Category Archives: MEMS

Since 2008, the majority of integrated circuit production has taken place on 300mm wafers.  In terms of surface area shipped (i.e., on a normalized 200mm-equivalent wafer basis), 300mm wafers represented 56 percent of worldwide installed capacity in December 2012.  Production using 300mm wafers is forecast to steadily increase and reach 70.4 percent in 2017, according to IC Insights’ Global Wafer Capacity 2013 report (see figure).

300mm wafers

For the most part, 300mm fabs are, and will continue to be, limited to production of high-volume, commodity-type devices like DRAMs and flash memories, and very recently image sensors and power management devices; complex logic and microcomponent ICs with large die sizes; and products manufactured by foundries, which can fill a 300mm fab by combining wafer orders from many sources.

The list of companies with the most 300mm wafer capacity includes DRAM and flash memory suppliers like Samsung, SK Hynix, Toshiba, Micron, Elpida, and Nanya; the industry’s biggest IC manufacturer and dominant MPU supplier Intel; and two of the world’s largest pure-play foundries TSMC and GlobalFoundries.  These companies offer the types of ICs that benefit most from using the largest wafer size available to best amortize the manufacturing cost per die.

It is interesting to point out that when (or if) the pending acquisition of Elpida by Micron goes through as expected, the merged company will have the industry’s second-largest share of 300mm wafer fabrication capacity, trailing only fellow memory chip manufacturer Samsung.

Meanwhile, the share of the industry’s monthly wafer capacity represented by 200mm wafers is expected to drop from 32 percent in December 2012 to 21 percent in December 2017, as seen in the figure. Fabs running 200mm wafers will continue to be profitable for many more years and be used to fabricate numerous types of ICs, such as specialty memories, image sensors, display drivers, microcontrollers, analog products, and MEMS-based devices.  Such devices are certainly practical in fully depreciated 200mm fabs that were formerly used in making devices now produced on 300mm wafers.

A significant trend with regard to the industry’s IC manufacturing base, and a perhaps worrisome one from the perspective of companies that supply equipment and materials to chip makers, is that as the industry moves IC fabrication onto larger wafers in bigger fabs, the group of IC manufacturers continues to shrink in number.  There are about 61 percent fewer companies that own and operate 300mm wafer fabs than 200mm fabs.  The distribution of worldwide 300mm wafer capacity among those manufacturers is very top-heavy.  Essentially, there are only about 15 companies that comprise the entire future total available market (TAM) for leading-edge IC fabrication equipment and materials, according to the Global Wafer Capacity 2013 report.  When 450mm wafer fabrication technology comes into existence, this manufacturer group is predicted to shrink even further to a maximum of just 10 companies, and a few of those are questionable.  Despite growing momentum, IC Insights expects that 450mm wafer capacity will account for only one-tenth of a percent of global IC capacity in December 2017.

Europe’s recently launched industrial strategy to reinforce micro- and nanoelectronics manufacturing is more than just a vision — it’s a major opportunity for equipment and material suppliers to participate to large-scale investment projects, increase their holding in key technologies and reach out to new customers and markets. Implementation is already underway: the first EU funding calls for projects will start at the latest in early 2014 and discussions are already underway on investment priorities.  The recent launch of five EU projects, worth over €700 Million and bringing together over 120 partners, around 30 percent of which are small and medium enterprises, is proof that Europe can put its “money where its mouth is.” So what should you be doing to join the 10/100/20 momentum?

10/100/20 in a nutshell

Dubbed the ‘10/100/20’ strategy, the EU initiative will see €10 billion worth of EU co-funded projects (public/private investment), coupled with €100 Euros investment by the industry with the goal of 20 percent of global chip manufacturing by 2020. The aim is to focus on Europe’s strengths, pool together EU, national and regional resources and invest in specific areas that can give Europe a competitive edge globally. EU investment will cover the entire semiconductor manufacturing supply chain, from research to design and device makers. Maintaining leadership in equipment and material supply is clearly stated as an objective of the EU’s strategy, as is the integration of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in value chains and providing them access to state-of-the-art technologies and R&D&I facilities.

Why get involved, especially as a SME

A number of companies, and small and medium enterprises in particular, may shy away from EU projects, perceiving them to be too complex to access and placing too much of an administrative burden for little financial gain. But the true value of EU projects lies in the new network you have access to: a variety of companies across the supply chain, many of who will become your new customers, and access to state-of-the-art research facilities and technologies. Take the example of the five pilot lines recently launched with combined funding from the EU, national governments and partner companies under the ENIAC program:

The European 450 Equipment Demo Line (E450EDL) will support the equipment and materials industry in the 450mm wafer size transition. 43 partners from 11 European countries will develop and test lithography, front end equipment, metrology tools and wafer handling and automation equipment. The partners include the large European research centers and equipment and device manufacturers, as well as smaller companies. The demo line will provide a world-class research infrastructure to validate tools that remain at the manufacturers’ sites, thus giving suppliers access to state-of-the-art facilities and an opportunity to share the knowledge and financial burden of testing their products. The Lab4MEMS project will create the first European pilot line for innovative technologies on advanced piezoelectric and magnetic materials, including 3D packaging, offers SMEs and fabless companies a manufacturing route for their future projects that has been difficult to access so far.

Interested? So what’s next?

Now is the time to decide on the technology trends that you want your company to follow and start reaching out to your partners and customers. If you think your technology could give Europe a competitive edge and should be part of Europe’s investment strategy, then start talking about it, show its benefits and convince people that this is the way to go. In the case of EU projects, there is strength in numbers, so start talking to your customers and your suppliers, look at what others are doing, and see how you can fit into the technology and investment trends.

The EU pledge of €10 billion worth of public/private co-financed projects will be spent gradually in the form of regular EU funding calls, the first of which is expected by end 2013. The call will set the overall requirements for project ideas: what technologies the project should focus on, what parts of the value chain should be partners to the project, the estimated overall budget and duration of the project as well as the technical details for applying for EU funding.  By the time the call has been published, you should already have an idea of what it is you want to do, who you want to work with and how you can fit your idea into the investment priorities that will be announced.

How to get connected

If you are visiting SEMICON West in San Francisco, then mark your calendar for Wednesday, July 10. At 16:00/4:00pm there will be a presentation of the new 10/100/20 strategy for Europe at the TechXpot in South Hall. Join us to find out more about the new strategy, why it’s important and how to get involved.

Your next major opportunity to meet with the equipment and materials industry, learn about the latest technologies and discuss the EU strategy is SEMICON Europa 2013 (8-10 October, Dresden, Germany).  Our programs will cover each of the major projects, including 450mm wafer processing, power electronics, MEMS, FDSOI as well as advanced packaging including 3D and TSV technologies.  They will in one way or the other all address Europe’s 10/100/20 strategy. The SEMICON Europa Executive Summit will discuss implementation of the strategy and we are also organizing an EU funding workshop with hands-on advice about how to identify funding opportunities for your company and join EU projects.

For more information on SEMICON Europa, please visit: www.semiconeuropa.org. The event in Dresden will again be co-located with Plastic Electronics Europe. The conference and exhibition is the leading international technology-to-industry and industry-to-industry event focused on organic and large area electronics. It is the premium forum in its kind where professionals in the area and from around the world meet to present and to discuss progress of topics. For more information, please visit: www.plastic-electronics.org.

 

The future is bright for the future semiconductor and IT industry, according to Samsung exec Yoon Woo (Y.W.) Lee. In a keynote talk at The ConFab, Mr. Lee described a future with dramatic advances in almost every field, including healthcare, nano, energy and the environment, all powered by semiconductors. The end result:  a smarter, healthier and cleaner planet. Mr. Lee, who is widely credited with the success of Samsung’s semiconductor business, is now an Executive Advisor at Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. He previously held positions at Vice Chairman and CEO, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Chief Technology Officer at Samsung Electronics.

Mr. Lee noted two major trends in the world’s population: more people living in cities, and a greater number of elderly. “There will be 500 cities with over 1 million people by 2015,” Mr. Lee said. “Such a trend will stimulate the IT industry.” According to UN projections, more than 400 of these cities will be in developing countries. The number of "megacities" of 10 million people or more also will increase. Worldwide by 2015, 22 cities will be this big, all but five in developing countries. “Asia continues to grow into the largest economy in the world,” Lee said.

By 2020, most of the rich world will be a “super-aged” society, Lee added. A country can be described as an aging society when people aged sixty-five or above make up more than 7% of the total population (as in China). When the elderly make up more than 20% of the population, the country has a super-aging society.

“From a business perspective, bio and healthcare holds great potential,” Lee said. He also spoke on the importance of global sustainability, which he said will face strain. “There are finite reserves of oil. We must also address global warming which is behind extreme weather conditions.”

Lee said much of the remarkable progress in fields such as mobile computing and medicine has been possible due to the advancement of IT, and semiconductors in particular. “The industry strives for greater performance, lower power, and smaller form factor to enable this technology migration,” he said.

He noted that new innovations, such as nanowires and transistors with III-V channels, are being developed for 10nm chips, and said the use of new TSV technology “will raise transfer speed, function less power and reduce size.”

He also predicted that optical interconnects would soon be required. “Exascale computing will require optical interconnection to communicate between the CPU and memory chip,” he said.

He also gave a nod to MEMS devices, saying nanostructures would be used to switch mechanical energy such as background noise and wind into electric energy. “Our movement will be converted into electricity that charges most of our mobile device in the future,” he said.

As part of his presentation, Lee asked the audience to imagine what it would be like in the year 2025, when we will experience a smarter world, a healthier life and a cleaner planet. Among the advances expected:

  • A light field 3D camera that easily captures three dimensional information, color and depth data simultaneously from different viewpoints in order to generate an accurate real-life picture.
  • Tangible interaction technology that will enable the user to directly touch and freely manipulate three dimensional images in open space. One will be able to actually feel the shape, the temperature and even the texture of a real object.
  • Displays in the form of a contact lens. Augmented reality on such lenses will inform you of traffic and weather conditions.
  • With thermochromic materials, it will be easy to check what’s inside the fridge. When exposed to heat, these thermal sensitive molecules lose their alignment and by transmitting light more readily the material becomes semi-transparent.
  • A terahertz medical mirror that exploits terahertz antenna technology to enable real-time medical diagnosis, or remote treatment with nanotechnology allowing the system to be miniaturized for household or portable use.
  • Using intra-operative optical spectroscopic imaging, tissue can be analyzed without waiting for the pathology lab. By 2025, the aggregate medical data from patients worldwide will reach 6 zettabytes (1021 bytes), roughly equivalent to 6 quadrillion books. From the use huge volume of databases, we can find similar cases by analyzing the organ, physiological and molecular level data, using this “big data” to optimize medical diagnoses.
  • Clean and inexhaustible energy based on hydrogen, from sunlight and water will provide electricity and heat without releasing greenhouse gases.
  • Batteries will be entirely redesigned to utilize abundant and affordable substances such as magnesium or sodium, taking increasingly important roles in the future of large scale power storage.
  • Next generation microorganisms can biodegrade waste and transform these products into highly concentrated raw materials. This technology can also be used to inexpensively produce new plastic materials for many applications.

Lee concluded with a call for collaboration, which he said is critical in intra-regional trade and development. “Countries will need to lower risk and boost efficiency through closer cooperation along the supply chain, forging alliances, devising common standards, and undertaking joint R&D,” he said.

The microelectronics industry in Russia has been receiving quite a lot of attention recently with growing realization that intensive industry development is crucial to achieve import substitution and eventually compete in the international market. At the conference that took place recently in Zelenograd as part of SEMICON Russia 2013, which is devoted to the development of microelectronics in Russia, Practise Director of Frost & Sullivan’s Technical Insight division in Europe, Ankit Shukla, shared with the audience his vision for growth of the microelectronics industry in changing business conditions.

"A number of fundamental aspects need attention for the harmonious development of microelectronics," noted Mr. Shukla. "The foremost is government and the private sector support for new trends in the technology. The formation of a nuanced state policy oriented towards the interests of the industry and the business community will play a strong role in the development of the microelectronics market, both in Russia and across the world. In this regard, providing tax exemptions and institutional support for the industry is a necessity for its progress."

During the event, Frost & Sullivan and Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) presented the first results of the research entitled "The Russian Microelectronics Market" based on a survey of representatives from domestic and foreign companies operating in the Russian market. Results showed that for a three-year outlook, all respondents expect a positive growth trend for the market. In addition, 45 per cent of those surveyed believe that their turnover will outpace industry growth rates.

A majority – 64 per cent – of respondents expect the processors segment, including microcontrollers (MCUs) and microprocessor units (MPUs), to be among the most promising in the market. Other indicated areas of development included radiofrequency modules and components by 43 per cent, optoelectronics by 36 per cent, and microcircuitry and sensors by 29 per cent of respondents.

An effective support tool for the microelectronics industry is the creation of special economic zones and clusters as evidenced by the experience in Russia as well as Asian and European countries. Such economic zones already exist in Zelenograd and Skolkovo. Human resources can also be a compelling aspect as the educational level of Russian technical specialists has traditionally been highly valued in the world. Such potential will unquestionably help market growth but the problem of migration of highly qualified personnel to other countries is one that cannot be ignored. Thus, retaining professionals within the country and creating an attractive work environment for them should be a fundamental task to further market development.

"In order to excel in the microelectronics market we must develop partnership programs on several levels since a simple a technology-oriented approach will not be enough," advised Mr. Shukla. "Market participants must concentrate their efforts on diversification, development of new technologies, optimization of expenditure, and development of new market niches."

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara, in collaboration with University of Notre Dame, have recently demonstrated the highest reported drive current on a transistor made of a monolayer of tungsten diselenide (WSe2), a two-dimensional atomic crystal categorized as a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD). The discovery is also the first demonstration of an "n-type" WSe2 field-effect-transistor (FET), showing the tremendous potential of this material for future low-power and high-performance integrated circuits.

This is a schematic view of a back-gated field-effect-transistor fabricated by UCSB researchers using monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe2) channel material.

Monolayer WSe2 is similar to graphene in that it has a hexagonal atomic structure and derives from its layered bulk form in which adjacent layers are held together by relatively weak Van der Waals forces. However, WSe2 has a key advantage over graphene.

"In addition to its atomically smooth surfaces, it has a considerable band gap of 1.6 eV," explained Kaustav Banerjee, professor of electrical and computer engineering and Director of the Nanoelectronics Research Lab at UCSB. Banerjee’s research team also includes UCSB researchers Wei Liu, Jiahao Kang, Deblina Sarkar, Yasin Khatami and Professor Debdeep Jena of Notre Dame. Their study was published in the May 2013 issue of Nano Letters.

"There is growing worldwide interest in these 2D crystals due to the many possibilities they hold for the next generation of integrated electronics, optoelectronics and sensors," commented Professor Pulickel Ajayan, the Anderson Professor of Engineering at Rice University and a world renowned authority on nanomaterials. "This result is very impressive and an outcome of the detailed understanding of the physical nature of the contacts to these 2D crystals that the Santa Barbara group has developed."

"Understanding the nature of the metal-TMD interfaces was key to our successful transistor design and demonstration," explained Banerjee. Banerjee’s group pioneered a methodology using ab-initio Density Functional Theory (DFT) that established the key criteria needed to evaluate such interfaces leading to the best possible contacts to the monolayer TMDs.

The DFT technique was pioneered by UCSB professor emeritus of physics Dr. Walter Kohn, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998. "At a recent meeting with Professor Kohn, we discussed how this relatively new class of semiconductors is benefitting from one of his landmark contributions," said Banerjee.

Wei Liu, a post-doctoral researcher in Banerjee’s group and co-author of the study, explained, "Guided by the contact evaluation methodology we have developed, our transistors achieved ON currents as high as 210 uA/um, which are the highest reported value of drive current on any monolayer TMD based FET to date." They were also able to achieve mobility of 142 cm2/V.s, which is the highest reported value for any back-gated monolayer TMD FET.

"DFT simulations provide critical insights to the various factors that effectively determine the quality of the interfaces to these 2D materials, which is necessary for achieving low contact resistances." added Jiahao Kang, a PhD student in Banerjee’s group and co-author of the study.

"Nanoelectronics and energy efficient computing technology are key areas of research at UCSB, fields in which our faculty members are renowned for their achievements. With these results, Professor Banerjee’s team continues to make important research contributions to next-generation electronics," commented Rod Alferness, dean of the College of Engineering at UCSB

MEMS devices are proliferating in mobile devices. Yole Développement counts 25+ sensors and actuators in production or in development for mobile applications, including MEMS accelerometers, MEMS gyroscopes, magnetometers, 6-axis e-compasses, 6-axis IMU combos, 9-axis combo solutions, silicon microphones, microspeakers, pressure sensors, humidity/temperature sensors, BAW filters and duplexers, MEMS switches and variable capacitors, silicon MEMS oscillators/resonators, micromirrors for picoprojectors, microdisplays, MEMS auto-focus, IR sensors and micro bolometers, bio-chemical detectors & gas sensors, MEMS touchscreen, MEMS joystick, radiation detectors, MEMS fuel cells, energy harvesting, UV sensors, ultrasonic sensors and more.

The past 12 months have seen big changes. While in the past, cell phone MEMS were limited to three categories (inertial, microphones and filters), we’ve seen strong adoption of new device types targeting environmental sensing. Also, pressure sensors are being heavily adopted in flagship phones and tablets, and humidity sensors are being adopted in the Samsung Galaxy S4. All of these new MEMS killer applications are detailed in Yole Développement’s report.

Changes have even occurred in existing high-volume MEMS areas:

  • Significant architectural changes have been observed in inertial sensors, with current strong adoption of IMU combo sensors. Likewise, a new opportunity has appeared with a camera module’s dedicated OIS gyroscope.
  • A trend has appeared involving integration of a third MEMS microphone to provide HD voice recording (i.e. in the iPhone 5), in addition to the dual microphone architecture described in the last report. This trend is a market booster.
  • Strong adoption of LTE in high-end platforms will boost the duplexer market for the next three years.

The long-term outlook for MEMS companies is brighter than ever, as existing products and products just ramping up will drive solid growth over the next few years. Additionally, a new wave of MEMS products will enable further growth. This report describes why some of these emerging MEMS will ramp up in volume almost overnight, just as pressure and humidity sensors did in the past few months. A nice 19 percent yearly growth is predicted for a market that reached $2.2 billion in 2012, and volume growth will be even more impressive, with 17.5 billion units expected by 2018, up from 4.5 billion in 2012.

Sensor fusion is heating up with its first commercial implementations

As sensor popularity enables new applications, software is key for obtaining the best performance and functionalities. Sensor hubs appeared at the end of 2012, in Windows Phone architectures and also in some Android platforms such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S4, which integrate Atmel hub. This greatly impacts the MEMS value chain, since successful products must offer the right level of software and be qualified with sensor hubs in a timely manner.

Sometime in 2013, evolution is still expected in value partitioning, in particular with sensor fusion integration in the application processor. Also, as the value chain continues moving and novel architectures appear, new killer functionalities will hit the market. In particular, an ecosystem for context awareness or indoor navigation is put in place, with technology demonstrations (such as Movea’s recent demo at CES) and release of the first commercial chipsets enabling new sensor and data fusion concepts (Qualcomm iZat, Gimbal, CSR SiRFusion Platform, etc.). The most recent end- user trends shaping demand for next-generation MEMS devices are carefully analyzed in this report. In fact, one of the strongest impacts on sensor fusion architecture is the growth of connected devices and the use of the cell phone as a hub.

A price war and market share erosion – all in the last year

A large, growing market often comes with a strong price decrease.

“This is true for MEMS in mobile devices, as was observed in 2012,” says Laurent Robin, Activity Leader, Inertial MEMS Devices & Technologies. “Continuous competition between STMicroelectronics and InvenSense, and the arrival of a third player in gyroscope and IMU, had a significant impact on pricing — which decreased 25 percent in just one year!”

In the magnetometer area, the price decrease was even more significant, at 35 percent. Memsic’s aggressive pricing strategy forced market leader AKM to realign. Detailed analysis is available in Yole Développement’s report.

While the big guys still dominate this field and possess most of the business, things are changing. For example, in some cases Yole Développement’s analysts have seen an erosion of market share, for reasons described in this report. In fact, this analysis shows that in one year, Knowles lost 19 percent market share, AKM eight percent and Avago two percent in their respective markets.

Opportunities for challengers are emerging every day, driven by several factors:

  • Technology shift linked to the demand for higher performance in order to enable new-end functionalities and integration levels (this may be happening for magnetometers)
  • New business models, such as integrating MEMS dies, which are sold off-the-shelf (typically by Infineon)
  • Adoption of disruptive concepts for new sensors and actuators

Out of the 20+ players currently doing business in mobile MEMS applications, only three have been able to successfully diversify by enlarging their MEMS product portfolio. It’s a difficult achievement because Yole Développement’s MEMS law remains valid: there is still no standardization for MEMS products and processes. However, all industry players are actively looking to provide new functions and launch new components.

Multitest’s James Quinn will present during the 2013 SEMICON West exhibition and conference, scheduled to take place July 9-11, 2013 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. The presentation, entitled “Quality in 3D Assembly- Is KGD Enough,” will enable the audience to understand the additional risks of 3D assembly and match them with their own situation.

Quinn will provide an overview of the current discussion in the industry and how to manage the risks of 3D assembly. Also, the audience will learn more about the special requirements of the new approaches and understand their pros and cons. The audience will be able to apply the presented concepts to their own 3D business models. The most appropriate equipment will be discussed: What are the limitations of using probing tools or deploying final test equipment? Which strategy will offer the most synergies and reduce cost of test in the end? Finally, an analogy with the MEMS will give an interesting perspective on how to leverage the expertise that has been gained during the last decade.

Quinn is the VP of Sales and Marketing at Multitest. He has a strong semiconductor background and has served as executive VP responsible for sales and marketing at respected companies including Süss Microtec AG, MD of Süss Microtec Inc. in the U.S., and most recently as CEO of a venture capital wafer front-end equipment company in Sweden and France. Quinn studied business administration and marketing at San Francisco State University.

EV Group and Dynaloy, LLC today introduced CoatsClean—an single-wafer photoresist and residue removal technology designed to address thick films and difficult-to-remove material layers for the 3D-ICs/through-silicon vias (TSVs), advanced packaging, MEMS and compound semiconductor markets.  In its official press release, EVG said CoatsClean provides a complete wafer cleaning solution that offers significant efficiency, performance and cost-of-ownership (CoO) advantages compared to traditional resist stripping and post-etch residue removal methods.

"Increasing wafer processing challenges associated with the adoption of new materials, device architectures and packaging schemes requires a new, holistic view of wafer cleaning, where the chemistry, process and equipment are all critically important and must be addressed in combination," stated Steven Dwyer, business director at Dynaloy.  "We’re pleased to be working with EV Group on developing and commercializing CoatsClean technology to meet the needs of our customers for a more cost-effective, flexible approach to thick-film resist removal."

The CoatsClean process and chemical formulation are engineered to perform at higher temperatures, resulting in faster stripping rates and cycle times.  This enables CoatsClean to operate as a single-wafer process for thick resist films and difficult-to-remove resists—resulting in improved performance, consistency, reproducibility and repeatability.  The engineered formulation also enables selective stripping of the resist.

CoatsClean is also unique in its ability to dispense a small amount of material on the top of the wafer, and then activate the material with direct heat.  This direct utilization of the material and heat dramatically reduces the strip material used.  CoatsClean uses fresh solution for each processed wafer compared to competing techniques that use an immersion bath—resulting in greater process efficiency and eliminating cross contamination.  The highly selective application of resist strip material eliminates damage to the wafer backside.  The entire CoatsClean process is performed in a single bowl, which reduces tool footprint.

"CoatsClean applies the right chemistry at the right process conditions to provide optimal cleaning results," stated Paul Lindner, EV Group’s executive technology director.  

EV Group will be responsible for selling the CoatsClean systems and providing customer support, while Dynaloy will be responsible for selling the CoatsClean resist stripping materials.  CoatsClean systems have already been installed for customer demonstrations, and EVG and Dynaloy are now accepting orders for the systems and resist stripping materials.

SEMI, the global industry association for companies that supply manufacturing technology and materials to the world’s chip makers, today reported that worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached US$ 7.31 billion in the first quarter of 2013. The billings figure is 8 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2012 and 32 percent lower than the same quarter a year ago. The data is gathered jointly with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) from over 100 global equipment companies that provide data on a monthly basis.

Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were $7.78 billion in the first quarter of 2013. The figure is 23 percent lower than the same quarter a year ago and 14 percent higher than the bookings figure for the fourth quarter of 2012.

The quarterly billings data by region in billions of U.S. dollars, quarter-over-quarter growth and year-over-year rates by region are as follows:

The Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) from SEMI provides comprehensive market data for the global semiconductor equipment market. A subscription includes three reports: the monthly SEMI Book-to-Bill Report, which offers an early perspective of the trends in the equipment market; the monthly Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (SEMS), a detailed report of semiconductor equipment bookings and billings for seven regions and over 22 market segments; and the SEMI Semiconductor Equipment Consensus Forecast, which provides an outlook for the semiconductor equipment market.

For the first time ever, no clear winner has emerged to claim top honors in the MEMS business for 2012, with Bosch of Germany and French-Italian STMicroelectronics ending up evenly splitting the title of No. 1 supplier for the year, according to a MEMS Competitive Analysis Report from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS).

With both companies just shy of the $800 million mark, Bosch and STMicroelectronics each had MEMS revenue of approximately $793 million in 2012. The two companies do not use the same exchange rates every quarter when converting their revenue from euros to the U.S. dollar, and as a difference of less than 1 percent separates the revenue levels of both, IHS found it was not possible this time to declare a clear winner as to who was No. 1 for 2012.

“With billions of dollars up for grabs, competition in the MEMS market is intense,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst for MEMS & sensors at IHS. “Nowhere is the rivalry more furious than the battle for the market’s top spot. In fact, the content for number one is so closely contested that Bosch and STMicroelectronics battled each other to a draw in 2012.”

MEMS in the money

Overall, the top 20 MEMS manufacturers last year accounted for a whopping 77 percent of the industry total of some $8.3 billion, as shown in Table 1. The figure excludes foundry revenue in order to avoid double-counting of fabless and foundry takings within the same ranking. For instance, excluded is MEMS foundry revenue from STMicroelectronics for its fabrication of Hewlett-Packard inkjet print heads, or similar foundry revenue from Texas Instruments for Lexmark inkjet print heads.

top 20 mems suppliers
Table 1.

Foremost among all the players were the four companies at the top, each with revenue ranging from $675 million to $800 million, and collectively well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Bosch vs. STMicroelectronics

Bosch, the No. 3 entity in 2011, enjoyed a MEMS revenue boost of 8 percent last year including a nearly 5 percent uptick in its primary automotive MEMS business, which accounted for 82 percent of overall Bosch MEMS takings. Bosch is unchallenged as the top automotive MEMS supplier with 27 percent share of the market. The company also has a growing consumer and mobile MEMS trade—up 17 percent for the year—thanks to the soaring sales of pressure sensors in handsets, compensating for slightly down revenues in accelerometers and microphones. But while the company did well in 2012, its result was impacted by an unfavorable exchange currency rate, especially in its U.S. automotive business.

STMicroelectronics, the No. 4 player in 2011, counted on a robust consumer and mobile business as its main source of MEMS revenue. While rival Bosch dominates automotive, STM leads in consumer and mobile MEMS with 32 percent of the market. STM also made inroads into automotive with $15 million in 2012, up from $10 million the year earlier. Gyroscopes were ahead of accelerometers in contributing to STM’s cache, and similar to Bosch, pressure sensors for handsets boomed because of shipments into smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Texas Instruments tumbles from the top

Falling out of the No. 1 spot was Texas Instruments, down to No. 3, with revenue down 3 percent to $751 million. While front projectors for business and education still formed the majority of its digital light processing (DLP) chip revenue, the segment was flat last year. In particular, DLP revenue in home theater and rear-projection TVs was down, especially with the exit of Mitsubishi as the last remaining rear-projection TV brand in North America. DLP revenue for pico-projectors also has not taken off as expected, with the chipset still too expensive and its adoption slow in the consumer and mobile markets.

At the No. 4 spot was Hewlett-Packard with revenue of $677 million. HP also suffered a drop in ranking, down from No. 2 in 2011, as revenue associated with its inkjet printer heads contracted 10 percent last year. This follows a 15 percent decline in the shipment of inkjet printers. Moreover, HP’s revenue from the replacement of disposable print heads has been shrinking continually as the company long ago started to move to printers with permanent print heads.

Rounding out the Top 5 but at a relatively far remove from the four other companies above it was Canon of Japan, with revenue of $377 million.

InvenSense on the rise

In all, revenue for companies from the succeeding sixth spot all the way to No. 15 each had takings between $100 million to just under $300 million.

Worth noting outside of the Top 5 was California-based InvenSense at No. 13, with revenue up 30 percent to $186 million. InvenSense is the most successful MEMS startup ever, its market breakthrough coming in 2009 thanks to its design in the Nintendo Wii Motion Plus gaming accessory. While InvenSense initially had been heavily dependent on gaming, the company wisely diversified its business and now looks to handsets and tablets as even more important sources of revenue.

InvenSense has also pioneered serial production of 6-axis inertial measurement unit comprising accelerometers and gyroscopes in a 4 x 4-millimeter package. Combo sensors last year accounted for half of the company’s revenue, and InvenSense is now producing a very small 9-axis inertial measurement unit also containing a 3-axis magnetometer that measures only 3 x 3 millimeters.