“New” MEMS evolution coming, predicts Yole
The market for MEMS devices based on 3D packaging, novel materials and detection principles will grow from $1.6 billion in 2013 to $1.8 billion in 2014 and then accelerate to about $3.7 billion in 2019, according to market analysis firm Yole Developpement.
This places "new" MEMS as being worth about 14 percent of the total MEMS market in 2013 of $11.7 billion rising to about 15 percent by 2019, when Yole reckons the total MEMS market will be $24 billion.
New MEMS revenues. Source: Yole
"For conventional MEMS it is becoming harder to both decrease cost and size," said Eric Mounier author of a report on new detection principles and the technical evolution of MEMS and NEMS for Yole.
"People need to find different ways and these include maximum optimization for a given process and principle of detection and the use of 3D stacking and packaging. Bosch, ST and mCube already use TSVs. This can push forward the miniaturization of MEMS."
But there is also increasing use of novel principles of detection such as piezoresistance, he said.
The use of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) as a variable resistance is not at all new in MEMS and was used in some of the earliest silicon diaphragm pressure sensors. However, it is true that capacitive sensing is used almost exclusively for inertial MEMS sensing.
Detection principles; a time line for possible product introduction. Source: Yole.
Now there are companies such as Tronics using PZT and Qualtre using bulk acoustic wave (BAW) materials to implement gyroscopes. The same is being used for wafer-level autofocus and activation of micro-mirrors, Mounier said. "IBM is developing RF switches based on PZT," he added.
Although the PZT material is better established and is being deployed at such companies as Rohm Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, Silex and Tronics, aluminum nitride may be interesting in the long-term as a more stable and fab-friendly material, said Mounier.
"I think big foundries such as TSMC and Globalfoundries are interested in developing some of these new processes; it depends on volumes. But PZT for autofocus is a very big market, millions of units per year," said Mounier.
From micromachines to MEMS to NEMS. Source: Yole
Mounier added that taking the example of Tronics in Grenoble he could imagine a smaller manufacturer wanting to get into consumer electronics but lacking the capacity to provide consumer volumes for whom a deal with a TSMC or a Globalfoundries to share production would make sense.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Emerging MEMS to drive mergers, says Yole
Tronics prototypes piezoresistive 6DOF sensor
ST adds piezoelectric MEMS to process portfolio
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