Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

June 22, 2011 — Image sensors are a key enabling component for 3D consumer entertainment. As mobile devices — handheld game consoles, smartphones, and tablets — move to 3D platforms, image sensor demand will rise 130% by 2015, says In-Stat.

"True 3D requires at least 2 image sensors, one for each imaging solution," noted Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat ([email protected]). A full 3D experience integrates 2 front-facing and 2 rear-facing image sensors. Early examples of 4-image-sensor devices are out now, with competitors ramping through 2011 and 2012.
 
In 2011, handheld game consoles will be the first 3D-enabled mobile device to surpass 1 million units annually. Total annual shipments of 3D mobile devices will surpass 148 million units in 2015, incorporating multiple image sensors per device. Nearly 30% of all handheld game consoles will be 3D by 2015. By 2014, 18% of all tablets will be 3D.

In-Stat’s research report, "3D in Mobile Technology: Processors, Image Sensors, and Displays Drive the 3D Experience" (#IN1105069SI), part of In-Stat’s Mobile Technology service, examines 3D mobile media from the point of view of the image sensor, mobile processors, and display sectors. It covers 3D technology adoption, image sensor demand, and device reviews.
 

3D mobile products in this report:

Nintendo 3DS Handheld Game Console, Fuji FinePix REAL 3D, GoPro 3D HERO, Sony Bloggie 3D, ViewSonic 3DV5, LG Optimus/G-Slate Tablet, Origin EON15-3D Notebook PC, Toshiba Satellite A665-3DV Notebook PC, Fujitsu LIFEBOOK AH572 3D Notebook PC, HP Envy 17 3D Notebook PC, ASUS G51 Jx 3DE Notebook PC, Lenovo IdeaPad Y560d, Dell XPS 17 3D and Alienware M17x 3D, LG Optimus 3D, HTC EVO 3D Handset, and Sharp’s Galapagos 003SH and 005SH Handset

Learn more at http://www.instat.com/catalog/wcatalogue.asp?id=68

In-Stat’s market intelligence combines technical, market and end-user research and database models to analyze the Mobile Internet and Digital Entertainment ecosystems. The NPD Group recently acquired In-Stat.

More image sensor articles:

CMOS image sensors see growth beyond cellphones

CMOS image sensors overrun CCD for digital cameras

Colorful Si nanowires improve image sensors

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June 21, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — A special meeting of Endwave Corporation (NQ:ENWV) stockholders approved Endwave’s acquisition by GigOptix Inc. (OTCBB:GGOX), semiconductor and optical component supplier. At the meeting, holders of more than 55% of outstanding Endwave shares (more than 98% of the shares at the meeting), were voted for the acquisition.

Under the terms of the acquisition, all outstanding Endwave common stock shares will be converted into shares of GigOptix common stock. Conversion ratio = approximately 0.908, or about $24 million in stock.

Dr. Avi Katz, GigOptix CEO and chairman of the Board, called the acquisition a move toward "one-stop-shop supplier" status in high-speed information streaming analog and optical components.

John Mikulsky, Endwave’s former CEO, was appointed to the GigOptix Board. GigOptix will relocate its headquarters to Endwave’s site at 130 Baytech Drive, San Jose, CA 95134. GigOptix will additionally proceed with strategic changes to its leadership structure that include a horizontal class of functional organizations led by three executives, which are supported by three general manager executives each leading specific vertical product lines. This revised structure will help streamline company-wide collaboration and expand business and product portfolios. The majority of the integration process to be completed early in Q3 2011, said Dr. Katz.

GigOptix supplies semiconductor and optical components that enable high speed information streaming and address emerging high-growth opportunities in the communications, industrial, defense and avionics industries. GigOptix is actively pursuing shares listing on the NYSE Amex.

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June 21, 2011 — A 5 x 1mm dragonfly with beating wings and an ultra-sensitive microvalve were top winners at Sandia National Lab’s student design contest for micro electromechanical systesms (MEMS).

Scanning electron microscope of Texas Tech student-designed micro-dragonfly. (Image courtesy of Texas Tech University)

Texas Tech University designed the MEMS dragonfly, which could translate to real aerial surveillance technology. Smaller than today’s state-of-the-art micro flying machines, the biologically mimetic "dragonfly" wings measure about 0.5mm long and 0.1mm wide. Small, intermittent electric currents create thermal expansion and contraction, flapping the wings. The wings’ material response creates aerodynamin, efficient lift and thrust. Flapping is achieved when small intermittent electric currents cause thermal expansion and contraction in the wings. Clever engineering uses the wing material’s response to create strokes that are more aerodynamic and hence more efficient.

Competition entry for Texas Tech’s dragonfly MEMS design. (Image courtesy of Texas Tech University)

The dragonfly’s vertical flapping motion inspired the Texas Tech designers (flight is acheived via rotary and back-and-forth motion as well in nature, and via jet thrust and propellers in man-made devices). Vertical flapping maximizes wing surface area for lift, and the wings naturally cool more quickly, said Texas Tech student Sahil Oak.

The work was supervised by Tim Dallas, TTU faculty advisor.

Carnegie Mellon student design for a MEMS-based electrostatically operated microvalve (educational category winner). (Image courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University)

Valve motions are typically screw-based (think garden hose) or switch-based, using a ball and flapper valve (toilets).

Carnegie Mellon University’s micro-switch-based valve heightens valve control when working with tiny amounts of liquid flow. The MEMS valve is modeled on electrostatically operated micro valves, said Vitali Brand, Carnegie Mellon student research lead. This valve requires only picoJoules of energy to switch its state. The test module can help determine characteristics that would create the most efficient and lowest leakage microvalves, benefitting biological research and medical analytics.

CMU professorial oversight was provided by Maarten de Boer.

Sandia will fabricate all student design submissions using its SUMMiT V advanced fabrication process in its MESA line, using five levels of polysilicon to build complex MEMS structures. Students can then test the fabricated MEMS parts in real form.

The student contest, open to institutional members of the Sandia-led MEMS University Alliance program, provides an arena for US student engineers to design and use real microdevices. Students explore ideas, create a computer model, and analyze the design prior to submission. Sandia’s MEMS experts and university professors judge designs. Other institutions competing at the annual event included the universities of Oklahoma and Utah, and the Air Force Institute of Technology. SPIE provided grants to bring 26 students and 5 professors to the Sandia awards ceremony.

The MEMS University Alliance is part of Sandia’s outreach to universities to improve engineering education. It is open to any US institution of higher learning, and most recently has extended an invitation to select Mexican universities to help that country develop its technological base.

The University Alliance coordinates with the Sandia-led National Institute for Nano Engineering (NINE) and the Sandia/Los Alamos Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT).

The Sandia student presentations were hosted by Tom Zipperian, group manager of MESA Microfabrication, and Keith Ortiz, manager of MEMS Technologies. For more information regarding the University Alliance and the design competition, contact Stephanie Johnson at [email protected].

Images and whitepapers describing the winning designs can be found on the web at http://mems.sandia.gov/ua/contest.html.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated and managed by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. 

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June 21, 2011 — A compact degas vessel and vacuum foreline trap combination for degassing and deaeration of epoxies, gels, resins, slurries, and urethanes MV Products’ Portable Degassing Chamber features stainless-steel body and 1.5”-thick clear acrylic top. Its VisiTrap foreline trap protects vacuum pumps from vapors.

The benchtop degas vessel suits laboratory use for research, and small-batch processing operations. It removes air and trapped gasses from virtually any liquid, gel, or slurry.

The MV Portable Degassing Chamber connects directly to a vacuum pump. It has perforated shelves in the 4- and 15-gallon sizes, 0-30”Hg gauge and vent- and isolation-valves, with optional trays, rotary motion feed-thrus for stirring contents, drains, and various ports and fittings.  

MV Products, Division of Mass-Vac Inc., which provides vacuum pump products, support, and services. For more information, visit www.massvac.com

June 20, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Vistec Lithography Inc., electron beam lithography system supplier, will install a EBPG5200 system at the University of California, San Diego’s Nano3 cleanroom facility, California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). The e-beam lithography tool will perform basic and applied research fab, starting with nano-photonics for intra-chip communication, tissue engineering, and nano-magnetic data storage.

The tool will also be used to study radio frequency (RF) micro- and nanoelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS); novel photonic phenomena in quantum/classical thermo-electric materials and nanoscale electronic devices; tool development for 1x nm-resolution metrology; negative index metamaterial synthesis; and metamaterials for biomedical sensing and energy harvesting.

The EBPG5200 system uses a 50MHz pattern generator and full 20bit address technology, operating with 20, 50 and 100kV accelerating voltage. Benefits include high resolution and beam stability. It routinely generates "structures less than 8nm on varying substrates sizes, enabling full patterning across a 200mm diameter," reports Rainer Schmid, GM at Vistec Lithography. Also read: ETH Zurich adds Vistec EBPG5200 to nanotechnology center

The purchase was enabled by funding from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI-R2) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF), with contributions from UC San Diego, its Jacobs School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the UC San Diego School of Medicine, and Calit2/Nano3.

The Nano3 facility provides a synergistic environment for fundamental R&D efforts at the nanoscale with a focus on Nanoscience, Nanoengineering and Nanomedicine. The UC San Diego Division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), with Calit2’s division at UC Irvine, house over 1,000 researchers pursuing more than 50 projects.

The Vistec Electron Beam Lithography Group makes electron-beam lithography systems with applications ranging from nano and bio-technology to photonics and industrial environments.  

Vistec Lithography develops, manufactures, and sells electron-beam lithography equipment based on Gaussian Beam technology. Vistec Electron Beam provides electron-beam lithography equipment based on Shaped Beam technology. The Vistec Electron Beam Lithography Group combines Vistec Lithography and Vistec Electron Beam. Learn more at http://www.vistec-semi.com.

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June 20, 2011 — University-led consortium Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), SEMATECH, and The University of Texas at Dallas removed potentially toxic nano contaminants from a type of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs).

Image. A single cell overlayed with the distribution in the cell of purified carboxylated single-walled carbon nanotubes (shown in yellow) as determined by laser scanning confocal Raman microscopy. Other experiments demonstrated that there was no apparent effect of the purified nanotubes inside cells on the ability of the cells to grow, whereas unpurified nanotubes inside cells inhibited growth by 60%.

SWCNTs are used in advanced nanoelectronics, as well as other industries that benefit from carbon nanotubes’ unique nano properties. The research team found that one functionalized SWCNT family, carboxylated single-walled carbon nanotubes (CSWNTs), reduced the ability of mammalian cells to grow in culture. This could signal toxicity. While small oxidized carbon fragments have been observed in prior research, this is the first suggestion that the fragments may be toxic.

Standard separation techniques removed the contaminating material, indicating that the purified nanotubes were not toxic, say researchers. The data suggests that specific organic impurities in CSWNTs may be responsible for much of the concern associated with the nano material. Continuing research will test this theory.

Removing the nano contaminants is "relatively easy," and practical to integrate to a semiconductor manufacturing facility, said Rockford Draper, Professor, Departments of Molecular & Biology and Chemistry at UT Dallas, adding that the contamination research could better inform companies buying and using CNTs.

The research is directed by SRC through the Center for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing, which anticipates and addresses future industry needs, with additional funding by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.  SRC’s Center supports a major effort to understand, assess and screen emerging materials for their potential impact on environment, human health, and safety (EHS) prior to fab-level use. SWCNTs, which are an "emerging research material" listed in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), are a perfect candidate for screening at the Center.

For more information and details about the research, see the forthcoming manuscript "Cytotoxicity Screening of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: Detection and Removal of Cytotoxic Contaminants from Carboxylated Carbon Nanotubes" by Wang et al, that has been recommended for publication in Molecular Pharmaceutics.

SRC defines industry needs, invests in and manages the research that gives its members a competitive advantage in the dynamic global marketplace. For more information, visit www.src.org.

June 16, 2011 — The global graphene-based product market value will grow to $67 million in 2015, and $675.1 million in 2020, according to BCC Research’s new report, "Graphene: Technologies, Applications, and Markets" (Report ID: AVM075A). That’s a 58.7% five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

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Figure. Global market for graphene-based products, 2009-2020 ($ millions). SOURCE: BCC Research

Graphene-based capacitors: The largest product segment. 67.2% 5-year CAGR, from $26 million in 2015 to $340 million in 2020.

Structured materials: Second-largest segment. 39.1% 5-yr CAGR, from $17.5 million in 2015 to $91 million in 2020.

Graphene in displays: Shooting up from a negligible value in 2015, this segment will reach $43.8 million in 2020.

Graphene-based photovoltaics (PV): 36.1% 5-yr CAGR, from $7.5 million in 2015 to $35 million in 2020.

Thermal management graphene products: 8.4% CAGR, from $15 million in 2015 to $22.5 million in 2020.

Remaining graphene-using products will make up a $1 million industry in 2015, and should hit $142.8 million in 2020 (169.7% 5-yr CAGR).

The commercial market for graphene-based products was essentially nonexistent 2009-2010, but BCC expects commercially significant graphene sales to crop up before 2015.

The BCC report surveys emerging graphene technologies and applications, identifies significant commercial sales opportunities in the next 5-10 years, and shares quantitative estimates of potential sales.

For more information, contact BCC Research (http://www.bccresearch.com), 35 Walnut Street, Suite 100, Wellesley, MA; Telephone: 866-285-7215.

Graphene news:

June 15, 2011 — A major consolidation is coming to the industrial micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) market in the next 12-18 months, predicts business consulting firm Frankfurt Partners. The industrial MEMS market is both highly attractive and highly fragmented.

Hundreds of companies, inhabiting several market segments, make up the industrial MEMS contingent, said Rene Meister, managing director, Frankfurt Partners. The majority of industrial-focused MEMS companies have less than 1% market share.

The industrial MEMS sector is "close to a tipping point," said Meister, predicting major consolidations in Europe and elsewhere in 12-18 months. Cross-industry consolidation, mostly by semiconductor companies acquiring emerging MEMS companies, has already begun.

The overall MEMS market is growing rapidly: total MEMS market size was about $8 billion in 2010, up more than 12% from last year. By 2015, it will surpass $16.5 billion, at a CAGR of 15.9%. No company has more than 10% market share. The top 10 MEMS companies, with the exception of Bosch, are consumer-market focused.

Consumer demand drives major MEMS growth. Higher-value MEMS have higher margins, however, and are increasingly integrated into automotive, defense, industrial and medical applications.

For more information about the MEMS Market, contact [email protected] or visit http://frankfurtpartners.de/

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June 15, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — The automotive sector for micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) is increasing rapidly, thanks to more and more automotive makers adopting integrated safety systems in new car designs.

Nearly 100 million MEMS-based airbag, tire pressure monitor, and electronic stability (ESP) safety systems shipped globally in 2010, totalling more than 300 million MEMS chips. In 2016, about 150 million systems will be installed in vehicles, containing over 830 million MEMS chips.

Government mandates are the most important driver for automotive MEMS and safety systems. One example is mandatory tire pressure measurement systems (TPMS) on cars in the US.

"Safety systems are becoming more advanced and more complex," noted ABI Research practice director Peter Cooney, explaining that new systems contain more sensors per device than previous generations.

Several types of sensors — accelerometers, pressure sensors, and gyroscopes — are increasingly integrated on one chip; alternatively, a single MEMS can serve several safety systems. This second trend, says Cooney, will negatively impact MEMS sensor market growth.

Increasing competition will also deflate growth. Currently, only a few MEMS suppliers feed into the automotive sensors market. Despite attractive profit margins in the sector, startups face oft-insurmountable barriers in validations and costs.

"Automotive MEMS Sensors" from ABI Research is available at http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1006492. ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies.

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June 15, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Optomec, additive manufacturing systems supplier, launched the Aerosol Jet Marathon Series for high-volume printed electronics manufacturing. The Marathon Aerosol Jet print module technology prints fine-feature printed electronics and suits wide-area coating applications. The Marathon Series is available as 3 nozzle, 10 nozzle, and 3MM wide nozzle configurations. Marathon Series print modules can be configured on standalone Aerosol Jet systems or on Aerosol Jet Print Engines used for integration with 3rd party automation systems.

Marathon Series print modules feature a refillable atomizer cartridge that injects aerosolized material directly into the print head, eliminating tubing and shortening the material delivery path. An integrated thermal insulation barrier allows the atomizer cartridge and print head to be independently controlled.

Optomec conducted extensive pilot testing with numerous customer sites for the Marathon Series. The printer performed fine-line printing of 3D interconnects, printing of dielectrics, and deposition of wide-area coatings.

The Marathon series complements current Aerosol Jet print module technology, now called the Sprint Series, which suits material research and rapid prototyping applications. Field upgrades from Sprint Series to Marathon Series print modules are available.

"Tightly coupling the input and output components in the material delivery system," enabled the high-volume fab capability, said Dr. Dave Bohling, Optomec VP of Engineering, adding that Optomec also enhanced its process control on tool components.

Optomec provides additive manufacturing products for high-performance applications in the electronics, solar, medical, and aerospace & defense markets. To learn more about Optomec, visit www.optomec.com.

Also read: Materials, tools, and processing for printed electronics