By Fran
Category Archives: MEMS
November 18, 2008: Akustica, Inc. maker of CMOS microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphones, has introduced its latest generation of digital microphones that improves voice quality in notebook computers and other consumer-electronic devices. The new AKU2002C is the first digital microphone product from Akustica to leverage its new 1mm × 1mm monolithic digital-output microphone.
Earlier this year, Akustica introduced the AKU1126, a fully integrated 1mm×1mm analog microphone die in a compact 2mm×2mm package. This and all other products in Akustica’s portfolio are manufactured using Akustica’s patented CMOS MEMS technology, in which both the transducer and the electronics are fabricated in a single chip, in a CMOS wafer, using standard CMOS processes.
“Laptop manufacturers recognize the improvement in voice quality that can be achieved using digital microphones and are adopting them rapidly,” said Davin Yuknis, VP of marketing and product management for Akustica. “Because our CMOS MEMS technology allows us to quickly innovate and introduce new digital microphones such as the AKU2002C, we provide manufacturers with features and form factors they need now to move forward with next-generation laptop designs.”
The AKU2002C is an omni-directional, digital-output, CMOS MEMS microphone in a 3.76mm×4.72mm industry-standard package. It is pin- and footprint-compatible with earlier generations of the AKU2002. The AKU2002C is lead-free, surface-mountable, RoHS compliant, and automated pick-and-place-compatible for improved manufacturing reliability and efficiency.
The robust digital output of the microphone provides a high degree of immunity to RF and EM interference on the audio path, a problem which is costly and difficult to overcome when placing a traditional analog output microphone into the bezel of a laptop monitor. The AKU2002C provides as good or better power supply rejection and signal-to-noise ratio as previous generations of Akustica digital microphones as well as other digital MEMS microphones in production today.
By Gail Flower, Editor-in-Chief
This year’s IMAPS International Symposium, held Nov 3-6, 2008, in Providence, RI had great international participation, good attendance, and excellent presentations from keynoters to the technologically cutting-edge educational papers. It was election day when the IMAPS conference began, and by the second day of the conference, a new president entered the picture. Therefore, the first day proceeded without a rush of attendees as expected, but the second perked up with lively conversation and fuller aisles.
John C. Zolper, Ph.D., of Raytheon, formerly of DARPA, gave a broad keynote with lots of technical information on the challenges facing our industry, starting with a bit of history and ending with the latest frontiers. One goal he identified is to develop design process technology for true 3D ICs with multiple active layers. He also talked about getting more power out of the same footprint, and ending up with a thermal management challenge. Zolper set an agenda of items including: nanostructure materials and their flexible, lightweight ability to change material properties that will be used in the future. He reviewed the integration of MEMS devices in all types of applications from air bag accelerators to Wii consumer games and ink jet printers. Zolper indicated that businesses in the U.S. need collaborations with those doing leading-edge technology research to stimulate the marketplace.
The hottest topic in our industry right now seems to be how to get on board the alternative energy wagon, and here IMAPS had it covered as well with an end-of-day event called Alternative Energy Options: Supply Chains and Industry Trends. Many talked about how distributed the solar energy market seemed and how the lack of policies and incentives to develop this area is holding the U.S. back from what it could be producing.
Alan J. King of Evergreen Solar said that he was encouraged that President-elect Obama has already identified energy independence as a goal for the U.S.
Right now this is where the world stands as controlling the solar market: Germany leads at 45% of the global market; Spain has 25%; Japan holds approximately 15%; and the U.S. trails at 8%. Continual change in government regulations has hindered U.S. market growth in this area; however, in Germany for the last 15 years the market has been subsidized for those investing in solar cells. “We can drill as much as we want, but there is not enough sustainable fuel to support the need,” said King. “Yet enough sunlight reaches the earth every hour to provide the earth’s needs for a year,” he added. Many of the other presenters talked about what the electronics industry is doing to progress the technology and create new jobs in this field in which the market is expanding at 40%/year.
The Global Business Council session focused on how organization fits in with various industry roadmaps. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) concentrates on front-end wafer fabs with a focus on top-level industry segments, but dedicates a chapter on semiconductor assembly and packaging. iNEMI focuses mainly on board-level assembly roadmapping with a chapter on semiconductor assembly and packaging. ITRS and iNEMI are working together to align their semiconductor and packaging roadmaps with many of the same people on both teams. IMAPS focuses on semiconductor assembly and packaging.
According to Laurie Roth, co-chair of IMAPS Global Business Council, IMAPS will address the gaps in these roadmaps, supporting the ITRS and iNEMI updates with input, and communicate back to IMAPS on both issues and trends to recommend areas of focus including developing feasible embedded components, developing enhanced materials to enable wafer-level packaging (WLP), resolving thermal management issues, developing new materials to deliver necessary performance, closing the gap between chip and substrate interconnect density, and resolving the issues that low-k materials and Cu bring to packaging. In many instances, today packaging costs often exceed die fabrication costs. Profit margins must be maintained so that the industry can thrive.
We left IMAPS this year packed with new ideas and filled with a determination to go through the conference technical papers in detail. Here’s where the new ideas abound. All in all, IMAPS was a gem.
November 17, 2008: Siimpel Corp., a supplier of optical microelectricalmechanical systems (MEMS)-based solutions for the mobile market, announced today that it has completed an investment round in support of its MEMS technology and product development for mobile camera applications. DOCOMO Capital Inc., the corporate venture arm of NTT DOCOMO, a Japanese wireless carrier, has joined Siimpel’s existing strategic investors from the mobile market, which includes the venture arms of Qualcomm, Motorola, and Micron Technology.
“The addition of DOCOMO Capital to our team further validates the strength and potential of our technology portfolio, particularly given current economic conditions,” said Siimpel CEO Chee Kwan, in a statement. “With this additional funding, we can continue to build on the successful commercial introduction of our first-generation MEMS camera designs, and intensify our product development efforts to accelerate the delivery of the highest-performance, lowest-power, and smallest-size mobile camera designs,” which he said will incorporate high-end DSC functionality enabling auto-focus, shutter, image stabilization, and zoom capabilities.
“We are excited about the potential for Siimpel’s silicon MEMS technology in enabling low-power, high-performance, extremely compact camera modules for mobile handsets ,” added DOCOMO Capital Inc. president/CEO Tomoya Hemmi. “These features will bring greater flexibility in designing handsets, enabling new applications and uses of mobile phone cameras.”
Siimpel’s recent investment round was also supported by several existing investors from leading venture capital firms including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Portage Venture Partners, Zone Ventures, Scales Venture Partners, and SunAmerica.
November 13, 2008: Silicon Clocks, a leading semiconductor IP licensing company, announced the appointment of Didier Lacroix as its new president and CEO, to lead the company into a new phase of growth by pursuing a pure IP licensing model for its CMEMS technology.
With over 26 patents filed, Silicon Clocks’ CMEMS technology enables the monolithic integration of a wide range of sensors onto a standard CMOS process. The company recently demonstrated to key partners some major technical breakthroughs confirming that its CMEMS technology offers a broader scope of capabilities to achieve a higher level of electronic integration and product miniaturization. Silicon Clocks is backed by more than $20 million in venture capital financing from Tallwood Venture Capital, Charles River Ventures, Formative Ventures, and Lux Capital.
“We are excited to bring an experienced leader such as Didier Lacroix to Silicon Clocks at this critical juncture,” said Ron Yara, general partner of Tallwood Venture Capital and chairman of Silicon Clocks. “He has the extensive IP and MEMS licensing background that we were seeking as we transition the company to a licensing model to accelerate adoption of the CMEMS technology for integrated clock and timing products, as well as for a broader range of embedded sensors applications.”
“I’m very impressed by the rapid progress and unique achievements that Silicon Clocks has shown with its groundbreaking technology,” said Lacroix, who also joins Silicon Clocks’ board of directors. “With increased requirements to integrate more resonators and sensors in consumer, gaming, automotive, and health technology applications, CMEMS can become a de-facto standard for MEMS above CMOS integration.”
Lacroix comes to Silicon Clocks with over 20 years of public and private company senior executive experience, most recently as VP of worldwide sales for MoSys, a technology leader for high-density embedded memory IP.
November 11, 2008: Micralyne Inc., a global independent MEMS manufacturer, was recently recognized by TEC Edmonton for its success as a spin-off innovation company from the University of Alberta.
At an event to celebrate 100 years of innovation from the University of Alberta, TEC Edmonton launched its second edition of the publication titled “Patent Portraits”. The second edition showcases invention and commercialization in the Edmonton Region, focusing on University of Alberta researchers with patents since 1996. MEMS foundry Micralyne is one of the companies profiled in the publication.
“Our objectives were to highlight the ingenuity in the region, thereby encouraging researchers and entrepreneurs to patent and commercialize, increase deal generation and public awareness, while bringing attention to TEC Edmonton’s role as a business accelerator in the region,” said Nadia Andersen, marketing/communications manager at TEC Edmonton.
“Micralyne has seen a successful track record with revenue growth of approximately 17% annually”, said Chris Lumb, Micralyne CEO. “By supporting TEC Edmonton, we are supporting other organization that can follow our path to success.”
MEMS Class 10 cleanroom manufacturing environment.
November 5, 2008: Turck introduces a new dual axis inclinometer sensor for angular tilt detection. These sensors feature compact rectangular housings and may be mounted at ±10, ±45, ±60 and ±85 degree angles. Inclinometer sensors may be used in a wide variety of industries to solve unique feedback requirements where the customer needs to level platforms, control tilt angle or control a dancer.
The new Turck inclinometer measures angular tilt in reference to gravity. At the heart of the Turck inclinometer is a MEMS (microelectromechanical system) device, which incorporates a microelectromechanical capacitive element into the sensor that utilizes two parallel plate electrodes, one stationary and one attached to a spring-mass system. Movement causes acceleration that produces deflection in the non-stationary electrode. This results in a measurable change in the capacitance between the two plates that is proportional to the angle of deflection. These signals are conditioned to provide two analog outputs (0.1-4.9 VDC) or two current outputs (4mA-20mA).
The microboard design in the MEMS technology allows for a compact, precise inclinometer in a very robust, industrialized package. The inclinometer is IP 67 rated, with a temperature range of -30°C to 70°C.
November 5, 2008: Microvision Inc., a maker of ultra-miniature projection display and image-capture products for mobile devices, has received external validation of key shock-resistance susceptibility performance for its wide-angle (WVGA) MEMS scanning mirror, a key component inside the company’s ultra-miniature PicoP display engine. Testing was conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (Fraunhofer IPMS), an internationally recognized research and development institute for MEMS.
According to Sid Madhavan, Microvision VP of research and development, “Key components reliability testing is part of our commercial development process.” Test results show the firm’s MEMS scanning mirror “exceeds twice the shock performance requirements provided by OEM partners,” he added, meaning that when embedded in a typical handheld device, “it will exceed the required shock orientations of a four-foot drop test on concrete in all shock orientations.”
“Long-term shock and drop reliability of MEMS is extremely important for any devices that will be handled by consumers on a daily basis and manufactured in very large quantities,” stated Harald Schenk, deputy director and head of Fraunhofer IPMS’ micro scanner devices business unit. After extensive shock testing, “our results confirmed that Microvision’s devices exceed the shock resistance specifications for consumer electronics hand-set manufacturers by twice the defined requirements.”
Microvision’s MEMS scanning mirror is a key component of the company’s modular PicoP display engine. The tiny MEMS scanning mirror itself is less than one square millimeter in area — or about the size of the head of a pin. The single scanning mirror is designed to scan in both horizontal and vertical directions so that a single beam of light can be precisely steered, in a raster-like fashion, at very high speeds to project a complete video image.
Microvision’s MEMS scanning mirror is a silicon device at the center of which is a tiny mirror.
The inherent advantages of this architecture include small form factor and low power consumption, while delivering high image quality. PicoP uses a collimated beam of light to achieve very efficient full-color, high-resolution, high-contrast images. Additionally, PicoP does not require any projection lenses and the resulting “focus-free” operation at any distance, adds another significant advantage to the PicoP based consumer projectors.
November 4, 2008: SiTime Corp., a manufacturer of MEMS-based silicon timing solutions, has introduced a new family of programmable spread spectrum clock oscillators that are the smallest in the industry and offer the widest frequency range and lowest cycle to cycle jitter.
The first solutions in this high-performance product line include the SiT9001, which offers the industry’s smallest footprint for space constrained applications, and the SiT9002, the a differential output programmable spread spectrum clock oscillator. Both devices include an embedded MEMS resonator as the clock reference, which eliminates the need for external components.
“Our new spread spectrum oscillators are drop-in replacements for standard oscillators, which will help our customers to eliminate expensive delays in development and bring their products to market faster,” said Piyush Sevalia, vice president of marketing at SiTime. “These programmable MEMS-based oscillators enable users to reduce electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and pass environmental testing without the need to redesign their boards or use expensive metal enclosures.”
Both the SiT9001 and SiT9002 use SiTime’s proven MEMS technology to offer 10× better robustness and reliability than existing, quartz-based solutions, supporting longer-life electronics. The devices’ programmability also allows delivery of samples in 24 to 48 hours and production quantities in two to three weeks.
November 3, 2008: NeoPhotonics has been named the 4th ranked firm in Deloitte’s “Technology Fast 50” for Silicon Valley, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, and life sciences companies in the region by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, one of the nation’s leading professional services organizations. Rankings for Deloitte’s Fast 50 list are based on the percentage revenue growth over five years from 2003-2007.
NeoPhotonics is a developer of photonic integrated circuit-based components for telecommunications networks, which include active semiconductor, passive PLC, and MEMS multi-dimensional switching functions in a single product.
NeoPhotonics chairman and CEO Tim Jenks attributes the company’s strong performance in recent years to deepening relationships with the world’s leading manufacturers of telecommunications equipment, including Ciena, ECI Telecom, and Huawei. In addition, the company’s advanced technology platforms and product designs for access, metro and long-haul network applications have the company positioned well for the future.
“Over the last five years we have made significant inroads with tier one customers around the world with multiple products based on our leadership position in optical integration and low-cost manufacturing,” said Jenks, in a statement. “Despite the current economic uncertainty, overall signs are encouraging for continued growth and the skill sets that help us to achieve recognition such as this — innovation, research and the dedication of more than 2000 employees worldwide — will see us through.”
NeoPhotonics revenues soared 15,159% from 2003 to 2007, placing the company fourth in the Internet, Media & Entertainment and Communication category of the 2008 Technology Fast 50 for Silicon Valley. According to Deloitte, the average increase in revenues among companies who made the Technology Fast 50 was 3,242%.