Category Archives: MEMS

The newest AVIA micromachining laser from Coherent, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) delivers the highest power commercially available at its wavelength and repetition rate. Specifically, the AVIA 355-33 offers 33 Watts of output at 355 nm (at 110 kHz). This high power translates directly into increased production efficiency, thus lowering cost per part.

 The AVIA family of lasers has the longest track record of highly reliable, 24/7 operation in microelectronics manufacturing, and offers several features specifically designed to enhance its processing capabilities and minimize long term cost of ownership. These include ThermEQ, PulseEQ, and PulseTrack which enable precise control of the delivered pulse energy, allowing the OEM to define and optimize their laser process. The laser also has an automated harmonic crystal shifter to maintain constant output power for >20,000 hours and to maximize lifetime. In addition, the laser’s unique Posilock beam position sensor and feedback loop results in very high beam position stability over the life of the laser, thereby ensuring process consistency. 

 The AVIA 355-33 is targeted at a wide range of demanding, high-throughput microelectronics fabrication applications. Typical examples include via-hole drilling in printed circuit boards and flip chips and dicing and scribing of silicon wafers containing low-k dielectric materials.

coherent avia

Pixelligent Technologies, a manufacturer of nanocrystal additives for the electronics and semiconductor markets, last week announced the launch of its PixClear Zirconia nanocrystals. When incorporated into existing products, the nanoadditives can dramatically increase light output and readability of modern touch screens and displays. PixClear, Pixelligent officials say, also increases the light output of products for lighting applications such as HB-LEDs and OLEDs.

Prior to Pixelligent, nanocrystal dispersions suffered from aggregation and were cloudy, difficult to process, and unstable, which prevented their commercial adoption. But Pixelligent officials claim their PixClear dispersions are something new: they’re perfectly clear. These clear dispersions allow Pixelligent to deliver precise control over the target applications’ optical, chemical and mechanical properties.

“Pixelligent is at the forefront of developing nanotechnology innovations that will revolutionize light management in display and lighting applications,” said Craig Bandes, President and CEO of Pixelligent.  “The launch of PixClear is a great example of our ability to identify a need in the industry and then create a high-quality and scalable solution that will dramatically impact the performance of numerous end-products.”

Pixelligent’s PixClear nanocrystal dispersions have been tailored to be compatible with a wide variety of monomers and polymers. PixClear’s synthesis and surface modification technology produces high-quality dispersions that can be incorporated into many of the most widely used polymer systems. This enables highly transparent formulations with nanocrystal loadings in excess of 80 percent weight, while reaching a refractive index as high as 1.85, levels that are unmatched in the industry to date. Additionally, it provides great flexibility for index matching dissimilar materials and when using modern high-speed polymer film forming techniques.  

In their official release, Pixelligent claims the advantages of PixClear nanoadditives include a high refractive index, high transparency at visible wavelengths, low haze coating, improve scratch resistance, and an easy integration into existing manufacturing processes.

Many users of microwave ovens have had the frightening experience of leaving a fork, crumpled piece of aluminum foil or some other pointy metal item inside the cooking chamber. The sharp metal object acts as an antenna for the oven’s microwave radiation, causing strong local heating or sparking. Jing Hua Teng from the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and colleagues in Singapore and the UK have now observed a similar antenna effect, involving a different sort of electromagnetic radiation — known as terahertz (THz) radiation — in a microfabricated semiconductor structure. Their discovery could find application in areas ranging from bio-sensing to airport security scanners.

Teng and his co-workers developed tiny semiconductor structures made of the chemical elements indium and antimony. From this material, they produced disks of 20mm in diameter, which they arranged such that pairs just touched. The gap between contiguous disks was merely tens to hundreds of nanometers wide (see image). When the researchers exposed the structures to THz radiation, they found that the radiation intensity in the gap was enhanced by more than a hundred times.

Confining and enhancing THz radiation is significant for two reasons, according to Teng. First, electromagnetic waves in the THz range can be used in a broad range of applications, for example, to study the structure of large biomolecules. As this sort of radiation can penetrate textiles but is less energetic than X-rays — or microwaves — it is also well suited for use in body scanners at airports. The second reason as to why the new results are important is more fundamental.

“We have produced this particular touching-disk structure to test, in the THz regime, intriguing theoretical predictions made for optical radiation,” explains Teng. “Building a device such as ours for visible light is much more challenging, as it would involve even smaller structures.”

The now-verified theoretical predictions came from collaborators at Imperial College London in the UK.

“For the present work, IMRE is in charge of the materials growth and the structure fabrication, while Imperial College contributes structure design and characterization,” says Teng.

The A*STAR researchers are now focused on practical applications: they will further explore the unique properties of their semiconductor materials and try to develop devices for THz technology. The group has already succeeded in tuning the THz response of their structure2, meaning that they can conveniently adjust the frequency response of their device for different applications.

Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation entered the high-growth market for testing MEMS-based sensors by installing V93000 Smart Scale systems at several of Freescale Semiconductor’s facilities around the world. In addition to using Advantest’s testers for engineering development at Freescale’s Sensor and Actuator Solutions Division engineering center in Tempe, Arizona, the semiconductor manufacturer has started to employ the V93000 platform in production testing of its newest generations of MEMS-based sensors being manufactured in Asia.

Advantest claims its Smart Scale platform can be configured to provide the lowest cost of test for high-volume sensors. Officials says that while the ultra-compact A-Class test head enables a small footprint, the V93000’s robust system resources and its processor-based universal pin architecture combine to deliver unmatched parallelism and high multi-site efficiency in testing all current and emerging sensor technologies.

The tester is equipped with drivers for all major MEMS handlers and can communicate with the handler during the test flow. This is a key performance attribute in testing MEMS, which requires the handler to move between different orientations during test runs.

"In extensively evaluating testers for its MEMS applications, Freescale conducted comparative reviews of various systems to find the solution that would meet its technical requirements," said Sae Bum Myung, executive vice president of worldwide sales at Advantest.

The Advantest V93000 tester has a successful track record with Freescale. The company contracts with outsource semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) facilities throughout Asia that are using V93000 systems.

"Using Advantest’s V93000 systems in MEMS testing will enable us to continue to lower our cost of test and improve the time to market for our newest sensor products," said Seyed Paransun, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s Sensor and Actuator Solutions Division.

Advantest officials say the V93000 platform has the flexibility to test a wide range of semiconductor devices used in a variety of applications, from sensors to wireless communications. The tester’s per-pin accuracy and high throughput enable customers to quickly ramp to production volumes, shortening their time to market.

China-based manufacturers of cellphones and tablets in 2012 more than doubled their share of purchases of MEMS motion sensors, reflecting the rising prominence of the companies in the global market, according to an IHS iSuppli MEMS Topical Report from information and analytics provider IHS.

Chinese makers as a whole were the third major user last year of motion sensors for cellphones and tablets, accounting for 15% of the market, up from 7 percent in 2011, as presented in the attached figure.

“The purchasers fell into two groups: the first typified by big companies such as ZTE, Huawei Technologies, Lenovo and Coolpad; and the second made up of a multitude of smaller players,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst for MEMS and sensors at IHS. “The two groups will evolve in different directions in the years ahead. The larger manufacturers will maintain their growth through 2016, but the boom that smaller players are enjoying at present—driven by the long-tail growth of smartphones—is a bubble that will not be sustainable. As top-tier suppliers start to optimize their lower-end platforms for this market, the window of growth for smaller players will shrink accordingly, expiring during the next few years.”

Shades of gray

Chinese firms ZTE and Huawei Technologies were at No. 8 and No. 9 last year—below top players Apple and Samsung, Nokia of Finland at No. 3, LG Electronics of South Korea in fourth place, HTC of Taiwan in fifth, Japan’s Sony in sixth and Illinois-based Motorola in seventh. However, ZTE and Huawei were ahead of No. 10 BlackBerry, the rebranded Canadian player formerly known as Research In Motion.

Outside of the legitimate Chinese market, the China gray-handset space also had a small presence in the global motion sensor industry given spending of $12.7 million, down from a peak of $41.1 million in 2009. The market here consisted solely of accelerometers supplied by American companies Memsic and Freescale, as well as STMicrolectronics and Bosch. There are no compasses or gyroscopes in this segment.

Apple and Samsung dominate

Apple and Samsung Electronics were the two largest buyers in 2012 of MEMS motion sensors for handsets and tablets with nearly three-fifths control of the total market last year, affording the two giants extraordinary leverage when negotiating prices.

Apple spent $422.4 million for a 31 percent share, while Samsung’s expenditure of $340.8 million gave it a 25 percent share. The combined share of 56 percent from the two—equivalent to $763.2 million—dwarfed the rest of the market, which included the underground gray-handset space in China, as well as other smaller buyers from Taiwan and the United States, as shown in the attached table.

“The heft and influence of Apple and Samsung in the consumption of motion sensors give the two titans incredible purchasing power in this key area,” Bouchaud said. “Apple and Samsung were leagues ahead of other companies like Nokia, LG Electronics, HTC, Sony and Motorola in purchasing motion sensors. Both companies in 2012 paid 20 to 25 percent lower prices than other buyers for all motion sensors on average. For 3-axis gyroscopes, Apple and Samsung paid prices that were 10 to 15 percent less than for everyone else.”

Apple and Samsung are expected to maintain their dominance until at least 2016, retaining approximately 55 percent of the market by then.

Overall, revenue last year for MEMS motion sensors used in handsets and tablets amounted to $1.34 billion, up a solid 21% from $1.11 billion in 2011.

Apple’s major contribution

California-based Apple was the biggest buyer of motion sensors for tablets, but fell behind top purchaser Samsung last year for the sensors in mobile handsets. Apple’s share last year was down from 36 percent in 2011, but the company can claim important milestones in the MEMS motion sensor market.

The first iPhone made the accelerometer popular as the phone could automatically orient to a horizontal or vertical position; the iPhone 3GS launched an electronic compass for navigation; and the iPhone 4 along with the first iPad created a new market for motion-sensitive gyroscopes.

Unlike most manufacturers, Apple so far has a single-source policy for motion sensors. French-Italian entity STMicroelectronics has been the sole supplier to Apple of accelerometers since 2007 and of gyroscopes since 2010, while Japanese-based AKM has been the lone supplier of the e-compass since 2009.

STMicroelectronics is also the supplier of 3-axis gyroscopes for the iPhone 4, 4S and 5, as well as for the iPad 2, 3 and mini tablets.

Apple, however, may be facing stiff competition from other buyers in pioneering new motion sensor applications. Samsung, for instance, is driving the adoption of pressure sensors for sophisticated indoor navigation, while Nokia and HTC have already introduced optical image stabilization to reduce camera shake in smartphones.

Samsung’s upstart challenge to Apple

Samsung overtook Nokia in 2011 to become the second-largest buyer of MEMS motion sensors for handsets and tablets. The South Korean behemoth increased purchasing by 69 percent, boosting its market share to a quarter of the total from 19 percent in 2011. Samsung’s new-found prominence puts it within 6 percentage points of Apple, narrowing Apple’s lead down from 15 percent in 2011.

Unlike Apple, Samsung has a diversified supplier base: three for discrete accelerometers; four for e-compasses; two suppliers for discrete gyroscopes; two for pressure sensors; two for 6-axis inertial measurement units combining a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope; and one for 6-axis compasses comprising a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis e-compass.

STMicroelectronics was the main supplier to Samsung as it was for Apple, with German maker Bosch Sensortec and California-based InvenSense as Samsung’s next biggest providers.

Samsung’s inclusion of pressure sensors in the latest Galaxy Note 2 and S III smartphones is also notable, giving the company an important head start in this segment, especially as Apple is not expected to include pressure sensors in the iPhone until 2014.

The top suppliers overall

Four suppliers shipped more than $100 million worth of MEMS motion sensors last year, making up 84 percent of the market. STMicroelectronics was No. 1 with $640 million, followed by AKM with $236 million, Bosch Sensortec with $135 million and InvenSense with $121 million.

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SiTime Corporation, one of the fastest growing semiconductor companies, today introduced the SiT15xx family of 32 kHz MEMS oscillators that are intended to replace legacy quartz crystal resonators. This new family is targeted at mobile applications, such as smartphones and tablets, which require small size and low power. SiTime claims the new device will offer area savings of 85%, cut power by 50% and provide 15 times more reliability.

SiTime intends for the SiT153x family to replace quartz crystal resonators and operates from a 1.2V to 3.63V regulated power supply.The SiT154x family would also replace quartz crystal resonators and operates from a 2.7 to 4.5V unregulated Li-Ion battery.

"SiTime’s silicon MEMS and analog technology deliver innovative timing solutions that leapfrog decades of quartz industry development. Large infrastructure and consumer electronics companies have already adopted SiTime’s solutions and are profiting from our remarkable combination of highest performance, lowest cost and best reliability," said Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime. "Now, we are bringing these exceptional benefits to the booming mobile market. Our focus, passion and execution has allowed us to get 80% share of the MEMS timing market and with the new SiT15xx family, we continue to extend our lead."

In addition to smartphones and tablets, the SiT15xx family is intended for devices that require small size and low power such as fitness monitoring and watch products, medical monitoring and wellness devices, sport camcorders, wireless keypads and mouse devices.

Despite facing five consecutive quarters of decline and a slowdown in consumption in smartphones and tablets, the global market for NAND flash memory pulled off a surprise growth spurt during the last three months of 2012, causing sales to reach a record high.

NAND industry revenue in the October to December period of 2012 amounted to $5.6 billion, up an impressive 17% from $4.8 billion in the third quarter, according to an IHS iSuppli Flash Dynamics Market Brief from information and analytics provider IHS. Samsung Electronics, with more than a third of total revenue, led the field. NAND flash revenue for the entire year of 2012 amounted to $20.2 billion.

NAND flash growth

 

“The NAND flash market’s expansion in the fourth quarter was significant in two ways,” said Ryan Chien, analyst for memory and storage at IHS. “Not only did the increase defy the recent trend of sales sliding during the last quarter of a year, the expansion also resulted in the period having the largest revenue results in industry history. Major contributors to NAND strength in the fourth quarter included smartphones and tablets, even though density growth is projected to slow in 2013 for each smartphone, and has been negative for tablets since 2010. For these markets, rising volumes trumped the trend of slower growth in memory usage in the fourth quarter.”

Also playing a notable role in driving NAND growth during the period were solid state drives, along with retail flash products like flash drives and flash cards that likewise continue to attract significant consumer attention.

Flash bang

The 17% sequential growth in the fourth quarter last year was in stark contrast to the average 6% drop in revenue that had occurred during fourth-quarter periods for the previous five years. This time, growth was the result of solid product demand relative to preceding periods of weakness, coupled with a return to health for flash manufacturers. An important factor also was strength in component pricing, which fueled similar vigor in product pricing, stock pricing and—ultimately—revenue.

Overall, the revitalized state of the industry is attracting many new entrants, even though their presence is small in what is especially a scale-intensive space.

Samsung and Toshiba remain biggest players

The market share picture in the fourth quarter was similar to what it was a year earlier, with Samsung Electronics and Toshiba as the top two suppliers of NAND flash memory for the industry.

Samsung had fourth-quarter NAND revenue of approximately $2.0 billion, ending the year with a total of $7.5 billion or 37 percent market share. Samsung’s quarterly revenue since 2009 has hovered between $1.7 and $2.1 billion, helped by integration with its booming mobile device business, particularly smartphones.

At ISSCC 2013, Holst Centre and imec have presented an innovative method for the power-management of piezoelectric energy harvesters. The proposed interface IC provides energy-aware supply voltage regulation from cold start with a power consumption of less than 140nW. A power efficiency of 90 to 94% is achieved in a wide power range of 1µW to 1mW. Key building block of the IC is a new active diode bridge rectifier with zero bias property.

Holst Centre and imec have developed an integrated piezoelectric energy interface IC with zero bias rectifier circuit and energy-aware supply regulator. The IC is suitable for regulating the voltage in battery-less smart sensors that are typically composed of a piezoelectric energy harvester, sensors, an energy storage system and wireless transceivers.  With a power consumption of less than 140nW and a power efficiency as high as 90 to 94% in a wide 1µW-to-1mW power range, the circuit outperforms existing implementations that typically suffer from high energy losses.

The IC regulates the AC power from the piezoelectric energy harvester and supplies an energy-aware DC voltage to the user. The rectified output voltage is connected to a capacitor which accumulates the harvested energy. When this output voltage reaches a target startup voltage, a power-OK signal is set and a timer oscillator with 8-bit counter is enabled. When the output voltage reaches the threshold voltage set by a shunt regulator, a USE signal is generated and the counter is stopped. The USE signal triggers the users to draw current from the capacitor until the USE signal is reset. The harvested power will charge the capacitor again and the cycle is repeated.

The proposed circuit has been fabricated in a commercial TSMC 0.25µm CMOS process with 0.25mm2 active area. The harvested power was generated by an aluminum nitride vacuum packaged MEMS piezoelectric harvester. Tests have demonstrated that the IC itself consumes only 40nA of quiescent current and that this new method of power management delivers optimal power matching for input AC-peak voltages up to 5V.

A comparison with state-of-the-art interfaces shows that this solution consumes less power than previous solutions (only 140nW) while at the same time providing full cold-start, high efficiency AC-DC conversion, output regulation and energy awareness.

MEMS pressure sensor is one of the very first MEMS components appearing in the microsystem world. The technologies are quite mature and the market is big and expected to grow from $1.9B in 2012 to $3B in 2018.

“MEMS pressure sensor for consumer applications, especially for smartphones and tablets, is following the model of accelerometers and gyroscopes. Adoption of this model will help the MEMS pressure sensor market to boom again! We believe, this huge opportunity will result in the global volume of the MEMS pressure sensor market hitting 2.8 billion units by 2018” said Wenbin Ding, technology and market analyst at Yole Développement.”Consumer pressure sensor will represent 1.7 billion units and will overtake automotive as the market leader in volume.”

Even though the consumer application has a much lower ASP than other applications, this promising segment will bring more than 8% CAGR to the global MEMS pressure sensor market.

In their report, Yole Développement provides a global overview of the current MEMS pressure sensor technologies, market and competitive landscape. The covered industries in the MEMS pressure sensor 2013 report are automotive, industrial, medical applications, consumer electronics and high-end (aeronautic, military, defense) applications.

Automotive applications are still dominating the MEMS pressure sensor market. TPMS, MAP and BAP will be the biggest sub applications in this field. Automotive, medical, industrial and high-end markets are growing 4% to 7% however the consumer market is growing 25% in value (38% in volume) because of new opportunities in smartphones and tablets.

MEMS pressure sensor finds new applications in each domain, for example: in-cylinder pressure sensing for consumer applications.

MEMS technologies are still gaining market share compared to other classic technologies

MEMS pressure sensors are showing advantages compared to other current technologies, such as ceramic thick-film, ceramic capacitive and thin-film technologies. Yole Développement has carried out an in-depth analysis of the applicable range of technologies and classified them based on the requirements of the major applications.

Technologies like thin-film are still needed for use in harsh environments, particularly with high temperatures and corrosive medias. MEMS pressure sensor manufacturers are also working on components which could be used in these environments. The status of SiC MEMS pressure sensor development is also described in the report.

Yole Développement analysis provides an overview of other existing pressure sensor technologies. Comparisons of different MEMS technologies are done in order to better understand the positioning of MEMS pressure sensors in the global market.

Fragmented market with more than 50 players involved

Since the MEMS pressure sensor market is huge, Yole Développement is not surprised to see a large number of players in this industry. It is one of the most fragmented markets.

More than 50 worldwide players are involved. The top 5 players (Bosch, Denso, Sensata, GE Sensing and Freescale) represent about 50% of the total market. Automotive, medical, industrial, and high-end markets already have their mature leaders and smaller companies following. The consumer electronics market is still emerging with some conventional MEMS sensor companies interested.

Yole’s report also includes a focus on the competition in the automotive market. Lots of companies are targeting this industry. Bosch has always dominated this sector. The supply chain of the automotive industry is complicated with different types of players: Car Manufacturers, Tier1 Automotive Part & Systems Suppliers (related to Pressure Sensors), Full Package Sensors Specialists and MEMS & Semiconductor Specialists. This section of the report includes a detailed description at each level of the value chain and gives an in-depth supply chain analysis for the automotive market.

With new opportunities appearing in consumer electronics, new comers from the USA and China are targeting this segment. Yole Développement also follows the activities of some new Chinese challengers. Local Chinese companies are making an effort to try and fulfill the huge domestic demand in automotive and consumer applications.

A new undergraduate program approved this week at the University of Central Florida (UCF) will help the U.S. stay competitive in global technology as well as broaden the path for students seeking rewarding careers in the important field of optics and photonics, say leaders of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

UFC photonics undergrad program
Photo: UCF

The UCF Board of Trustees yesterday announced a new Bachelor of Science degree program in photonics science and engineering, in partnership between the College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL) and the College of Engineering and Computer Science, said CREOL Director Bahaa Saleh. Students will receive their degrees from both colleges. The first classes of the new program will be offered this fall.

The curriculum is designed to prepare students for a wide variety of jobs in optics and photonics and to satisfy the requirements of ABET accreditation based on the criterion established by SPIE and IEEE for degrees in the field recently, Saleh said. ABET is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that accredits college and university programs in the disciplines of applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology.

“I am personally excited to see this announcement because it serves as another indicator that optical and photonics engineering is finally coming of age as a discipline, providing a distinct program choice and career path for students to follow,” said Barry Shoop, professor and head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. Shoop leads the SPIE/IEEE team to develop ABET program criteria for optical and photonics engineering.

Shoop said that establishment of the new program also is “further evidence of the growth, influence, and importance of optical and photonics engineering as a discipline. This program joins a growing number of optical engineering programs across the country that are attracting some of the best and brightest students to serve the growing needs of industry, government and academia.”

“The program will help ensure that the U.S. has a chance to participate at all levels in the coming growth in photonics,” said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. “As ABET moves to accredit programs in optics and photonics, UCF, long a leader in technology transfer programs and photonics education, is again showing its innovative drive. This timely new undergraduate program reflects the growing awareness of a vital field that has already changed the world in multiple ways – the Internet, laser surgery, and 3D imaging, to name a few — and that will continue to change the world many times over.”

Students in the new UCF program will study geometrical optics, physical optics, optical materials, and photonics devices and systems, striking a balance between general engineering breadth and basic knowledge and practical skills for solving problems and designing and building working optical systems, Saleh said. Along with core courses, the program will provide hands-on training in laboratories and a capstone senior design project, and participation in a summer internship program with local industry will be encouraged.

As UCF faculty were instrumental in the development of the new ABET program criteria for optical, photonics and similarly named engineering programs, this new program is anticipated to become ABET accredited, which will directly serve the growing need for photonic engineers and further increase the visibility and recognition of optical and photonics engineering as a discipline.

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