June  6, 2011 – Marketwire — Moog Inc. (NYSE:MOG.A, MOG.B) acquired Crossbow Technology Inc. of Milpitas, CA. Crossbow designs and manufactures acceleration sensors for inertial navigation units and guidance systems. End-use sectors include aerospace, defense and transportation.

Moog expects "Crossbow’s innovative use of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology in their advanced sensing products" to complement the company’s established controls business, said Warren Johnson, president, Moog Aircraft Group. Intel (INTC) invested in Crossbow in 2003, and the company had launched a business unit for its MEMS-based wireless sensor technology in 2007.

The purchase price, approximately $32 million, is the net of Crossbow’s cash balances. The company’s 2010 revenues equaled $13 million. The acquisition will add approximately $5 million to Moog’s sales for the remaining 2011 fiscal year. It is expected to be neutral to Moog’s earnings per share for the year ending October 1, 2011.

Moog Inc. is a worldwide designer, manufacturer, and integrator of precision control components and systems. Additional information can be found at www.moog.com.

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June 6, 2011 – PRNewswire — Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE:TXN) developed a single-chip passive infrared (IR) micro electromechanical system (MEMS) temperature sensor for contactless temperature measurement in portable consumer electronics. The TMP006 integrates an on-chip MEMS thermopile sensor, signal conditioning, a 16-bit analog-to-digital-converter (ADC), local temperature sensor and voltage references on a single 1.6mm2 chip.

The TMP006 digital temperature sensor can be used to accurately measure a smartphone, tablet, or other device’s case temperature, or to measure external temperature outside the device. It is an entirely digital product for contactless temperature measurement that is 95 percent smaller than other thermopile sensors, as it integrates the MEMS sensor and supporting analog circuitry.

The TMP006 both offers "advanced thermal management of processors," and allows app developers to "creatively tap into" the temperature measurement functionality, said Steve Anderson, SVP of TI’s High Performance Analog business. The MEMS device is primarily intended to improve user comfort by reporting device temperature, but other applications, such as those that allow users to take a room temperature, are additional benefits.

The MEMS package uses 240uA quiescent current and 1uA in shutdown mode, which TI says is a 90% drop in power consumption from competitive products. It operates in -40 to +125C with typical local sensor accuracy of +/- 0.5C and +/- 1C typical accuracy for the passive IR sensor. It includes a I2C/SMBus digital interface.

An evaluation module is available now, as is an IBIS model to verify board signal integrity requirements, along with full source code for calculating object temperature and applications notes. For more information, visit www.ti.com/tmp006-pr.

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Update August 10, 2011 – Business Wire — CMSF Corp. (OTCBB:CMSF) announced today that it has consummated the acquisition of Plures Technologies, Inc. Plures’s primary business at the present time is the ownership and operation of its Advanced MicroSensors Corporation subsidiary’s MEMS and magnetics fab in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Further information concerning this transaction will be set forth in a report on Form 8-K to be filed shortly by CMSF with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available at www.sec.gov.

June 3, 2011 – Business Wire — CMSF Corporation (OTCBB:CMSF), which has no significant operations and exists to seek a merger with an operating company, entered into such an agreement with Plures Technologies Inc. Plures, through its 95%-owned subsidiary, Advanced MicroSensors Corporation, is a semiconductor foundry developing and fabricating high-quality, high-margin micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and spintronics products.

On May 23, 2011, RENN Universal Growth Investment Trust PLC and RENN Global Entrepreneurs Fund, Inc. purchased $1,500,000 and $500,000 Plures promissory notes, respectively. At the same time, CMSF agreed to a merger with Plures. When the merger occurs in the coming months, RENN Universal and RENN Global will convert their debt to equity in the combined Plures-CMSF entity, which will be called Plures Technologies Inc.

72.5% of the combined entity’s outstanding common stock will be owned by the current stockholders of Plures, 20.5% of the stock will be owned by RENN Universal, 6.8% will be owned by RENN Global and 0.2% will be owned by existing CMSF shareholders unrelated to Plures, RENN Universal or RENN Global. CMSF filed a Form 8-K on the transaction on May 25, 2011.

CMSF underwent a "long, thorough search" for an appropriate merger partner, said Stephen Crosson, chief executive officer of CMSF.

Advanced MicroSensors Corporation, Plures’ 95%-owned subsidiary, information is available at www.advancedmicrosensors.com.

RENN Universal or RENN Global information is available on www.rencapital.com.

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by Wenbin Ding, Yole Développement

June 2, 2011 – Demand for higher-quality sound and smaller devices will propel 23% compound average growth (CAGR) for MEMS microphones for the next five years, creating market volumes of some 2 billion units a year by 2016, for a roughly $500M business. A sign of the rate of growth: it took mic market pioneer Knowles six years to sell 1 billion units, but only 18 months more to hit the 2 billion mark in May of this year. And plenty of companies are scrambling for a piece of this growing market.

There’s lots of room for growth. MEMS microphones are still in less than 20% or so of mobile phones, but we expect that to reach 40% of phones by 2015-2016. Most voice phones still opt for lower-cost electret condenser microphones, but smart phones — with a big push from Apple’s lead example — need the higher-quality MEMS mics, and also sell for higher prices that can better cover the cost.

The applications for MEMS microphones are also growing. Notebook computers are now starting to adopt the smaller MEMS versions for the better sound, as are tablets of course, and camcorders and cameras with video options.

And demands are also getting more sophisticated, pushing the market towards the MEMS devices for multi sensor solutions for active noise cancellation, and for digital mics for less disruption from RF and EMI. Some handsets in the smart phone market are now starting to use two or more mics for noise cancellation to improve sound quality, while some notebooks use microphone array to better capture sound from users apt to not be directly in front of the microphone. Computers need digital mics to avoid interference. More sophisticated smart phones and tablets will likely increasingly adopt digital mics as well starting from about 2012, when other applications like camcorders and tablets will eventually move to multiple mics as well.

The MEMS devices continue to scale down sharply in size and in cost. By 2010 Knowles had reduced die size by 50% from 2006, for presumably twice the die per wafer, without reducing the size of the microphone diaphragm. Akustica’s latest one-chip solution from its CMOS process is only 0.70mm₂. Epcos (TDK-EPC) meanwhile is using flip-chip instead of wire bonding for a thinner package.

MEMS microphone pioneer Knowles now dominates the market with more than 80% share, capitalizing on its strong background in the microphone and audio components business, its strong IP protection for its early packaging solution, its high-volume manufacturing, and a solid brand name consumer gear makers can trust — complete with the all-important used-by-Apple cachet. A crowd of challengers aims to get a piece of this growing market, both companies from the ECM microphone business, and MEMS makers. The field is littered with companies who dropped out after the first flush of interest in MEMS microphones several years ago, and with other suppliers who have yet to make significant inroads into the market — MEMS as usual have proved difficult to ramp in volume, and breaking in to the high-volume consumer phone market isn’t easy. But the current crop of both Asian ECM makers and major MEMS suppliers are likely better positioned for the challenge, as the MEMS microphone market is now well-established, and MEMS manufacturing technology is more mature.

MEMS microphone market forecast, split by application (in millions of units), 2010-2016. CAGR is 23%. (Source: Yole Développement)

MEMS manufacturing technology will be a focus of this year’s program at SEMICON West’s TechXPOTs: a Tuesday morning (July 12) session on "The future of MEMS: Moving from a niche to a mainstream business" (presented in cooperation with the MEMS Industry Group), and a Tuesday afternoon session on "Heterogeneous integration with MEMS and sensors." Plus exhibits and technical sessions at the Extreme Electronics TechZONE.

June 2, 2011 – Marketwire — Omron’s Micro Device Division (MDD) will release numerous micro electromechanical system (MEMS) products in the coming year, notably an absolute pressure sensor and a thermal IR sensing array.

Expanding on Omron’s piezo resistive pressure sensor technology, the company is nearing completion on a MEMS absolute pressure sensor. It is sealed on one side from atmospheric pressure and detects elevation changes at a >1 vertical meter resolution. This level of accuracy allows a person to be tracked to a particular floor of a building. Target applications include GPS navigation, portable navigation devices, weather forecasting, and vertical velocity indication. Its operating pressure is 50 to 110 kPa.

The new MEMS thermal IR sensor targets building automation and energy conservation. When positioned to scan, it can detect occupancy in a room (without movement) and measure where additional heating or cooling is required. The product comprises 8 MEMS thermal IR sensors aligned in a 1×8 array and a 4×4 array is in development. The 4×4 array would meet home appliance needs, for example, for electric stovetops.

Omron is adding new flow sensors to both sides of its current product lines: a 70 mL/min high impedance (differential pressure type flow sensor) version, and a 70-200 LPM sensor model for high flow applications.

Omron manufactures MEMS on 200mm silicon wafers, enabling costs and productivity savings by following semiconductor-method manufacturing.

Omron will demo the thermal IR sensor at Sensors Expo, June 7-8 in Rosemont, IL, at booth 307, along with existing MEMS product line expansions.

Omron Electronic Components manufactures advanced electronic components: relays, switches, connectors, MEMS flow sensors, pressure sensors, and optical components. Omron Electronic Components is the Americas subsidiary of Omron Corporation. Learn more at www.omron.com

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June 1, 2011 — Multitest, test handler, contactor, and load board designer and manufacturer, received an order for InCarrier test equipment from a major test house in Asia, which will install an InCarrier loader/unloader, InStrip, and InMEMS module for accelerometer MEMS test.

The InCarrier won out over standard singulated package test tools and other high-parallel test equipment. Multitest states that InCarrier overcomes strip test constraints with respect to singulation after test and lead frame design, and offers combined benefits of singulated package and parallel testers. The products also handle 2 x 2mm packages in a stable and reliable test environment, the company said in a statement.

Multitest manufactures test equipment for semiconductors: test handlers, contactors, and ATE printed circuit boards. For more information, visit http://www.multitest.com/InCarrier.

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