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.