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December 7, 2010 – At this week’s IEDM 2010 in San Francisco, IMEC and Panasonic are revealing a SiGe thin-film packaged SOI-based MEMS resonator with the industry’s highest-recorded quality factor ("Q factor") — i.e., the ratio of energy stored vs. energy dissipated during a cycle.

MEMS resonators’ desirability vs. traditional resonators (quartz crystals, piezoelectrics) include miniaturization, better frequency stability, integration with CMOS, use of standard IC packaging, and ideally lower costs — but they also tend to have a lower Q factor and high bias voltage. (A higher Q factor means lower energy dissipation, thus oscillations persist longer.) Panasonic and IMEC addressed this in two ways:

— Applying a torsional vibration mode (Figure 1), enabling low anchor losses and lower squeeze film damping (vs. flexural mode resonators).

— Vacuum-encapsulating it in a thin-film package (Figure 2): 4μm thick SiGe film, realized with monolithic fabrication process with the MEMS.

Click to Enlarge
Figure 1: Illustration of the torsional vibration mode. (Source: IMEC)

The result: a record-high Q factor: 220,000 at 20MHz resonant frequency (f • Q product of 4.3 × 1012Hz).

A narrow 130nm gap between the beam/drive and sense electrodes enables a low bias voltage (1.8Vdc), eliminating the need for a charge pump in the oscillator circuit. Sacrificial layer etching through a microcrystalline SiGe layer minimizes deposition of sealing material inside the cavity, so etching holes can be better lined up with the beam surface.

IMEC and Panasonic built the device through IMEC’s CMORE service.

Click to Enlarge
Figure 2: SEM of a cross-sectional structure of the
developed packaged MEMS resonator. (Source: IMEC)


(December 7, 2010 – MARKET WIRE) — Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC), provider of MEMS-based deformable mirror (DM) products for adaptive optics systems, has signed a consulting agreement with Bridger Photonics to quantitatively assess a new MEMS membrane deformable mirror design using Boston Micromachines’ facilities.

Bridger Photonics was awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a commercial prototype of an aberration compensated focus control device. This device, based on MEMS technology, will allow the user to deflect a deformable membrane mirror in a controlled manner in order to select a desired focal length. The device also features active control of low-order aberrations. This technology will enable the next generation of biomedical imaging devices for microscopy applications by enabling focus control and aberration correction in a simple, compact and low-cost sensor.

"The two companies’ technologies complement one another very well, so the fit is natural," said Peter Roos, president and chief executive officer at Bridger Photonics, Inc. "We are excited to capitalize on BMC’s proven expertise and knowledge in the field of deformable mirrors."

"Progress in deformable mirror technology has inspired innovative researchers to make advances in fields such as astronomy, microscopy, retinal imaging, and laser communication," said Paul Bierden, president and chief executive officer at Boston Micromachines. "We are pleased to provide our extensive DM technology knowledge to Bridger Photonics to support its effort to expand the role of MEMS DM technology in wavefront correction for scientific advancement."

Boston Micromachines Corporation (BMC) provides microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based mirror products for use in commercial adaptive optics systems. By applying wavefront correction to produce high resolution images, BMC devices can be used for imaging biological tissue and the human retina and to enhance images blurred by the earth’s atmosphere. For more information on BMC, please visit www.bostonmicromachines.com.

A team of researchers at the University of Maryland is working to harness and exploiting the "self-renewing" and "self-assembling" properties of viruses for a higher purpose: to build a new generation of small, powerful and highly efficient batteries and fuel cells.

The rigid, rod-shaped Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is a well-known and widespread plant virus that devastates tobacco, tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetation. But in the lab, engineers have discovered that they can harness the characteristics of TMV to build components for the lithium ion batteries of the future. Genetically modifying the virus to display multiple metal binding sites allows for electroless nickel deposition and self-assembly of these nanostructures onto gold surfaces.

 

They can modify the TMV rods to bind perpendicularly to the metallic surface of a battery electrode and arrange the rods in intricate and orderly patterns on the electrode. Then, they coat the rods with a conductive thin film that acts as a current collector and finally the battery’s active material that participates in the electrochemical reactions.

As a result, the researchers, brought together by Professor Reza Ghodssi, can greatly increase the electrode surface area and its capacity to store energy and enable fast charge/discharge times. TMV becomes inert during the manufacturing process; the resulting batteries do not transmit the virus. The new batteries, however, have up to a 10-fold increase in energy capacity over a standard lithium ion battery.

Caption: SEM image of Ni/TiO2 nanocomposite electrode (top), cross-section TEM image of an individual nanorod showing the core/shell nanostructure (Credit: University of Maryland, College Park).

"The resulting batteries are a leap forward in many ways and will be ideal for use not only in small electronic devices but in novel applications that have been limited so far by the size of the required battery," said Ghodssi, director of the Institute for Systems Research and Herbert Rabin Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Clark School. "The technology that we have developed can be used to produce energy storage devices for integrated microsystems such as wireless sensors networks. These systems have to be really small in size—millimeter or sub-millimeter—so that they can be deployed in large numbers in remote environments for applications like homeland security, agriculture, environmental monitoring and more; to power these devices, equally small batteries are required, without compromising in performance."

TMV’s nanostructure is the ideal size and shape to use as a template for building battery electrodes. Its self-replicating and self-assembling biological properties produce structures that are both intricate and orderly, which increases the power and storage capacity of the batteries that incorporate them. Because TMV can be programmed to bind directly to metal, the resulting components are lighter, stronger and less expensive than conventional parts.

Three distinct steps are involved in producing a TMV-based battery: modifying, propagating and preparing the TMV; processing the TMV to grow nanorods on a metal plate; and incorporating the nanorod-coated plates into finished batteries.

Specfically, the researchers integrated the TMV deposition and coating process into standard MEMS fabrication techniques as well as characterizing nickel–zinc microbatteries based on this technology. Using a microfluidic packaging scheme, devices with and without TMV structures have been characterized. The TMV modified devices demonstrated charge–discharge operation up to 30 cycles reaching a capacity of 4.45 µAh cm−2 and exhibited a six-fold increase in capacity during the initial cycle compared to planar electrode geometries. The effect of the electrode gap has been investigated, and a two-fold increase in capacity is observed for an approximately equivalent decrease in electrode spacing.

James Culver, a member of the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology and a professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, and researcher Adam Brown had already developed genetic modifications to the TMV that enable it to be chemically coated with conductive metals. For this project they extract enough of the customized virus from just a few tobacco plants grown in the lab to synthesize hundreds of battery electrodes. The extracted TMV is then ready for the next step.

Scientists produce a forest of vertically aligned virus rods using a process developed by Culver’s former Ph.D. student, Elizabeth Royston. A solution of TMV is applied to a metal electrode plate. The genetic modifications program one end of the rod shaped virus to attach to the plate. Next these viral forests are chemically coated with a conductive metal, mainly nickel. Other than its structure, no trace of the virus is present in the finished product, which cannot transmit a virus to either plants or animals. This process is patent-pending.

Ghodssi, materials science Ph.D. student Konstantinos Gerasopoulos, and former postdoctoral associate Matthew McCarthy (now a faculty member at Drexel University) have used this metal-coating technique to fabricate alkaline batteries with common techniques from the semiconductor industry such as photolithography and thin film deposition.

While the first generation of their devices used the nickel-coated viruses for the electrodes, work published earlier this year investigated the feasibility of structuring electrodes with the active material deposited on top of each nickel-coated nanorod, forming a core/shell nanocomposite where every TMV particle contains a conductive metal core and an active material shell. In collaboration with Chunsheng Wang, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and his Ph.D. student Xilin Chen, the researchers have developed several techniques to form nanocomposites of silicon and titanium dioxide on the metalized TMV template.  This architecture both stabilizes the fragile, active material coating and provides it with a direct connection to the battery electrode.

In the third and final step, Chen and Gerasopoulos assemble these electrodes into the experimental high-capacity lithium-ion batteries. Their capacity can be several times higher than that of bulk materials and in the case of silicon, higher than that of current commercial batteries. 

"Virus-enabled nanorod structures are tailor-made for increasing the amount of energy batteries can store. They confer an order of magnitude increase in surface area, stabilize the assembled materials and increase conductivity, resulting in up to a10-fold increase in the energy capacity over a standard lithium ion battery," Wang said.

A bonus: since the TMV binds metal directly onto the conductive surface as the structures are formed, no other binding or conducting agents are needed as in the traditional ink-casting technologies that are used for electrode fabrication.

"Our method is unique in that it involves direct fabrication of the electrode onto the current collector; this makes the battery’s power higher, and its cycle life longer," said Wang.

The use of the TMV virus in fabricating batteries can be scaled up to meet industrial production needs. "The process is simple, inexpensive, and renewable," Culver adds. "On average, one acre of tobacco can produce approximately 2,100 pounds of leaf tissue, yielding approximately one pound of TMV per pound of infected leaves," he explains.

At the same time, very tiny microbatteries can be produced using this technology. "Our electrode synthesis technique, the high surface area of the TMV and the capability to pattern these materials using processes compatible with microfabrication enable the development of such miniaturized batteries," Gerasopoulos adds.

While the focus of this research team has long been on energy storage, the structural versatility of the TMV template allows its use in a variety of exciting applications. "This combination of bottom-up biological self-assembly and top-down manufacturing is not limited to battery development only," Ghodssi said. "One of our lab’s ongoing projects is aiming at the development of explosive detection sensors using versions of the TMV that bind TNT selectively, increasing the sensitivity of the sensor. In parallel, we are collaborating with our colleagues at Drexel and MIT to construct surfaces that resemble the structure of plant leaves. These biomimetic structures can be used for basic scientific studies as well as the development of novel water-repellent surfaces and micro/nano scale heat pipes."

Funding for the research comes from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the University of Maryland. James Culver’s work is conducted in collaboration with Purdue University professor Michael Harris.

(December 6, 2010 – ACN Newswire) — Animals like dolphins and pilot whales are known to have anti-fouling skins. Researchers from A*STAR’s Industrial Consortium On Nanoimprint (ICON) are using nanotechnology to mimic this, creating synthetic, chemical-free, anti-bacterial surfaces. The surfaces can reduce infections caused by pathogens such as S. aureus and E. coli and can be used on common plastics, medical devices, lenses and even ship hulls. Conventional methods for preventing bacterial surface attachment may use potentially harmful metal ions, nanoparticles, chemicals or UV-radiation.

Nanoimprint technology, a form of nanotechnology, is a simple technique that has been developed by IMRE to make complex nanometer-sized patterns on surfaces to mimic the texture of natural surfaces. This gives the engineered material ‘natural’ properties such as luminescence, adhesiveness, water-proofing and anti-reflectivity.

The anti-bacterial surfaces research is ICON’s second industry-themed project and will involve A*STAR’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and companies like Nypro Inc (USA), Hoya Corporation (Japan), Advanced Technologies and Regenerative Medicine, LLC (ATRM) (USA), NIL Technology ApS (Denmark) and Akzo Nobel (UK). This is also the first time that 3 local polytechnics, namely Singapore Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic are working with the consortium partners, under a special arrangement.

Dr Low Hong Yee, IMRE’s Director for Research and Innovation and head of the consortium, said that the anti-microbial surfaces project will demonstrate the versatility of nanoimprinting technology and its benefits to a wide range of industries.

"The strong support given by industry to this second project and to the consortium is a resounding seal of approval of the research, the talent expertise, the technology and its real-world applications", said Prof Andy Hor, Executive Director of IMRE.

Dr Raj Thampuran, A*STAR Science and Engineering Research Council’s (SERC) Executive Director added, "Working closely with companies ensures that our R&D and expertise is translated at the earliest possible time and contributes value to the economy. Borrowing intimately from characteristics in nature represents some of the most frontier and innovative ideas in science and engineering. I am pleased that IMRE’s research will help companies challenge difficult engineering problems".

"ICON and nanoimprint research gives our own R&D an added dimension and provides us with alternative options on how our existing technology can be applied", said Mr Steve Ferriday, Technical Manager, Worldwide Marine Foul Release, International Paint Ltd (UK), which is part of Akzo Nobel, the world’s largest global paints and coatings company. The company recently established their worldwide marine research laboratory in Singapore and is keen to explore how these surfaces might work in a marine environment.

"Chemical additives in biomedical devices can adversely affect different users in different ways. The anti-microbial surfaces derived from nanoimprint technology without the need for additional chemicals and coatings may offer us an alternative solution to this issue," said Tsuyoshi Watanabe, GM, R&D Center of Hoya Corporation, a Japanese-based company dealing in advanced electronics and optics technologies. The company has a plant in Singapore producing implanted lenses for the eye.

"Nypro is excited to be a part of this second project. Our participation in such a world class collaborative programme gives Nypro a competitive advantage in bringing innovation to our customers", commented Mr Michael McGee, Director of Technology from Nypro Inc., a leading global solutions provider in the field of manufactured precision plastic products.

"This collaboration will enable the R&D partners to leverage on their areas of expertise to investigate how bacteria attach to specially designed surfaces of different materials. The industrial applications are tremendous and Ngee Ann Polytechnic is excited to be part of the team. Our student interns from various courses at the School of Life Sciences & Chemical Technology will also benefit from working on projects under the supervision of top researchers," said Mrs Tang-Lim Guek Im, Senior Director for Technology Collaboration at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. 

IMRE has built strong capabilities in materials analysis, characterisation, materials growth, patterning, fabrication, synthesis and integration. IMRE is an institute of talented researchers equipped with state-of-the-art facilities such as the SERC Nanofabrication and Characterisation Facility to conduct world-class materials science research. For more information about IMRE, please visit www.imre.a-star.edu.sg 

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. For more information about A*STAR, please visit www.a-star.edu.sg. 

(December 6, 2010) — Bruker Corp. has announced at the Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall 2010 Meeting the release of a new generation of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) modes and measurement modules that transform Bruker’s AFM systems into turnkey solutions for nanoscale characterization in renewable energy research.

The company said the most significant of these new AFM accessories, the PeakForce Tuna module, enables very high resolution nanoelectrical characterization on fragile samples, including organic photovoltaics, lithium ion battery composites, and carbon nanotube-based device structures. Complementing this capability, Bruker said that its new offering for electrochemistry research provides solvent compatibility, ppm-level environmental control, and in-situ liquid scanning on an AFM.

The new modules expand the Bruker suite for nanoscale electrical and electrochemical characterization on samples requiring sensitive mechanical and environmental control. The PeakForce Tuna module uses a new current amplifier in conjunction with PeakForce Tapping to allow conductivity mapping on fragile samples such as organic photovoltaics, lithium ion cathodes, and carbon nanotube assemblies without the deleterious effects caused by sample damage and tip contamination.

"We are excited to offer ground-breaking new capabilities to scientists in growing areas of nanoelectrical characterization in materials research," said Dr. Mark R. Munch, president of the Bruker Nano Surfaces Business. "This new product release represents a significant advance in our continued drive to expand AFM technologies to energy markets by addressing customer needs for quantitative nanoscale characterization. We are gratified that these modules are among our first new product releases as part of Bruker. Building on our leadership position, they are a fitting continuation of the rapid stream of innovative new products that we have delivered over the past three years."

David Rossi, VP and GM of Bruker’s AFM Unit, added: "Our new suite of nanoelectrical and electrochemical products are part of our development team’s long heritage of AFM innovations in nanoscale research and they build on the foundation of PeakForce Tapping and ScanAsyst modes. We see unmet need for non-destructive and artifact-free nanoelectrical and electrochemical characterization in the growing arena of future energy generation and storage materials, and we are partnering with leading researchers and companies in those fields to deliver innovative products to enable their success."

Bruker Corp. is a provider of high-performance scientific instruments and solutions for molecular and materials research, as well as for industrial and applied analysis. More information is available at www.bruker-axs.com and www.bruker.com

(December 3, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — SUSS MicroTec (FWB:SMH)(GER:SMH), equipment and process supplier for the semiconductor industry and related markets, entered into a joint development and exclusive license agreement with Rolith Inc. to develop and build nanostructuring equipment using a nanolithography method developed by Rolith. Availability of a high-throughput cost-effective technique for nanostructuring over large areas of substrate materials brings new possibilities to renewable energy and green building markets.

Rolith’s patent pending nanolithography technology is based on a proprietary implementation of near-field optical lithography using cylindrically shaped rolling masks. Sub-wavelength resolution is achieved by phase-shift interference effect or plasmonic enhancement printing structures. Continuous mode of operation will allow high throughput and low cost production. Rolith’s "Rolling Mask" nanostructuring system has potential to reach less than $2/m2 cost in production environment.

"We anticipate the technology will enable the next generation of advanced products, such as high efficiency 3D solar cells, building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), smart glass, and superior quality coatings with anti-reflective/anti-glare/self-cleaning/anti-fog qualities," said Boris Kobrin, Ph.D., CEO and president of Rolith.

"Our recent achievements with nanoimprint lithography systems have made us a leading expert for structuring substrates in MEMS and nano applications," stated Frank Averdung, president and CEO, SUSS Microtec.

SUSS MicroTec supplies equipment and process solutions for microstructuring in the semiconductor industry and related markets. For more information, please visit www.suss.com.

Rolith is developing advanced nanostructured products for renewable energy and green building markets using proprietary nanolithography technology. For more information: www.rolith.com.

(December 3, 2010) — Rice University researchers have discovered a simple way to make carbon nanotubes shine brighter. Rice researcher Bruce Weisman, a pioneer in nanotube spectroscopy, found with his lab that adding tiny amounts of ozone to batches of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and exposing them to light decorates all the CNTs with oxygen atoms and systematically changes their near-infrared fluorescence.

Chemical reactions on nanotube surfaces generally kill their limited natural fluorescence, Weisman said. But the new process actually enhances the intensity and shifts the wavelength.

He expects the breakthrough, reported online in the journal Science, to expand opportunities for biological and material uses of CNTs, from the ability to track them in single cells to novel lasers.

Best of all, the process of making these bright nanotubes is incredibly easy — "simple enough for a physical chemist to do," said Weisman, a physical chemist himself.

He and primary author Saunab Ghosh, a graduate student in his lab, discovered that a light touch was key. "We’re not the first people to study the effects of ozone reacting with nanotubes," Weisman said. "That’s been done for a number of years. But all the prior researchers used a heavy hand, with a lot of ozone exposure. When you do that, you destroy the favorable optical characteristics of the nanotube. It basically turns off the fluorescence. In our work we only add about one oxygen atom for 2,000-3,000 carbon atoms, a very tiny fraction."

Ghosh and Weisman started with a suspension of nanotubes in water and added small amounts of gaseous or dissolved ozone. Then they exposed the sample to light. Even light from a plain desk lamp would do, they reported.

Most sections of the doped nanotubes remain pristine and absorb infrared light normally, forming excitons, quasiparticles that tend to hop back and forth along the tube — until they encounter oxygen.

"An exciton can explore tens of thousands of carbon atoms during its lifetime," Weisman said. "The idea is that it can hop around enough to find one of these doping sites, and when it does, it tends to stay there, because it’s energetically stable. It becomes trapped and emits light at a longer (red-shifted) wavelength. Essentially, most of the CNT is turning into an antenna that absorbs light energy and funnels it to the doping site. We can make nanotubes in which 80 to 90% of the emission comes from doped sites," he said.

Lab tests found the doped nanotubes’ fluorescent properties to be stable for months.

Weisman said treated nanotubes could be detected without using visible light. "Why does that matter? In biological detection, any time you excite at visible wavelengths, there’s a little bit of background emission from the cells and from the tissues. By exciting instead in the infrared, we get rid of that problem," he said.

The researchers tested their ability to view doped nanotubes in a biological environment by adding them to cultures of human uterine adenocarcinoma cells. Later, images of the cells excited in the near-infrared showed single nanotubes shining brightly, whereas the same sample excited with visible light displayed a background haze that made the tubes much more difficult to spot.

His lab is refining the process of doping nanotubes, and Weisman has no doubt about their research potential. "There are many interesting scientific avenues to pursue," he said. "And if you want to see a single tube inside a cell, this is the best way to do it. The doped tubes can also be used for biodistribution studies.

"This isn’t an expensive or elaborate process," Weisman said. "Some reactions require days of work in the lab and transform only a small fraction of your starting material. But with this process, you can convert an entire nanotube sample very quickly."

The paper’s co-authors include Rice research scientist Sergei Bachilo, research technician Rebecca Simonette and Kathleen Beckingham, a Rice professor of biochemistry and cell biology.

The National Science Foundation, the Welch Foundation and NASA supported the research. Learn more at www.rice.edu.

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(December 3, 2010) — Brewer Science Inc. opened new offices in Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, Korea. The company also operates offices in Taipei, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. The expanded Asian presence will serve the semiconductor, MEMS, and LED industries.

Our new offices are located at:

  • Brewer Science Japan, G.K., Level 28, Shinagawa Intercity A, 2-15-1, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 108-6028.
  • Brewer Science Asia, Ltd., Korea Representative Office, 30th Floor ASEM Tower, 159-1, Samsung-dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul, Korea 135-798.

Brewer Science products include ARC anti-reflective coatings, ProTEK protective coatings, WaferBOND bonding materials, the ZoneBOND thin wafer processing system, OptiNDEX high refractive index materials, OptiStack multilayer lithography systems, and Cee benchtop processing equipment.

Brewer Science provides process solutions, material solutions, and equipment for applications
in semiconductor, advanced packaging, MEMS and sensors, HB LEDs, and energy devices. Learn more at www.brewerscience.com

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by Richard Dixon, iSuppli

December 2, 2010 – With the exception of the consumer/mobile MEMS market, the high-value MEMS space is the fastest-growing technology sector in MEMS today — ahead of the inkjet and automotive markets. High-value MEMS are attractive because the sensors often sell at much higher prices that for, say, consumer markets, often being designed for harsh environments or with high precision or reliability in mind. Specifically, we define high-value MEMS as sensors and actuators for applications that are outside the high-volume consumer electronics and automotive volume markets — instead, they address the industrial, medical, energy, optical telecom and aerospace-defense segments.

The volumes for high-value MEMS are usually much lower than consumer of automotive MEMS markets, but the applications are highly fragmented and sufficiently diverse to allow over 100 sensor component supply companies to do business. In addition, this sector has been capitalizing on a gamut of hot-button issues ranging from global warming to aging populations, and the market is set for very rapid growth in a large number of highly diverse segments.

Revenue for high-value MEMS is projected to reach $1.6 billion in 2010, up 29.7% from $1.2 billion in 2009. By 2014, high-value MEMS revenue will hit an estimated $2.6B, equating to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.8% when measured from the starting year of 2009.

As seen in Figure 1, industrial applications, which include sectors as disparate as building automation, oil discovery, waste-water monitoring, HVAC, and semiconductor manufacturing dominate, accounting for approximately 51% of all high-value MEMS revenue projected for 2010. It is also the fastest growing category with 21% CAGR from 2009-2014.

Medical electronics are in second place with a healthy 13% CAGR out to 2014, military and civil aerospace categories are third, with a more conservative 7% CAGR to 2014, while wired (optical) communications brings up the rear; the resurrection of the fiber optical networks after the telecom overcapacity bubble of 2000 drives this market afresh, and brings 17 % CAGR over the 5 years out to 2012.

Figure 1: Industrial applications lead the markets for high-value MEMS. (Source: iSuppli)

Global trends help to underpin an attractive market

The rapid growth of high-value MEMS comes in the wake of global trends that have positively impacted the market, particularly those associated with green energy and global warming. Saving and finding energy, and reducing CO2 emissions, are some of the key challenges of our century. MEMS ICs can help reduce energy consumption in many industrial processes, in residential heating systems, or in transportation.

MEMS devices help find energy, e.g. the especially low-noise floor accelerometers used in "geophones" that map the ground during for oil/gas exploration, or accelerometers and gyroscopes used to position the drills during measurement-while-drilling for oil. The impact for the MEMS market for "building automation" and "energy and power" applications is 30% and 26% CAGR respectively from 2009-2014.

Major changes such as an aging population and growing obesity issues in many countries (leading for example to diabetes or other disorders) are impacting the medical MEMS market. These and other factors are among the motivations for making treatments less invasive or for monitoring the movements of the elderly. MEMS used in insulin pumps increase the efficacy and comfort of insulin drug delivery, for instance, while accelerometers monitor elderly people, tirelessly watching their movements, their position or presence in a bed, if they fall, and so on.

Pressure sensors monitor gases during surgical operations or the treatment of sleep apnea. Accelerometers and gyroscopes assist surgeons by removing shake during precise operations. Emerging applications include implantable wireless pressure sensors, which are showing great promise in monitoring tell tale pressure buildup following heart surgery and are used for post-op monitoring of aneurisms. As a result markets for medical diagnostics and drug delivery devices enjoy 34% and 32% CAGR respectively from 2009 to 2014.

Figure 4: Implantable wireless pressure sensors are showing great promise in monitoring tell tale pressure buildup
following heart surgery.

BRIC countries are on the rise, and while the MEMS industry is still in its infancy in China, it is turning into a major consumer in a number for applications: flow sensors for residential metering, a growing airspace industry, and fiber-optic communications. In fact, fiber deployment in China is currently boosted by government stimuli, and by and large pulls the global optical MEMS market for telecom at 17% CAGR over the next five years.

Another fortuitous feature of the MEMS industry is the continual emergence and eventual proliferation of new devices, e.g. micro-valves which are at once the actuation valve and sensor useful in building automation HVAC. Meanwhile, staple products MEMS pressure and flow sensors help reduce energy consumption in all kinds of industrial processes — doping of water in swimming pools, residential heating and hydronic transportation systems, to mention just a few — by monitoring and adjusting parameters for different loading conditions.

Diversity = supply opportunity

In addition to the robust expansion expected for the years ahead, the high-value MEMS market is characterized by the large number of market niches in play. iSuppli has identified and currently tracks approximately 110 device and application cases in the various high-MEMS segments. And while the top 20 suppliers for the overall MEMS market account for 79% of total value, the top 20 suppliers in high-value MEMS account for only 60% — leaving more market opportunities for many suppliers to compete in the space.

A large number of disparate applications offers many opportunities
for suppliers in high-value MEMS. (Source: iSuppli)

The high-value MEMS food chain

A wide variety of suppliers populate this sector:

  • System companies with their own MEMS production, e.g. in aerospace applications including (Honeywell, BAE, Finmeccanica, Goodrich…), and in medicine (GE Sensing, Honeywell and Caliper), semiconductor testing (Formfactor, MJC…), printing (Epson, Fujifilm Dimatix…).
  • Large independent sensor suppliers like VTI and MEAS, as well as semiconductor companies with significant sensor business such as ADI, Freescale, Omron…
  • Many smaller specialized suppliers, e.g. Colibrys, MEMSCAP, Silicon Designs, Leister, Dexter… and start-ups e.g. C2V, Polychromix, Neosense, not to mention many fabless start-ups with great potential for medical applications, e.g. CardioMEMS, Debiotech, etc.

In conclusion, iSuppli is very excited about the opportunities in the less "sexy" side of MEMS — a quiet revolution that belies a very active and growing scene able to support a large number of companies.

Richard Dixon received his doctorate in semiconductor characterization from Surrey University and degree in materials science from North Kent University, and is senior analyst for MEMS at iSuppli, Spiegelstr. 2, 81241 Munich Germany; ph +49-89-207-026-070, e-mail [email protected].

(December 2, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — This week at SEMICON Japan, Tegal Corporation (Nasdaq: TGAL), maker of specialized production solutions for the fabrication of advanced MEMS, power ICs and 3D ICs, will launch a new member of its ProNova family of high-density inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactors for the company’s deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) series wafer processing products. The ProNova2 is targeted for fast-growing 200mm MEMS and 3D IC applications.

It is designed to improve on etch rates of comparative tools and increase DRIE productivity and yield benefits. In addition to demonstrating sustained high etch rates, the new reactor offers a three-fold improvement in ion uniformity. For some applications, the higher uniformity enables a 40%+ improvement in etch selectivity. The ProNova2 also allows users to adjust selected etch parameters across the ICP reactor plasma and diffusion zones. This allows for better control of etch process performance across the wafer which boosts the silicon DRIE etch flexibility needed for some advanced applications.

The first ProNova2 tool has been installed in a Japanese development laboratory where it is meeting the performance expectations set by Tegal’s France-based R&D team.

Porting established MEMS processes onto 200mm tools and then improving on the baseline process results has been a key challenge for 200mm MEMS fabrication. For silicon DRIE, these challenges include achieving higher etch rates, along with tighter control of tilt angles and etch profiles, and better etch depth uniformity across 200mm wafers. The ProNova reactor family was developed to address all key market requirements identified by the 200mm MEMS community which include Tegal’s 3D IC Through Silicon Via (TSV) commercial partners. With an improved ICP reactor geometry and plasma source design, the ProNova products target better etch depth uniformity and etch profiles, as well as better etch tilt angles across 200mm wafers when compared to traditional ICP sources.

The ProNova2 is immediately available to ship on Tegal 110, 200, 3200 and 4200 DRIE wafer processing systems. It is also compatible as a retrofit with Tegal and AMMS DRIE systems already in the field. As with the first member of the ProNova family, the product supports Tegal’s Super High Aspect Ratio Process (SHARP), which achieves etched feature aspect ratios of greater than 100:1 in production environments.

Tegal will showcase the new ProNova2 at SEMICON Japan 2010, Dec. 1-3 at the Makuhari Convention Center in Chiba, Japan. For more information, please visit Tegal at the Canon Marketing Japan booth, Number 3C-701.

Tegal provides specialized production solutions for the fabrication of advanced MEMS, power ICs and 3D ICs found in products like smart phones, networking gear, solid-state lighting, and digital imaging. For more information, visit www.Tegal.com.

Also read: DRIE from MEMS to wafer-level packaging

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