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Tronics to manufacture RF MEMS switches for DelfMEMS

DelfMEMS announced this week that since early 2011 it has collaborated with Tronics' MEMS fab in Dallas, Texas on the RF MEMS switch process transfer and platform qualification.  With steady progress made over the past six months, DelfMEMS and Tronics say they will be able to address the high capacity needs of RF module makers for the cellular handset market.  DelfMEMS, based in France, said that its selection process among US, European and Asian MEMS foundries was undertaken in late 2010 and the company then identified Tronics as the best positioned company to meet DelfMEMS' RF switch technology process requirements.  Tronics' thin film capping solution and business sourcing channels were also attractive.

MEMS and venture capital: lessons learned from Ardesta's portfolio companies

by Howard Lovy
Contributing Editor, MEMS Journal

If only politics worked like Ardesta, says co-founder Chris Rizik, maybe Michigan's economic development system would not be so broken. You see, he says, the venture capital firm he and Rick Snyder, the state's current governor, launched in 1999 was all about collaboration. The MEMS and other "small tech" companies under Ardesta's roof were all part of the same community of companies even if their proprietary interests might have been very different from one another.

"One of the big things about Ardesta was the value of collaboration," Rizik says. "And so part of the reason that we tried to house all of our companies near each other, or as many as we could, was that interesting things can happen when they collaborate. One group that's working on one thing can help find a solution for another group."

Magnetic sensors in automotive motors to enjoy brisk growth

Given their capability to improve car safety, convenience and fuel efficiency, semiconductor magnetic sensors used in automotive motors will enjoy fast market growth with revenue expanding by nearly 40 percent in 2012, according to IHS iSuppli.  Revenue derived from the use of magnetic sensors in automotive motors will reach $160.3 million in 2012, up a solid 38.2 percent from $116.0 million this year, extending the steady rise of the market over the last three years.  And although revenue growth after 2012 will moderate to the single digits, the five-year compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 2015 still will equate to a robust 16 percent.  By 2015, magnetic sensor revenue in automotive motors will amount to $193.6 million.