Rogue Valley Microdevices confirms 300mm MEMS fab in Florida

Business news | May 2, 2024

By Peter Clarke

Pure-play MEMS foundry Rogue Valley Microdevices Inc. (Medford, Oregon) has confirmed that its second wafer fab, under construction in Palm Bay, Florida, will be 300mm capable.

The company announced the acquisition of a 50,000-square-foot commercial building at 2301 Commerce Drive, Palm Bay, Florida in June 2023 (see Rogue Valley selects Florida for MEMS wafer fab). The company budgeted for a US$30 million capex to create a wafer fab for MEMS and sensors with a manufacturing capacity of 21,000 wafer starts per month. It is expected to employ about 75 people and begin production in 2025.

Rogue Valley is the first pure-play MEMS foundry to announce 300mm capability for its customers, many of whom are looking to transition from lab to fab with custom developments. Silex Microsystems AB (Jarfalla, Sweden) has just announced that it plans to build a 300mm-capable wafer fab at its headquarters (see China’s Silex announces fab to make MEMS on 300mm wafers).

One application that could benefit from economies of scale offered by 300mm wafers is that of “microneedles” for healthcare applications. Jessica Gomez, founder and CEO of Rogue Valley Microdevices, is presenting this week at the MEMS & Sensors Technical Congress on the topic of Microneedle Technology: Advancing Transdermal Drug Delivery and Biosensing. Microneedles are used for drug delivery and sensing applications such as continuous glucose monitoring patches for diabetics, along with emerging applications such as vaccine delivery and skin cancer treatment.

“With Rogue Valley Microdevices’ investment in 300mm MEMS capability at our new Palm Bay, Florida fab, we’re poised to empower our customers with significant competitive advantages, facilitating their journey from initial concept to the successful commercialization of their MEMS and sensor designs,” said Gomez, in a statement.