VTI Technologies, a MEMS inertial sensor provider, is now taking a new direction and expanding into the consumer electronics segment. VTI already provides low-g sensors for the automotive industry, as well as in low power sensors for the medical implantable market.
“We are now leveraging our expertise in high performance MEMS and intend to bring out products targeting the consumer segment that will challenge the current market offering,” says Markku Hirvonen, President and CEO of VTI.
The timing, according to the company, is ideal. The consumer MEMS market is booming as motion control becomes more and more standard in user-interface applications, such as mobile phones, gaming devices and TV remote controllers. VTI states that especially interesting is the gyroscope market.
VTI claims that in 2009 it was the first MEMS company to adopt wafer level packaging in the world’s smallest and least power consuming three-axis acceleration sensor. Now, the same technology is being applied to gyros. The company states that its new consumer MEMS based gyro, which will be introduced at the Electronica 2010 fair in Munich, is superior in terms of size, power consumption and performance compared to products on the market today.
According to Hirvonen, another very interesting focus area is silicon MEMS timing devices. “There is an enormous opportunity for MEMS-based timing and frequency control devices. The challenge has been to overcome issues related to accuracy and stability. We believe we have made a major technological breakthrough in this field,” Hirvonen continues.
VTI's new direction also affects the company’s manufacturing strategy, as the new markets will require even greater flexibility and cost efficiency. “Our manufacturing strategy can be described as a hybrid model. We are utilising our own fabrication for automotive and medical products, as well as for R&D purposes, and mass producing our high volume consumer products utilising an outsourced supply chain. In this way we are getting the best of both worlds,” Hirvonen says.
VTI is a supplier of acceleration, inclination and angular motion sensor solutions for transportation, medical, instrument and consumer electronics applications. The company develops and produces silicon-based capacitive sensors using its proprietary "3D MEMS" technology.
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