Category Archives: MEMS

June 13, 2011 – PRNewswire — MEMS supplier STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) debuted "FingerTip" technology, which enables a single-chip solution for capacitive touchscreens up to 10" diameter with multi-touch capability.

FingerTip shares its architecture with STM’s more familiar MEMS devices: a sensing element connected to a high-performance capacitance-sensing circuit. The analog front-end (AFE) detects variations of capacitance in atto-Farads (10-[18] F), protecting system operation from noise, which plagues touchscreens.

The display, the system, human touch, and battery chargers (especially cheap ones) all assault touchscreens with noise. Strong periodic noise (100V peak-to-peak and in the frequency range from 1kHz to 1MHz) generates false "finger touches" to an analog front-end in touchscreen systems. FingerTip’s 32-bit digital signal processing (DSP) engine eliminates charger noise effects without impacting accuracy, frame rate or power consumption, STM reports. It filters out display noise as well, from ‘in-cell’ and ‘on-cell’ display technologies.

STMicro’s analog capacitive interface IP, developed for MEMS sensors, is well suited to digital noise filtering, said Benedetto Vigna, GM, MEMS, Sensors and High Performance Analog Division.

ST’s new product family is under evaluation with major customers that will implement FingerTip technology with stylus-based "hand writing," 10" tablets, smartphones, and other touchscreen apps that require fast response, linearity and accuracy, and low power consumption in a small package.

STMicroelectronics provides semiconductors and MEMS. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.

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June 13, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Semiconductor industry heavyweights Intel, Samsung and Toshiba (in that order) topped semiconductor sales so far in 2011, according to a report from ABI Research. As a whole, the semiconductor market should see about 4% growth during 2011, which is softer than the recovery upswing of 2010, but stronger than 2009’s recessionary numbers.

In Q1 2011, Intel, Samsung, and Toshiba "controlled 31.6% of the global semiconductor market," said ABI Research semiconductor practice director Peter Cooney, adding that this year-over-year (YOY) share increase was largely due to Intel’s 2% share gain.

Acquisitions are running rampant in the semiconductor industry, which should impact 2011 quarterly results, as well as individual company results and strategies:

  • Intel acquired parts of Infineon;
  • Qualcomm recently completed its acquisition of Atheros;
  • Texas Instruments is acquiring National Semiconductor.

The semiconductor market experiences periodic fluctuations that significantly affect the semiconductor market every four or five years, noted Cooney.

ABI Research has just launched a new Market Data product showing a top-level view of the top 20 semiconductor suppliers and market as a whole, "Worldwide Semiconductor Market." Learn more at http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1007274. It is part of three ABI Research Services: Mobile Device Semiconductors, MEMS, and Wireless Connectivity.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com.

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By Debra Vogler, senior technical editor

June 13, 2011 — FEI launched its Vion plasma focused ion beam (PFIB) system based on inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) source technology using a xenon ion beam. The system generates more than a micro-amp of beam current and can remove material faster (>20× improvements in speed, Fig. 1) than liquid metal ion sources that typically max out at a few tens of nano-amps, according to the company. Because of its speed, FEI will target new technologies, such as 3D packaging and 3D transistor design technologies, where PFIB analysis is more practical.

Click to Enlarge
  • High-volume milling/high beam current
  • Ga-FIB loses size advantage to plasma source as beam current goes above 50-60 nA
  • Xe has high sputter yield, high brightness, and low energy spread
  • No Ga contamination

Figure 1. Plasma FIB is 20× faster than current FIBs. Its fast ion milling capabilities enable rapid cross-sectioning of features from 50-1000µms. SOURCE: FEI

In a podcast interview, FEI product marketing manager Peter Carleson explained that gallium FIBs are already used for packaging applications, but with the cross-sections and trenches necessary for such applications (in the neighborhood of ~100µms), the removal process can take three, four, or even 8 hours. With the new source’s higher beam current, more samples can be done with greater tool utilization. The PFIB can also access lower regions of stacked dies to do traditional failure analysis or debugging (with the device "on") on the devices in the lower regions. The PFIB also enables quicker cross-sectioning of 3D integrated circuits that use TSVs/interposer layers (Fig. 2).

Click to Enlarge

Figure 2. High-speed sectioning of TSVs with plasma FIB. The device was located, cross-sectioned, polished, and imaged with PFIB. SOURCE: FEI

The product can perform site-specific removal of package and other materials to enable failure analysis and fault isolation on buried die; and circuit and package modifications to test design changes without repeating the fabrication process or creating new masks. Other applications include process monitoring and development at the package level, and defect analysis of packaged parts and MEMS devices.

Listen to the podcast:

 

  • Format: mp3
  • Length: 4:29
  • Size: 4.10 MB
  • Date: 06/13/11
Play Now or Download 

By Debra Vogler, senior technical editor

June 13, 2011 — FEI launched its Vion plasma focused ion beam (PFIB) system based on inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) source technology using a xenon ion beam. The system generates more than a micro-amp of beam current and can remove material faster (>20× improvements in speed, Fig. 1) than liquid metal ion sources that typically max out at a few tens of nano-amps, according to the company. Because of its speed, FEI will target new technologies, such as 3D packaging and 3D transistor design technologies, where PFIB analysis is more practical.

Click to Enlarge
  • High-volume milling/high beam current
  • Ga-FIB loses size advantage to plasma source as beam current goes above 50-60 nA
  • Xe has high sputter yield, high brightness, and low energy spread
  • No Ga contamination

Figure 1. Plasma FIB is 20× faster than current FIBs. Its fast ion milling capabilities enable rapid cross-sectioning of features from 50-1000µms. SOURCE: FEI

In a podcast interview, FEI product marketing manager Peter Carleson explained that gallium FIBs are already used for packaging applications, but with the cross-sections and trenches necessary for such applications (in the neighborhood of ~100µms), the removal process can take three, four, or even 8 hours. With the new source’s higher beam current, more samples can be done with greater tool utilization. The PFIB can also access lower regions of stacked dies to do traditional failure analysis or debugging (with the device "on") on the devices in the lower regions. The PFIB also enables quicker cross-sectioning of 3D integrated circuits that use TSVs/interposer layers (Fig. 2).

Click to Enlarge

Figure 2. High-speed sectioning of TSVs with plasma FIB. The device was located, cross-sectioned, polished, and imaged with PFIB. SOURCE: FEI

The product can perform site-specific removal of package and other materials to enable failure analysis and fault isolation on buried die; and circuit and package modifications to test design changes without repeating the fabrication process or creating new masks. Other applications include process monitoring and development at the package level, and defect analysis of packaged parts and MEMS devices.

Listen to the podcast:

 

  • Format: mp3
  • Length: 4:29
  • Size: 4.10 MB
  • Date: 06/13/11
Play Now or Download 

June 10, 2011 — Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS (Duisburg, Germany) developed a new etch process to manufacture micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) for commercial-scale applications. Etching gasses allow MEMS designers to use a wider range of materials for the functional layer, while preventing device damage during etch.

This isotropic etching is based on a substance that etches vertically into the MEMS substrate and tunnels under the functional layer. The result is a functional layer 100nm thin connected to the silicon or other substrate by certain suspension points.

Click to Enlarge

A researcher operates Fraunhofer’s MEMS production tools. Copyright Fraunhofer IMS.

Conventional etch is performed with liquids, and can only remove material vertically, said Dr. Marco Russ, project manager at IMS.  When the etch fluid dries, filigree membranes are stuck to the substrate or destroyed. Functional and sacraficial layer materials are limited by the etch liquid.

The group will open a MEMS production facility on June 22, incorporating the etch technology. The new facility will use 2 gases in the etch process chamber instead of liquids, Russ said: Hydrogen fluoride (HF), which strong etching properties on silicon dioxide but does not affect silicon; and xenon difluoride gas (XeF2), which acheives the opposite effect. The gasses allow greater materials flexibility.

Learn more at http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/

Also read: Deep silicon etching used for key MEMS building blocks by Trikon Technologies

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June 9, 2011 – Marketwire — Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC), which makes MEMS-based deformable mirror (DM) products for adaptive optics systems, won $1.2M in NASA contracts through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). The Phase II contracts will expand on Phase 1, development of a reliable, fault-tolerant microelectromechanical deformable mirror (MEMS-DM) technology.

BMC won the Phase II contract based on technical merit and innovation, Phase I results, value to NASA, commercial potential and company capabilities, the company said in a statement.

BMC will design and fabricate a MEMS micromirror array of 1021 ultra-flat, close-packed hexagonal mirrors that can tip, tilt, and piston (TTP) with sub-nanometer precision. MEMS-DMs designs were successfully demonstrated in prior NASA work. The array, with 3 degrees of freedom and lambda/100 optical quality, will enable high-contrast visible nulling coronagraph instruments for exoplanet imaging.

BMC will also develop compact, ultra-low-power, high-voltage multiplexed drive electronics to support its MEMS-DMs in space-based wavefront control applications. In its Phase I award, BMC demonstrated a drive electronics approach that inherently limits actuator electrical current density generated to prevent permanent failure when a short time frame single fault failure occurs. This project will scale up BMC’s DM driver circuit developed for NASA on another project (Terrestrial Planet Finder Mission). NASA and BMC expect tenfold size and power reductions and decreased interconnection complexity.

NASA’s extra-solar planetary search will rely on high-resolution wavefront correction with deformable mirrors in telescopes, said Paul Bierden, president and co-founder of Boston Micromachines. Space-based telescopes have become indispensible in advancing the frontiers of astrophysics.

The awards were part of NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research programs.

Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC) makes advanced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based mirror products for use in commercial adaptive optics systems. By applying wavefront correction to produce high resolution images, BMC devices can be used for imaging biological tissue and the human retina and to enhance images blurred by the earth’s atmosphere. The company’s suite of compact deformable mirror (DM) products is cost effective and high performance. For more information on BMC, please visit www.bostonmicromachines.com.

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June 09, 2011 – Enhanced Online News — Kaiam Corporation, high-performance photonic IC maker, closed its Series B investment round with over $5 million. TriplePoint Capital, which led the round, cited Kaiam’s MEMS-based optical integration as "applicable as much for high-end high-capacity data transport as for low cost FTTH applications."

TriplePoint Capital was joined by existing investor U.S. Venture Partners (USVP). This equity investment approximately equals the amount commercial partners have provided for product development.

Kaiam will use the funds to ramp its initial products to volume manufacturing, and build out related infrastructure.

Jim Labe, TriplePoint Capital, said datacom and telecom sectors have an "unmet need" for optical ICs, and called Kaiam’s MEMS-based optical integration "a platform technology applicable as much for high-end high-capacity data transport as for low cost FTTH applications." He added that customer and commercial demand for Kaiam’s initial products pointed to the company as a good investment.

Kaiam Corporation develops products based on photonic integrated circuits (PICs). For more information, visit www.kaiamcorp.com.

TriplePoint Capital is a global specialty finance company serving high-growth private equity and venture-capital-backed companies. For more information, visit www.triplepointcapital.com.

Also read: Electronic + photonic + MEMS chip

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June 8, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the US International Trade Commission’s (ITC) final determination that MEMS Technology Berhad’s (MemsTech) importation and sale of certain MEMS microphone packages infringes Knowles Electronics LLC’s US Patents 7,242,089 and 6,781,231.

The Court of Appeals held that Knowles’s patents are valid and enforceable, and affirmed the ITC’s exclusion order barring MemsTech from importing its infringing products into the U.S.

The patents in this case are part of a large portfolio of patents related to Knowles SiSonic MEMS microphones  and microphone packaging technology. These patents cover several variations of SiSonic microphones and manufacturing methods.

Knowles designs and manufactures advanced acoustic components and MEMS microphones for major cell phone companies and consumer electronic devices. Knowles is owned by the Dover Corporation. For more information, visit www.knowles.com.

Knowles was recently on the other end of a patent dispute, when the ITC found that Knowles MEMS microphones infringed on Analog Devices Inc.’s (ADI) patents.

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June 8, 2011 — University of Pennsylvania researchers formed biological molecules connected to electrodes, paving the way for direct biological integration into electronic circuits. The team also developed a new microscope technique to measure the electrical properties of these constructs.

Click to Enlarge

Protein assemblies rendered under an atomic force microscope. Image reprinted with permission from "Direct Probe of Molecular Polarization in De Novo Protein–Electrode Interfaces," Kendra Kathan-Galipeau, Sanjini Nanayakkara, Paul A. O’Brian, Maxim Nikiforov, Bohdana M. Discher, Dawn A. Bonnell, ACS Nano, Copyright 2011 American Chemical Society.

Researchers arranged artificial proteins, bundles of peptide helices with a photoactive molecule inside, on electrodes. When light hit the proteins, they converted photons into electrons and passed them to the electrode. The mechanism is similar to "what happens when plants absorb light," said Dawn Bonnell, Trustee Chair Professor and director of the Nano/Bio Interface Center, "in this case, we want to use the electron in electrical circuits."

Until now, light-reactive peptide assemblies could not be measured for their ambient electrical properties, particularly capacitance. To build bio-circuit-based devices, these properties must be quantified, said Bonnell, noting the lack of understanding in this area: "We didn’t know what happens to electrons on dry electrodes with these proteins; we didn’t even know if they would remain photoactive when attached to an electrode."

Silicon-based circuits are easier to design, based on decades of Si use in electronics, and the inherent ease of working with one element rather than complex proteins. The researchers devised a method to measure protein properties, using a new kind of atomic force microscope technique, torsional resonance nanoimpedance microscopy. It uses a metallic tip and oscillating electric field to measure complex interactions and properties.

The researchers also decided to fabricate the photovoltaic proteins as they might eventually be incorporated into devices in open-air, everyday environments, rather than in a chemical solution. Assistant professor Bohdana Discher of the Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, with a team, designed the self-assembling proteins then stamped them onto sheets of graphite electrodes.

Applications for the design include biosensors and photovoltaics. Instead of reacting to photons, proteins could be designed to produce a charge when in the presence of a certain toxins, either changing color or acting as a circuit element in a gadget.

The research was conducted by Dawn Bonnell, graduate students Kendra Kathan-Galipeau and Maxim Nikiforov and postdoctoral fellow Sanjini Nanayakkara (Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science). They collaborated with assistant professor Bohdana Discher of the Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and Paul A. O’Brien, a graduate student in Penn’s Biotechnology Masters Program.

Their work was published in the journal ACS Nano (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn200887n)

This research was supported by the Nano/Bio Interface Center and the National Science Foundation.

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by Dr. Paula Doe, SEMI Emerging & Adjacent Markets

June 7, 2011 – Rapid growth in mainstream consumer markets is changing the structure of the MEMS industry from an artisanal to a volume manufacturing business. Yole Développement projects the MEMS market will near the $10 billion level this year, and is poised for 14% compound annual growth for the next five years, to approach close to $20 billion by 2016.

Click to Enlarge
MEMS forecast per application. (Source: Yole Développement)

These volume markets demand more efficient, non-artisanal solutions for moving designs into production. At the same time, with the maturing of the basic manufacturing technology, the value is moving from the device to the function and the system. And all these developments create a new set of challenges and opportunities to companies to find better ways to speed the ramp to low-cost volume production, to find better ways to integrate multiple die and software into easy-to-manufacture and easy-to-use functions, and to find the right business models to best use these skills to succeed.

There has been a steady evolution over time, notes Yole founder and CEO Jean Christophe Eloy, as the young MEMS industry has matured to delivering higher functionality, from the manufacturing of MEMS structures in the 2000s, to the more recent innovations in integrated packaging. Coming next will be innovations in wafer bonding and through-silicon via (TSV) integration of multiple sensors and controls, requiring both packaging expertise for the integration and software expertise for managing the complex sensing and actions to be useful — raising the question of who in the value chain will do these steps.

Click to Enlarge
30 years of MEMS manufacturing history, an evolution aimed at climbing the value chain
toward increasing functionalities at the system level. (Source: Yole Développement)

The demand for rapid ramp to high-volume production is driving manufacturers to focus increasingly on ways to more efficiently re-use established process stacks or technology platforms or even product platforms for the more efficient development of new products. And the need to reduce cost for consumer products is driving a relentless push to smaller die size, and to integration by TSV or wafer bonding when possible, and to solutions like capping the MEMS with the ASIC or making use of SOI to form the cavity, says Eloy.

GlobalFoundries’ Rakesh Kumar, director of MEMS, argues that there’s big potential to apply an IC foundry’s best known methods and practices — worked out after many years of experience in semiconductor tools and technologies — toward the more efficient manufacturing of MEMS. To be successful, an IC foundry must lower costs, offer high yield and high-performance MEMS products in a manner similar to ICs, while also shortening time-to-market by reduced technology transfer time and fast ramp to production, he says.

Specialty MEMS foundries are also developing solutions. Claude Jean, EVP/GM at Teledyne DALSA Semiconductor, suggests that the traditional MEMS approach of developing products first on lab equipment then porting over to manufacturing tools is too slow for fast ramp to yields and fast cost reduction. Instead, he highlights the advantages of doing the final rounds of development with an infrastructure closer to production tools.

IMEC’s Jo De Boeck, SVP of smart systems and energy technology, suggests that MEMS technology platforms are required, supported with a design environment consisting of a reference tool flow, corresponding models and design kits and a basic design IP library. Moreover, successful product innovation implementation will require co-developing software and hardware into optimal systems solutions.

We’ve invited these speakers representing leading companies from different viewpoints across the value chain — as well as ones from major IDM Robert Bosch and startup Sand9 — to discuss these key industry issues at SEMICON West, Tuesday, July 12 ("The Future of MEMS". Right afterwards, for a more hands-on look at the future of MEMS, the MEMS Industry Group presents a demo zone of next-generation MEMS sensors in action, demonstrated by MEMS folks who can give the inside scoop on how they work.

Tuesday afternoon also features a related program focusing on packaging issues for heterogeneous integration of MEMS and CMOS. Microsoft’s GM of packaging, quality and reliability, Raj Master, will give the technical keynote, followed by an update on market trends from TechSearch International and IHS iSuppli, and a panel discussion including Fraunhofer IZM, Toshiba Corp. and CEA-Leti, moderated by Analog Devices and NIST.