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With applications such as pico-projectors, head-up displays (HUDs), and gesture sensing, MEMS based optical engine platforms are quickly emerging to become the next “killer app” in the MEMS and microsystems component market. We spoke with Matan Naftali, the CEO of an Israeli startup company Maradin that is active in the optical MEMS technology sector. In this comprehensive interview, Matan outlines the competitive landscape and supply chain, discusses the ongoing trends with component prices, explains existing technology challenges, and provides an extensive list of applications.
Si-Ware Systems (SWS), a provider of MEMS and IC solutions for industrial and consumer applications, has licensed its MEMS FT-IR spectrometer technology to Hamamatsu Photonics of Japan. Hamamatsu is the world leading supplier of optoelectronics components. The company announced its new FT-IR spectrometer last month. According to SWS, the MEMS based spectrometer is the world's first single-chip spectrometer. All of the optical components of the spectrometer are monolithically integrated on one chip using SWS's proprietary MEMS technology.
CrossFiber, a developer and manufacturer of MEMS based photonic switches for use in data centers and next-generation telco fiber-optic networks, announced this week the completion of the final tranche of its Series D funding, now totaling $13.4 million. The company said that the majority of the funds have been and will continue to be used for rapid expansion of manufacturing capacity, to meet the high demand for its family of photonic switches. Southern Cross Venture Partners led the round, with participation from New Venture Partners, Arsenal Venture Partners and existing investors including Back Bay Management and PacifiCap.
Vuzix Corporation announced this week a strategic technology development partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS). Vuzix and Fraunhofer IPMS have been engaged in the development of MEMS devices optimized for augmented and virtual wearable display solutions. Vuzix said that this partnership will produce a key component that integrates both the display and optics into a monolithic display engine, with a goal of finally enabling sunglass styled video glasses.
The possibility to fabricate micromirror arrays has sparked a revolution in display systems. Today, devices using micromirror arrays are already indispensable in many products, such as large-scale projection engines or portable projectors. But the promise of micromirror technology is much broader -- it is the enabling force behind a range of research paths in spectroscopy, lithography, volumetric displays and optical networking, just to name a few.
Qualcomm MEMS Technologies announced this week the culmination of months of collaboration with Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs to expand the manufacturing capacity of its MEMS based displays in Taiwan with the construction of a new fabrication facility in Longtan. The initial phase of the announced facility is expected to result in up to $975 million of investment by Qualcomm, and the facility is expected to be operational in 2012.
Real-time detection of degradation in the quality of public water supplies currently relies on bulky monitoring stations which typically contain a range of traditional, non-MEMS sensors and also require use of chemicals and continual maintenance. This makes current systems too expensive to provide comprehensive monitoring coverage for an entire water distribution network, according to Optiqua Technologies, a company based in Singapore and The Netherlands.
DALSA Semiconductor has announceed this week the qualification of a new generation of optical MEMS products for optical communications leader JDSU. These new optical MEMS devices enable JDSU's ROADM products which are a key building block for the next generation of optical networks and improve the performance of the optical fiber networks on which today's telecommunications and internet traffic depend.
Auto focus (AF) is a common feature for digital still cameras (DSCs) to ensure that the object being photographed is in focus. However, AF has only recently been introduced into high-end cell phone cameras where the image quality, as well feature size and low cost, are critical requirements. The most common AF actuator for DSCs, the stepper motor, failed when applied to the cell phone market as it could not be miniaturized or stand up to the cell phone’s more stringent reliability testing. As a result, a variety of new technologies have emerged to fill this need, with MEMS technology leading the pack.
Optical MEMS have long been a goal of forward-thinking electronics innovators, but these technologies have had a rocky development road. Lately, however, the big money in semiconductor research – IBM and Intel – have reported significant successes in using the traditional CMOS toolkits to micromachine optical structures. Related work is also being done at Hewlett-Packard, Alcatel-Lucent and other research labs worldwide. Waveguides, gratings, resonators, modulators, and other tiny mechanical structures can effectively sculpt light for communication purposes when shrunk to sizes that correspond to the wavelength of light being manipulated. And with the semiconductor powerhouses behind these efforts, optical MEMS may finally be on the threshold of mass commercialization.
