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Engineering researchers at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) have found a way to mass-produce antennas so small that they approach the fundamental minimum size limit for their bandwidth. This could lead to new generations of wireless consumer electronics and mobile devices that are either smaller or can perform more functions.
The antenna is typically the largest wireless component in mobile devices. Shrinking it could leave more room for other gadgets and features, said Anthony Grbic, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grbic and Stephen Forrest, a professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Physics, led the development of the hemisphere-shaped antennas, which can be manufactured with innovative imprint processing techniques that are rapid and low cost. The finished product is 1.8 times the fundamental antenna size limit established in 1948 by L.J. Chu. The dimensions of this limit vary based on an antenna’s bandwidth.

"Ever since the Chu limit was established, people have been trying to reach it. Standard printed circuit board antennas don’t come close. Some researchers have approached the limit with manually-built antennas, but those are complicated and there’s no efficient way to manufacture them," Grbic said.

"We’ve found a way to reduce the antenna’s size while maximizing its bandwidth, using a process that’s amenable to mass production."

The researchers’ prototype operates at 1.5 gigahertz, in the frequency range of WiFi devices as well as cordless and mobile phones. The antenna is 70 percent efficient and ten times smaller than conventional antennas, Grbic said. It has three times the conductivity of similar devices produced by 3-D ink-jet printing techniques, a process that serially writes the antenna geometry.

This new method is a very general process, said Carl Pfeiffer, a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and first author of a paper on the work being presented at the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation.

"It can be used to fabricate antennas that are of a wide variety of sizes, shapes, frequencies, and designs," Pfeiffer said. "Basically if you tell me the data rate that is required for a particular application, I can make an antenna that does this while at the same time being as small as possible."

Beyond consumer electronics, this work could be useful in wireless sensing and military communications. Wireless sensor networks could be used for environmental monitoring or surveillance.

The prototype was made in the College of Engineering’s Lurie Nanofabrication Facility. The work was funded by the Department of Education’s Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

The paper is titled, "Novel Methods to Analyze and Fabricate Electrically Small Antennas."

Forrest is also the William Gould Dow Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and the university’s vice president for research.

U-M has licensed certain rights involved in this research to Universal Display Corp. Forrest holds an equity interest in, serves on the scientific advisory board, and is a consultant for the company.

July 5, 2011 — STMicroelectronics (STM) maintained its clear lead in contract micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing in 2010, acheiving 5x higher revenue from MEMS foundry services than the nearest competitor, Texas Instruments (TI), according to IHS iSuppli’s latest research.

STM’s 2010 MEMS foundry revenue totalled $228.6 million, the only company to top 100-million dollars. Inkjet wafers made for the Hewlett-Packard Co. represented the majority of STM’s MEMS revenue. And although HP inkjet revenue has been shrinking, STM managed to grow its foundry takings by capturing an increasing share of HP inkjet production in the last four years. STM also has started working with other inkjet manufacturers, such as Kodak, and has won several foundry programs in the bio MEMS space, such as insulin pumps with Debiotech of Switzerland.

TI hit $47.4 million in revenues for 2010, perpetuating a foundry-revenue slide its been in since Lexmark’s business dropped in 2004. However, TI recently contracted with a Top 15 maker of consumer MEMS, so look for higher TI MEMS foundry revenues in 2011.

Sensonor Technologies took third place in IHS iSuppli’s rankings with $38.0 million.

Sony Corp. came in fourth with $31.9 million, a 51.2% jump in revenue spurred by primary client Knowles Electronics, which dominates MEMS microphones.

Figure. Top MEMS mixed-model foundries (Millions of US dollars). Source: IHS iSuppli 2011.

IHS iSuppli distinguishes the pure-play MEMS foundries that do not manufacture their own MEMS from mixed-model foundries that offer MEMS contract manufacturing in addition to their core business. The top 10 mixed-model MEMS makers reached $396 million in 2010 revenues (STM and TI earned 70% of that). In comparison, the top 10 pure-play foundries reached $205.3 million over the same period.

While the mixed-model companies have more revenues, pure-play foundries are seeing rapid growth: 48.4% expansion in 2010. Mixed-model companies barely grew: 2.4% expansion as a whole.  

Four pure-play MEMS foundries each had revenue in 2010 that exceeded $30 million, surpassing that mark for the first time. Silex Microsystems led the pack with $36.0 million revenue, pulled mostly from industrial and scientific applications, along with medical applications and optical MEMS.

Micralyne grew 50% last year to reach $31.3 million.

Asia Pacific Microsystems came in third with $31.2 million.

Dalsa Corp., which led pure-play foundries in 2009, placed fourth with $30.9 million.

IHS iSuppli notes that the foundry business model can mean many things today: from a wafer-supply company to a one-stop shop, and from diversified foundries to specialized houses. Some MEMS foundries also have positioned themselves as prototyping sites for research and development, and others pursue serial production.

While MEMS foundries make the chips, the intellectual property (IP) related to the MEMS parts belongs to the fabless company or design house. Exceptions to this rule include Memscap, which controls the IP on the variable optical attenuator chips it sells to JDSU and other telecommunications companies. IHS iSuppli calls this model a good way to shorten time to market, though warns it could scare off some clients.

Learn more in MEMS Competitive Analysis 2011 from IHS iSuppli: http://www.isuppli.com/MEMS-and-Sensors/Pages/MEMS-Market-Shares.aspx?MWX

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July 4, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Micropelt opened its automated, high-volume Halle/Saale, Germany thermoelectric chip manufacturing facility. The 400 m² (4,300sq.ft.) production facility has a customized clean room and fabs thermoelectric thin films on 6" silicon wafers, processing them into micro coolers, sensors and thermogenerators.

Micropelt invested about EUR15 million in the production ramp up. The company previously used a pilot production line at its Freiburg head offices.

Once the production tools pass qualification, the Halle/Saale location will produce 5-10 million parts in various device sizes. Micropelt cites the Halle/Saale area’s access to basic research institutes and production expertise as reasons for the site location. "Novel materials for higher efficiencies and higher operating temperatures" will easily be added to the production range as they are developed, noted Micropelt CEO Fritz Volkert.

The structured thin films on silicon provide new power densities, generating many watts of heat or Milliwatts of electrical power on 10 mm² (0.016 in²) thermoelectric chips. Micropelt’s patented scalable thin-film micro-structuring platform technology minimizes component size for energy harvesting, cooling or thermal cycling applications. The company aims to replace battery-powered wireless sensor networks (WSN) to monitor processes and production equipment, explained Burkhard Habbe, VP of Business Development at Micropelt. The company’s thermogenerators and thermoharvesters often "supply more energy than is drawn from battery packs used by WSNs," without adding life-cycle costs, added Wladimir Punt, VP Sales and Marketing.

Micropelt GmbH develops, produces, and markets thermoelectric elements for clean-tech micro energy harvesting, thermal sensing, cycling and cooling. Visit the website at http://www.micropelt.com

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July 1, 2011 — In 2011, researchers from MIT, U Penn, and Northern Illinois University have published promising results on manufacturing graphene, a nanomaterial that could offer new electrical and thermal properties to electronic devices. These vastly improve upon the original method of pulling graphene off a block of highly purified graphite with tape.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists are producing graphene in significant quantities in a two- or three-layer form, arranged to give graphene a band gap (which it lacks in 1-layer form). The MIT technique yields A-B stacked layers, with the atoms in one layer centered over the spaces between atoms in the next.

Researchers introduced bromine or chlorine compounds into graphite blocks. These compounds insert themselves naturally between every other or every third layer, pushing the layers apart. When the MIT team dissolved the graphite, it naturally came apart where the added atoms sat, forming graphene flakes two or three layers thick. The dispersion process is gentle, which graphene requires.

The basis for MIT’s process was developed in the 1950s by MIT Institute Professor Mildred Dresselhaus, among others.

Figure. When compounds of bromine or chlorine (represented in blue) are introduced into a block of graphite (shown in green), the atoms find their way into the structure in between every third sheet, thus increasing the spacing between those sheets and making it easier to split them apart. Image courtesy of Chih-Jen Shih/Christine Daniloff

The method can be scaled to meet the needs of practical graphene applications, said Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. Due to the gentle processing, graphene flakes were manufacturer as large as 50µm2. The researchers used them to manufacture some simple transistors, validating the production method for use in IC manufacturing.

A similar solvent-based method for making single-layer graphene is already being used to manufacture some flat-screen television sets, report MIT’s team.

The MIT work is described in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, co-authored by graduate student Chih-Jen Shih, Professor of Chemical Engineering Daniel Blankschtein, Strano and 10 other students and postdocs.

The work was supported by grants from the U.S. Office of Naval Research through a multi-university initiative that includes Harvard University and Boston University along with MIT, as well as from the Dupont/MIT Alliance, a David H. Koch fellowship, and the Army Research Office through the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT.

Courtesy of David Chandler, MIT News Office
 
Northern Illinois University (NIU) researchers fabbed few-layer-thick graphene by converting carbon dioxide into >10atom-thick graphene. The method involves burning pure magnesium metal in dry ice.

Burning magnesium metal in carbon dioxide produces carbon, but the graphene structure produced has "neither been identified nor proven" before, said Narayan Hosmane, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry who leads the NIU research group. He expects the synthetic process to be able to produce few-layer graphene in large quantities, adding that the production process is simple, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective.

Hosmane’s research group was looking to produce single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), a different nanomaterial. "Instead, we isolated few-layer graphene," he said. "It surprised us all."

Other members of the research group include NIU post-doctoral research associate in chemistry and biochemistry Amartya Chakrabarti, former NIU physics postdoctoral research associate Jun Lu, NIU undergraduate student Jennifer Skrabutenas, NIU Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Tao Xu, NIU Physics Professor Zhili Xiao and John A. Maguire, a chemistry professor at Southern Methodist University.

The research is described in a June communication to the Journal of Materials Chemistry.

The University of Pennsylvania (U Penn) has demonstrated a consistent and cost-effective method for making graphene that is 1atom-thick over 95% of its area, using readily available materials and manufacturing processes that can be scaled up to industrial levels.

Instead of using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in a near vacuum, U Penn’s team worked at atmospheric pressure: electropolishing a copper substrate and depositing the graphene onto it. The Penn team’s research shows that single-layer-thick graphene can be reliably produced at normal pressures if the metal sheets are smooth enough. Principal investigator A.T. Charlie Johnson, professor of physics, and his group used commercially available copper foil in their experiment.

"The fact that this is done at atmospheric pressure makes it possible to produce graphene at a lower cost and in a more flexible way," Luo, the study’s lead author, said.

Working with commercially available materials and chemical processes that are already widely used in manufacturing could lower the bar for commercial applications. "The overall production system is simpler, less expensive, and more flexible," Zhengtang Luo, lead researcher, said.

Other team members on the project included postdoctoral fellow Brett Goldsmith, graduate students Ye Lu and Luke Somers and undergraduate students Daniel Singer and Matthew Berck, all of Penn’s Department of Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences.

This study was published in the journal Chemistry of Materials.

The research was supported by Penn’s Nano/Bio Interface Center through the National Science Foundation. Learn more at www.upenn.edu

Graphene is a chicken-wire-like lattice of carbon atoms arranged in thin sheets a single atomic layer thick. Its unique physical properties could lead to major advances in solar power, energy storage, computer memory and a host of other technologies.

Complicated manufacturing processes and often-unpredictable results currently hamper graphene’s widespread adoption. Learn more about nanomaterials production capacities in CNT, graphene, other nanocarbon production lags capacity for now

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July 1, 2011 — Silicon Sensor International AG’s wholly owned subsidiary Microelectronic Packaging Dresden GmbH signed a nomination letter with an automobile supplier. Microelectronic Packaging Dresden will expand its 3-year-old cooperation with the auto maker.

Under the new agreement, Microelectronic Packaging will double its production of steering angle detection sensor modules over the next 3 years. Contract terms were also extended by 4 years.

Silicon Sensor International’s Board of Directors expects that the contract for the term until 2016 will comprise a sales volume of up to EUR50 million. Moreover, the Company informed that until the fiscal year 2015, it forecasts to achieve revenue totaling at least EUR100 million.

Source: Reuters

Recent Trading: Silicon Sensor International (SIS.DE) MCap is EUR62.8 million (US$90.6 million) at the last price of EUR9.48. The value of EUR1,000 invested one year ago is EUR1,505 [vs EUR1,234 for the DAX index], for a capital gain of EUR505. The total return to shareholders for 1 year is 50.5%.

Currency Conversion: Euro1= US$1.4425 [or US$1= Euro0.69]; Against the US$ the Euro jumped (or 1.7%) for the day; rose 0.4% for the week; increased 1.9% for the month; advanced 10.5% in the past year. EUR1 = 100c.

Source: www.BuySellSignals.com

Copyright 2011 News Bites Pty Ltd.
All Rights Reserved

Also read: Auto consumer resurgence bodes well for global MEMS consumption

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June 30, 2011 – PR Newswire — OmniVision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:OVTI), digital imaging company, will acquire wafer-level lens production and assembly processes out of its joint venture with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), VisEra Technologies Company Ltd.

The move will take OmniVision’s CameraCube fab steps in-house instead of outsourcing to VisEra. CameraCube represents a strong market opportunity, said Shaw Hong, OmniVision Technologies CEO. Sensors and lens elements are fabricated as one reflowable monolithic unit, targeting cutting-edge image sensor applications.

The cash consideration for the operations is $45 million. OmniVision anticipates that the parties will close the transaction in Q2 FY2012. This transaction help streamline and expand production, consolidate the supply chain, and lower costs, said Hong. TSMC began adding to its VisEra capabilities in 2010.

OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ:OVTI) makes advanced digital imaging technologies. Find out more at http://www.ovt.com.

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June 29, 2011 – Marketwire — The Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University (ASU) completed installation and acceptance of a Sunic Systems GEN-II OLED SUNICEL Plus 400 vacuum evaporation and encapsulation process tool.

The FDC will manufacture full-color organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays in-house, such as its full-color, full-motion video active matrix (AM) OLED prototype displays, using the tool.

FDC partner companies will be able to use the processing tool to fab flexible OLED displays, solid-state lighting and plastic electronics at larger-scale manufacturing levels.

The FDC is a partnership between government, industry, and academia on full-color flexible display technology and manufacturing ecosystemMore information on the FDC can be found at flexdisplay.asu.edu.

June 29, 2011 — Brewer Science, materials, equipment, and process supplier, launched its Cee X-series of benchtop lab-scale equipment.

Cee upgrades include stand-alone PC controller with 7” full-color touch screen interface, a PTFE Teflon spin bowl for chemical compatibility, programmable hot plate lift pins, and virtually unlimited onboard process programs.

The equipment offers ±0.3% temperature variation across the wafer for increased uniformity. Brewer Science also promotes the tools’ spin speed accuracy, repeatability, chemical compatibility, and reliability.

Brewer Science makes materials, processes, and equipment for various applications including nanotechnology, lithography, advanced packaging, MEMS, optoelectronics, and compound semiconductors.  Please visit www.brewerscience.com for further information.

June 29, 2011 — The electronics industry is moving toward miniaturization with very high delivery capacity/multi-tasking products. These products are continually demanding more in application capabilities within smaller spaces, with entire systems on one chip. Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) provide a means of developing "smart" products that the world has never before seen. The technology basically brings life to devices, allowing them to not only sense, but to control full systems from silicon-based microsensors and microactuators that are the size of a pinpoint.

As MEMS continue to revolutionize the world of electronic devices, replacing FR4-based sensor assemblies with nano-systems on a common silicon substrate, a new challenge arises: how to protect them. Standard conformal coatings that were sufficient for FR4 board assemblies are insufficient to protect the tiny, fragile parts of MEMS assemblies. Spray, dip, and brush-on conformal coatings are not able to meet the MEMS manufacturers’ needs.

Enter parylene

Parylene is an alternative to industry-standard conformal coating materials. With several formulations, including a new high-temperature, UV-stable variant, parylene offers lightweight, long-term protection. The latest developments in parylene have produced new formulations that offer even smaller molecular structures and superior thermal, UV and dielectric protection. While parylene has been in use for decades on all basic assemblies, particularly those in the military and aerospace areas, new adhesion-enhancing pre-treatments have been developed to meet the adhesion challenges of coating some of the unique materials used today in the latest electronic and medical sub-assemblies. Parylene coatings are at times the only method to effectively protect micro-assemblies and enhance life performance.

Figure 1. The basic conformal nature of parylene compared to other types of conformal coatings. SOURCE: Specialty Coating Systems.

The major benefit of parylene is its ultra-thin nature, resulting from a vapor deposition process. The coating ensures superior barrier properties, but in micron-level thickness that coats into even the smallest profiles and crevices of a MEMS device for complete protection (Fig. 1).

Figure 2. The parylene vapor deposition process ensures barrier properties in micron-level thickness that coats into even the smallest profiles and crevices of a MEMS device for complete protection. SOURCE: Specialty Coating Systems

Because there is no liquid phase in the deposition process, there are no subsequent meniscus, pooling, or bridging effects as seen in the application of liquid coatings, thus dielectric properties are never compromised. The molecular build-up of parylene coatings also ensures a uniform and conformal coating at the thickness specified by the manufacturer (Fig. 2). Because parylene is formed from a gas, it also penetrates into every crevice, regardless of how seemingly inaccessible. This ensures complete encapsulation of the substrate without blocking small openings.

Figure 3. Magnified view of a MEMS device coated with parylene. The teeth are 2µm wide and spaces between each measure 4µm. SOURCE: Image courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories, SUMIT Technologies, www.mems.sandia.gov.

Parylene can be formulated to suit many needs. A few key benefits of parylenes include:Moisture protection: parylene protects components from damage caused by exposure to humidity, moisture, chemical and fluids; High-temperature resistance: parylene can consistently withstand 350°C operating temperature, short-term exposures to 450°C; Small molecular structure: the extremely small molecular structure allows parylene to ingress deeper through open areas on the top or bottom of any package regardless of the size or complexity of integrated devices (Fig. 3); Low dielectric constant and dissipation factor: parylene has an extremely low dielectric constant and dissipation factor, enabling it to provide small, tight packages with dielectric insulation via a thin coating.

MEMS in harsh environments

Thermal protection. MEMS that require thermal stability in extreme environments are highlighted in applications such as hydrocarbon drilling sensors. Used in oil, gas and other types of hostile drilling and deep-penetration exploration, all components on the assembly need to be resistant to extreme temperatures, pressures and fluids exposure. Parylene coating provides this protection for minute MEMS sensors without changing the dimension of the device or affecting the ability of the sensor to perform in any way.

Thermo-electric devices also benefit from parylene because of their use in applications that vary between hot or cold environments, interchangeably. The device can operate efficiently without a thick coating of material.  This is also true for MEMS used in power switches for aerospace and space applications. Parylene protects from extreme altitude and deep space environments, and is already a mil-spec approved coating.

Moisture protection. When MEMS are used in devices where electrical and/or moisture damage can occur, parylene is a way to not only protect the device assembly, but extend life in these environments. One application is for protecting acoustic, sound delivery and sound enhancing devices where moisture can degrade and impede the performance of the device. Parylene can offer an additional level of protection during the reflow assembly steps of the devices.

The increasing use and development of microfluidic devices, or “lab on a chip,” where fluids are analyzed, dispensed or moved in micron thick channels, requires moisture protection of the channel materials. Parylene can provide a uniform, conformal and pinhole-free coating for the protection of the channel and the entire device. When the microfluidic devices are designed as an implant, parylenes are biocompatible, biostable, and well recognized in the medical industry.

Another application that is rapidly coming into its own is in the area of energy harvesting devices (solar, other PV, wind, etc.) where moisture can reduce the energy pickup effectiveness of the device.

Emerging applications. Based on MEMS wafers, the growing development of “MOEMS” (micro-opto-electromchanical system is also ideal for parylene because, when using parylene for added protection, there are no fillers to interfere or reduce the optical signals or transmission rate between devices.

When MEMS wafers are conformally coated with parylene, the parylene can be etched away using proven etching technology in the fabrication of the devices. Because parylene is applied in the micron or sub-micron range, this allows it to be used where other conformal coating material is not considered. Parylene can reduce the need for additional packaging for protection of the device.

Conclusion

Whether pressure, fluid, temperature, motion, load, torque or others, all types of micro-sensors need protection to work effectively. When dealing at the micro-level, all formulations of parylene products provide this level of protection. All manufacturers moving from basic FR4 technology to MEMS sensor devices in their assemblies should consider parylene as a protective alternative that can provide higher reliability and longer life to their end products, and thereby reduce overall cost of maintenance, repair and replacement for end customers.

Acknowledgment
SUMIT is a trademark of Sumit Technologies.

Alan Hardy received his BA from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas and is the Automotive, Electronics & Military Market Manager at Specialty Coating Systems, 7645 Woodland Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46275 USA; ph.: 317-244-1200; email [email protected]; http://www.scscoatings.com

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June 29, 2011 – MEMS Industry Group (MIG) will present the inaugural display of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and MEMS-enabled products entitled "MEMS in the Machine" DemoZone at the Extreme Electronics Stage, South Hall at SEMICON West.

SEMICON West, hosted by SEMI, will take place July 12-14 in San Francisco.

MIG member companies throughout the MEMS supply chain will be featured in the MEMS DemoZone display, showcasing the diversity, enabling capabilities and the nuances of MEMS technology.

Featured products include a consumer product teardown from Chipworks, consumer products from Freescale Semiconductor, an automotive demo from Meggitt (Endevco), a gas chromatograph and given imaging pill from MEMSCAP, a MEMS scanning mirror in a pico-projector from Touch Microsystem Technology, and an IR Thermal sensor from OMRON. Additional products including a wafer from Okmetic will give examples of MEMS along the supply chain.

MIG is also exhibiting on the show floor in conjunction with numerous MIG member companies.

A special hands-on demonstration of some of these displays will take place with between on July 12 at 12:45pm and 2:00pm after "The Future of MEMS: Solutions for Moving from a Niche to a Mainstream Business" (which takes place at 10:30am-12:30pm) during the Extreme Electronics TechXPOT, in the South Hall of SEMICON West. Speakers include Bosch Research, Teledyne DALSA Semiconductor, GlobalFoundries, imec, Sand9, and Yole Développement discussing how to bring MEMS into the mainstream and stable production no matter what the volume. MIG managing director, Karen Lightman, will moderate the session.

A second MEMS program, entitled "Heterogeneous Integration with MEMS and Sensors," will be presented at the NorthOne TechXPOT, 2-4:30pm on July 12th. Panelists will cover the eco-system of integrating MEMS and ICs.

Learn more by visiting MIG in South Hall, booth 2734 or at www.memsindustrygroup.org.

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