MEMS Journal -- The Largest MEMS Publication in the World

Wireless health and wearables: huge opportunities for MEMS devices

by Mehran Mehregany, Ph.D.
Professor, Case Western Reserve University

According to a recent study by IDTechEx, there will be three billion wearable sensors by 2025, with about one third of these being new sensor types.  It appears now that healthcare delivery could be the "killer application" for wearables.  Along the same time, wearables systems and devices are well positioned to be the key enabling technology for wireless health.  In turn, sensors enable wearables to gather data from the wearer and their environment.  Given their significant potential benefits to healthcare delivery and increasing patient demand for mobility, continued emergence of wireless health and wearables is a certainty.  Consequently, MEMS based sensors are well positioned better for future growth.

MEMS and sensors ASIC maker ACAM acquired by AMS

Austrian company AMS, a provider of sensors and analog IC solutions, has acquired German-based ASIC maker ACAM.  The acquisition should strengthen ACAM's ASIC product portfolio for sensors applications due to AMS' much larger R&D, sales, and manufacturing resources.  ACAM was founded 18 years ago and its unique ASIC platform is based on the company's time-to-digital (TDC) technology.  AMS, formerly known as austriamicrosystems, currently has more than 1,700 employees in 20 countries.  The company reported revenues of $614 million and net income of $108 million in 2014.  "This was a good time for us to be acquired by ams because we are entering mass markets such as MEMS based sensors and ultrasonic gas and water meters, and we needed an investor for these strong growth goals," said ACAM's CEO Augustin Braun.