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Batteries have not been a triumph of rapid innovation – from lead acid, nickel-cadmium, to nickel-metal-hydride and lithium-ion batteries, the development of batteries has significantly lagged many other components. For example, lithium-ion batteries, which are the mostly successful commercial battery system nowadays, have only seen a 1.6 times improvement in energy density over the last 24 years. Not exactly a follower of Moore’s Law like progress. It is already very optimistic to expect the energy density of lithium-ion battery to increase another 30 percent in five years time. Materials that can be chosen for the battery development are also limited. Companies see the challenge – and opportunity.

One significant development has been flexible battery technologies. However, even though thin, flexible batteries have been available for over fifteen years they have had limited commercial success. That is not really a surprise: they have been more expensive, offer lower capacity and have a shorter shelf life than regular button cell or larger batteries.

As a result, they have tried to exploit their thinness and flexibility as a way to differentiate – doing something that regular batteries cannot do.  Successes have been found in a small number of niche applications, such as powered skin patches, where the battery provides a voltage across an area of skin, opening the pores and allowing the anti-wrinkle cosmetic on the patch to be absorbed about ten times more quickly versus non-powered patches, an effect known as iontophoresis. For a patch applied to a face, that product is only possible with an unobtrusive thin and flexible battery. It created a new product category and price point – here the flexible battery was not a value sell proposition but an enabling sell.

However, despite a few pockets of success companies have been largely struggling to gain big commercial traction – new product categories need to be created rather than using these as a replacement versus the cheaper, higher performing incumbents.

Apple, Samsung, LG Chem Move into the Flexible Battery Business

Now the world’s largest consumer electronics companies such as Apple, LG and Samsung have moved into the development of flexible battery technology and that’s due in a large part to the wearable technology market, which will help drive the flexible battery market from US$ 6.9 million in 2015 to over US$ 400 million in 2025, according to IDTechEx Research.

Wearable electronics and IoT devices will increasingly require battery attributes such as thinness, flexibility, light weight and low charging thresholds to not just differentiate, but create new markets. Indeed, they already have – the powered cosmetic skin patch from Estee Lauder using a printed battery must have some claim to being one of the earliest successes of flexible wearable electronics.

Investment in flexible batteries is but one of the key areas of progress for truly wearable electronics. The first approach has been to reduce the energy consumption of electronics, such as the CPU and displays, in addition to making larger components, such as displays, flexible. Another direction is the charging method, such as integrating energy harvesting, rapid charging and wireless charging.

Now huge emerging topics such as wearable technology and IoT require some different parameters for the battery, such as ultra-thinness, small physical footprints, flexibility and light weight which are becoming increasingly prized.

While there is still progress to be made in both the performance of the battery technology and scaling up manufacturing, new products are appearing at a fast rate. In April this year Qualcomm unveiled a new product concept at the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe event in conjunction with printed battery provider Enfucell. This is a sensing label for golfers – stick the label on your golf club and play your game, with the label providing data via an app on your phone telling you information such as speed, angle and tempo of each swing. The electronics and battery form a single monolithic device.

In another example printed battery provider Blue Spark Technologies have launched a smart band-aid known as TempTraq, which reports your sick child’s temperature to your cellphone via a flexible band-aid powered by a flexible battery powering a low energy bluetooth circuit and sensor.

Source: IDTechEx Research report Flexible, Printed and Thin Film Batteries 2015-2025

Source: IDTechEx Research report Flexible, Printed and Thin Film Batteries 2015-2025

In the report Flexible, Printed and Thin Film Batteries 2015-2025 IDTechEx Research concludes that the current thin film battery market will change radically over the next years as grows – with wearable technology becoming the largest share of that, as pictured.

The digital world once existed largely in non-material form. But with the rise of connected homes, smart grids and autonomous vehicles, the cyber and the physical are merging in new and exciting ways. These hybrid forms are often called cyber-physical systems (CPS), and are giving rise to a new Internet of Things.

Such systems have unique characteristics and vulnerabilities that must be studied and addressed to make sure they are reliable and secure, and that they maintain individuals’ privacy.

The National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with Intel Corporation, one of the world’s leading technology companies, today announced two new grants totaling $6 million to research teams that will study solutions to address the security and privacy of cyber-physical systems. A key emphasis of these grants is to refine an understanding of the broader socioeconomic factors that influence CPS security and privacy.

“Advances in the integration of information and communications technologies are transforming the way people interact with engineered systems,” said Jim Kurose, head of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at NSF. “Rigorous interdisciplinary research, such as the projects announced today in partnership with Intel, can help to better understand and mitigate threats to our critical cyber-physical systems and secure the nation’s economy, public safety, and overall well-being.”

The partnership between NSF and Intel establishes a new model of cooperation between government, industry and academia to increase the relevance and impact of long-range research. Key features of this model for projects funded by NSF and Intel include joint design of a solicitation, joint selection of projects, an open collaborative intellectual property agreement, and a management plan to facilitate effective information exchange between faculty, students and industrial researchers.

This model will help top researchers in the nation’s academic and industrial laboratories transition important discoveries into innovative products and services more easily.

“The new CPS projects, announced today, enable researchers to collaborate actively with Intel, resulting in strong partnerships for implementing and adopting technology solutions to ensure the security and privacy of cyber-physical systems,” said J. Christopher Ramming, director of the Intel Labs University Collaborations Office. “We are enthusiastic about this new model of partnership.”

The NSF-Intel partnership further combines NSF’s experience in developing and managing successful large, diverse research portfolios with Intel’s long history of building research communities in emerging technology areas through programs such as its Science and Technology Centers Program.

The projects announced today as part of the NSF/Intel Partnership on Cyber-Physical Systems Security and Privacy are:

Rapidly increasing incorporation of networked computation into everything from our homes to hospitals to transportation systems can dramatically increase the adverse consequences of poor cybersecurity, according to Philip Levis, who leads a team at Stanford University that received one of the new awards. Levis’ team investigates encryption frameworks for testing and protecting networked infrastructure.

“Our research aims to lay the groundwork and basic principles to secure computing applications that interact with the physical world as they are being built and before they are used,” Levis said. “The Internet of Things is still very new. By researching these principles now, we hope to help avoid many security disasters in the future.”

The team, consisting of researchers from Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan, considers how new communication architectures and programming frameworks can help developers avoid decisions that lead to vulnerabilities.

Another project explores the unique characteristics of cyber-physical systems, such as the physical dynamics, to provide approaches that mix prevention, detection and recovery, while assuring certain levels of guarantees for safety-critical automotive and medical systems.

“With this award, we will develop robust, new technologies and approaches that work together to lead to safer, more secure and privacy-preserving cyber-physical systems by developing methods to tolerate attacks on physical environment and cyberspace in addition to preventing them,” said Insup Lee, who leads a team at the University of Pennsylvania, along with colleagues at Duke University and the University of Michigan.

“New smart cyber-physical systems technologies are driving innovation in sectors such as food and agriculture, energy, transportation, building design and automation, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing,” Kurose said. “With proper protections in place, CPS can bring tremendous benefits to our society.”

The new program extends NSF’s investments in fundamental research on cyber-physical systems, which has totaled more than $200 million in the past five years.

NSF is also separately investing in three additional CPS security and privacy projects that address the safety of autonomous vehicles, the privacy of data delivered by home sensors and the trustworthiness of smart systems:

The pure-play foundry market is forecast to grow to an all-time high of $12.2 billion in 4Q15, following several quarters in which sales remained between $11.3 and $11.8 billion, based on IC Insights’ updated foundry forecast presented in the August Update to The McClean Report 2015 (Figure 1). IC Insights defines a pure-play foundry as a company that does not offer a significant amount of IC products of its own design, but instead focuses on producing ICs for other companies (e.g., TSMC, GlobalFoundries, UMC, SMIC, etc.).

Fig 1

Fig 1

The quarterly pure-play IC foundry market has recently displayed a seasonal pattern in which the best growth rate takes place in the second quarter of the year and a sales downturn occurs in the fourth quarter.  Given that about 98 percent of pure-play foundries’ sales are to IDMs and fabless companies that will re-sell the devices they purchase from the foundry, it makes sense that the pure-play foundries’ strongest seasonal quarter (second quarter) is one quarter earlier than the total IC industry’s strongest seasonal quarter (third quarter).

However, as shown in the figure, 2015 is not expected to display the typical pure-play foundry quarterly revenue pattern.  Although 1Q15 registered its usual weakness, 2Q15 showed a sequential decline, rather than an increase. In 2012, 2013, and 2014, second quarter pure-play foundry revenue showed strong double-digit growth.  In 2Q15, results were decidedly atypical with a 2 percent decline in pure-play foundry sales. The primary reason behind the 2Q15 sales decline was the 5 percent 2Q15/1Q15 revenue decline by foundry giant TSMC.  TSMC’s 5 percent sequential decline was equivalent to a $366 million drop in its revenue.

For 4Q15, IC Insights forecasts that the quarterly pure-play foundry market will show a higher than normal growth rate of 4 percent.  With most of the inventory adjustments that held back growth in the first half of the year expected to be completed by the end of 3Q15, 4Q15 is forecast to register enough growth to boost the quarterly pure-play foundry market to over $12.0 billion for the first time.

EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, will host a special session at the 41st Micro and Nano Engineering (MNE 2015) conference–an international conference on micro- and nanofabrication and manufacturing using lithography and related techniques. The first EVG Photonics Workshop will take place at the World Forum in The Hague, The Netherlands, during the afternoon of the opening day of MNE 2015 on Wednesday, September 21.

Photonic applications are emerging rapidly, with photonic devices enabling new functionalities, smaller form factors, improved performance and reduced costs for broadband communications, sensing, bio-medical measurement devices and other applications. In particular, silicon photonics have received significant attention in recent years owing to their potential for enabling energy-efficient and affordable short-reach optical interconnects.

The EVG Photonics Workshop will bring together leading experts from device manufacturing and system suppliers to discuss flexible cooperation models, available platforms and applications, including nanoimprint lithography as an efficient manufacturing solution for photonic devices. The aim of this workshop is to foster the development of customer and industry partnerships, overcome the challenges and reduce the time to market for innovative photonic devices and applications. The EVG Photonics Workshop is free of charge. However, seating is limited and online registration is required at www.EVGroup.com/EVGPhotonicsWorkshop.

The EVG Photonics Workshop complements the company’s other activities at MNE 2015. In addition to exhibiting at the show (booth #12), EVG is a collaborative partner on the Single Nanometer Manufacturing beyond CMOS devices (SNM) project, which will be the topic of an MNE special session, “Single Nanometer Manufacturing,” on Tuesday, September 22 from 17:00 – 19:00.

The aim of the European Commission-funded SNM project is to establish new paths for manufacturing ultimate nanoscale electronic, optical and mechanical devices. 16 organizations from industry, academia and research institutes are participating in this unique project, which is headed by Professor Ivo W. Rangelow of the Technische Universität Ilmenau. The session will inform experts in lithography techniques and pattern transfer, metrology specialists and all other interested specialists about the latest and future developments in nanoscale manufacturing.

Full details on both events can be found on the MNE 2015 website at http://mne2015.org/programme/satellite-meetings/special-sessionsuser-meetings/

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.59 billion in orders worldwide in July 2015 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.02, according to the July EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.  A book-to-bill of 1.02 means that $102 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

SEMI reports that the three-month average of worldwide bookings in July 2015 was $1.59 billion. The bookings figure is 5.1 percent higher than the final June 2015 level of $1.52 billion, and is 12.5 percent higher than the July 2014 order level of $1.42 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in July 2015 was $1.56 billion. The billings figure is 0.3 percent higher than the final June 2015 level of $1.55 billion, and is 18.2 percent higher than the July 2014 billings level of $1.32 billion.

“Year-to-date, the bookings and billings reported in the SEMI North American equipment book-to-bill report indicate a solid year for the industry,” said SEMI president and CEO Denny McGuirk. “The outlook for the remainder of the year is somewhat clouded, but we see investments in 3D NAND and advanced packaging as drivers.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

Billings
(3-mo. avg)

Bookings
(3-mo. avg)

Book-to-Bill
February 2015 

$1,280.1

$1,313.7

1.03
March 2015 

$1,265.6

$1,392.7

1.10
April 2015 

$1,515.3

$1,573.7

1.04
May 2015 

$1,557.3

$1,546.2

0.99
June 2015 (final)

$1,554.9

$1,517.4

0.98
July 2015 (prelim)

$1,559.3

$1,594.3

1.02

Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), August 2015

The global market for semiconductors used in smart meters that provide two-way communications between meters and utilities will continue to expand in the coming years, providing significant growth opportunities semiconductor manufacturers. Shipments of communicating meters are forecast to reach 132 million units in 2015 and 150 million units in 2019, according to IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a global source of critical information and insight.

Global revenues for semiconductors used in water, gas and electric meters reached $1.2 billion in 2014, with a year-over-year growth of 11 percent and a five-year compound annual growth rate of 8 percent. The average semiconductor cost in two-way meters was approximately $11 in 2014. Average selling prices (ASPs) are expected to increase over time, as industry needs increase for 32-bit micro-controller units (MCUs), memory chips, single system-on-chip (SoC) solutions and other components used in secured communications and other applications.

Based on the latest information from the IHS Industrial Semiconductor Market Tracker, the demand for precise energy measurement and communication has increased the penetration of micro-component integrated circuits (ICs), along with analog ICs. In fact, two thirds of meter semiconductor revenue comes from microcontroller and analog components.

“The semiconductor industry for electric meters is moving toward a single-chip solution for measuring and communicating with the grid station, which is an important industry trend to watch,” said Robbie Galoso, associate director, semiconductor market shares and industrial electronics for IHS Technology. “Water and gas meters require fewer semiconductor components; however, they need extra semiconductors for sensing and battery management.”

Meters installed in the latter half of this decade will require greater application complexity, better security, improved communication ability, enhanced remote control ability and higher resolution. That means increased need for memory and system-on-chip (SoC) solutions with greater capabilities in a smaller package than in the past.

Meters are evolving from those that merely register end-user usage, into complicated machines that can be queried for on-demand data, upgraded remotely, shut off in case of emergency or non-payment and used for variable pricing. “The movement from 8-bit MCUs to higher margin 32-bit MCUs is a key industry trend,” said Noman Akhtar, analyst for IHS Technology. “The integration of these higher function microcontroller units also requires additional capabilities, such as increased memory, which further increases manufacturing costs.”

Smart_Semis_Chart

MEMS Industry Group (MIG)’s next MEMS Executive Congress US 2015 — the annual business conference and networking event for the MEMS and sensors industry, November 4-6, 2015 in Napa, CA — will explore the market drivers behind the double-digit growth propelling MEMS and sensors to more than $20+ billion by 2020.

“From the smart home and the highway to the factory floor and the hospital, tens of billions of MEMS and sensors add greater intelligence to the ways we live our lives and do our work,” said Karen Lightman, executive director, MEMS Industry Group. “As the year’s ‘touchpoint’ event for the sellers and buyers of MEMS/sensors technology, MEMS Executive Congress US attracts forward-thinking executives who want to interact with innovative speakers, business partners, and even competitors, all involved in using MEMS/sensors to transform the human experience.”

Ms. Lightman pointed out that the dramatic growth in the MEMS market alone should reach nearly 25 billion units annually by 2019, according to the market research firm IHS2. “And if we add a selection of sensors — magnetic sensors, light sensors and emerging sensors for consumer applications, such as fingerprint sensors — we are looking at an additional 5+ billion units by that time. That’s a massive number of MEMS/sensors adding product-differentiating value to commercial applications just four years from today.”

Keynotes

Featured Speakers

Panels

Featured Events
MIG’s fifth annual MEMS and Sensors Technology Showcase provides Congress attendees an up-close experience with some of the coolest new MEMS- and sensors-enabled products ever invented. After interactive demo sessions and conference-wide presentations, attendees will vote on a winner.

MIG’s third annual Elevator Pitch Session gives entrepreneurs and startups a forum for pitching their products and ideas to a seasoned panel of industry veterans and investors. It also offers exposure to the biggest gathering of MEMS and sensors executives in North America. Elevator Pitch Session finalists will try to impress Judges Silicon Catalyst CEO and Co-founder Dan Armbrust, Nasiri Ventures Principal Steve Nasiri, and Silicon Valley Band of Angels Member Kurt Petersen as they jockey for the top spot.

MIG’s annual Best in MEMS and Sensors Innovation Awards (MEMSies) will recognize outstanding achievements in the MEMS and sensors industry.

For the complete agenda, visit: http://us2015.memscongress.com/agenda/

Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments increased during the second quarter 2015 when compared to first quarter area shipments according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.

Total silicon wafer area shipments were 2,702 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 2.5 percent increase from the 2,637 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter resulting in a new quarterly volume shipment record. New quarterly total area shipments are 4.4 percent higher than second quarter 2014 shipments. First half 2015 shipments are 7.8 percent higher than the first half of 2014.

“For two consecutive quarters, strong silicon shipment growth has been recorded by the Silicon Manufacturers Group,” said Ginji Yada, chairman of SEMI SMG and general manager, International Sales & Marketing Department of SUMCO Corporation. “Continued growth off of the record level shipped in the first quarter, produced another record level of shipments in the most recent quarter.”

Quarterly Silicon* Area Shipment Trends

 Million Square Inches

 
 Q2-2014

 

  Q1-2015  Q2-2015  1H-2014  1H-2015
Total

 

 2,587 2,637 2,702 4,951 5,339

*Shipments are for semiconductor applications only and do not include solar applications

Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors, which in turn, are vital components of virtually all electronics goods, including computers, telecommunications products, and consumer electronics. The highly engineered thin round disks are produced in various diameters (from one inch to 12 inches) and serve as the substrate material on which most semiconductor devices or “chips” are fabricated.

All data cited in this release is inclusive of polished silicon wafers, including virgin test wafers and epitaxial silicon wafers, as well as non-polished silicon wafers shipped by the wafer manufacturers to the end-users.

The Silicon Manufacturers Group acts as an independent special interest group within the SEMI structure and is open to SEMI members involved in manufacturing polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon or silicon wafers (e.g., as cut, polished, epi, etc.). The purpose of the group is to facilitate collective efforts on issues related to the silicon industry including the development of market information and statistics about the silicon industry and the semiconductor market.  For more information on SEMI, visit www.semi.org.

OMRON Corporation announced its entry into a stock purchase agreement to acquire a 100 percent stake in Delta Tau Data Systems, Inc. of California (DT), which will result in DT becoming a member of the OMRON Group. The acquisition is subject to customary conditions to closing. Omron expects the acquisition to close in early September, 2015.

With headquarters in Chatsworth, California, DT is a control device company in the United States. This acquisition is part of OMRON’s strategy to promote its development of factory automation technology and strengthen its sales capability in the control device business. Through the acquisition of DT, OMRON aims to reinforce its technology development and engineering capabilities in the field of motion control designed to drive manufacturing equipment. Merging products and technologies of both companies will also enable delivery of optimized motion control solutions globally through combined distribution networks.

OMRON has extensive lines of control components and equipment, ranging from image-processing sensors and other input devices through various controllers to output devices such as servo drives and servo motors, along with a range of safety devices and in-panel controllers. Combining these products, OMRON continues to offer a wide range of advanced automation solutions to manufacturers worldwide.

DT, as a specialist manufacturer of motion controllers, boasts renowned and powerful development and systems integration capabilities that enabled the company to develop, manufacture, and market what is widely recognized as the world’s highest level motion controller, dubbed “PMAC.” This product is now used mainly by US and Korean producers of semiconductor and LCD manufacturing equipment, machine tools, packaging machines, among others.

This acquisition will allow OMRON to combine DT’s PMAC motion controller with its wide range of products and offer new solutions to its customers globally. By leveraging DT’s sales network, equipped with highly skilled engineering capability, OMRON will provide DT’s customers with high-performance solutions comprising OMRON’s control devices and DT’s PMAC. OMRON will also aim to expand applications of its solutions by adopting the high-performance motion control technology that DT has accumulated over many years.

Through the acquisition of DT, OMRON will further advance its leading automation technology. In addition, by promoting manufacturing innovation together with its customers, OMRON will steadily reinforce its industrial automation business, one of the pivotal strategies of OMRON Group’s long-term management strategy, called “Value Generation 2020,” as it works to drive further growth for the future.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $84.0 billion during the second quarter of 2015, an increase of 1.0 percent over the previous quarter and 2.0 percent compared to the second quarter of 2014. Global sales for the month of June 2015 reached $28.0 billion, an uptick of 2.0 percent over the June 2014 total of $27.4 billion and a decrease of 0.4 percent from last month’s total of $28.1 billion. Year-to-date sales during the first half of 2015 were 3.9 percent higher than they were at the same point in 2014. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

“Macroeconomic headwinds and softening demand have slowed global semiconductor market growth somewhat, but the industry still posted its highest-ever second-quarter sales and remains ahead of the pace of sales set in 2014, which was a record year for semiconductor revenues,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “The Americas market continues to post solid year-to-year sales increases, and the global market has now grown on a year-to-year basis for 26 consecutive months.”

Regionally, sales increased compared to June 2014 in China (7.8 percent), the Americas (5.6 percent), and Asia Pacific/All Other (5.2 percent), but fell in Europe (-11.5 percent) and Japan (-13.6 percent). Sales were up slightly compared to last month in Japan (1.0 percent) and China (0.6 percent), but down somewhat in Asia Pacific/All Other (-0.6 percent), the Americas (-1.6 percent), and Europe (-1.7 percent). Sales figures in Europeand Japan have been impacted somewhat by currency devaluation.

“Global semiconductor sales are one indicator of the strength of the U.S. industry, which accounts for more than half of total global sales,” Neuffer said. “Policymakers in Washington should enact policies that do more to promote innovation and allow our industry to compete more effectively globally. We applaud the newly formed Congressional Semiconductor Caucus – led by Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) – for working to advance pro-growth policies that will strengthen the U.S. semiconductor industry and our economy.”

June 2015

Billions

Month-to-Month Sales                               

Market

Last Month

Current Month

% Change

Americas

5.62

5.53

-1.6%

Europe

2.87

2.83

-1.7%

Japan

2.54

2.57

1.0%

China

8.08

8.13

0.6%

Asia Pacific/All Other

9.00

8.94

-0.6%

Total

28.11

27.99

-0.4%

Year-to-Year Sales                          

Market

Last Year

Current Month

% Change

Americas

5.24

5.53

5.6%

Europe

3.19

2.83

-11.5%

Japan

2.97

2.57

-13.6%

China

7.54

8.13

7.8%

Asia Pacific/All Other

8.50

8.94

5.2%

Total

27.44

27.99

2.0%

Three-Month-Moving Average Sales

Market

Jan/Feb/Mar

Apr/May/Jun

% Change

Americas

5.81

5.53

-4.7%

Europe

2.96

2.83

-4.4%

Japan

2.55

2.57

0.8%

China

7.83

8.13

3.8%

Asia Pacific/All Other

8.57

8.94

4.4%

Total

27.70

27.99

1.0%