April 4, 2012 – Marketwire — Mereco Technologies’ METADUCT 1202 is an electrically conductive silver epoxy adhesive for lead attachment cold soldering, chip bonding, and leadframe bonding applications.
The product is solvent-free, meeting NASA outgassing specification. It is also non-bleeding and thixotropic, and cures at room temperature. The adhesive has a volume resistivity @25
April 3, 2012 — Ferro Electronic Materials expanded its low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) portfolio, adding a line of cost-effective matched materials. The L8 LTCC system claims better performance over a greater range of frequencies and easier manufacturability than market alternatives.
The L8 LTCC system’s dielectric properties provide lower loss than competitive, price-sensitive LTCC products, Ferro reports, enabling lower-power components. L8 performs well at up to 40GHz (see the figure below). The lead-free, RoHS-compliant glass-ceramic formulation provides high strength and may be used in wire-bond, solderable, brazable, and plateable packaging applications.
Ferro supplies L8 ceramic tape with a full complement of matched metallization pastes that include silver, gold, plateable silver, and mixed-metal formulations. Gold and nickel may be electrolessly plated onto silver surfaces to improve performance in harsh environments and for easier wire bonding. L8 pastes have good printability and the material set has a broad processing window with multiple co-firing options with either belt or box furnaces.
The L8 system is suitable for cost-sensitive low- to mid-frequency telecommunications, automotive, and medical modules, components and sensors as well as higher frequency aerospace, satellite and other high-reliability applications.
Learn more about the Ferro L8 LTCC product line in booth 9-212 at SMT Hybrid Packaging 2012, May 8-10 in Nuremberg, Germany.
Ferro Corporation is a global supplier of technology-based performance materials for manufacturers in electronics, solar, and other end markets. Learn more at http://www.ferro.com.
Karen Lightman, the Managing Director of the MEMS Industry Group, blogs from the MEMS Executive Congress Europe, which was held March 20th, in Zurich, Switzerland.
ST’s Carmelo Papa boldly declared that “MEMS is only limited by the imagination” during his opening keynote at MEMS Executive Congress Europe last week. In many ways this phrase exemplifies the conference itself. All of the speakers on our four panels — industrial, biomedical/Quality of Life (QoL), automotive and consumer – as well as our keynotes — conveyed that frontier feeling that MEMS can truly change the world. Sure we have some challenges to overcome (the biggest being packaging), but the potential of having MEMS (frickin’) everywhere is a very tangible reality.
Thankfully the media who attended the Congress Europe have already done an impressive job of highlighting the panelists’ and keynotes’ more technical points. (Please refer to our Congress press coverage for the growing list of stories.) So instead of retelling you who said what regarding which ISO qualification, I’ll use this blog to give you the more colorful side of the Congress (shocking disclosure, I know). And speaking of color, MIG’s Monica Takacs did a great job of capturing the Congress in pictures and we’ve posted them on our Flickr site; you will want to check it out.
I am going to give you a taste of the Congress by sharing with you my favorite quotes, saving my very favorite for last. I’ll start with one by our opening keynote, Carmelo Papa. When Carmelo was talking “off the ST script,” his playful Italian personality made him a crowd favorite. Like when he said that he couldn’t reveal ST’s biggest customer “even under torture,” but he’d give us some hints: “It is green, round and delicious to eat.” What a great way to describe Apple. I also liked how he described MEMS as the “mouse for portable devices” as it enables a new realm of gesture.
My next favorite quote was from VTI’s Hannu Laatikainen. I began to think of him as a “Finnish Haiku Poet” when he said that we needed to “treat the car more like a human that can see, feel, hear, smell and taste.” Great stuff. I absolutely enjoyed hearing every single word coming out of the mouth of Dr. Berger of Clinatec and it wasn’t just because I am a sucker for a French accent. I loved his description of connecting technology with medicine and his passion for patient health, safety and welfare. He urged that there must be more money for clinical trials of technology for medical treatment to prove efficacy (not just money for consumer-inspired sport applications masking as healthcare products). I couldn’t agree more.
I laughed when Stefan Finkbeiner introduced himself and stated that his company, Akustica, hailed from Pittsburgh, the “MEMS center of the US.” Stefan then modified the statement by saying that Pittsburgh is the “MEMS capital of Pennsylvania” and “definitely the MEMS capital of Western PA.” My hometown is a lot of things, but not yet the MEMS capital of the US.
But my absolute favorite quote from MEMS Executive Congress Europe came from Continental’s Bernhard Schmid. When someone from the audience asked the panelists if visual sensors will replace MEMS on automotive, Bernhard responded with a rhetorical question: “Have the eyes cannibalized the ears? No. Both senses/sensors are needed for smart automotive.” I guess he was inspired by Hannu’s earlier comment about the car’s senses being more human. I wouldn’t have expected such eloquence from a bunch of automotive engineering executives. But like the Congress in general, these guys impressed and surprised me.
MEMS Executive Congress Europe was a fantastic success. I was expecting 100 attendees; we had 155. I thought we had a handful of sponsors; we had over 30.
While pausing momentarily to reflect on the highlights of our European event, my staff and I are looking forward to building the content for this year’s upcoming MEMS Executive Congress US in Scottsdale (November 7-8). And yes, we are looking at another Congress event in Europe in 2013 and possibly in Asia as well.
By design, MEMS Executive Congress is unique in the industry. Involving only minimal bribery (just the chocolate in Zurich at our European event!), we have been fortunate to engage MEMS suppliers and their end-user customers in thoughtful, sometimes spirited discussions about the use of MEMS in commercial applications. With our success in both the US and now in Europe, MIG is meeting a need in the market. Good thing it’s also lots of fun.
April 2, 2012 — Intel, SEMATECH, and other top chip makers, suppliers, and research organizations will send speakers to SEMICON West, July 10-12 in San Francisco. The event will single out new transistor architectures, advanced lithography, 450mm wafers, and other major developments for the microelectronics sector.
Shekhar Borkar, director of Extreme-scale Technologies at Intel Labs, will provide the technology keynote on Intel’s mid- and long-term development efforts in IC scaling, power reduction, and performance improvements. Attend at 9:00am, July 10.
SEMI plans 3 TechXPOT sessions at SEMICON West: Fully depleted transistor architectures on Tuesday, next-generation lithography on Wednesday, and the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) on Thusday.
Learn about advances — and challenges — in fully depleted devices and III-V channel materials for new transistors at 10:30am, July 10, in the South Hall TechXPOT session. Speakers:
Lithography achievements, technology roadmaps and development efforts will be discussed in the July 11,10:30am, South Hall TechXPOT session. Learn about extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) readiness from transmission and conversion efficiency to mask and resist work. The session will also cover double-patterning and the role of complementary technologies, such as e-beam lithography. Speakers:
The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) sessions will be part of the TechXPOT and Extreme Electronics platforms, July 12.
The Test Vision 2020 Conference will be held in conjunction with SEMICON West, on July 11-12.
A special session on supply chain opportunities in 450mm wafers will be held on July 12.
Other TechXPOT sessions, yet to be announced, will address new materials, advances in 3D-IC, MEMS, test, advanced packaging, LEDs, OLEDs, and productivity solutions for 200mm and 300mm fabs.
Register through April 12 for a free Expo Only badge. For more information, including keynotes, programs, registration, and exhibiting, please visit www.semiconwest.org.
SEMI is a global industry association serving the nano- and microelectronics manufacturing supply chains. For more information, visit www.semi.org.
Visit the Semiconductors Channel of Solid State Technology!
March 30, 2012 — Indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent electrodes are applied to the majority of display and touchscreen panels, as well as solar cells. As electronic devices with displays proliferate, as is the case with smartphones and media tablets, indium market prices are soaring, Displaybank reports. ITO electrodes are prone to cracking, which presents a problem for flexible displays.
Because of these challenges, researchers are developing alternatives to ITO based on graphene, metallic nano wires, conductivity polymers (PEDOT), transparent conductivity oxides (TCO), and carbon nanotubes (CNT). Corporations, universities, and research institutes around the world are fiercely competing to develop advanced technologies to dominate the market. Also read: Transparent conductors, ITO and alternatives
Displaybank Co., Ltd, issues an analysis report of key patents on next-generation transparent electrode technologies — PEDOT, CNT, Graphene, Metal, and TCO — to keep abreast of accelerated technology development competition of next generation transparent electrodes. Raw data were extracted from a total of 552 patents through close analysis and review on PCT patents that have been issued until October 2011. The report screened 490 patents relating to next-generation transparent electrodes, among the abstracted raw data. Displaybank has closely looked into status of Patent Applications per country, technology, and applicant for patent in the field of next generation transparent electrode, targeting 490 patents that have been carefully screened. Among 490 patents, Displaybank also selected 71 key patents and conducted an in-depth analysis of their technologies. Access reports at http://www.displaybank.com.
March 30, 2012 — Yamaichi has developed a test adapter suitable for test and programming of embedded modules such as Qseven or MXM. It reportedly offers reliable and robust probe-pin contacting for semiconductor test, and an impedance-controlled design according to customer specifications and/or the Qseven standard.
The testing system is mounted on the user
March 29, 2012 — Rice University is developing transparent, flexible memory devices based on silicon oxide, enabling future consumer applications with flexible touchscreens, transparent batteries, see-through ICs, and more.
The SiO2 memory component is based on a 2010 discovery that standard insulator silicon oxide would turn into nonvolatile memory (NVM) when acted upon by a strong charge. Pushing a strong charge through standard silicon oxide forms channels of pure silicon crystals <5nm wide. The initial voltage strips oxygen atoms from the silicon oxide; lesser charges then repeatedly break and reconnect the circuit. A smaller signal can be used to poll the memory state without altering it. The Rice lab has since developed a working two-terminal memory device that can be stacked in a 3D configuration and attached to a flexible substrate.
Rice University’s T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry, James Tour, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and of computer science, explains that the transparency is not possible with standard silicon. "Generally, you can’t see a bit of memory, because it’s too small, but silicon itself is not transparent."
Details of the Rice breakthrough will be published in an upcoming paper.
Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Learn more at http://www.rice.edu.
Sensors in Design 2012 was opened March 28 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, in conjunction with Design West, an agglomeration of seven individual design-related symposia with a common exhibition floor. This is my first time attending this meeting, but I overheard several other folks remarking that it’s good to see attendance is back up after a slump the past two years.
The sensors symposium opened with a panel discussion on the future of MEMS. Rob O’Reilly of Analog Devices, Dave Rothenberg of Movea, and Stephen Whalley of Intel comprised the panel, moderated by Alissa Fitzgerald of AM Fitzgerald & Associates. Intel is a MEMS user and systems designer but not a manufacturer, noting that more standardization is required for greater scalability and a robust foundry infrastructure. Healthcare opportunities range from smart phone consumer apps to implantable devices, and will take greater advantage of printable electronics for end device integration. MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes have been around for 30-40 years, but did not proliferate widely until the price dropped below $5. Other devices that may be poised for their own volume explosion are being hindered by their dependence on expensive TSV solutions for system integration; other system integration architectures must be developed. Whalley opined gyroscopes need to drop below $1 for broader system implementation, but O’Reilly said that this will never happen. There was also some lively misalignments as to whether component margins were adequate. Medical device realms are broadly divided into wearable and implantable, or by clinical devices and lifestyle devices. Either way, FDA approvals will throttle one group severely, while those not requiring such approval will lead the market growth. O’Reilly noted that the MEMS manufacturers are adapting SEMI and JEDEC standards to their industry, but they don’t happen to be MEMS-specific standards. The entry of CMOS foundries like TSMC into MEMS production will likely accelerate the broader adoption of standards. Pricing is an incentive for more implementation of printed electronics, but the requisite manufacturing repeatability is still lacking for many applications. The oil and gas industry has the potential to drive innovation with healthier margins, and without the bureaucratic inhibitors found in medical applications. Energy harvesting MEMS are more likely to prosper with thermoelectric Peltier devices than with piezoelectric vibration harvesters, due to the power density opportunity available.
Nancy Dougherty of Proteus Biomed talked about mindfulness pills for the quantified self. The quantified self is a conceptual platform for self-monitoring of health-related factors based on the premise that you have to be able to measure it before you can fix it. Our national healthcare system is based on population statistics, not on individual metrics. This technology-enabled movement can help change that. Proteus itself designs digestible electronics that can be embedded in pills and report biometric data to a receiver patch worn on the torso, including the identity of the pill and the time it was ingested. An interesting experiment with the use of placebo pills to effect real change in mood can be found at http://theengineeress.com/mindfulness. The pill electronics are powered by opposing calcium and magnesium electrodes that are activated by stomach fluids.
Peter Himes of Silex Microsystems (self-identified as the world’s largest MEMS foundry) gave several examples of MEMS implementation for biomedical applications. MEMS are particular adept for applications in which only very tiny analyte samples are available, though they can also provide significant cost advantages where MEMS functionality can displace bench top equipment alternatives. Microfluidics technology is particularly prevalent in this arena, though devices like micro defibrillators and micro needle patches for drug delivery and bodily fluid sampling also play a large role here.
Alissa Fitzgerald of AM Fitzgerald and Associates described more medical research applications of MEMS technology. Blood pressure cuffs in doctors’ offices have used MEMS pressure sensors since the 1980s; who knew? Contact lenses with a strain sensor to measure intraocular pressure constantly and in real time (made by Sensimed) may displace the need for annual glaucoma testing. Second Sight is commercializing a prosthetic retina that can provide a degree of optical nerve stimulation in lieu of natural sight to circumvent some forms of blindness. The introduction of flexible and biodegradable materials is expanding the repertoire of MEMS tools well beyond its traditional silicon origins.
Jamshid Avloni of Eeonyx Corporation took a look at innovations and applications in interactive fabric sensor technology. Taken to its extreme, this means electronic clothing. The underlying technology is conductive textiles, with coatings that are robust enough to stand up to conventional laundering. Fabric sensors have several advantages over thin film sensors, not the least of which are comfort and invisibility, not in the Harry Potter magic cloak sense but in the sense of presenting nothing foreign or unfamiliar to the user. I’ve already seen a commercial implementation of these materials in a shoe store, where you can step on a platform and get a precise pressure map of your footstep to assist with sizing shoes or designing inserts. Pressure sensing gloves have been used in applications ranging from golf and piano lessons to sniper training. A clean version of paintball has been developed, using rubber balls and impact sensing vests in place of paint, making cleanup a non-issue. A sample of coated material felt no different from conventional clothing fabric. Resistivities of a fabric sample pack ranged from 15 Ω/square to 104Ω/square.
See http://www.eksobionics.com for an example of a biomechanical exoskeleton that makes extensive use of these materials to enable paralyzed people to walk.
March 28, 2012 — Digital micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) microphones see widespread use in mass-market consumer electronics (tablets, smartphones, etc), pushing revenues high enough to overtake the analog segment by 2013. Revenue for digital MEMS microphones will hit $315 million in 2013, compared to $261 million for the analog MEMS mics, according to an IHS iSuppli MEMS Special Report.
Figure. Worldwide forecast of analog and digital MEMS microphone market revenue. SOURCE: IHS iSuppli Research March 2012. (Millions of USD.)
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
| Analog | 177.0 | 268.4 | 267.4 | 261.0 | 261.7 | 268.4 |
| Digital | 50.7 | 104.8 | 226.1 | 315.1 | 366.8 | 398.5 |
In 2011, analog MEMS microphones will hold onto a slight lead, with $267.4 million in revenue over digital MEMS microphones’ $226.1 million. Also read: MEMS microphones make noise in 2012
Apple established a market for MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes, and is now "setting the pace" for MEMS microphone adoption, said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst for MEMS & sensors at IHS. Apple is using digital MEMS microphones in its iPad 2 and the new iPad. The IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis of the new iPad 3 indicates that the tablet uses a single MEMS-based digital microphone from AAC Acoustic Technologies Holdings Inc. The iPad 2 uses a digital MEMS microphone from Analog Devices Inc.
MEMS microphones replaced conventional electret condenser microphones (ECM) in half of mobile handsets last year. Since 2010, new acoustic applications requiring multiple microphones have been driving the further penetration of MEMS. Superior temperature stability, better matching and smaller form factors afforded by MEMS are key advantages.
While analog MEMS microphones are less expensive and still are very much used for the acoustic function in handsets, they require adaptation for resistors, capacitoes, and speakers in each design iteration. New digital alternatives are gaining greater utilization because of their design flexibility and lower sensitivity to electromagnetic interference (EMI), and their increased Power Supply Rejection Ratio (PSRR). Large liquid crystal displays (LCDs) found on laptops create a great deal of EMI. Digital MEMS mics offer easier to process signals when 3 or more mics are used, as for noise suppression.
Digital MEMS microphones have been available since 2006, when Fujitsu integrated digital MEMS mics from Akustica (now part of Bosch) into laptops. The following year, Knowles and Sonion (now part of TDK-EPC) started shipments.
Overall, however, the penetration of digital MEMS microphones remained relatively modest because of the lack of a credible alternative source beyond Knowles, and their high price—typically 50% more expensive than analog MEMS.
Knowles had managed to keep the price high because of the lack of viable competitors. All this changed in 2011 with the arrival of new players. STMicroelectronics entered the market and focused exclusively on digital MEMS microphones, allowing them to emerge as strong alternative volume suppliers in 2011, with more aggressive pricing policies.
Akustica introduced a new and more competitive digital MEMS microphone in early 2011 with a 30% die size reduction, leading to a 4 percentage point increase in Akustica’s share of the laptop business from 2010 to 2011 (15% in 2011). Akustica just introduced its first analog MEMS microphone.
STMicroelectronics — already Nokia’s No. 1 supplier of accelerometers — started to deliver MEMS microphones to Nokia in 2011 and became the top source within one year, besting Knowles. As a result, Knowles‘ share of digital MEMS microphone market revenue fell to 59% in 2011, down from 81% in 2010.
Overall, the arrival of new suppliers with more aggressive pricing boosted the penetration of digital MEMS microphones in laptops in 2011 from 18% in 2010 to 40% in 2011.
Top suppliers in 2011 for digital MEMS microphones:
IHS (NYSE: IHS) provides information, insight and analytics in critical areas that shape today’s business landscape. Learn more at www.ihs.com.
March 22, 2012 — Strong demand for micro electro mechanical system (MEMS)-based sensors, CMOS image sensors, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), fiber-optic laser transmitters, and power transistors enabled the optoelectronic, sensor/actuator, and discrete (OSD) semiconductors market to grow by 8% in 2011, hitting a new record revenue of $57.4 billion, according to IC Insights’ 2012 Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discretes (O-S-D) Report.
Collective sales growth of OSD devices (8.4%) surpassed IC growth (0.4%) in 2011, and has in 3 of past 4 years. OSDs will grow faster than the IC market in 2012 as well, for the third straight year. Collectively, OSD devices accounted for 17.9% of the world’s $320.8 billion in semiconductor sales in 2011 compared to 14.7% of total revenues in 2001. OSD products are expected to represent about 18.2% of the world’s $339.0 billion semiconductor market in 2012, based on IC Insights’ forecast. OSD revenues will grow at a 2011-2016 CAGR of 10.6%, while IC sales are expected to rise by an annual average of 9.4%.
OSD growth was not steady throughout 2011 — most product categories saw "a substantial pullback" toward the end of the year. In 2012, expect 7% growth in total OSD sales to $61.6 billion, with nearly all product categories experiencing modest growth.
 |
| Figure. Optoelectronics, sensors, and discretes (OSD) market growth. SOURCE: IC Insights. |
2012 growth rates by segment:
Acceleration/yaw sensors +21%
laser transmitters +18%
pressure sensors +15%
magnetic-field sensors +14%
actuators (+11%)
The sensor/actuator market is projected to grow at the highest rate among the semiconductor segments in the forecast period with its CAGR being 16.4% between 2011 and 2016. IC Insights anticipates stronger and more consistent growth in the sensor/actuator market due to higher volume shipments of these devices in consumer electronics and portable systems. In addition, the automotive industry continues to gain strength after the 2008-2009 recession, and that is adding additional stability and growth momentum to the sensor/actuator market segment.
Solid-state lamps grew 16% in 2011, driven by high-brightness LED (HB-LED) adoption. This application will grow another 10% in 2012, hampered by price erosion from a buildup of inventories, slow LED-backlit display applications growth, and slow adoption of room-lighting products worldwide. Expect relatively slow sales growth in high-brightness white LEDs until 2014, when solid-state lights finally price in the same range as conventional lighting products in mainstream end-user markets, says IC Insights.
Motion-activated user interfaces, embedded automatic controls, and location-aware features in cellphones and portable electronics will continue to drive up sales of sensors built with MEMS technology. MEMS products like accelerometers and gyroscopes will products hit the $6 billion revenue mark in the next 5 years.
Power transistors and related discrete semiconductors are climbing steadily to record sales levels, shows the OSD report’s 5-year forecast, with drivers in the spread of battery-operated electronics, renewable energy systems, hybrid and electric vehicles, and the global emphasis on reductions in electricity consumption. The discretes segment, which is composed of low-priced commodity devices, actually outperformed the market growth of ICs in 2006-2011. The discretes sales volume grew at a 5-year CAGR of 5.6% compared to 3.3% CAGR in IC revenues. By 2016, power transistors are expected to account for 60% of total discrete sales.
CMOS image sensors shook off excess inventories and pushed beyond $6 billion in sales with 29% growth in 2011. CMOS image sensors are also expected to see another wave of strong growth from new imaging applications and machine-vision designs, which will include automotive safety systems and intelligent surveillance networks.
The 2012 edition of the O-S-D Report includes detailed analysis of trends and growth rates in the optoelectronics, sensors/actuators, and discretes market segments. The seventh annual edition of the report contains a detailed forecast of sales, unit shipments, and selling prices for more than 30 individual product types and categories through 2016. View http://www.icinsights.com/services/osd-report/ for more information.