Our free weekly newsletter brings you the top MEMS stories from 9,200+ sources worldwide. Our newsletter also reports on the most vital newly-granted patents in the MEMS industry. Subscribe today and join our 28,700+ subscribers by clicking the link below.
by Maarten Vraanes Director of Consulting Services, MEMS Journal
MEMS packaging, as the entire MEMS ecosystem, is rapidly evolving. Technologies such as wafer level and 3D integration are becoming increasingly important. In this article, we outline our observations about the current and future trends of MEMS integration and packaging. Major trends focus on developing CMOS-compatible MEMS fabrication processes for monolithic integration, such as low-temperature wafer bonding. Another emerging trend is die stacking in low-cost leadless type semiconductor packaging -- these types of techniques provide smaller footprint packages with lower unit costs for high production volumes. Additionally, 3D integration enables the integration of LCR passives. Here, LCR components are embedded into the package itself to minimize external passives and accommodate smaller footprint applications, wafer bonding and vertical intra-package connectors or interposers. On the flip side, CMOS and 3D integration of MEMS devices pose challenges in modeling, testing, and reliability.
The MEMS industry saw healthy 10 percent growth in 2012, and can expect continued strong expansion for the foreseeable future, projects Yole Developpement. The firm sees continuing 12-13 percent compound annual growth -- doubling the sector’s revenues to $22 billion by 2018. But that stable growth masks plenty of change from sector to sector within the diverse MEMS industry, as the high-volume consumer business drives fast innovation cycles. Meanwhile, the market for ink jet heads is declining, but mobile markets
look likely to starting to adopt new MEMS timing devices, RF devices,
and even environmental sensors. Notably, the diverse higher value, lower
volume, industrial market (which ranges from telecommunications to
aerospace and defense) will also match the consumer market’s ~12
percent growth rates, and medical MEMS markets will grow much faster at
around 22 percent.
MEMS pressure sensors will achieve accelerated growth this year and become the leading type of MEMS device, driven by increasing use in automotive and the fast-growing handset space, according to IHS. Revenue for MEMS pressure sensors this year will reach a projected $1.71 billion, up 14 percent from $1.50 billion in 2012. This year's growth improves on the already solid 11 percent increase of 2012, but even rosier prospects are in store next year when expansion peaks at 16 percent. Steady, uninterrupted growth will continue until at least 2017, by which time the market will be worth $2.49 billion. Used for control and monitoring purposes in a myriad of applications, pressure sensors are set this year to become the biggest-selling MEMS device, displacing the incumbent leaders: accelerometers and gyroscopes.
Tronics said that this week that its revenues and profits exceeded expectations in 2012 due to strong growth of its high performance inertial sensor business, as well as a significant increase in its contract manufacturing customer base. The MEMS foundry services company, based in France, reported 2012 revenues of $22.1 million and profits of $2.4 million. Tronics also said that it expanded its investments in submicron and glass technologies.
As the MEMS market forces continue to apply enormous pressures on device makers to reduce costs, companies are continually striving to make their development and manufacturing cycles more efficient. One approach has been to design around well-defined processes, or at least process modules, to accelerate time to market. We recently spoke with Alissa Fitzgerald of A.M. Fitzgerald & Associates and Peter Himes of Silex about their joint efforts in this area through a recently announced partnership. In this detailed interview, Alissa and Peter discuss the emerging trends with fabless MEMS manufacturing, provide an overview of existing commercial MEMS processes, address intellectual property and cost challenges, and explain their approach.
After two straight years of blockbuster expansion, the market for magnetic sensors experienced lower than expected growth in 2012 due mainly to depressed automotive sales and a diminished industrial sector, according to the IHS iSuppli. Revenue for semiconductor based magnetic sensor elements, integrated circuits and switches amounted to $1.57 billion last year. While last year's takings represented a 6.4 percent increase over 2011 revenue of $1.47 billion, growth in 2012 was much lower than the 44 percent surge of 2010 and the 21 percent hike of 2011. Double-digit expansion had initially been forecast for 2012, but a cooling in the magnetic sensors' most important market of automotive resulted in shaving off growth points, resulting in the annual increase topping out in just the single digits.
The MEMS market for pressure sensors in the high-value military and aerospace segments will enjoy brisk double-digit growth this year, with plenty of room left for future expansion in a broad range of lucrative applications. Revenue for pressure sensors in both military and civil aerospace applications will reach $35.7 million by year-end, up 20 percent from $29.7 million last year, according to IHS iSuppli. By 2016, military and aerospace related MEMS takings will reach $45.5 million, equivalent to a healthy five-year compound annual growth rate of 9 percent.
Intel's initiative to promote new features like indoor navigation and augmented reality in ultrabooks will spur dramatic growth in the sales of motion sensors for the next-generation notebook PCs, with revenue rising by a factor of 14 during the next four years. Global sales of motion sensors -- including accelerometers, gyroscopes and compasses -- used in ultrabooks will expand to $117.3 million by 2016, up from just $8.3 million in 2012. This equates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 93.9 percent for 2012 through 2016, according to the IHS iSuppli.
MEMSCAP, a provider of MEMS products and foundry services, announced this week that it has broadened the company's sales network in China by partnering with the Hanking Group. The collaboration is aimed to expand MEMSCAP's geographic footprint and increase the company's presence in China. The Hanking Group will begin offering training and sales support for MEMSCAP's MUMPs and MEMS Multi Project Wafers (MPW) processes to MEMS design engineers in China.
Apple and Samsung Electronics remained the two largest buyers of MEMS devices for consumer and mobile applications in 2011, solidifying their command and expanding their influence over the market, according to IHS. Apple and Samsung last year accounted for a combined 37 percent of the consumer and mobile MEMS space, mainly on the strength of their smartphones and tablets using MEMS devices like accelerometers, gyroscopes, microphones and bulk acoustic wave filters. Apple, the top buyer, made MEMS purchases equivalent to $499.8 million, or roughly 23 percent, of the $2.1 billion consumer and mobile MEMS market, as presented in the table below. Samsung, in second place, was worth $291.3 million to the industry, or 14 percent. Apple's total last year was up 139 percent from $209.2 million in 2010, while Samsung's MEMS expenditure was up 45 percent from $201.2 million for the same period.
