MEMS, Microfluidics and Microsystems Executive Review

The year of the 8-inch MEMS fab

by Jérémie Bouchaud, Wicht Technologie Consulting

Eight-inch MEMS fabs are hardly anything new. In revenue terms, a major part of the MEMS market has been processed on 8-inch lines since 2001, when Texas Instruments moved to 200 mm production. For many years, though, TI was the only significant manufacturer and the opportunity for equipment and wafer suppliers was limited.  Since 2005, a handful of companies have joined the 8-inch group; these are Hewlett Packard, STMicroelectronics, EPCOS and foundries Dalsa, DNP and tMt.  And indeed WTC estimates that in 2006 around 16% of the revenue generated by the MEMS market was produced from activity on 8-inch lines.

So what will the future bring? WTC believes that 2008 will be a transition year and expects the 8-inch revenue share of the MEMS market to more than double from $1.4 billion this year to $3.5 billion in 2011. This represents a growth of 16% to 31% in the same time. The revenue growth will accelerate in 2009 and 2010 as a number of new 8-inch MEMS fabs become operational.

Fundraising for MEMS and semiconductor startups

Many successful startup companies need funding to succeed.  We recently spoke with Jeff Hilbert, EVP of Development and co-founder of WiSpry, about his experiences with the fundraising process and commercialization of MEMS technologies.  Mr. Hilbert has raised over $54 million in venture capital and debt financing to fund two of his semiconductor startups and has authored a chapter in a recently published book Semiconductor Venture Capital Best Practices.

MEMS technology to boost storage density

Flash memory chips are predicted to begin slowing down their bit density growth in the next few years due to lithography related constraints.  Nanochip is one of the startup companies which is working to get around these limitations.   The company is developing a new class of ultra-high-capacity storage chips based on MEMS technology.  Nanochip’s technology will enable the storage of tens of gigabytes of data per chip, the equivalent of many high-definition feature-length videos, at a substantially lower cost than today’s flash memory solutions.

The company reported last week that it raised a $14 million financing round led by Intel Capital.  This new financing round will allow the company to complete development of its first prototypes later this year to support design verification testing and limited customer sampling in 2009.  We spoke with Nanochip’s CEO Dr. Gordon Knight.

RF MEMS switches deliver on early promise

by Jérémie Bouchaud and Bernardo Knoblich, Wicht Technologie Consulting

Few MEMS components have created so much excitement, and then such disappointment in so short a time. Is this component finally in production? Will there be an interesting market? And for whom? We have been following RF MEMS switches since 2000 and have just updated our technical and market analysis. Although the market was just $6 million last year, it will increase to $210 million in 2011.

BioMEMS for heart repairs

According to Professor Pierre Dupont, there are currently two approaches to perform repairs inside the heart – open heart surgery and catheter interventions. Dupont, who recently was awarded a $5 million NIH grant to perform work in this area, believes there is a better way.  Interestingly, he picked MEMS as the technology of choice for his project and is collaborating with Microfabrica, a microdevice manufacturer based in California.  We recently spoke with Professor Dupont about his goals and why the size advantages of MEMS really matter in this case.

Prospects for MEMS in the automotive industry

by Richard Dixon and Jérémie Bouchaud, Wicht Technologie Consulting

The automotive sector has long been a growth market for MEMS sensors.  However, the industry continues to change and face new opportunities and challenges -- regulations, saturation in some applications and price erosion issues, to name a few.

Today's high-end vehicles feature up to 100 different sensors.  About 30 these are now MEMS.  The market is made up of accelerometers, gyroscopes and inclinometers as well as pressure and flow sensors.  Emerging applications include IR sensors for air quality, microscanners for displays and, further out, MEMS oscillators and energy scavengers for TPMS.

Silicon carbide and harsh environment MEMS applications

For high temperature or corrosive media environments, silicon carbide can be a material of choice and has the potential to open up new applications and markets.  We recently spoke with Professor Roya Maboudian of UC Berkeley about the history of silicon carbide, comparisons to silicon and other materials as well as current research and commercialization challenges and opportunities.

Bridging the MEMS commercialization gap

Silicon Valley Technology Center (SVTC) was recently sold by Cypress Semiconductor to Tallwood and Oak Hill venture firms.  The company provides process development and commercialization services and expects to have $40-50 million in profitable revenue this year with 30 percent of their business coming from MEMS customers.  We recently spoke with Dave Bergeron,  the CEO of SVTC, about the company’s business model, current customers and plans for the future.

MOEMS: history, current status and future trends

While MOEMS, the combination of micro-optics and MEMS, have been slowed down by the telecom downturn in the early part of this decade, these technologies are now making a comeback.  In addition to telecom, MOEMS applications include sensors, projection and mobile systems and devices. 

We recently spoke with Dr. M. Edward Motamedi who is the author and editor of a recently published MOEMS book and the founder of Revoltech Microsystems.  Dr. Motamedi is one of the top experts in the field of MOEMS and is a Fellow of SPIE.

Ranking of top MEMS companies

by Jérémie Bouchaud, Wicht Technologie Consulting

WTC has updated its MEMS market data with a global bottom-up survey of the top 30 MEMS companies.  WTC identified and interviewed over 60 major organizations during February and March 2007 regarding their current MEMS revenues, products, applications and views of the major changes in the industry.  The results are a combination of publicly available figures and validated estimates based on shipments and average selling prices.

TeraVicta and the RF MEMS switch market

MEMS based switches for RF circuits are one of the most promising applications in the field.  We spoke with TeraVicta’s President and CEO Ray Burgess about his company’s recent activities, plans for the future as well as the size and growth potential of the MEMS based switch market.

A Universal CMOS MEMS Process?

Unlike the semiconductor industry, MEMS devices have been traditionally manufactured using a variety of highly-specialized processes geared for each specific device.   This variety of MEMS fabrication processes has contributed to higher commercialization costs and longer times to market.  While there are established MEMS processes such as Sandia’s SUMMiT and Microfabrica’s EFAB,  a startup company Akustica is now promoting its CMOS MEMS process as a possible industry standard for monolithic CMOS MEMS devices.  Akustica has focused on MEMS based microphones thus far, but the company claims that its process is versatile and can also be used to make monolithic RF and inertial MEMS products.  We recently spoke with Akustica’s CTO Ken Gabriel.

RF MEMS for better cell phone performance

Everyone has experienced dropped calls and choppy cell phone signals.  As cell phone manufacturers are continually looking to ensure that consumers are satisfied with their devices, WiSpry is one of the companies which is now providing components to make it easier for phone designers make their products more robust.  The company raised another $13.5 million VC round in August and is now looking to move its devices into volume production and expand its marketing efforts.  We recently spoke with WiSpry's CEO Jeff Hilbert.

Can MEMS resonators compete with quartz?

Startup companies such as SiTime, Discera, Silicon Clocks and Mobius Microsystems are now going after the $4 billion electronic oscillator market with their innovative alternatives to the traditional quartz based components.  We recently spoke with Kurt Petersen, founder and CEO of SiTime, about the company's latest developments as well as their technological approach, competitive advantages and strategy to tap into this lucrative market.

Freescale looks to expand its MEMS product portfolio

Freescale Semiconductor has been a major player in the MEMS industry with its automotive sensors business and, more recently, with its growing portfolio of consumer MEMS based applications.  We recently spoke with Dave Monk, Automotive Operations Manager for the Sensors and Actuators Solutions Division at Freescale, about his company's current MEMS related products as well as business prospects and trends for the future.