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MEMSCAP launches restructuring of US operations, explores fab-lite plan

MEMSCAP (http://www.memscap.com; NYSE Euronext: MEMS), a leading provider of innovative MEMS based solutions, has retained Microtech Ventures as its M&A advisor to assist with finding an acquirer for MEMSCAP’s MEMS fabrication facility in North Carolina. This potential transaction is part of MEMSCAP’s previously announced fab-lite plan, and the company’s recent announcement that it has initiated the restructuring phase of its US operations. MEMSCAP’s products and solutions include components, component designs (IP), manufacturing, and related services. As part of the progress of MEMSCAP’s fab-lite plan, the company is considering several options, including the possibility of the sale of its US industrial operations.

MEMS and IC foundry SilTerra to invest $150 million to increase fabrication capacity

SilTerra, Malaysia's largest semiconductor wafer foundry, is investing $150 million in an expansion plan that will increase its annual capacity by 20%. The investment, sourced from both capital injections by shareholders and internally generated funds, will increase SilTerra's annual capacity from 8.3 million to 10 million mask layers. The additional capacity is expected to be ready for production by early 2023. According to Tan Sri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, Group Managing Director of DNeX, and also Executive Chairman of SilTerra, the investment is the shareholders' on-going commitment to equip the company with best-in-class manufacturing capabilities and expand the production capacity to achieve a better economy of scale, with lower manufacturing costs.

MEMS foundry Silex Microsystems acquires 200mm wafer fab from Elmos Semiconductor

The companies this week signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) to transfer the Elmos wafer fabrication at the Dortmund location to Silex. Elmos will sell its wafer fabrication activities in Dortmund for a net purchase price of 85 million Euro. The purchase incorporates a supply agreement under which Silex will continue the current wafer manufacturing, operating as an independent foundry supplying CMOS wafers to Elmos. The closing of the transaction is expected to take place in the second half of 2022 and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

RF MEMS maker Sofant Technologies signs $8.2 million contract with European Space Agency

Scottish radio technology company, Sofant Technologies, has received significant financial backing ($8.2 million) from the UK Space Agency (UKSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) to support the commercialization of its low-cost, low-power satellite communications platform. Applying its RF MEMS technology, the company says its platform solves the most pressing power consumption and heat problems faced by the next generation of 5G and satellite communications systems. The funding from the European Space Agency, secured under an Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) contract, will enable the company to complete the commercialization of a satellite communication terminal, allowing users to connect to the cloud via a new generation of low-latency, super-fast satellite networks.

MEMS maker UltraSense developing smart HMI solutions

UltraSense Systems is using its proprietary AI-enabled 3D ultrasound technology to develop smart touch user interface solutions for smartphones, cars, home appliances, IoT, and medical devices. The company has raised a total of $24 million to date from firms such as Artiman Ventures, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Abies Ventures (Japan), Asahi Kasei Ventures (Japan), Hui Capital (China), and Sony Innovation Fund (Japan).

UltraSense’s MEMS-based ultrasound technology enables precise, highly localized, buttonless interactions with any surface materials including metal, glass, wood, ceramic, and plastic. UltraSense says it has created the world’s smallest ultrasound sensor system-on-a-chip. We spoke with Mo Maghsoudnia, the company’s Founder and CEO, about his vision for the company, main applications, market potential, and current commercial traction.

MEMS gas sensor maker Lelantos raises seed-stage funds

Lelantos is developing gas sensors for IoT monitoring applications targeted to the oil, gas, and HVACR industries, and has announced this week that it has raised the initial seed funds required for the verification and commercialization of its novel technology. In August, Lelantos was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) SBIR Phase II grant. Concurrently, Lelantos also engaged with Silicon Catalyst Angels, a group of early-stage angel investors based in Silicon Valley. After numerous presentations and a due diligence process, Silicon Catalyst Angels made an initial equity investment in the company that was completed in September 2021. The combination of the SBIR grant and the equity investment enables Lelantos to expand the team and move forward on schedule with their product development timeline.

Omnitron Sensors raises $2.4 million to build next-generation MEMS based capacitive and optical sensors

Omnitron Sensors has successfully closed an over-subscribed $2.4 million Seed round, coming soon after being highlighted by TechCrunch and this year’s Demo Day at 500 Startups. The round was led by Corriente Advisors, with participation from Emerging Ventures, Stratminds, and Break Off, as well as others. “We are thrilled to back Eric Aguilar and Trent Huang, two impressive founders who we believe can revolutionize MEMS technology and create superior sensor products,” said Mark L. Hart III, Founder and CEO of Corriente Advisors.

Glass fabrication solutions for MEMS and RF applications

Mosaic Microsystems, located in Rochester, New York, was founded in 2016 to provide a manufacturing solution for inserting glass as a substrate into advanced packaging for next generation products. The core technology is a temporary bond technique that was developed and licensed from Corning, and enables handling and processing of thin glass substrates within a high-volume production environment. The company believes this is a key enabler for insertion of thin glass because their solution employs the use of existing semiconductor processing equipment.

Mosaic’s initial products are thin glass wafers temporarily bonded to a silicon or other type of wafers with or without through glass vias and with or without metallization. The company has recently been awarded multiple SBIR and STTR grants. This includes efforts to collaboratively develop ultra-low loss solutions for next-generation radar arrays with the University of Florida, establish low loss mobile electronically steerable antenna (ESA), heterogeneous integration, and more recently to develop low loss integrated passive devices (IPDs) with commercial partners. The awards are sponsored by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) under the AFWERX Agility Prime Open Topic as well as the National Science Foundation. We recently spoke with Christine Whitman, Mosaic’s Chairman and CEO about the company’s history, technology origins, recent and planned milestones, vision, emerging applications, and marketplace dynamics. Mosaic raised $2 million from Corning and BlueSky Capital in May 2020.

Medical MEMS: Exo aims to revolutionize ultrasound imaging with its PMUT technology

Founded in 2015, Exo has raised more than $100 million in funding to date and is proceeding in its vision to modernize medical imaging. The company’s investors include Action Potential Venture Capital (a GlaxoSmithKline venture fund), Applied Ventures, Bold Capital, Creative Ventures, Fiscus Ventures and Reimagined Ventures – Magnetar Capital affiliates, Innovative Growth Fund, Intel Capital, Longevity Vision Fund, Nautilus Venture Partners, OSF Healthcare, Rising Tide Fund, Solasta Ventures, TDK Ventures, and Wanxiang Healthcare Investments. We recently spoke with Dr. Janusz Bryzek, Exo’s Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, about his vision for the company, current marketplace dynamics, as well as technology and business roadmap. Dr. Bryzek also shared his main lessons for entrepreneurs in the sensors and MEMS ecosystem, and a few interesting startup companies he has been tracking.

Micro 3D printing for emerging MEMS and microfluidics applications

Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) is a leader in microscale 3D printing systems aimed towards short-run industrial production of micro-sized devices. The newest printer in BMF’s line enables larger build volumes, faster printing speeds, and supports the use of industrial-grade materials. BMF’s 3D printers provide MEMS designers with an alternative to micromachining processes that require multiple steps and can only create low-aspect ratio devices. Unlike surface micro machining, BMF’s tools can create micro-devices with high aspect ratios. Plus, with its faster build times, BMF’s printers also offer advantages over bulk micro machining, which is slow to etch and requires bonding to form complex structures. We recently spoke with BMF’s CEO John Kawola about the company’s history, recent accomplishments, current traction in the marketplace, and plans for the future.

MEMS manufacturing: Mosaic Microsystems, Axus Technology collaborating on thin glass wafer processing solutions

Axus Technology, a provider of CMP, wafer thinning, and wafer surface processing solutions for semiconductor applications, is working with Mosaic Microsystems to build the supply chain for thin glass and through-glass via (TGV) processing and heterogeneous microelectronic packaging. Overcoming the challenges of handling, thinning, and cleaning <200 um thick wafers cost effectively prior to metallization is a key element in providing a robust, scalable process. Mosaic’s thin glass solutions provide key performance characteristics such as low loss, CTE match, environmental stability, and cost-effectiveness particularly desirable for 5G applications, as well as for MEMS and sensors for the internet of things (IoT). The company’s proprietary temporary bond technology supports thin glass substrates during downstream processing. This thin glass handling technology allows the supply chain to leverage the existing infrastructure for next generation microelectronics and photonics applications.

Microtech Ventures advises Inspectrology in acquisition by Onto Innovation

Inspectrology, LLC, a leading supplier of overlay metrology for controlling lithography and etch processes in the compound semiconductor and MEMS market, was acquired by Onto Innovation Inc. on December 31, 2020. The transaction is expected to provide revenue synergies by leveraging Onto Innovation’s broader access to global markets, especially in Asia. The Inspectrology team will be able to leverage Onto Innovation’s R&D resources and larger customer support organization to better serve its customers.

MEMS foundry SilTerra deploys Evatec’s thin film deposition tool for manufacturing piezo-MEMS devices

SilTerra, a Malaysia-based MEMS and CMOS foundry, recently announced that they added Evatec’s CLUSTERLINE 200 II tool to its arsenal of MEMS specialty tools for the development and production of high-performance piezoelectric MEMS devices. SilTerra said its partnership with Evatec dates back to 2017, and it has enabled SilTerra to successfully demonstrate the performance of monolithically integrated devices for its MEMS-on-CMOS technology platform. Evatec’s tool has reportedly been operational in SilTerra’s fab since May 2020, and is currently deployed for the deposition of piezoelectric thin film for MEMS devices. These devices include SilTerra’s piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs), surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators, bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators, and piezoelectric acoustic sensors.

MIPI Alliance completes development of a new sensors standard for automotive applications

The MIPI Alliance, an international organization that develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced industries, recently announced that development has been completed on MIPI A-PHY v1.0, a long-reach serializer-deserializer (SerDes) physical layer interface for automotive applications. The specification is undergoing member review, with official adoption expected within the next 90 days. A-PHY will provide a physical layer for data transfers spanning an entire vehicle. As the first standard of its kind, it will help the automotive industry accelerate the availability of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving systems (ADS) and other surround-sensor applications, including cameras and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) displays.

Medical MEMS: SQZ Biotech raises $65 million to develop cell therapies

SQZ Biotechnologies (SQZ), a clinical stage cell therapy company developing innovative treatments for multiple therapeutic areas, announced this week the completion of a $65 million Series D preferred stock financing. The round was led by Temasek with participation from another new large, US-based fund as well as additional participation from existing investors, including GV, Illumina Ventures, Invus, JDRF T1D Fund, NanoDimension, and Polaris Partners. The company also announced the expansion of its cellular vaccine platform, currently in trial for oncology, into infectious diseases, and development of a point-of-care system to potentially generate patient product directly at treatment centers.