Category Archives: MEMS

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, a developer of standards for the microelectronics industry, announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed two new members: Mr. Jong H. Oh, Vice President, SK hynix and Mr. Hung Vuong, Qualcomm.  

Representing SK hynix, an active JEDEC member in multiple committees, Mr. Oh brings over 25 years of experience in the semiconductor memory industry ranging from circuit design to marketing and product planning.  He holds 49 US patents and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Seoul National University in Korea.

During Mr. Vuong’s tenure as Qualcomm’s lead representative to JEDEC, Qualcomm has increased its involvement and assumed several leadership positions in JEDEC committees. Mr. Vuong is currently Chairman of two JEDEC subcommittees and brings a wealth of experience in the mobile market to his new position on the Board, including high performance at low power.

“JEDEC is honored to welcome Mr. Oh and Mr. Vuong to its Board of Directors,” said Mian Quddus, JEDEC Board of Directors Chairman. He added, “This is a crucial time in the industry and within JEDEC for introducing new memory concepts and facilitating the rapid growth of the mobile market. I am very pleased by the depth and breadth of expertise both Mr. Oh and Mr. Vuong will bring to their new role as Board members.”

JEDEC is a developer of standards for the microelectronics industry.  Over 4,000 participants, appointed by nearly 300 companies, work together in 50 JEDEC committees to meet the needs of every segment of the industry, manufacturers and consumers alike.

Toshiba develops CMOS image sensorToshiba Corporation announced the development of a CMOS image sensor with a small area and low power pixel readout circuits. A sample sensor embedded with the readout circuits shows double the performance of a conventional one. Toshiba presented this development at ISSCC 2013 in San Francisco, CA on Feb. 20.

As demand for commodity mobile phones takes off in emerging markets, CMOS image sensor need to be smaller, consume less power and offer low noise performance. The pixel readout circuits of CMOS image sensors are largely noise reducing correlated double sampling (CDS) circuits, along with a programmable gain amplifier (PGA) and an analog to digital converter (ADC). Serial signal processing architecture is best suited for securing conventional CMOS image sensors with a small area and low power pixel readout circuits, because a PGA and ADC can be shared by many CDS circuits placed in each column area of the sensor. However, smaller size and lower power are still challenges, since noise reduction circuits occupy a large area in the readout circuits, and PGA and ADC have high power consumption.

Key key technologies to overcome these challenges:

1) Column CDS circuits primarily made up of aria-efficient PMOS capacitors. The area of the CDS circuits is reduced to about half that of conventional circuits.

2) In the readout circuits, a level shift function is simultaneously achieved by a capacitive coupling through the PMOS capacitors, allowing adjustment of the signal dynamic range between the column CDS circuits and the PGA and the ADC. This achieves low power and low voltage implementation of the PGA and ADC, reducing their power consumption by 40%.

3) Implementation of a low power switching procedure in the ADC suited to processing the pixel signals of CMOS image sensors. This reduces the switching power consumption of the ADC by 80%.

Toshiba has integrated the three technologies in a sample sensor and confirmed that they double the overall performance of the sensor core. The company now plans to apply CMOS image sensors with the readout circuits to low cost mobile phones and medical cameras in fiscal year 2013.

TESEC Corporation today announced the development and sales of the ULTRA MEMS handler, targeting Inertial (Accelerometer, Gyroscope and Magnetometer) MEMS devices. The ULTRA handler was designed jointly by TESEC and FocusTest, Inc. The ULTRA is a carrier based system with parallel test capabilities for 16, 32, 64 and 96 devices. The system will be available for demonstration and shipment mid-2013.

The overall MEMS market is the fastest growing portion of the semiconductor market, with 2012 revenues of $11.5B and an expected growth rate exceeding 10% for the next several years. According to TESEC’s Director of Sales, Keizo Yamaguchi, “the MEMS handling market is expanding rapidly and with the introduction of the ULTRA, TESEC intends to become a significant supplier to this segment.”

The ULTRA handler provides MEMS device suppliers with a significant throughput enhancement, as a significant portion of devices are being tested today on systems that provide only four to sixteen parallel processing. In addition to significantly higher parallel performance, the ULTRA offers a host of features aimed at higher performance and lower test time. With ±360 degree, 3 axis rotation the ULTRA is capable of providing stimulus for accelerometers and gyroscopes. A magnetic stimulus unit adds magnetometer test capability, making the ULTRA the industry’s first 9 degrees of freedom (DOF) capable system.

Future versions of the ULTRA are planned to expand coverage to address pressure sensor and high G MEMS devices.

“FocusTest brings 20 years of MEMS handling, stimulus and test experience to the ULTRA,” said Richard Chrusciel, ULTRA Product Development Manager, adding: “our partnership with TESEC brings over 40 years of experience and achievement in semiconductor handling, as well as a worldwide organization. The fusion of FocusTest and TESEC will bring world class automation to the MEMS handling market.”

The ULTRA handling and stimulus system is available in ambient and full tri-temperature configurations. Best of all, the unit is priced to avoid sticker shock, with base system configurations targeted to be of equal to or lower cost than current market products.

TESEC will provide world-wide sales/distribution, manufacturing and support for the ULTRA. FocusTest will provide MEMS and test cell specific engineering and applications.

Only light, aerial oxygen, and a catalyst are needed to remove pollutants from water. Ruhr-Universitat Bochum researchers led by Professor Radim Beránek are collaborating with colleagues from seven different countries in order to develop a photocatalyst that is efficient enough to be profitable. For that purpose, they combine sunlight-absorbing semiconductors and nanostructured materials which they optimize for electron transfer processes. The aim is to implement the newly developed photocatalysts into a liquid paint with which photoreactors can easily be coated. The EU supports the project within its 7th Framework Programme (FP7) with 3.7 million Euro funding for three years.

Current problems of photocatalysis

People from many countries of the world extensively use pesticides, which contaminate drinking and irrigation water with toxic organic compounds. In rural areas of Vietnam, herbicides and dioxins, resistant to degradation, made their way into the water cycle during the Vietnam War. The results can be devastating. People who drink this contaminated water are at a higher risk of developing cancer, and pregnant women may put their newborn at risk for birth defects, in worst case scenarios.

“Photocatalysis is potentially one of the cheapest and most efficient methods for purifying water from pollutants,” Radim Beránek says.

Sunlight and oxygen establish oxidizing conditions, under which toxins are easily degraded into non-harmful substances like water and carbon dioxide. Up until now, the process, however, faces two problems: degradation rates are too low and assembly of the needed photoreactors is too expensive.

The aim: cheeper and more efficient catalysts

Within the project “4G-PHOTOCAT,” the researchers aim to develop cost-efficient photocatalysts with a considerably improved degradation rate. They fabricate innovative composite materials consisting of semiconductors and nanostructured metal oxides. In order to achieve the optimal architecture for the product, they employ advanced chemical deposition techniques with a high degree of control over composition and morphology.

“Our ultimate goal is to implement the newly developed photocatalysts into a liquid paint,” Radim Beránek says. “Photoreactors painted with that liquid can be used, for example, for water decontamination in remote rural areas of Vietnam.”

Collaborators

“4G-PHOTOCAT “allies the expertise of seven academic and three industrial partners from five European countries and two Southeast Asian countries. At the RUB, Beránek collaborates with Professor Dr. Roland A. Fischer (Inorganic Chemistry II), Professor Dr. Martin Muhler, and Dr. Jennifer Strunk (Industrial Chemistry). The international collaborators include scientists from the University College London, J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry in Prague, Jagiellonian University Krakow, University of Helsinki, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and Hanoi University of Agriculture. Furthermore, industrial partners from Finland (Picosun), Czech Republic (Advanced Materials), and Vietnam (Q&A) have joined the team.

The ability to improve silicon transistors is reaching its fundamental limit, so researchers are searching for new ways to keep making electronic devices faster and more powerful. University of Nebraska-Lincoln physicists and colleagues have taken a major step toward breaking that silicon barrier.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln physicists (from left) Evgeny Tsymbal, John D. Burton and Alexei Gruverman in the UNL Materials Research Science and Education Center’s Thin Film Growth and Characterization Facility. (Photo by Craig Chandler/University Communications)

UNL physicist Evgeny Tsymbal and colleagues demonstrated that a nanostructure with unique properties may hold the key to creating much smaller, more powerful electronics. They reported their findings in Nature Materials, published online this week. This work builds on predictions by Tsymbal, Bessey Professor of Physics and Astronomy and director of UNL’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and colleague John D. Burton, reported in Physical Review Letters in 2011.

They had theorized that a layer of ferroelectric oxide just a few atoms thick could be exploited as a memory element to store more digital information using less energy than silicon-based memories. Using quantum theories and super computers at the university’s Holland Computing Center, they predicted how a ferroelectric memory element would behave.

Then they asked experimentalist Qi Li at Pennsylvania State University, UNL physicist Alexei Gruverman and colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tenn., and at universities in China and Korea to put their theories to the test. Those results proved the researchers’ predictions correct.

The theory is based, in part, on a phenomenon called quantum tunneling, in which particles can pass through a barrier only at the quantum, or atomic, level. To develop a new generation of electronics, scientists are experimenting with tunnel junctions, in which an ultra-thin barrier is placed between two electrodes. When voltage is applied, electrons are able to tunnel through the barrier, creating a current with resistance.

Tsymbal and colleagues created a tunnel junction using nano-thin ferroelectric oxide, a material with both positive and negative polarization directions, which can be reversed by switching the voltage charge. They have shown that reversing the polarization changes the resistance through the tunnel junction by 100 times, a difference large enough to easily measure.

These ferroelectric properties are important because its two polarization directions could be read across regions like a binary code to store information. Tsymbal’s team has shown that the measurable difference in resistance could be used to detect polarization directions.

Current silicon-based devices require large currents, so the size of the space between regions must be big enough to accommodate the heat that’s generated. Because a ferroelectric device would use less energy, it would allow for more regions in a much smaller space, which would enable more compact and powerful devices.

Such a device won’t hit stores anytime soon, however. The effect only works up to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

"For applications, you obviously want to have this change in resistance at room temperature," Tsymbal said. "This can’t be used immediately, but it shows some new directions to pursue."

Next, UNL’s team will investigate other geometric and material configurations to find alternatives with greater applicability. Gruverman and Tsymbal also are exploring something called memristor. Rather than abruptly reversing polarization between two directions, memristor would allow changing polarization, and therefore resistance, continuously.

"Changing in a continuous way offers many stages of resistance and that will allow us to see more interesting physics and applications," Tsymbal said.

Co-authors are: UNL’s Tysmbal, Burton and Gruverman; Li of Penn State; Y.W. Yin, Penn State and the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale at the University of Science and Technology of China; X.G. Li, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale at the University of Science and Technology of China; Y-M. Kim, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Seoul National University, Korea; A.Y. Borisevich and S.J. Pennycook, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and S.M. Yang and T.W. Noh, Seoul National University.

Grants from UNL’s National Science Foundation-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and the NSF’s Nebraska Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research help support this research.

 

The quantum dot recently emerged as a next-generation display material. Quantum dots, whose diameter is just a few nanometers, are semiconductor crystals. The smaller its particle is, the more short-wavelength light are emitted; the larger its particle is, the more long-wavelength lights get emitted. Considering that there are more advantages with the quantum dots over conventional light sources, it is not surprising that the quantum dot display gains a lot of attention.
 
The quantum dot display consumes lower power and has a richer color than the conventional OLED. In addition, the white light produced by quantum dots has high brightness and excellent color reproduction, raising its potential to replace the backlight unit (BLU) using the LED. Not surprisingly, leading companies in the display industry are accelerating to secure relevant technologies.

Analysis of Patent Application Trends
By country, 93 patents (or 34%) were filed in South Korea, 87 in the U.S., 36 in Japan, 22 in Europe, and 35 under the PCT. By technology, patents on quantum dot light emitting diodes (QLED) technology (188 patents, 69%) were applied the most, followed by those on BLU using the white light source; quantum dot display; and LED-using white light source technologies.  

Implications
As the quantum dot display has emerged as the next-generation display technology ever since the OLED, the leading companies in the display industry, including Samsung and LG, are making aggressive investment to take a lead in the technology. They not only develop their own technologies, but also purchase patents from; make technology licensing agreements with; or make equity investment in the companies of the field.

The competition to obtain key patents on the quantum dot display is expected to only increase. Monitoring published/issued patents on a regular basis and having a thorough analysis on them have become more important. 

Key Patent Report – Quantum Dot Display covers patent application trends and an in-depth analysis.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech’s new report Nanobiotechnology Applications, Markets and Companies to their offering.

Photo by cenews via Creative Commons

Nanotechnology is the creation and utilization of materials, devices, and systems through the control of matter on the nanometer-length scale. Nanobiotechnology, an integration of physical sciences, molecular engineering, biology, chemistry and biotechnology holds considerable promise of advances in pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The report starts with an introduction to various techniques and materials that are relevant to nanobiotechnology. It includes some of the physical forms of energy such as nanolasers. Some of the technologies are scaling down such as microfluidics to nanofluidic biochips and others are constructions from bottom up. Application in life sciences research, particularly at the cell level sets the stage for role of nanobiotechnology in healthcare in subsequent chapters.

Some of the earliest applications are in molecular diagnostics. Nanoparticles, particularly quantum dots, are playing important roles. In vitro diagnostics, does not have any of the safety concerns associated with the fate of nanoparticles introduced into the human body. Numerous nanodevices and nanosystems for sequencing single molecules of DNA are feasible. Various nanodiagnostics that have been reviewed will improve the sensitivity and extend the present limits of molecular diagnostics.

An increasing use of nanobiotechnology by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries is anticipated. Nanotechnology will be applied at all stages of drug development – from formulations for optimal delivery to diagnostic applications in clinical trials. Many of the assays based on nanobiotechnology will enable high-throughput screening. Some of nanostructures such as fullerenes are themselves drug candidates as they allow precise grafting of active chemical groups in three-dimensional orientations. The most important pharmaceutical applications are in drug delivery. Apart from offering a solution to solubility problems, nanobiotechnology provides and intracellular delivery possibilities. Skin penetration is improved in transdermal drug delivery. A particularly effective application is as nonviral gene therapy vectors. Nanotechnology has the potential to provide controlled release devices with autonomous operation guided by the needs.

Nanomedicine is now within the realm of reality starting with nanodiagnostics and drug delivery facilitated by nanobiotechnology. Miniature devices such as nanorobots could carry out integrated diagnosis and therapy by refined and minimally invasive procedures, nanosurgery, as an alternative to crude surgery. Applications of nanobiotechnology are described according to various therapeutic systems. Nanotechnology will markedly improve the implants and tissue engineering approaches as well. Other applications such as for management of biological warfare injuries and poisoning are included. Contribution of nanobiotechnology to nutrition and public health such as supply of purified water are also included.

There is some concern about the safety of nanoparticles introduced in the human body and released into the environment. Research is underway to address these issues. As yet there are no FDA directives to regulate nanobiotechnology but as products are ready to enter market, these are expected to be in place.

Future nanobiotechnology markets are calculated on the basis of the background markets in the areas of application and the share of this market by new technologies and state of development at any given year in the future. This is based on a comprehensive and thorough review of the current status of nanobiotechnology, research work in progress and anticipated progress. There is definite indication of large growth of the market, but it will be uneven and cannot be plotted as a steady growth curve. Marketing estimates are given according to areas of application, technologies and geographical distribution starting with 2012. The largest expansion is expected between the years 2017 and 2022.

3-D integration with nanostructuresResearchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new type of nanoscale structure that resembles a “nano-shish-kebab,” consisting of multiple two-dimensional nanosheets that appear to be impaled upon a one-dimensional nanowire. However, the nanowire and nanosheets are actually a single, three-dimensional structure consisting of a seamless series of germanium sulfide (GeS) crystals. The structure holds promise for use in the creation of new, three-dimensional (3-D) technologies.

The researchers believe this is the first engineered nanomaterial to combine one-dimensional and two-dimensional structures in which all of the components have a shared crystalline structure.

Combining the nanowire and nanosheets into a single “heterostructure” creates a material with both a large surface area and the ability to transfer electric charges efficiently. The nanosheets provide a very large surface area, and the nanowire acts as a channel that can transmit charges between the nanosheets or from the nanosheets to another surface. This combination of features means it could be used to develop 3-D devices, such as next-generation sensors, photodetectors or solar cells. This 3-D structure could also be useful for developing new energy storage technologies, such as next-generation supercapacitors.

“We think this approach could also be used to create heterostructures like these using other materials whose molecules form similar crystalline layers, such as molybdenum sulfide (MoS2),” says Dr. Linyou Cao, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper on the research. “And, while germanium sulfide has excellent photonic properties, MoS2 holds more promise for electronic applications.”

The process, Cao says, is also attractive because “it is inexpensive and could be scaled up for industrial processes.”

To create the nano-shish-kebabs, the researchers begin by creating a GeS nanowire approximately 100 nanometers in width. The nanowire is then exposed to air, creating nucleation sites on the wire surface through weak oxidation. The nanowire is then exposed to GeS vapor, which forms into two-dimensional nanosheets at each of the nucleation sites.

“Our next step is to see if we can create these heterostructures in other materials, such as MoS2,” Cao says. “We think we can, but we need to prove it.”

The paper, Epitaxial Nanosheet–Nanowire Heterostructures, was published online Feb. 18 in Nano Letters. The lead author is Dr. Chun Li, a former postdoctoral researcher at NC State. Co-authors are Yifei Yu, a Ph.D. student at NC State; Cao; and Dr. Miaofang Chi of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The research was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office.

ISSCC, the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, is being held on February 17-21, 2013, at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel. This year, in honor of the conference’s 60th anniversary, we have assembled highlights of the topics and trends that are being discussed. Click through to learn more about the trends and challenges facing the solid-state integrated circuits industry in 2013.

David Su, subcommittee chair of ISSCC 2013, wrote on data rates of modern wireless standards, which are increasing rapidly, as is shown in the table above. The data rate has increased 100x over in the last decade and another 10x is projected in the next five years. Read more.

MORE HIGHLIGHTS FROM ISSCC 2013   >>>

DRS Technologies, Inc., a Finmeccanica Company, and Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY) today announced that DRS will transfer its Microbolometer technology for uncooled infrared detectors to Cypress for high-volume manufacturing.

The proprietary production process, developed by the Network and Imaging Systems (NIS) division of DRS Technologies, will be transferred to Cypress’s 65nm Class 10 eight-inch wafer fabrication facility in Bloomington, Minnesota. The exclusive agreement will allow DRS Technologies to continue to improve sensor production by taking advantage of Cypress’s advanced manufacturing for significantly reduced wafer costs.

Cypress operates its own wafer fabrication facility in Bloomington, Minnesota, and offers access to this facility as a Specialty Foundry Solutions provider. This 8-inch wafer fab manufactures in high volume down to the 90-nm node with 65nm capability. It offers process technologies that integrate SONOS-based non-volatile memory and precision analog/mixed signal capabilities. The facility can handle ITAR material, and has been accredited as a Category 1A Trusted Fab for fabrication, design, and testing of U.S. DoD Trusted Microelectronics.

“The partnership with Cypress will allow us to better meet the growing demands of the thermal imaging market,” said NIS President Mike Sarrica. “With our advanced, proprietary microbolometer production process and Cypress’s proven technology and manufacturing expertise, we can achieve the high-volume, high yield and low-cost capabilities that have become requirements of both the commercial and military markets.”

DRS and Cypress expect to have qualified product by early 2014.

“This partnership validates Cypress’s commitment to high-quality, low-cost manufacturing in the United States”, said Minh Pham, executive vice president of Worldwide Manufacturing at Cypress. “This partnership expands our base of foundry customers for our Minnesota wafer fab, and will add new MEMS processing capabilities to support fabrication of Microbolometers. We expect growth in our wafer foundry business as more companies see the value and service we can offer.”