Category Archives: MEMS

February 28, 2012 — Xsens, 3D motion tracking technology developer, introduced a suite of sensor fusion software for smartphones, media tablets and other mobile devices. Xsens’ accurate, robust and low-power sensor fusion software for 3D motion tracking based on micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) sensors — gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers — is now available to sensor, semiconductor and device manufacturers.

Sensor fusion aggregates sensor input from multiple MEMS in a device to optimize accuracy and sensing speed. Learn more in Solutions for MEMS sensor fusion by STMicroelectronics

Xsens recently established its first partnership aimed at integrating Xsens’ technology in a component for consumer mobile devices. The combination of Xsens’ sensor fusion software with miniature motion sensors will enable mobile device functionality such as natural user interfacing, context awareness, augmented reality, gaming and map navigation.

“9-axis sensor fusion is just the beginning. Application developers expect accurate 3D motion data to develop the physical-interaction-based apps of the future. Fusing data from ever-more-integrated sensors such as pressure sensors, cameras, GPS, ultrasonic and so on will deliver on that future need,” says Per Slycke, CTO of Xsens.

Yole Développement’s recent report, "Inertial Combo Sensors for Consumer & Automotive" shows that supply chains need to adapt to the "very large market opportunity" for inertial combo sensors.

Xsens’ sensor fusion software is deployed in tens of thousands of sensor modules in the professional domain: game developers, system integrators, etc. To adapt the technology for consumer applications, the load was reduced to a few MIPS. Next to the focus on low power consumption, the code size and memory footprint is tiny. The software is flexible and can be integrated in the MEMS sensor module or in low-power companion cores in the application processor.

Xsens develops 3D motion tracking technology and products. More info at http://www.xsens.com.

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February 27, 2012 — Silicon CMOS photonics company Luxtera closed $21.7 million in Round C financing, with participation from NEA, August Capital, Sevin Rosen, Funds, and Lux Capital, as well as new investor Tokyo Electron (TEL), and personal investment from an industry titan.

Luxtera is adding Martin Colombatto, with executive experience at Staccato Communications and Broadcom, to its board of directors. Colombatto most recently served as the CEO and president of Staccato Communications, an Ultra Wide Band (UWB)/ wireless USB company. He served as VP and GM of Broadcom’s Networking Business Unit, where he established and managed a business that generated more than $400 million in revenue over four years. As a corporate officer and member of the executive staff, he led the acquisition of five companies that were integrated into his business and formed the technology and product foundation for future revenue growth.

Colombatto called for a "defining industry transition" from copper interconnect to silicon CMOS photonics, while Greg Young, president and CEO of Luxtera, noted that silicon CMOS photonics is moving from "the exotic research labs of Intel and IBM" to mainstream electronics.

Luxtera Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company integrating high-performance optics directly with silicon electronics on a mainstream CMOS chip. Web site: www.luxtera.com.

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STM ships 2B MEMS sensors


February 24, 2012

February 24, 2012 — STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) has shipped 2 billion micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) sensors to date. ST reached the 1 billion MEMS sensors milestone only 15 months ago. STM recently increased its MEMS production capacity to more than 3 million sensors a day.

ST’s consumer MEMS sales grew more than 80% in 2011, totalling approximately $650 million (ST net revenues were $9.73 billion). ST’s MEMS sensors are integrated into consumer devices for motion-activated user interfaces, and for free-fall protection in laptop hard-disk drives, implantable devices and other healthcare products, and car infotainment and navigation. Future applications include automotive MEMS devices in airbags and tire pressure monitors.

ST set up a dedicated 8" wafer MEMS fabrication line in 2006, meeting the yield requirements of high-volume consumer and portable electronics applications.  

ST offers micro-machined accelerometers, gyroscopes, pressure sensors, magnetic sensors, and microphones and has the capability to integrate these in multi-sensor combos with on-board processing and wireless connectivity. The company has some 600 MEMS-related patent families.

ST provides semiconductors for sense and power technologies and multimedia convergence applications. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.

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February 23, 2012 — STMicroelectronics (STM) is implementing shape memory alloys (SMA) in its optical image stabilization (OIS) motion sensor designs. Actuators made of SMAs contract upon heating.
 
OIS uses feedback from motion sensors embedded in the mobile device to control the mechanical actuator that compensates for slight movements of the user’s hand, resulting in sharper images even in low-light conditions.

Small size and low power requirements allow SMA "smart materials" to be used in actuators that are dramatically more compact, lighter, more powerful and quiet, ST reports. The technology is an alternative to voice coil motors (VCMs) and piezoelectric elements.

See STMicroelectronics at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 27 – March 1, 2012 at its booth (Hall 7, 7C18).

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February 23, 2012 — poLight, maker of reflowable autofocus actuated lenses, collaborated with Texas Instruments (TI) to produce the optical micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) component of poLight’s TLens, aiming for faster focus time and lower power consumption.

Texas Instruments worked closely with poLight to develop a cost-effective and performance-oriented manufacturing process. TI shared its advanced MEMS development and processing expertise, along experience in very high volume manufacturing (HVM), said Faa-Ching Wang, manager of the Heater Chip Business Unit at Texas Instruments.

poLight has 3 actuated autofocus devices based on a patented technology using Optical MEMS and polymer to fit camera modules based on 1/5"-1/2.5" sensors, reaching 5-12MP resolutions. The tunable lens device, TLens, is an alternative to voice coil motor (VCM) technology. poLight reports that the MEMS-based image sensors are more than 20x faster while consuming 40x less power than VCMs.

Also read: poLight taps SVTC for optical MEMS commercialization ramp

poLight develops reflowable and wafer-scale active optical components based on deformable polymers. For more information, visit www.polight.com.

View the free webcast: Lens Tilt in Small Auto-Focus Cameras from DigitalOptics Corp.

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February 22, 2012 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers used gases to precisely control nanowires’ width and composition as they grow, which could yield complex structures optimally designed for particular applications, like LED substrates or solar panels.

Also from MIT: MIT etches MEMS structures with glass stamp

Nanowires can have very different properties than the same materials in bulk, because of quantum confinement effects, based on the behavior of electrons and phonons within the material. Nanowires may conduct electricity and heat or interact with light in new and useful ways. The high surface-area-to-volume ratio makes nanowires especially useful in sensing applications versus bulk materials.

The team, led by MIT assistant professor of materials science and engineering Silvija Gradečak, controlled and varied the size and composition of individual wires as they grew from metal seed particles. They adjusted the gases used in growing the nanowires, which affected the size and composition of the seed particles, simultaneously. The nanowires can be produced using tools already in use by the semiconductor industry, so the devices should be relatively easy to gear up for mass production, the team says.

These initial experiments used indium nitride and indium gallium nitride (InGaN), semiconductors used to manufacture light-emitting diodes (LEDs) among other devices; the technique could be applied to various materials.

The team used electron microscopy to observe nanowire growth, making adjustments to the growth process based on what they learned about the growth patterns. Electron tomography measurements were used to reconstruct the three-dimensional shape of individual nanoscale wires.

The nanowire geometry and composition were so precisely structured that they could enable new semiconductor devices with better functionality than conventional thin-film transistors, Gradečak says. Applications such as blue and ultraviolet LEDs could be produced with zinc oxide (ZnO) and gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires grown to produce these colors very efficiently and at lower cost than sapphire or silicon carbide used today. Other applications are solar-energy panels, with nanowires tuned to specific wavelengths of light; or new thermoelectric devices to capture waste heat and turn it into electric power, where the wires could be grown to conduct electricity well but heat poorly.

The results are described in a new paper authored by MIT assistant professor of materials science and engineering Silvija Gradečak and her team, published in the journal Nano Letters (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl300121p).

In addition to Gradečak, the Nano Letters paper was co-authored by MIT graduate student Sam Crawford, Sung Keun Lim PhD ’11 and researcher Georg Haberfehlner of the research and technology organization CEA-Leti in Grenoble, France. The Nanoscale paper was co-authored by MIT graduate student Xiang Zhou, Megan Brewster PhD ’11 and postdoc Ming-Yen Lu. The work was supported by the MIT Center for Excitonics, the U.S. Department of Energy, the MIT-France MISTI program and the National Science Foundation.

In a related study recently published in the journal Nanoscale, the team also used a unique electron-microscopy technique called cathodoluminescence to observe what wavelengths of light are emitted from different regions of individual nanowires. (http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/nr/c2nr11706a)

Visit the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering at http://dmse.mit.edu/

Courtesy of David L. Chandler, MIT News Office.

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Feburary 22, 2012 — Micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) oscillators represent <1% of the total ($6.3 billion) timing market, but that hasn’t stopped new makers from entering the MEMS oscillator market. The potential growth in this sector attracted 9 vendors so far, with 2 more planning to start shipping later in 2012, and even more on their way, said research firm Semico.

MEMS oscillators are an alternative to the established quartz crystal oscillator technology, offering performance and reliability improvements, smaller form factor, lower cost, and lower power usage than quartz devices.

Also read: MEMS resonators vs. crystal oscillators for IC timing circuits

In "The Time Has Come For MEMS Oscillators," Semico Research examines the timing market by key applications and end-use markets. Semico reports that MEMS oscillator growth is driven by increased penetration into high-growth applications.

The report also looks at key players in MEMS oscillators, as well as potential future entrants.

Companies cited in the report: Abracon, Discera, Ecliptek, IDT, IQD, Micro Oscillator, NXP, Sand9, Seiko Epson, Silicon Labs, SiTime, TXC Corporation, VTI, Murata, STMicroelectronics, Bosch, Freescale and Microsemi.

For more information, contact Susan Cadel at [email protected] or 607-368-7600.    

Semico is a semiconductor marketing & consulting research company. Visit www.semico.com.

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February 22, 2012 — Annual revenues generated by micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) devices built into mobile devices — including sensors, audio, displays and RF — will exceed $6 billion by 2016, shows Juniper Research. MEMS are both riding the growth of smartphones, tablets, eReaders and ultrabooks, and contributing to the appeal of these products.

Three categories comprise this revenue estimate: MEMS that have already deployed (accelerometers, magnetometers & gyroscopes), MEMS in initial stages of deployment (displays, RF devices, pressure sensors & microphones) and future MEMS applications, such as joysticks, temperature and humidity sensors, speakers & pico-projectors.

Figure. Global MEMS device revenue ($M) by region. SOURCE: Juniper Research.

Inertial sensor adoption, including accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers, has mainly depended on advanced availability and capability of gaming and navigation applications, becoming ubiquitous in most mobile devices, particularly smartphones and tablets, Juniper asserts. Increased mobile device integration is coupled with overall mobile device growth to drive MEMS sensors upward.

MEMS sensors will become "an important differentiator for mobile device manufacturers," said Nitin Bhas, who authored Juniper’s report, "MEMS in Mobile." MEMS enable new capabilities and functionalities, including location-based and navigation services. In the future, smartphones and tablets will pick up additional capabilities via MEMS integration, such as stabilization control, which is emerging now, Bhas said.

MEMS microphones and RF components have huge growth potential in mobile electronics. MEMS mics generate high-quality audio input, and multiple microphones can be integrated for better sound, voice recognition, and more. The total number of MEMS microphones in mobile devices will exceed 2 billion in 2016.

MEMS RF devices are expected to be found in most wireless products. Recently, an RF MEMS component was revealed in a major Samsung high-volume smartphone.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary. Access the MEMS report at http://www.juniperresearch.com/reports/mems_in_mobile

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February 22, 2012 — MCLR’s factory in Vladimir, Russia, will manufacture substrates and panels for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) requiring thermal management, as well as other electronic devices such as 3D ICs and micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS). The new plant is a collaboration between state-held RUSNANO and Micro Components Ltd. (MCL), an Israeli high-tech company, with direct input from Tamir Fishman CIG, a venture capital fund created by Russian Venture Company.

Total budget for the project is 868 million rubles. Of that sum, RUSNANO is cofinancing 120 million rubles. The substrate manufacturing project went from initial financing to commercial production in 14 months.

In phase 1, the Vladimir MCLR factory will produce 10,000 panels/month, which can be manufactured into more than 1 million LED lamps. By 2015, MCLR expects the factory to run at its 70,000 panels/month capacity. The venture plans to earn 2.8 million rubles annually by this time, with 72% of that from substrates for assembly of electronic devices and 28% from LED module substrates.

The project is based on MCL’s proprietary ALOX substrate technology, with an aluminum or copper conducting layer and a dielectric material with nanopourous structure. ALOX technology lowers the temperature of the LED crystal with rapid heat sink, using selectively staged aluminum oxidation in which dielectric material is obtained on the surface of the metal and in its depths. Drilling and plating of perforations are not required with ALOX because the interconnections are made entirely of aluminum and the dielectric material is made of high-quality ceramic.

ALOX-built substrates demonstrate good thermal reliability, with improved heat conductivity, cost (20-30% below), and reliability (2x) over traditional products. The product can also be recycled, unlike glass textolite materials. ALOX can be used to package microwave electronics, system-in-package (SiP) devices, 3D memory chip stacks, MEMS devices, and power semiconductor modules and components.

MCLR reports that leading international players in the LED market are considering the nanostructured substrates.

Yan Ryazantsev, director of the Investment and Expertise Department and member of the Executive Committee, Russian Venture Company, called MCLR an example of successfully importing "the latest foreign technology" to establish "large-scale commercial manufacturing in Russia," with products that can be sold internationally. Also read: RUSNANO, Japan tighten nano ties

RUSNANO was founded in March 2011, through reorganization of state corporation Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies, to develop the Russian nanotechnology industry. The Government of the Russian Federation owns 100% of the shares in RUSNANO. Russian Venture Company is a state fund of funds, an institute for development of the Russian Federation, and one of the government’s key instruments in its effort to build a national innovation system.

Visit the new LEDs Manufacturing Channel on ElectroIQ.com!

February 21, 2012 — Electronics System Integration Technology Conference (ESTC) 2012 seeks original papers describing research in all areas of electronic packaging, including LED packaging, flexible electronics, assembly and interconnect technologies, and more. ESTC takes place September 17-20 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Organized by IEEE-CPMT since 2006, in association with IMAPS-Europe, the ESTC conference series focuses on interconnect and packaging technologies for electronic system integration. Submit your abstract by April 1.
 
Paper abstracts may be submitted to the following tracks and application areas:

  • Assembly and Manufacturing Technology
  • Materials for Interconnect and Packaging
  • Reliability
  • Embedded Die and Wafer Level Packaging
  • 3D Integration Technology
  • Microsystem Packaging
  • Flexible and Stretchable electronics
  • Advanced and Emerging Technologies
  • Power Electronic Packaging
  • Optoelectronic Packaging
  • Thermal and Mechanical Modeling
  • Electrical Design & Modeling
  • Consumer Electronics
  • Automotive and Industrial Electronics
  • Avionics and Space Electronics
  • Medical Electronics
  • Solid State Lighting
  • Telecom System Electronics
  • Wireless Electronics
  • RF-ID and Smartcards
  • Display and Imager Electronics
  • Energy System Electronics

Submit a 300-500 word abstract that describes the scope, content and key points of your proposed paper. Abstracts must include results and graphics. Please visit www.estc2012.eu to upload your abstract. Submissions for poster presentations are also welcome. Submission deadline for abstracts is April 1, 2012.

ESTC will select the best paper and best poster presentations. For each, the author(s) will receive a personalized ESTC award and a monetary prize from the IEEE-CPMT Region 8 Director.

The official language of all presentations is English. All oral and poster presentation authors are invited to prepare a paper for the conference proceeding which will also be included in the IEEE XPLORE database after the conference.
 
Your submission must include the mailing address, business telephone number and email address of the presenting author and affiliations of all authors. All submitted abstracts will be reviewed by the committee to ensure a high-quality conference. At the discretion of the program committee, paper abstracts submitted may be considered for poster presentation. The work should be original and not previously published, and avoid inclusion of commercial content. Additional instructions about formatting the paper will be published on www.estc2012.eu.

Selected presenters will be notified on June 1, 2012. Final paper manuscript will then be due August 15, 2012.

Related story: Advanced packaging at the 2010 ESTC

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