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September 22, 2011 — MEMS devices are proliferating in new applications and replacing existing technologies, or used as a way to combine functions, says Yole Développement in its latest "Status of the MEMS Industry." This growth is driving new industry partnerships and a structural change to the MEMS industrial supply chain.

Expect a 15% CAGR 2010-2016 in MEMS revenues, and 24% CAGR in units shipped, said Dr. Eric Mounier, Yole Développement. The MEMS market hit $8.7 billion in 2010, shipping 4.3 billion devices. By 2016, these numbers will reach $19.6 billion and 15.8 billion units.

The consumer market is still driving the lion’s share of consumption (46% of the total market in value), Mounier added.

MEMS supply chain

The MEMS business is maturing, moving from a highly fragmented industry to a few large suppliers: 21 players above $100M in sales in 2010. The big players get bigger (e.g. Bosch, ST, Panasonic) as they capitalize on economies of scale. Smaller players are having a hard time competing, but there is still room for specialized companies. "AKM, Knowles, TI and Inkjet companies make a decent business with only one product. Because the business is maturing, others can specialize in one part of the supply chain," explained Laurent Robin, Yole Développement.

Also read: MEMS "transition period" toward market maturity evident in mobile boom

Most of the top 30 MEMS companies are integrated manufacturing companies; an increasing number of those big companies now offer foundry services. Others are becoming fab-light, outsourcing consumer devices or specific parts of the process. Only 2 fabless companies are among the top 20 MEMS companies (Knowles and InvenSense) while many fab-light companies are present (HP, Freescale, AD, Lexmark, Infineon, VTI). Fabless companies in growth stages now could become players in the near future.

In the coming years, players involved in high-value and automotive markets will likely keep their internal fabs; existing consumer-market players will easily outsource production; and consumer players with internal fabs will have to drastically increase their market shares to survive and support the infrastructure costs.

MEMS foundries will have to reach a critical volume to be stable — developing new device offers or selling to additional customers. MEMS foundries born of the semiconductor industry will only target high-volume applications where the number of processes is limited.

MEMS applications

MEMS devices can be replacements (e.g. microphones); new (e.g. micro-mirror, RF MEMS tunable antenna); or combination of functions (e.g. IMUs). New partnerships are necessary in the MEMS industry as functionalities develop.

Structural changes of the industrial supply chain are occurring as fragmentation continues. New intermediate business models are cropping up between MEMS foundries and IDMs: some IDMs specialize in producing MEMS wafers with their own design; some MEMS foundries are developing product platforms with their own design as well. Multi-chip module (MCM), which began in the MEMS industry with inertial modules, add challenges with integration, software and supply chain decisions. These combo sensors will represent a large slice of the MEMS market in 2016, integrated into gaming, cellphone, tablet, and PMP apps.

In the microphone business, some players are processing wafers while others are focusing on packaging and selling the device. Infineon has turned into a microphone die supplier and works with Asian MEMS microphone players: AAC Acoustics, Hosiden, BSE, Goertek, etc. Other companies are trying to become microphone manufacturers instead of just foundries, like MEMSTech and Omron.

For bolometers, camera cores (module with detector) are increasingly becoming a key business for camera manufacturers (FLIR and DRS propose new cores in 2011). This will further facilitate infrared detector integration and adoption by new camera players.

Yole Développement’s annual "Status of the MEMS Industry" was overhauled this year for the 2011 edition on MEMS device markets, key player strategies, key industry changes and trends including foundries business evolution. It also includes MEMS equipment forecast and major MEMS manufacturing evolutions.

Status of the MEMS Industry report (MIS) authors:
Dr. Eric Mounier has a PhD in microelectronics from the INPG in Grenoble. He previously worked at CEA LETI R&D lab in Grenoble, France in Marketing dept. Since 1998 he is a co-founder of Yole Developpement, a market research company based in France. At Yole Developpement, Dr. Eric Mounier is in charge of market analysis for MEMS, equipment & material. He is Chief Editor of Micronews, and MEMS’Trends magazines (Magazine on MEMS Technologies & Markets).

Laurent Robin is in charge of the MEMS & Sensors market research at Yole Developpement. He previously worked at image sensor company e2v Technologies (Grenoble, France) and at EM Microelectronics (Switzerland). He holds a Physics Engineering degree from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Toulouse. He was also granted a Master Degree in Technology & Innovation Management from EM Lyon Business School, France.

Companies cited in the report:
3S Systems, AAC Acoustics, Advanced Micro Fab, AKM, Analog Devices (AD), Asia Pacific Microsystems (APM), Audiopixels, Avago, Boehringer Ingelheim, BSE, Canon, Colibrys, Dalsa, Deep Di Semiconductor, Denso, Domintech, DRS, ELMOS (SMI), FLIR, FormFactor, Freescale Semiconductor, FujiFilm Dimatix, GE Measurement & Controls, Gettop, Global Foundries, GMEMS, Goertek, Goodrich, Hewlett Packard , Honeywell, Hosiden, IMT, Infineon, Innoluce, Invensense, Jazz Semiconductor, Jyve, Kaiam, Kionix, Knowles, Lensvector, Lexmark, Melexis, Memscap, memsmart, memstech, MEMStim, Mezmeriz, Micralyne, MicroGen, Mikrosense, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Movea, Murata, NovioMEMS, Nuvoton Technology, Olympus, Omron, Opus Microsystems, Panasonic, poLight, Preciseley Microtechnology, Pyreos, QMT, Qualtre, Robert Bosch, Seiko Epson, Semefab, Senodia, Sensata, Sensonor Technologies, Silex Microsystems, Silicon Sensing Systems, Siltronix, SMIC, Sony, STMicroelectronics, SDI, Telecardia, Texas Instruments, Touch Microsystems (TMT), Tronics Microsystems, TSMC, Ulis, UMC, Veeco, Verreon, VTI Technologies, Xaar, XFAB, Yamaha, Yishay Sensor.

Yole Développement is a group of companies providing market research, technology analysis, strategy consulting, media in addition to finance services. Go to www.yole.fr.

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September 22, 2011 — University of Washington materials scientists are working on a field-effect transistor (FET) that uses protons to communicate, rather than electrons.

Translating an electronic signal to an ionic one, or vice versa, is "a challenge," said Marco Rolandi, a UW assistant professor of materials science and engineering. Protons — positively charged hydrogen atoms that modulate biological energy transfer — or ions — atoms with positive or negative charge that open/close cell membranes for pumping actions — could allow the transistor to communicate directly with biological entities without a complicated interface.

To avoid the complicated electro/bio interface, Rolandi’s team developed a transistor that sends pulses of proton current. The FET comprises a gate, drain, and a source terminal, and measures about 5um wide. "Large, bio-inspired molecules can move protons, and a proton current can be switched on and off," explained Rolandi, saying that the flow is "completely analogous" to a conventional FET’s electronic current.

Figure. The UW device overlaid on a graphic of the other components (left) and a magnification of the chitosan fibers (right). The white scale bar is 200nm. SOURCE: Marco Rolandi, UW.

A modified form of chitosan (a squid pen structure compatible with living things) was used in the device. UW researchers note that the bio-compatible material is easily manufactured and is a waste product of the food industry. Chao Zhong, a UW postdoctoral researcher and Yingxin Deng, a UW graduate student, chose this form of chitosan because it moves protons well. The chitosan absorbs water and forms many hydrogen bonds; protons are then able to hop from one hydrogen bond to the next.

Computer models of charge transport developed by M.P. Anantram, a UW professor of electrical engineering, and Anita Fadavi Roudsari at Canada’s University of Waterloo, were a good match for the experimental results.

The current prototype has a silicon base and could not be used in a human body until a biocompatible replacement material was used. The initial goal of this bio-hybrid FET is to create electronics that could monitor biological actions directly, likely in a lab to start. In the future, these transistors could generate proton currents to control biological functions directly, with biocompatible versions implanted directly in living things.

The study is published online in the interdisciplinary journal Nature Communications. Access it here: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n9/full/ncomms1489.html. In addition to the researchers mentionned above, co-author Adnan Kapetanovic is a UW materials science and engineering graduate student.

The research was funded by the University of Washington, a 3M Untenured Faculty Grant, a National Cancer Institute fellowship and the UW’s Center for Nanotechnology, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Story courtesy of Hannah Hickey, UW. Learn more at http://www.washington.edu/.

September 21, 2011 — A MEMS oscillator maker chose the MT9928 xm tri-temp test handler from Multitest for a novel oscillator application. The MEMS device required extremely accurate temperature calibration.

MEMS oscillators, compared to traditional crystal oscillators, need to be calibrated with particular attention to temperature. The MT9928 xm was chosen to perform the calibration under various temperature situations.

Multitest developed the tri-temp test equipment with innovations from its MEMS test and calibration equipment. The company makes test handlers, contactors, and ATE printed circuit boards. For more information about Multitest’s MT9928 xm, visit www.multitest.com/MT9928.

September 21, 2011 – ACN Newswire — The Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), research institute within Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), opened the SIMTech Microfluidics Foundry (SMF), offering microfluidics development, customization, and manufacturing. These devices suit applications in healthcare, pharmaceutical, energy, water quality monitoring, biomedical, and chemical processing industries.

Singapore currently lacks a microfluidics, or lab-on-a-chip, industry, but the global microfluidics market is estimated to grow to US$5B in 2016 (Yole Developpement 2011, Microfluidic Substrates Market and Processing Trends), driven largely by biotechnology and microtechnology. Fluidigm, CAMTech, Clearbridge Biomedics, JN Medsys, Molbot and Fluigen have set up operations in Singapore for medical/life science applications. A*STAR’s foundry will exploit Singapore’s multi-disciplinary research capabilities in biomedical, physical and engineering sciences for microfluidics development.

Barriers to microfluidics adoption in applications from inkjet printing to cancer screenings include high manufacturing costs, lacking design and manufacturing standards for large volumes, and customization required for each application. Many biochips are fabricated using silicon wafers or glass slides. The special processes required during the manufacturing of these silicon-based biochips prove to be expensive for disposable applications. Polymer materials, on the other hand, are better suited for fluidic sample analyses and fabrication can be achieved in bulk at a fraction of the cost for disposable applications. Through its competencies and capabilities to address these challenges, SMF can help nurture and grow the microfluidic industry in Singapore.

SMF will host an integrated spectrum of design, simulation, prototyping, and scalable technology development for mass production of polymer-based microfluidic devices. Companies can work with the foundry to reduce costs and improve efficiency, translating lab processes and prototypes to commercially viable products..

Dr Lim Ser Yong, Executive Director of SIMTech said, "The SIMTech Microfluidics Foundry provides a low-risk environment for companies to place their capital-intensive investments for testing and implementing microfluidic technology solutions. It also offers a strong base for precision engineering and electronics companies to expand and pursue growth in other industries, assisting in the development of microfluidic products for biomedical, pharmaceutical and chemical companies and help start-ups to accelerate its commercialisation process by providing robust manufacturing capabilities and innovative microfluidic solutions."

Today, SIMTech signed three research agreements with Rhodia Asia Pacific, CAMTech Management and Molbot to develop high-throughput microfluidic tools for applications and product development in pharmaceuticals; for water quality monitoring and for gene cloning respectively. SIMTech also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CAMTech Innovations (UK) and Clearbridge Biomedics to jointly develop design and manufacturing technologies of microfluidic devices for life science companies as well as intends to collaborate on development of manufacturing technologies and solutions for microfluidic devices for potential commercial use respectively. These microfluidic R&D commitments reflect the confidence of industry in SMF’s competencies and capabilities, seeding a growing microfluidic industry in Singapore.

Dr Mario El-Khoury, CSEM Chief Executive Officer, said: "The SIMTech Microfluidics Foundry is a successful outcome of the research collaboration between CSEM and SIMTech. Today, SMF is a milestone for Singapore to grow the microfluidic industry. We look forward to furthering our collaboration with SMF to advance the microfluidic technology and its applications that impact the quality of life, such as healthcare, biomedical and life science research."

Singapore’s government has $16.1 billion Singapore dollars earmarked for the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2011 to 2015 Plan (RIE 2015), about 20% more than the previous quinquennium and a commitment of 1 per cent of expected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to public sector research and innovation. Singapore aims to increase its gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2015.

SIMTech develops high-value manufacturing technology and human capital to contribute to the competitiveness of the Singapore industry. It collaborates with multinational and local companies in the precision engineering, electronics, semiconductor, medical technology, aerospace, automotive, marine, logistics and other sectors. For more information, visit www.SIMTech.a-star.edu.sg.

CSEM, Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique (Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology), founded in 1984, is a private applied research and development center specializing in micro- and nanotechnology, system engineering microelectronics and communications technologies. It offers its customers and industry partners custom-made, innovative solutions based on its knowledge of the market and the technological expertise derived from applied research. CSEM’s mission is to enhance the competitiveness of industry, particularly Swiss industry, by developing applied technology platforms in micro- and nanotechnologies and ICT and transferring them to the industrial sector. For more information, please visit www.csem.ch.

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is the lead agency for fostering world-class scientific research and talent for a vibrant knowledge-based and innovation-driven Singapore. A*STAR oversees 14 biomedical sciences and physical sciences and engineering research institutes, and six consortia & centres, located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis as well as their immediate vicinity. A*STAR supports Singapore’s key economic clusters by providing intellectual, human and industrial capital to its partners in industry. It also supports extramural research in the universities, and with other local and international partners. For more information about A*STAR, please visit www.a-star.edu.sg.

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September 20, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) vendors comprise multi-national electronics corporations and MEMS-centric and small-portfolio companies. The market will grow as tablet/smartphone adoption increases, and MEMS makers co-opt the economies of scale that other semiconductor segments have used to reach maturity, according to ABI Research’s analysis.  

Large multi-national and multi-product MEMS suppliers include STMicroelectronics, Bosch, Texas Instruments (TI), and Freescale Semiconductors. The smaller-portfolio, focused suppliers list names VTI, InvenSense, and Memstech, among others.

The smartphone/tablet market for MEMS sensors and audio devices will be worth more than $1.5 billion in 2016, ABI Research reports. Certain segments of the market have emerged with continued strong growth potential, including MEMS inertial sensors and microphones. The smartphone and media tablet markets are the driving forces behind this growth.

"The MEMS market is going through a transition period, as many other semiconductor market segments have when approaching maturity," said Peter Cooney, practice director, semiconductors. "Leading vendors understand that to be successful in consumer electronics markets, you have to have economies of scale and be able to supply a broad range of solutions."

As markets mature, component integration is the key to success, reducing bill of materials (BOM) cost and board space while offering customers ease of design and reduced time to market. To this end, vendors are racing to diversify and increase product portfolios. This is driving M&A activity in the MEMS market. Over the next few years, the number of vendors addressing high-volume MEMS markets will shrink as larger suppliers acquire companies to increase product offerings and use their expanding portfolios to further integrate and achieve market dominance.

ABI Research’s latest report, "MEMS Vendors: A Competitive Analysis,"  is available at http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1007834. It provides overviews of 50 MEMS vendors and an in depth look at 15 major vendors, including SWOT analyses, product portfolios, and vendor profiles. It is part of the Automotive Technology, MEMS, and Mobile Device Semiconductors research services.

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September 20, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — New fuel-efficiency standards in the US will become mandatory in 2016, and consumers seek vehicles that consume less gas and generate lower carbon emissions. Ultracapacitors can reduce fuel use by harvesting energy from the vehicle braking system and releasing it to power the vehicle. Pike Research senior analyst John Gartner forecasts that ultracapacitors will play a bigger role in the stop/start vehicle sector in the future, though battery-heavy vehicles like hybrids will be a tougher sell on the technology.

According Pike Research’s latest report, worldwide sales revenue for ultracapacitors in transportation and grid services will grow more than tenfold, to $284.1 million, between 2011 and 2016.

Also read: 2012 sees automotive sensor market back to healthy growth track

In August, President Obama announced new fuel economy and emissions rules for medium and heavy-duty trucks. Proposed last fall by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the new fuel-efficiency standards are voluntary from 2013 through 2015, mandatory for model year 2016 and beyond. They aim to reduce oil consumption by 530 million barrels and carbon emissions by approximately 270 million metric tons for models produced between 2014 and 2018.

To date, ultracapacitors have been viewed as too expensive for most energy storage applications and the technology insufficiently mature for transportation applications. However, Pike Research’s analysis indicates that they are rapidly gaining acceptance in hybrid trucks and stop/start vehicles, which can temporarily shut off the engine when stopped or idling and then automatically restart it to resume locomotion. In Europe, where emissions standards are more stringent than in the United States, stop/start technology has been incorporated into more than two dozen models. The new fuel efficiency standards could drive similar uptake in the United States, and manufacturers will likely turn to ultracapacitors in growing numbers. Pike Research forecasts that worldwide sales of stop/start vehicles will exceed 14 million by 2015, and ultracapacitor revenues in this segment will reach $356 million worldwide by 2020. Ultracapacitors show particular promise in diesel-powered stop/start vehicles.

"Ultracapacitors" from Pike Research provides a comprehensive assessment of ultracapacitors in key application areas including stop/start vehicles, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles, and utility grid applications including ancillary services for energy storage. The study includes an examination of technology and market issues, profiles of key industry players in the emerging ultracapacitor market, and market forecasts through 2020. For more information, visit www.pikeresearch.com.

September 20, 2011 — Rice University researchers devised a method to grow high-quality bilayer graphene on a functional substrate, circumventing the transfer step from catalyst to insulator substrate commonly used.

The lab of Rice chemist James Tour grew graphene on a functional substrate by first having it diffuse into a layer of nickel. Large-scale bilayer graphene can be grown directly onto a variety of insulating substrates, ready for incorporation into patterned transistors, Tour, Rice’s T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and of computer science, explained.

Figure. The process of creating bilayer graphene on an insulating substrate, skipping roll-to-roll transfer of graphene from a metal catalyst. The electron microscope image shows two layers of graphene produced via the process. SOURCE: Tour Lab, Rice University.

A group led by graduate student Zhiwei Peng evaporated a coat of nickel onto silicon dioxide and placed a polymer film — the carbon source — on top. Heating the sandwich to 1000C in the presence of flowing argon and hydrogen gas allowed the polymer to diffuse into the metal; upon cooling, graphene formed on the nickel and on the silicon dioxide surfaces. When the nickel and incidental graphene that formed on top were etched away, bilayer graphene was left attached to the silicon dioxide substrate.

Alternatively, graduate student Zheng Yan topped a layer of silicon dioxide with a sliver of one of a variety of polymers and then put the nickel on top. Again, under high temperature and low pressure, bilayer graphene formed between the silicon dioxide and nickel. Experimentation with other substances revealed that bilayer graphene would also form on hexagonal boron nitride, silicon nitride and sapphire.

Since graphene does not have a bandgap at its single-layer form, semiconductors will use bilayer graphene in new device architectures. Bilayer graphene’s properties depend upon the offset or rotation of the layers in relation to each other, tunable using an electric field applied across the layers.

The new processes are outlined in two related ACS Nano papers: Growth of Bilayer Graphene on Insulating Substrates: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn202829y and Direct Growth of Bilayer Graphene on SiO2 Substrates by Carbon Diffusion Through Nickel: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn202923y

Authors of the first paper, "Growth of Bilayer Graphene on Insulating Substrates," are Yan, Peng, graduate student Zhengzong Sun, former graduate student Jun Yao, postdoctoral research associates Yu Zhu and Zheng Liu, Tour and Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry.

The Office of Naval Research MURI program, Lockheed Martin and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research supported the research.

Authors of the second paper, "Direct Growth of Bilayer Graphene on SiO2 Substrates by Carbon Diffusion Through Nickel," are Peng, Yan, Sun and Tour.

The Office of Naval Research MURI program, the Air Force Research Laboratory through United Technology Corp., the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and M-I SWACO supported the research.

September 19, 2011 – PRNewswire — Sanmina-SCI Corporation (Nasdaq:SANM), electronics manufacturing services provider, will produce a family of optical components based on Kaiam’s MEMS hybrid integration technology.

Sanmina will start by making 40Gb/s transmitter TOSA and ROSA receiver optical subassemblies, to be used in QSFP-LR4 optical transceivers for telecom networks. They integrate high performance, directly modulated lasers and high-speed detectors with planar lightwave circuits (PLC) and optics and electronics to maximize bandwidth in a small form factor.

Optics and microelectronics are in Sanmina-SCI’s "strategic focus," prompting investments in process and manufacturing technologies and capital equipment, said Dave Dutkowsky, EVP, Sanmina-SCI’s Communications Networks Division. He notes that Sanmina’s role will be to "industrialize" Kaiam’s "cutting-edge technologies." Sanmina-SCI will allow Kaiam to "cost effectively and rapidly ramp" its products, added Ross Parke, Kaiam VP of manufacturing.  

Sanmina-SCI has design, manufacturing and logistics facilities in key global regions, including its Shenzhen Optical facility. The new products are being industrialized with support from Sanmina-SCI’s engineering teams and will be ramped to full production in Sanmina-SCI’s facilities in Shenzhen, China.

Sanmina-SCI Corporation is a leading electronics contract manufacturer serving the fastest-growing segments of the global Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) market. More information regarding the company is available at http://www.sanmina-sci.com.

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

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by Richard Dixon and Jérémie Bouchaud, IHS iSuppli

September 19, 2011 – The automotive MEMS sensor market will reach new highs in 2012, leaving behind the ups and downs of 2009 and 2010 and the Japan Earthquake earlier this year. And the news gets much better beyond 2012: MEMS revenue from vehicle growth will jump 16% in 2012 to $2.31 billion, on its way to $2.93B in 2015 (see Figure 1). This represents 9% growth from 2010 to 2015.

Note that the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 grow at much higher year-over-year increases of 16.2%, 8.4% and 11.7%, respectively, in sensor revenues as vehicle production recovers fast and mandates begin to accelerate toward full adoption in the regions of their implementation. The majority of the market belongs to North America and Europe.


Figure 1: Market for automotive MEMS sensors, 2006-2015 revenues in US $M. (Source: IHS iSuppli)

These aforementioned automotive safety mandates are major market forces and pertain to electronic stability control (ESC) systems, which will kick in toward full fitment in the US, Canada, and Australia, and ESC and tire pressure monitors (TPMS) in Europe and China, helping the industry to generate more profits. The newest data results from recent research for a new IHS iSuppli publication on Automotive MEMS.

In 2015, although car production will reach a total of 98 million units and drive growth organically, the market "rocket" (i.e., mandates) will have exhausted their propellant by this stage — and the sensor market therefore only grows at 5% in that year.

2011 is subdued

What about the current year? Not surprisingly, the huge growth in the sales of light passenger vehicles in 2010 — from 59.5M to 74M, or 25.6% year over year — cannot be sustained in 2011. Global revenue this year for the automotive sensor market is projected to reach $1.99B, up just 4% from $1.91B in 2010. This compares to last year’s 28% expansion over 2009 revenue of $1.49B.

Added to this, the Japanese Earthquake will have an impact in 2011 on both worldwide production and manufacturing in Japan, a key producer. Automotive sensors are deployed in vehicles to improve performance and comfort and enhance safety, finding their way into systems such as air bags, tire-pressure monitoring, and ESC.


Figure 2: Electronic stability control (ESC) technology. (Courtesy BWI)

Overall the March quake in Japan is anticipated to result in a loss of some 2M vehicles throughout the car-manufacturing supply chain. Some of this will be recovered in 2011, but the loss in vehicle production could entail a shortfall in sensors equivalent to some 20M units this year. The earthquake is clearly making its tremors felt at major Tier 1 companies, including Denso and its suppliers, which suffered a poor second quarter.

Finally, mandate deadlines are still one or two years away, and OEMs can afford to equip some of the vehicles at lower levels ahead of the requirements for ESC and TPMS, which ramp toward full fitment in 2012-2014, e.g. in Europe.

China playing safe

IHS iSuppli offices in China have confirmed documentation that indicates a Chinese recommendation for a National Standard of TPMS, approved by the responsible department early in the year and coming into effect from July 2011. This will be good news for suppliers of MEMS pressure sensors used in direct TPMS systems. The mandate has aggressive fitment rates, which must be attained by mid-2015.


Figure 3: Low tire pressure indication c/o TPMS system. (Source: Wards Auto)

This has a big impact on the sales due to the large Chinese passenger car market. The mandate will begin its ramp already in mid-2012, starting with a fraction of engine sizes over 1.6 liter and ending in July 2015 with all engine sizes.

Thanks to mandates in various areas throughout the world — and especially China — shipments of pressure sensors for TPMS are projected to grow fivefold in the next four years, attaining a fitment rate of 73% of all vehicles, assuming a low penetration of non-sensor based systems.

Countries subject to TPMS mandates include the US (since 2007) and, from late 2011, the European Union, Korea, and now China. Japan, though not yet announced, will very likely adopt similar measures in this timeframe, both for ESC and TPMS.

Pressure sensor suppliers will have to deal with price erosion well above the normal 4%-5% per year experienced in the automotive industry. Most sensors are relatively expensive integrated solutions with a sensor, ASIC and RF IC in the package, but lower cost TPMS based on simple pressure die in package will likely also via for the market, especially in cost-sensitive emerging markets.

China’s ambitions extend beyond TPMS. A new version of the China-New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP) will be completed in 2H11 and be implemented from 2012, adding some assessments for Active Safety and emphasizing that cars seeking high scores in assessment must equip at least two systems among ESC, TPMS, adaptive front headlights, brake assist, and adaptive cruise control.


Figure 4: China’s NCAP program, launched in 2006, now includes an assessment for active safety systems. (Source: China Car Times)

Thus, from 2012 onward, more and more high-end models will equip TPMS ahead of a mandate, and other systems relevant for MEMS.

Big winners: ESC systems and airbags

The biggest applications for automotive MEMS in 2010 (the latest year in which full figures are available) were ESC and airbags, together almost half of the total automotive MEMS sensor market. A distant third was pressure sensors for monitoring manifold air pressure, an important feedback signal to the engine management unit (ECU). ESC systems, aimed at improving vehicle safety by detecting and minimizing skids, involve up to four MEMS sensors, including high-priced gyroscopes and high-performance low-g lateral accelerators.

Beginning to make a small impact starting in 2010 were combo sensors with single packages containing yaw-rate gyroscopes and dual-axis accelerometers with shared application-specific integrated circuits for ESC systems. Such combo sensors are supplied by Bosch and VTI so far, and will reach appreciable penetration of systems in 2015, when other suppliers are expected to offer such solutions due to overall savings on separate components and packages.


Figure 5: Bosch SMI540 combined package with 2-axis accelerometer and 1-axis gyroscope. (Source: Bosch)

Accelerometers are an example of a device that resists strong price erosion from mandates thanks to an increasing requirement to provide high performance, which allows Tier 1s to offer new functionalities to ESC such as "Hill Start Assist," a system that uses the ESC signals to prevent a vehicle rolling backward.

Top earners: Bosch and Denso

In 2010, the big automotive sensor suppliers were on average up 30% or more in revenues over 2009, with fortunes varied depending on regional strengths and strategy. The top automotive MEMS sensor supplier was again Bosch (up 47%), which made significant inroads with its sensor business in China, especially for pressure sensors used in engine management. Number two was Denso, with more modest gains as the company was less impacted in 2009 compared to many others. Freescale, Panasonic, and Sensata also grew strongly — despite gains in yaw rate sensors for ESC and a dominant position in navigation gyroscopes, Panasonic grew more modestly at just under 20%. Other sensor suppliers including Analog Devices, Infineon, VTI, Delphi, and GE Sensing all gained, and Fuji Electric did well with its manifold air pressure sensors.

Panasonic is the best example of a company that has successfully migrated from producing mass-market gyroscopes for cameras to safety-critical devices for ESC systems at major Tier 1 firms. Panasonic is joined by some newcomers finally starting to break into the ESC market, including SensorDynamics, which was recently acquired by Maxim and has begun selling gyroscopes to ESC systems this year.

Chinese sensor companies rising

IHS iSuppli is also intrigued by the potential for Chinese sensor companies. While its production status is currently not known to us, Senodia is a Chinese inertial sensor company that advertises yaw rate sensors for among others automotive applications.

At the Tier 1 level, there are currently no strong Tier 1 companies to rival Bosch, Denso, TRW, or Continental — but in the last two years Chinese Tier 2 company Beijing West Industries has gravitated to Tier 1 status by grabbing know-how through acquisition. Beijing West bought Delphi’s braking division including ESC technology in 2009, and is now pitching to acquire a part of Bosch’s braking business. Although BWI is part owned by two companies, 25% reportedly belongs to the Beijing government.

Given the Chinese authorities protectionism in only allowing foreign suppliers in via joint ventures, it is not hard to imagine increasing pressure on developing an internal supply chain in the years ahead.

Richard Dixon and Jérémie Bouchaud are (respectively) senior and principle analysts, MEMS and Sensors, at IHS iSuppli, Munich, Germany. Contact: [email protected].

September 19, 2011 — Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, joined the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund $20 million for 12 four-year grants on nanoelectronics research.

These 12 interdisciplinary research teams at 24 participating U.S. universities will contribute to the goal of discovering a new switching mechanism using nanoelectronic innovations as a replacement for today’s transistor.

The “new semiconductor device” will bring the US a leadership position in the nanoelectronics era, said Jeff Welser, director of the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI) for SRC, adding that advanced research universities combine talent with research capabilities like cleanroom labs and expensive equipment.

Nanoelectronics that will exist in 2020 and beyond require new basic materials science and chemistry breakthroughs, advanced devices and circuit architectures, and other progress.

The competition, “Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond (NEB),” is a component of the National Nanotechnology Initiative Signature Initiative, aiming to “accelerate the discovery and use of novel nanoscale fabrication processes and innovative concepts to produce revolutionary materials, devices, systems, and architectures to advance the field of nanoelectronics,” said Dr. Lawrence Goldberg, senior engineering advisor, NSF. Goldberg added that SRC’s support added a mentoring aspect to the research funding. Check out video blogs from students at SRC’s recent TECHCON here.

The joint NSF-NRI grants were awarded to the following projects in nanoelectronics research:

NSF Divisions participating in this competition are the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) in the Directorate for Engineering, the Division of Materials Research (DMR) and the Division of Chemistry (CHE) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and the Division of Computing and Communications Foundations (CCF) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering.

Companies participating in NRI are GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Intel Corporation, Micron Technology and Texas Instruments. These companies assign researchers to interact with the university teams. This kind of university-industry engagement will be instrumental in order for NRI to reach its goal of demonstrating the feasibility of novel computing devices in simple computer circuits during the next five to 10 years.

The Nanoelectronics Research Initiative is one of three research program entities of SRC. SRC expands the semiconductor industry knowledge base and attracts premier students to help innovate and transfer semiconductor technology to the commercial industry. For more information, visit http://nri.src.org.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2011, its budget is about $6.9 billion. Each year, NSF makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly. For more information, visit http://www.nsf.gov.