated, but the light we finally see at the end of the tunnel is definitely not that of an oncoming train."

Neha K. Choksi is a founding member of SmallTech Consulting, LLC, 325 Sharon Park Drive #632, Menlo Park, CA 94025, e-mail [email protected], www.SmallTechConsulting.com.

February 1, 2010 – Like sister electronics/device industries, MEMS suffered through a lousy early 2009 but managed to make it somewhat respectable for the full year — thanks to a handful of key applications that are pushing into "major commoditization" for high-volume markets, according to an overview by iSuppli.

Like the overall semiconductor industry (and most others), the first quarter of 2009 was lousy for sales of MEMS devices, and despite an improving climate through the rest of the year, sales finished the year down about 8.6% from the prior year, to about $600M. Taken with a decline in 2008 as well, the MEMS industry shed about $1.2B in revenue.

Hardest hit among MEMS sectors is, as has been tracked, the auto sector, which saw shipments plummet 20% in 2009. Cars were among the worst-hit industries in the economic meltdown, and since each car incorporates multiple sensors, this was magnified to the MEMS auto sensor sector as well. Other end-use sectors took a beating, from consumer applications (printers and projectors) to industrial applications (instrumentation, oil/gas exploration, health usage monitoring).

While MEMS shipments sales declined, shipments actually rose by about 10% in 2009, which reflects "major commoditization" for the technology in areas such as consumer electronics and particularly mobile phones, according to iSuppli’s Richard Dixon, in a statement. Among the brighter spots for MEMS in 2009:

• Accelerometers. Cell phones are now "recognized as the primary driver of MEMS sensor sales," noted Dixon. Of the 1000 new phones iSuppli examined in 2009, 27% of them had an accelerometer on board (vs. 11% in 2008). Accelerometer prices fell much faster than anticipated, which helped widen their consumption, he noted (and even too much, oversaturating the market for Nintendo Wii controllers). Big winners here include suppliers STMicroelectronics and Bosch Sensortec. (Another MEMS technology that broke into use for cell phones: Microvision’s MEMS scanning laser technology, offered through Vodaphone’s Nokia N97, for the Spanish market, Dixon points out.)
• MEMS microphones. Commoditization is also the story with MEMS microphones, which compete on price with incumbent and inexpensive microphone technology, Dixon notes. MEMS microphone technology was "disproportionally" hurt by the rapid decline of Motorola, an early adopter of the technology, but it’s also been helped by incorporation into Apple’s new fifth-generation iPod nano. Knowles is still "the 1000 lb. gorilla" in MEMS microphones, but ST and Bosch are making plays into this market, seeking ways to bring new work into their 200mm MEMS fabs — Bosch through its acquisition of Akustica, and ST by partnering with Omron.
• DLP. Another bright spot in 2009 for MEMS devices was the pico projector, which can operate either piggybacked on a cell phone or as a compact standalone unit. Samsung offered the first of these devices domestically in early 2009, with LG joining the game in late 2009. Both of them use Texas Instruments’ digital light processing (DLP) technology.
• Gyroscopes. These made big leaps in 2009, with gaming in the Nintendo Wii MotionPlus plug-in addition to its controller offering advanced motion gaming. Beneficiary of this was InvenSense, though STMicro also is laying out a range of consumer gyroscopes in 2010, "which is sure to speed adoption for gaming in mobile platforms in future," Dixon notes.

January 11, 2010 – Researchers at McMaster University in Canada have developed a way to direct microscopic-sized worms along a microchannel device using an electric field, seen as a step toward high-throughput microscreening devices for drug discovery.

The research, described in the Jan. 21 issue of Lab on A Chip, involves the nematode C. elegans, widely used in biomed research because of its similar proteins and molecules to those in humans. Typically the critters are manipulated in mediums of petri dishes, 96-well plates, or pneumatically controlled microfluidic devices. In the new work, the researchers guided the worms forward and in reverse inside a microchannel with an electric field ("electrotaxis"). Current practices observe worms under a microscope as they move randomly or in a direction forced by pressure; the new method lets the worms move in a more "natural" motion. Also among the findings was an observation that the worms’ response to electrotaxis was dependent on age and neuronal development — this, they say, allows for large numbers of worms to be sorted and handled in an automated manner.

The movement of worms in an electric field. (a) The application of +8 Vcm-1 electric field (E) caused an animal (724μm long) to move with the speed of 308μm s-1 to the right towards the cathode. (b) At a lower field strength in a reverse direction (-3 Vcm-1) the animal (847.5μm long) moved with a speed of 342μm s-1 to the left towards the cathode. Dark thick arrows illustrate the worm’s position. Scale bars are 1mm. (Source: McMaster University)

Implications for the work include more cost-effective ways of conduct rapid screening of tens of thousands of chemicals for drug candidate identification. Also, researchers can further study how neurons respond to electricity, and learn to fabricate new devices to handle and manipulate large numbers of worms.

"This is the first time that worms have been stimulated to move in a micro-channel device in a very precise and directed way," said Bhagwati Gupta, assistant professor of biology, in a statement. "It will allow researchers to study in real time how a proposed drug affects neurons and muscles that control motion of a live specimen."

From the abstract:

In this work, we demonstrate that the electric field can be used as a powerful stimulus to control movement of worms in a microfluidic environment. We found that this response (termed electrotaxis) is directional, fully penetrant and highly sensitive. The characterization of electrotaxis revealed that it is mediated by neuronal activity that varies with the age and size of animals. Although the speed of swimming is unaffected by changes in the electric field strength and direction, our results show that each developmental stage responds to a specific range of electric field with a specific speed. Finally, we provide evidence that the exposure to the electric field has no discernible effect on the ability of animals to survive and reproduce.

January 4, 2010 –  Silicon magnetic sensors, among the most ubiquitous types of sensors sold, will continue to see strong growth in 2010 thanks to demand from a trio of key markets, according to a report from iSuppli.

Sales of these sensors, used in everything from industrial motors (rotator positioning and control loads) to automotive (rotation speed angle and position) and low-cost consumer products, will surge from $821M in 2009 to $1.4B in 2013; that translates to about 2.8B magnetic sensor ICs and switches to 5B units. Their varying use also translates into varied costs, from 10¢ to several dollars each, notes Richard Dixon, senior analyst for MEMS and and sensors at iSuppli, in a statement.

Generally speaking, silicon-based magnetic sensors (Hall effect and magnetoresistive) are taking over for legacy technologies that can’t keep up with performance and formfactor demands, Dixon explains. "Silicon sensors are outgunning competition from potentiometers, Reed switches, and microswitches by eliminating issues with wear, by incorporating electronics on-chip for more intelligence per area, on robustness, and on cost and size," he writes. "Hall effect sensors ICs and switches largely dominate the silicon magnetic sensor IC market, but increasingly, AMR and also giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensors are used for high-performance applications."

Global magnetic silicon sensor forecast (US $M). (Source: iSuppli)

In autos, body and powertrain systems are areas of biggest growth potential; in the body segment alone, an average of 9.4 sensors/switches will be used by 2013, up from 6.7 in 2009. Five or more different magnetic technologies could be used, for example, in precise measurement of steering wheel angle and safety systems. In electronics, switches are used for noting when appliance doors or computing/camera cases are opened and shut. In other consumer products, linear sensors and switches monitor fluid levels in drug delivery systems and even automatic coffee dispensers.

One key emerging application is electronic compass functionality in GPS-equipped mobile phones, which relies on 3-axis silicon magnetometers. Look for these types of devices to account for a third of all magnetic sensors by 2013, vs. just 10% in 2008.

Currently, top vendors for magnetic sensors are Asahi Kasei Microsystems and Allegro, who dominate the market for magnetic sensors used in low-cost switches for consumer applications, PCs and notebooks, Dixon notes (AKM snatched the top spot thanks to its exposure to those electronic compasses). Other players including Micronas, Infineon, and NXP, eyeing emerging markets in those compasses as well as rotation sensors in car engines. Newer entrants include Sensitec — which is levering older asymmetric magnetoresistance (AMR) technology from an IBM plant — and austriamicrosystems.

December 18, 2009 – HP expects its latest inertial MEMS sensing technology to enable new classes of applications. One that has attracted attention is bridge monitoring.

Environmental and engineering consulting services company CH2M Hill has had a more than 20-year relationship with HP Labs (Palo Alto, CA) and HP Technology Development (Corvallis, OR), and is working with HP to develop at least one or two "champion" applications for HP’s technology, according to Michael O’Halloran, director of technology I&AT. "The ability to measure minute amounts of movement and doing so independently — i.e., being able to track location independent of satellites and other means of transmission — is especially attractive to the kinds of projects in which CH2M Hill is involved," he told Small Times.

Conventional bridge monitoring is time-consuming, labor intensive, and not particularly revealing, so a device that could precisely monitor the structure could be quite revealing, noted O’Halloran. Depending on the bridge, visual inspection is done every one or two years; every four or five years, a very detailed visual inspection is done with someone crawling all over the bridge looking for signs of failure, he explained. "Some states are beginning to use analytical instrumentation in addition to visual inspection, but visual inspection is still the traditional method used," he said.

CH2M Hill is actively seeking partnerships with states to develop monitoring algorithms and obtain data that hopefully will indicate monitors that can yield data at least comparable to current methods. Conventional sensing systems use costly instruments that are also costly to install, have to be hardwired, and do not have a very wide range, O’Halloran added. "We’re hoping the HP technology will expand the range at which the instrument looks and lower the cost of installation," he said. "If we can’t get the cost down, then it can’t be effectively deployed in a large application." CH2M Hill believes there is already some evidence to suggest that HP’s new technology will work.

With much of the infrastructure in the US built during the Eisenhower administration, it is critical to develop a logical way to prioritize allocation of repair and replacement funds. If HP’s sensing technology could be developed for monitoring such structures, it would be a way to address the prioritization challenge, according to O’Halloran.