MEMS Journal -- The Largest MEMS Publication in the World

MEMS startup ACEINNA raises $50 million to develop IMUs for autonomous vehicles

ACEINNA has emerged from behind the curtains as one of the largest “spin out” companies in the MEMS and sensing technology sector. The company is developing new sensing solutions for high volume applications such as autonomous vehicles, high performance computing systems, and smart buildings. Over the last two years, the company has achieved more than 70% annual growth and expects this to continue in the future. ACEINNA’s main focus is its inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensing technology used to provide navigation and guidance to autonomous vehicles -- from self-driving cars and trucks to automated material handling solutions used in warehouses and factories. Currently, the sophisticated, highly accurate IMU navigation systems used by the top Level 4 autonomous car makers cost tens of thousands of dollars each. 

Micralyne showcases MEMS technology platforms for emerging sensing applications

The company will be showcasing standardized MEMS process technologies that advance the speed of commercialization of emerging sensing applications. Micralyne will be featuring MicraMOx, a MEMS process platform for highly miniaturized metal oxide gas sensors for environmental sensing applications. Localized gas sensing is critically important in industrial settings and in homes. Coupled with IoT use cases, miniaturized gas sensors enable economical and connected environmental sensing. Metal oxide gas sensors have been available for many years, but they required improvements in power consumption, cost, stability, and gas selectivity.

Sensera's MEMS devices mimic human organs through bioengineering

Sensera is adapting its MEMS technology for new applications in bioengineering. The company's MEMS technology is now being used at Harvard University for the creation of microfluidic devices which mimic the functions of living human organs, including the lung, intestine, kidney, skin, bone marrow and blood-brain barrier. "Sensera is a key partner providing critical microdevice component fabrication, which enables our growing applications in precision medicine and personalized health," said Dr. Richard Novak, Senior Staff Engineer at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. "These microchips, called "organs-on-chips", offer a potential alternative to traditional animal testing. Each organ-on-chip comprises a polymeric membrane that contains hollow channels lined by living human cells."

RoboSense equips Alibaba's unmanned logistics vehicle with MEMS based LIDAR

Alibaba Group's Cainiao Network and RoboSense jointly released this week the G Plus, which they claim to be the world's first solid-state LIDAR enabled unmanned logistics vehicle.  Announced at Alibaba Group's Cainiao Network 2018 Global Smart Logistics Summit held this week in Hangzhou, China, a key feature of the driverless delivery vehicle is the MEMS based LIDAR technology developed by a Chinese startup company RoboSense. The company has reached a strategic partnership with Alibaba to provide LIDAR sensors for all G Plus unmanned delivery vehicles.

MIPI Alliance forms automotive working group

The MIPI Alliance, an international organization that develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced industries, today announced the formation of the MIPI Automotive Working Group (AWG) to address the needs of the automotive ecosystem. The group is open to MIPI contributor members. As the number of sensors continues to increase in automobile applications to support passive and active safety, infotainment, ADAS, and autonomous driving systems, the need for interface specifications is apparent. Building upon the success of the MIPI Alliance Automotive Subgroup and Automotive Birds of a Feather (BoF) Group, the MIPI Board of Directors has approved the creation of the MIPI AWG.

MEMS and sensors CAE startup OnScale raises $3 million, emerges from stealth mode

Emerging from stealth mode this week, OnScale announced $3 million in strategic seed funding and unveiled the industry's first solver-as-a-service platform that gives engineers the power to accelerate innovation in the $40 billion MEMS, sensors, 5G, biomedical, IoT, and automated car markets. OnScale was co-founded by CEO Ian Campbell, VP of Product Development Dr. Robbie Banks, and VP of Engineering Dr. Gerry Harvey as a spin-off from Thornton Tomasetti, a large science and engineering consulting company. The seed round was led by Thornton Tomasetti, with participation from Silicon Valley investors such as Michael Lehman, former CFO of Arista Networks, Palo Alto Networks, and Sun Microsystems, and CampbellKlein, an early stage high-tech venture fund.

MEMS foundry Micralyne introduces standardized microfluidic process technology

Micralyne, a manufacturer of biomedical MEMS and sensors, announced this week the launch MicraFluidics, a set of standardized microfluidic process technologies, to support demand from the biomedical and life-sciences industry for rapid design and deployment of integrated microfluidic based products. MicraFluidics features a variety of substrate options for biomedical customers such as silicon, glass, and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) with design flexibility for multi-level channels, electrode patterning for dielectrophoresis and embedded sensors, and choices of glass or silicon as input and output ports. This technology has been validated in a wide range of devices such as flow cells, biochips, labs-on-chip, cell sorters, separation and analysis devices, and high-pressure analytical chips.

Next big applications for MEMS and sensors: robotics, wellness, and smart factories

In this detailed interview, Dr. Peter Hartwell, Senior Director of Advanced Technology at InvenSense, discusses current MEMS and sensors technology trends. He also highlights emerging applications such as personal robotics, health and wellness, and smart manufacturing. Dr. Hartwell discusses some of the most interesting MEMS and sensors companies that he has seen recently, and he also comments on the applications of MEMS and sensors in ADAS and autonomous vehicles applications.  Peter also reviews the history of InvenSense and its planned future roadmap, now as part of TDK.  And we discuss the main challenges of integrating sensors in IoT applications.

Lam Research acquires MEMS software company Coventor for $137.6 million

In August of 2017, Lam Research completed the acquisition of Coventor, a MEMS modeling and simulation software company, for a total purchase consideration of $137.6 million. When asked about how Coventor fits into Lam’s portfolio, the company’s Executive VP and CFO Douglas Bettinger said that, potentially, there are benefits and synergies with Coventor’s software capability to model and simulate the actual output of Lam’s equipment. We recently spoke with Stephen Breit, Coventor’s Sr. Director of MEMS, and discussed the trends that he is seeing in the MEMS marketplace. Since Coventor works with many MEMS companies, we also asked Stephen about the notable startups and technologies.

Medical MEMS: Biolinq raises $10 million for painless blood glucose sensors

Biolinq announced this week the close of a $10 million Series A financing led by M Ventures, in collaboration with Hikma Ventures. Biolinq is a digital health company with a unique, wirelessly-enabled biosensor patch that is capable of continuously monitoring multiple biomarkers. Grey Sky Venture Partners, Three Leaf Ventures, LifeSci Venture Partners and a group of high-net-worth individuals specialized in the diabetes field are also contributing to the round. Biolinq's first commercial product, a unique minimally-invasive technology, will allow patients with diabetes to continuously monitor their blood glucose without the pain and hassle of traditional continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems.