mem's trends 2013

28
Free subscription on www.i-micronews.com ISSUE N°15 • JULY 2013 Magazine on MEMS Technologies & Markets Printed on recycled paper MEMS’ Trends POWERED BY YOLE DÉVELOPPEMENT COMPANY INSIGHT Sensirion brings temperature and humidity sensors to the mobile phones INDUSTRY REVIEW Sensor devices connected to the mobile phones ANALYST CORNER Smart phones and tablets on track to become $6 billion opportunity for MEMS sensors

Upload: satya-harish

Post on 12-Apr-2017

344 views

Category:

Devices & Hardware


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: MEM's Trends 2013

Free subscription on www.i-micronews.com

ISSUE N°15 • JULY 2013

M a g a z i n e o n M E M S T e c h n o l o g i e s & M a r k e t s

Prin

ted o

n r

ecyc

led p

aper

MEMS’Trends

POWERED BY YOLE DÉVELOPPEMENT

COMPANY INSIGHTSensirion brings temperature and humidity sensors

to the mobile phones

INDUSTRY REVIEW Sensor devices connected

to the mobile phones

ANALYST CORNERSmart phones and tablets

on track to become$6 billion opportunity

for MEMS sensors

Page 2: MEM's Trends 2013

SAVE THE DATE

NOVEMBER 4-6, 2013Sonoma, CA, USA

PLATINUM SPONSORS

enjoy exclusive plenary sessions; hours of one-on-one meeting opportunities, plus a variety of social activities.

Mark your calendar, and help shape the future of inertial devices.

For more information, please contact S.Leroy ([email protected]) or visit www.memsinmotion.com

“I am extremely pleased with MEMS in Motion. It was great and I am looking forward to next year’s summit!” Vincent Fortin, Teledyne DALSA MEMS in Motion 2012 Participant “Some conferences you have just speakers and listeners, presentation afterpresentation. Forums like MEMS in Motion force interaction between peoplewhich tend to be more productive meetings. I would recommend this event to other industry people—100 percent.” Tom Flynn, Coventor MEMS in Motion 2012 Participant

The sensor application is now driving the MEMS

market !

Status of the MEMS Industry

Discover the NEW report onwww.i-Micronews.com/reports

Page 3: MEM's Trends 2013

E D I T O R I A L

M E M S ’ T r e n d s 3

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

PLATINUM PARTNERS:

Smartphones & tablets applications driving MEMS sensors integration

For many of you, the coming weeks will be a well-deserved period of rest. Lying

on the beach, this edition of MEMS trends will provide you just what you need to

relax and dream about future applications of MEMS devices and new technology

trends. For instance, you will read how mobile phones are becoming a hub for

wearable sensors for leisure, activity monitoring or even health monitoring.

Mobile phones and tablets are not only driving the current demand of MEMS

sensors, but are also a source development for both new generation and new

types of sensors, mainly towards smaller, highly integrated and low power

consumption. The value of MEMs used in cell phones and tablets increased by

$500M in 2012 and is expected to grow to $6.4B by 2018. New applications such

as indoor navigation, weather stations or voice recognition, and many others

are paving the way for other types of devices lead by RF MEMS, optical MEMS,

pressure and humidity sensors.

For instance, Sensirion has released a humidity sensor to the market, which

is now included in a number of mobile phones in Japan and recently into the

Samsung Galaxy S4. Moving forward, you will read how sensors are playing a

supporting role for the development of complex applications such as location based

services and indoor navigation. To make it happen, it requires the combination of

different types and sensors (pressure sensors, accelerometers, RFMEMS…) and

development of appropriate software, which is new for MEMS players.

We wish you a pleasant reading.

Frédéric Breussin, Business Unit Manager, MEMS & Sensors, Yole Développement

For more information, please contact S. Leroy ([email protected])

...You will read how sensors are playing

a supporting role for the development

of complex applications...

• SEMICON TaiwanSept. 4 to 6 - Taipei, Taiwan

• MEPTEC/Medical Electronics SymposiumSept. 17 to 18 - Tempe, AZ, USA

• MEPTEC / Semiconductor RoadmapsSymposiumSept. 24 - Santa Clara, CA, USA

• ChinanoSept. 24 to 27 - Suzhou, China

• SEMICON EuropaOct. 8 to 10 - Dresden, Germany

E V E N T S

Page 4: MEM's Trends 2013

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

GOLD PARTNERS:

FINANCIAL BUZZ • Memsic is fi nally acquired 6

INDUSTRY REVIEW • Innovations all along the value chain will create new markets for sensor

devices connected to the mobile phone 8

COMPANY INSIGHT • Sensirion brings temperature and humidity sensors to the mobile phones 12

• Qualcomm works on building the ecosystem for indoor navigationand location based services 14

• Freescale sees sensor hub as near term solution for integration of more sensors 16

• Cavendish Kinetics’ expects its RF MEMS to be in consumer product by end of year 18

• Tactus Technology uses microfl uidics for pop-up keyboard on the touchscreen 20

ANALYST CORNER • Smart phones and tablets on track to become $6 billion opportunity

for MEMS sensors 22

EVENT REVIEW • MEMS in Motion collaboration event moves to Sonoma this November 25

• Innovation opportunities in Europe for Swiss SMEs 26

REVERSE ENGINEERING • Adding value to MEMS with bigger die 27

C O N T E N T S

FROM I-MICRONEWS.COM

Stay connected with your peers on i-Micronews.com

W i t h 2 2 , 0 0 0 m o n t h l y v i s i t o r s , i-Micronews.com provides for MEMS area: cur rent news, market & technological analysis, key leader interviews, webcasts section, reverse engineering / costing, events calendar, latest reports…

Please visit our website to discover the last top stories in MedTech - Microfl uidics and BioMEMS:• Latest report: Status of the MEMS

Industry• Next webcast: Manufacturing trends

for consumer inertial MEMS, on Nov.13 at 8.00 AM PDT (Sponsored by MIG)

• News: MEMSCAP ships 50 million MEMS devices for the consumer market

• News: Meet with key partners to turn your innovation into success …

4 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Environmental sensing.(Courtesy of Sensirion)

Page 5: MEM's Trends 2013

Sponsored by Hosted by

Teledyne DALSA announces MIDIS™, the MEMS Integrated Designfor Inertial Sensors platform. MIDIS™ is the new MEMS technology ideal for high volume / low cost inertial sensing applications.

MIDIS™ PLATFORM BREAKS THEONE-PROCESS-PER-PRODUCTMEMS PARADIGM

WEBCAST AVAILABLE TODAY

To view or review the webcast, please go to I-Micronews.comand access the Archived Webcast section.

SEMI MEMS Tech SeminarBringing MEMS science to the heart of MEMS industrial success

Sponsored by:

Hosted by:

26 September 2013, Castelletto (Italy) - www.semi.org/euHosted by STMicroelectronics

Organized by:

Contact: [email protected]

This Tech Seminar is a SEMI Europe initiative to support European companies, start ups and laboratories involved in the growing MEMS market.

Fraunhofer-IZMLab4MEMS (KET pilot line)Microcontrol Electronic

KeynotesInvited talks from executives & technical expertsSpeed Networking sessionsNetworking Dinner on Sept 25th

The Tech Seminar will feature:

STMicroelectronicsSüss MicroTecYole Developpement

Net

wor

king

Day

king

Page 6: MEM's Trends 2013

Memsic is fi nally acquired

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

6 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

F I N A N C I A L B U Z Z

Laurent Robin, Activity Leader,Inertial MEMS Devices& Technologies, Yole Développement

Memsic has fi nally agreed to be acquired by IDG, which announced its intentions back in November ‘12. The acquisition price of $4.225 per share seems rather high, considering that the stock was trading at around $1.74 before the November announcement.

Company Product type Transaction type

Transaction value (USD)

Acquirer Yole Développement comment

April 2013

Memsic(USA/CN)

MEMS accelerometers, magnetometers, fl ow sensors,

inertial systems

Acquisition $102MIDG-Accel China

Capital II, L.P. and Affi liates

See above article

BodyMedia(USA)

Wearable electronics: arm

bands, disposable fi tness patches,

etc.

Acquisition $100M+Jawbone (an Aliph

Inc. company)

Wearable electronics is heating up and represents a large market opportunity for MEMS sensor manufacturers.BodyMedia integrates MEMS accelerometers (from Kionix and ST) into its fi tness application systems. We note that no gyroscopes are presently used; this would enable more precise monitoring and new Sports applications, but power consumption would be too high. However, gyroscopes could be part of larger, future systems.On the heels of its current product -- a wrist device that must be worn for six months -- BodyMedia is targeting a much larger market with its new product: a disposable patch worn for one week, with a $30 sales price.

Owl biomedical(USA)

MEMS-based cell sorting platform

Acquisition NA Miltenyi Biotec

Incorporated in 2010, OWL biomedical (previously "J2D BioMedical, Inc."), a spin-off of IMT, a MEMS foundry, was an early-stage company that developed a disruptive cell sorting technology based on a silicon chip. This technology will compliment Miltenyi Biotec's sample preparation and cell isolation portfolios.

M&A

Memsic is well-known for being the fi rst large MEMS company to be publicly traded. The introductory share price was $10 in

December 2007, but it never went higher. Thus, and to state the obvious, Memsic was not a big success as a listed company. The reason for this is linked to the company’s market and technology position over the years: although Memsic focused on the fastest-growing sensor segments (consumer accelerometers, followed by magnetometers), it was rarely able to become a major player. Specifi c to accelerometers, Memsic’s thermal technology had some benefi ts, but too many drawbacks for the mobile market (power consumption, diffi culty in obtaining multi-axis integration, etc.). Regarding magnetometers, Memsic was at one time shipping very high volumes to Samsung, but this suddenly stopped for reasons unknown (probably because margins were way too low; also, there were rumors of reliability issues).

Although Memsic was rarely able to turn a profi t in the past, that doesn’t mean the company can’t have a bright future. There are good reasons for positive expectations; reasons which explain IDG’s unusually high valuation:• Memsic developed a diversifi ed portfolio in terms of

product types and end-applications (in automotive, mobile phones and other consumer devices).

• Memsic controls many sensor types (and should add more in the near future, with gyroscopes being key) and has sensor fusion knowledge thanks to their 2010 acquisition of Crossbow. This will be important for future success, since the market will require modules that combine sensors for more integration, lower cost and sensor fusion.

• New technology platforms are being developed with partners such as TSMC. We expect this will involve technologies more suitable for integration, and thus suitable for Mobile markets (Capacitive Detection, likely).

• Lastly, Memsic is currently very focused on and well-connected to the local Chinese market. In fact, Memsic is currently the only Chinese player able to provide inertial sensors in high volumes. This area will experience considerable growth in the coming years, and Memsic’s cost structure seems focused on providing sensors at the market-required low cost.

However, signifi cant challenges do remain, as large players (STMicroelectronics, Bosch, InvenSense) have already developed a strong foothold in sensors and combos for mobile applications. Thus, it will be interesting to see if Memsic can increase its market presence, or whether it will remain a niche-area player (which is not always bad, as this approach could be profi table).

Stay tuned!

Page 7: MEM's Trends 2013

Company Product type Investment type

New investment level (USD)

Investors Yole Développement comment

April 13

Hurel(USA)

Artifi cial tissue constructs and

microfl uidic cell-based assay

platforms

Serie A $9.2M

Spring Mountain Capital (+ several

other private investor entities)

Hurel is developing a patented lab-on-chip technology that uses microfl uidic pump.

RainDance Technologies

(USA)Lab-on-chip Serie E $20M

Myriad Genetics+ existing investors

(Mohr Davidow Ventures, Quaker BioVentures, Alloy Ventures, Acadia Woods Partners,

and Sectoral Asset Management)

RainDance Technologies is a leader in microfl uidic technology for Single-Cell Analysis, and has many customers worldwide. The company has developed a unique technology, based on polymer chips, that allows for tiny, uniform droplets. This technology can be used for DNA sequencing with high throughput, proteomics, and any other Single-Cell Analysis application. Currently, the chips are produced at Sony DADC.This funding will be used by RainDance to develop its next generation of solutions and relocate to a new headquarters.

May 2013

Proteus Digital Health(USA)

Bio-MEMS: ingestible sensors Serie F $62.5M

Oracle + existing investors (Otsuka,

Novartis, Sino Portfolio and others)

Proteus is a well-funded company, with a-list investors including Medtronic, Novartis, St Jude Medical, On Semiconductor, and now Oracle.Proteus has developed 1mm² ingestible sensors that monitor a patient's pill ingestion identity and timing via a small amount of voltage that's generated when the sensor contacts stomach fl uid. This information, along with information on activity, heart rate and body position, can be shared with the patient's doctor. FDA approval was obtained in 2012; commercialization and technology integration is ongoing.

Plures Technologies

(USA)

MEMS andthin-fi lm magnetic

devices

Capital raise (secured term loan

+ convertible notes)

$5M

An unnamed "sophisticated

specialty fi nance lender that focuses on growing technology-based companies" +

existing shareholders, including RENN

Capital and Cedarview Capital, along with

Plures' management team

Plures' is the parent company of Avanced Microsensors (AMS) foundry. AMS is known for being Memsic's magnetometer foundry. We note that in 2012, AMS' revenue increased slightly to $5.5M, with a net loss of $4.3M. This is in line with Memsic's fl at magnetometer year, since its main customer, Samsung, departed in '12.AMS is involved in various promising magnetometer technologies and in other types of MEMS devices, including switches.

Qualtre(USA)

MEMS gyroscope 5th round $3M Alps Electric

Alps Electric is willing to become a key MEMS player. Alps already enjoys large magnetometer and MEMS pressure sensor production, and has developed many other sensor types, such as humidity and UV sensors.Under the agreement, Alps provides Qualtre with manufacturing services (in particular for the packaging part), and we expect that Alps will commercialize Qualtre's gyroscope sensors in high-volume markets -- namely Consumer and Automotive, where Alps has a large component business. Commercialization of the fi rst products generation should occur by early/mid-2014.Qualtre's BAW technology has a unique IP position, which is a key advantage in today's gyro landscape. Other value propositions include high performance (vibration sensitivity, noise, drift) and the possibility of integrating an accelerometer on the same die.

New investments (VC rounds, IPOs)

www.yole.fr

I S S U E N ° 1 5 J U L Y 2 0 1 3

7M E M S ’ T r e n d s

M&A

Company Product type Transaction type

Transaction value (USD)

Acquirer Yole Développement comment

May 2013

Axiom IC(NL)

Circuits related to data converters and audio (low-

power, high-resolution, etc.)

Acquisition NA Teledyne Dalsa

Axiom was founded in 2007 as a spin-off of the University of Twente. Dalsa's motivation for this acquisition is to add a team of mixed signal circuit design specialists. This will not specifi cally be synergic with Dalsa's MEMS foundry business, but rather with the company's Digital Imaging and HV ASIC activities.

June 2013

Xactix(USA)

Xenon difl uoride (XeF2) etch tools

Acquisition NA SPTS

Xactix was the leader in XeF2 etching technology. This specifi c etching method is of high interest for RF MEMS and MEMS displays in particular, where metallic materials can be etched with an exceptional aspect ratio.This acquisition follows several years of development, marketing and sales between SPTS and Xactix.

Page 8: MEM's Trends 2013

I N D U S T R Y R E V I E W

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

Innovations all along the value chain will create new markets for sensor devices connected to the mobile phone

M E M S ’ T r e n d s8

Now that the smartphone provides a handy processing platform, others are developing innovative types of sensors as well that

will enable a wide variety of new kinds of wearable devices and other connected products. These include integrated combo sensors for smarter activity tracking, fl exible sensor packaging that conforms to the body, and low power gas sensors for new applications. Wearable device makers are also starting to fi gure out what consumers actually want in these new markets. Compact, low power combo sensors enable next generation wearable devices

The current generation of wearable devices has made big strides with sophisticated algorithms that derive an impressive range of information from an accelerometer. But the coming generation of

connected devices will add more sensors to deliver smaller size, lower power and better recognition of different activities, often from combo sensor devices that include gyroscopes, accelerometers, pressure sensors, and magnetometers.

“We have multiple customers already in production with 6- and 9-axis integrated combo sensors, and new products coming to consumers early next year,” says Ali Foughi, InvenSense VP of Marketing and Business Development. “To improve activity detection and overall calorie- count accuracy, most wearable sensor designs are using a combination of accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and pressure sensors.” Foughi suggests that classifying users’ activities, seeing how much time they spend doing different activities and how many calories they burn, is a major driver of demand for wearable devices. Plenty of health conscience consumers want to know and track more details about how hard, far

Mobile phones are not only driving the current demand for MEMS sensors, but also provide a platform that is driving development of a new generation of sensor technology for wearable devices that connect to these ever-present computers.

“We have multiple customers already in

production with6- and 9-axis

integrated combo sensors, and new

products coming to consumers early next

year,” says Ali Foughi, InvenSense.

MC10's sensor system can stretchand bend. (Coutesy of MC10)

I N D U S T R Y R E V I E W

Page 9: MEM's Trends 2013

and fast they run, bike, golf, kick, or swim. Adding the pressure sensor and a gyroscope for example, will help accurately detect and measure different activities, resulting in a more precise calculation of calories burned or energy expended.

These higher levels of sensor integration are enabling whole new accessory markets. “There will be more opportunities for mobile accessories which collect data from multiple on-board sensors, process and transfer it via Bluetooth LE to the smart phone which moves it directly to the cloud via the cellular network,” says Foughi. “Applications in this area include fi tness watches and activity trackers, extreme sports cameras, and sports equipment from soccer shoes to basketballs to tennis rackets to golf clubs.” “The market leaders in wearables will move to the lowest power and smallest sensors available,” says Foughi. Power is particularly a challenge for wearable devices. Users may recharge their phones every night, but they expect their wearable devices to operate a week or two between charges. Foughi reports that InvenSense made its own reference design which includes its 9-axis SoC and several other sensors and found it needed charging only once a week. The company says the inertial sensors, calibration and fusion algorithms in the 9-axis device have power dissipation of 6.7mW, all in a 3 x 3 x 1mm QFN package.

Flexible sensor systems enable better monitoring of the body

More can be done with wearable sensors if they can be attached directly to the body, in more fl exible, conformable systems. One potential solution is MC10’s fl exible packaging, squiggly, stretchy metal interconnects for connecting thinned sensors, all embedded in fl exible polymer. First commercial application is in the recently released Reebok Checklight soft sensing skull cap, which measures impacts to the head to warn sports players and coaches of possible injuries.

The first generation product puts the smallest commercially available BGA 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyro on fl ex circuit substrate, and then encapsulates the system in fl exible protective layers to robustly withstand fl exing in use. The cap analyzes the seriousness of the impact and signals with a warning light when it reaches dangerous levels. “The system needs a gyroscope as well as an accelerometer because the rotation is also a signifi cant factor in head injuries,” notes Kevin Dowling, MC10 VP of R&D.

The second generation of this head-impact monitor, now being built, and many of MC10’s other wearable sensor products also in development, will used thinned bare die instead of packaged MEMS and ICs for more fl exible systems. The company thins the die or wafers down from millimeters to only microns thick, connects them with the springy interconnects

and encapsulates them in layers of silicone. Clever design creates a neutral mechanical plane between tensed and compressed layers to protect these thinned die.

These stretchy sensor systems with thinned die can then be adhered directly to the skin like a bandaid and send out their data wirelessly. This close contact with the skin also allows direct measurement of more biological data--such as hydration, body temperature and electrical signals from the heart-- using other unique fl exible sensors that MC10 has developed in house. “The proximity to the skin results in high fi delity data requiring less processing,” says Dowling.

The fl exible packaging also enables data to be gathered from inside the body as well, by putting the sensors on the tip of a catheter. One application in development puts the fl exible, stretchy sensors on a kind of balloon, then inserts the system through a blood vessel and infl ates it once it reaches a target organ. The conformal contact inside the blood vessels there allows collection of a dense set of electrical measurements over an area of the heart, for example, for a clearer picture of heart function to plan and evaluate ablation treatment for atrial fi bulation.

More form factors help drive commercialization of new kindsof sensors

The growing acceptance of the range of devices connected to smart phones to convert sensor data into useful information could also ease the adoption of new kinds of sensors. One interesting possibility could be chemical sensors, now that the makers of such sensors are seeing interest from potential users, and have turned their attention to reducing the size and power usage of the devices to make them better suited for mobile platforms.

I S S U E N ° 1 5 J U L Y 2 0 1 3

9M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Smartphones and tablets: at the coreof wearable electronics / Connected devices

Example of new devices(Source: MEMS for Cell Phones and Tablets, Yole Développement, June 2013)

MPU 9150-cutaway. (Courtesy of InvenSense)

Page 10: MEM's Trends 2013

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

M E M S ’ T r e n d s10

One example is Synkera’s gas sensor technology for detecting carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds or breath alcohol. The company is now sampling a low power micromachined sensor in a 3x3mm surface mount package, suitable for integration in a mobile device or wearable tag, to a range of potential integrators.

While Synkera is well established in its industrial markets for gas sensors for worker health and safety, it hadn’t seen much reason before to try to make them ultra small or ultra low power. But with the rising sophistication of mobile phones, the US Department of Homeland Security started looking for proposals for miniature gas sensors for mobile devices, and Synkera partnered with Qualcomm to develop a carbon monoxide sensor that worked with motion sensors and a phone app to identify a person down from CO poisoning and alert help, which it demonstrated with emergency responders’ communication systems.

“Hundreds of people die from the CO poisoning every year, even though sensors are available for buildings,” says Debra Deininger, VP of strategic business, noting that connecting the gas sensors to smarter devices that can detect if a person is in the area and not moving and alert help could be much more useful than just mounting them on a wall.

Synkera’s technology relies on a nanoporous ceramic to create a large surface area for the chemical reactant, then senses the big change in resistance when the reactant reacts with the target gas. The large surface area is composed of regularly arrayed columnar holes, made simply by anodizing aluminum to create aluminum oxide. “It’s a simple process you could do in your garage with aluminum foil and acid, but the trick is doing it controllably, to make the holes of the desired size, as small as 10nm or up to 150-200nm,” Deininger explains. The company then isolates the small sensor area by micromachining, and adds thin fi lm

platinum heaters and bond pads. The heater is used to activate some sensing reactions and then clear out the detected chemicals afterwards. It reduces power usage by cycling on and off, currently reportedly averaging <1mW for most applications. Since the area needed to sense the CO is only a few microns, the company is now working on putting more sensors into the same packaging, or making the package smaller.

The same basic platform with different reactants or temperatures can detect CO, VOCs for indoor air quality, alcohol in the breath, and NOx and ozone for environmental air quality, while the anodized aluminum oxide alone can also serve to measure humidity. Air quality measures would be particularly useful for alerting people with compromised lung function to modify their activities depending on local conditions, for which the company reports considerable interest particularly from Asia. Further out, the sensors could potentially detect changes in physiological markers in the breath for health and fi tness monitoring.

“About 30% of the interest now is for carbon monoxide sensing,” says Deininger. “But we expect to see most of these applications in the market within the next two years.”

But mass market needs no-fuss devices

While there will clearly be a wide range of wearable sensor sensor devices with different functions to come, it remains unclear which applications will see major demand. The successful devices so far are targeted primarily at helping a general user increase their daily level of activity and potentially improve fi tness and lose weight. That means the fi rst key issues have been to design a device comfortable and attractive enough so people will wear it all the time, and to make it easy and appealing enough to use that they will be motivated to keep using it, and to change what they do.

“What is important is to link the sensor and hardware to intelligent software, and to give users the tools to analyze the data and share their experience,” says Benoit Raimbault, marketing, EMEA, for Fitbit, one of the leading makers of fi tness trackers so far. “And it has to be so comfortable to wear that you can forget about it.”

Fitbit targets the mass market where it fi gures people simply want to track their everyday activities, not details of specifi c sports performance or health indicators. Its newest generation of products added Bluetooth for simple wireless syncing with the phone as key to ease of use. But it offers a choice of some trade offs between accuracy and convenience with its different models. The company’s clip-on product

“Reebok Checklight soft sensing skull cap

measures impacts to the head to warn sports players and

coaches of possible injuries,” notes

Kevin Dowling, MC10.

UltraKera SMT. (Courtesy of Synkera)

Page 11: MEM's Trends 2013

I S S U E N ° 1 5 J U L Y 2 0 1 3

11M E M S ’ T r e n d s

includes a pressure sensor to give data on fl ights of stairs as well as steps, for more accurate calculation of calories burned, and a display that shows the number of steps taken. Its fl exible wrist band model, on the other hand, uses a more compact sensor unit with only an accelerometer for coarser data, but with a smaller device in a narrow band more suitable for wearing all the time. This can add sleep monitoring, while eliminating the hassle of having to remember to clip on the device daily or to take it out of the pocket before laundering, and can be accurate enough for many people to track their activity levels. “The main barriers for wearables are size and autonomy,” Raimbault suggests. “Most people want wearables to be things they don’t need to think about. Even charging the battery every week is painful, compared with, say, a watch….More sensors can add more capabilities, but we have to make sure there is real user benefi t.” Making wearable data motivating also means lots of software for everything from setting goals and tracking improvements, to online sharing and competing with friends, to awarding online badges for levels of achievement. Fitbit also sees a defi nite

segment of users who, once they use the devices for a while, start to want more data, and to add input from more devices.

Wearables remain mostly a US market so far, with Europe and Asia probably a year or so behind in the adoption rate. While sports equipment makers and health care providers will likely play a role in specifi c applications, so may smart phone and telecommunication service players, especially in Asia. Japan’s Softbank is already offering the Fitbit wristband as an add-on to its phone service contracts for $5 a month. “We are just at the beginning of this market,” Raimbault notes. “We all still have a lot to invent.”

Paula Doe for Yole Développement

“The same basic platform with different reactants or temperatures can detect CO, VOCs for indoor air quality, alcohol in the breath, and NOx and ozone for environmental air quality,” says Debra Deininger, Synkera.

Debra J. Deininger, VP of Strategic Business, SynkeraDebra Deininger manages Synkera’s research, manufacturing and commercialization efforts on sensors and related products. She has designed, developed and commercialized a wide range of innovative gas and liquid sensors based upon chemiresistive, catalytic, amperometric, potentiometric and acoustic designs in her 16 years of experience in the gas detection industry. Before

Synkera, she worked for Mine Safety Appliances (MSA), a leading manufacturer of gas detection products, and Nanomaterials Research. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. degree in Analytical Chemistry from Colorado State University.

Kevin Dowling, Vice President of R&D, MC10Prior to MC10, Kevin was VP of Innovation at Philips Color Kinetics where he built and led the engineering team at Color Kinetics and was active in a variety of strategic roles in Color Kinetics’ IPO in 2004 and acquisition by Philips in 2007 for $800M. He helped develop the winning entrant by Philips for the DoE $10M L-Prize. Prior to Color Kinetics, Kevin was Chief Robotics Engineer for PRI

Automation where he advanced factory automation systems for the semiconductor industry. He also has over 15 years of experience in advanced robotics engineering at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where he led many projects including robotic systems for a Lunar Rover demo, Space Shuttle inspection at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and the Mars Rover Project. Kevin received his BS in Mathematics and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Ali Foughi, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, InvenSenseFoughi currently serves as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at InvenSense. He is an accomplished business executive with a strong background in engineering. Prior to joining InvenSense, Foughi spent 18 years at Maxim Integrated Products, where he took on a wide range of engineering and

business responsibilities. As Vice President and General Manager, he had P&L responsibility with annual revenues of $250 to $300 million, led approximately 300 professionals in several worldwide design and application centers, and was instrumental in recruiting top-notch talent to Maxim. Before joining Maxim, Foughi spent 10 years as Senior System Designer at LTX Corporation, where his innovative fi lter designs dramatically enhanced the performance of Automatic Test Equipment.

Benoit Raimbault, Marketing Director EMEA, FitbitBenoît Raimbault is the Marketing Director EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) for Fitbit, the leading innovator and market leader in the growing Connected Health & Fitness category. Prior to Fitbit, Benoît held several different business & marketing positions within Eastman Kodak Company. Before joining Kodak, Benoît Raimbault spent several years working in the consumer electronic

industry with Alcatel-Lucent and Apple.

“We are just at the beginning of this market. We all still have a lot to invent,” says Benoit Raimbault, Fitbit.

Fitbit Flex. (Courtesy of Fitbit)

Page 12: MEM's Trends 2013

C O M P A N Y I N S I G H T

Sensirion brings temperature and humidity sensors to the mobile phoneSensirion’s efforts to get its temperature and humidity sensor into smart phones had as much to do with its software as with its silicon, as it developed both the engine for compensating for the changing heat inside the phone, and the API for Android developers. First application is the personal weather station, but long term potential might be to take advantage of the very low power environmental information for context awareness.

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

Making micromachined temperature and humidity sensors for the smart phone meant shrinking the size of the silicon, but

equally important was the software development. Sensirion’s temperature compensation software to adjust for the changing heat inside the phone is key to the accuracy of its sensor now included in the Samsung Galaxy S4. The sensor maker also wrote the API for the sensor for Android for app developers.

The fi rst application is a personal weather station that reports heat and humidity at the user’s location. Suggestions for other potential applications range from logging athletic performance in different weather conditions and adjusting training and hydration appropriately, to controlling the phone by blowing on the screen—perhaps for taking photos while holding the phone still, or for the disabled. Others have suggested the possibility of dressing avatars for the current local weather for more immersive gaming, or of adjusting skin care for particularly dry or humid conditions. While these may not seem like particularly major drivers, as co-CEO and co-founder Moritz Lechner notes: “If you have the sensor, why not?”

More potentially useful, he suggests, may be using the very low power device (2μW at 1 reading per second) for baseline location information, to detect changes before waking up other sensors for more detail. “It’s very low power, so it can monitor all the time, and can be combined with other sensors that use more power,” he says.

The sensors reached the mainstream with Samsung’s inclusion in its fl agship Galaxy S4. But a few phones in Japan have also used the device over the last several years, initially driven largely by network carrier interest in gathering multi point temperature and humidity data across a region. Until the sensor was widely availabile, however, there was no reason for Google to add the APIs for developers write apps for the sensor. So Sensirion wrote the needed code itself, and then got Google to merge the API into its Android operating system.

The humidity sensor is essentially a capacitor, made with a polymer dielectric that changes capacitance as it absorbs moisture. It’s integrated monolithically in CMOS with the temperature sensor, the analog/digital converter, the signal processer and some memory to hold the calibration data, on the same die. Micromachined interdigitated fi ngers of electrode and polymer speed up response time. The die is overmolded in a 2 x 2mm package, leaving an opening in the molding for the sensor’s access to the environment.

Sensirion says close integration of the humidity and temperature sensor enables more accurate measurements, and processing these weak signals close to the sensors allows amplifi cation and digitization with the least noise. “Putting the signal amplifi cation near the sensor allows the polymer layers to be optimized for long term stability, not signal strength,” says Lechner, noting that the real challenge for making an accurate humidity sensor is stabilizing the polymer and calibrating the sensor. The company reports accuracy for the sensor itself is +/- 3% for relative humidity and +/-0.3°C for temperature.

The temperature sensor of course has to calculate the ambient temperature outside the phone from what it actually measures inside the phone, and that internal temperature varies widely, as, say, the phone heats up in very heavy use, and then cools down slowly. The compensation software compares the data from the temperature sensor with information from other areas of the phone to

12 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Felix Mayer& Moritz Lechner,Co-Founders & Co-CEOs,Sensirion

Humidity and temperature sensor.(Courtesy of Sensirion)

Page 13: MEM's Trends 2013

Felix Mayer, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Sensirion He researched at ETH Zurich in micro technology. He spent f ive years with Siemens, and is co-founder of Sensirion AG and co-CEO since 1998. He won many entrepreneurial awards. He studied physics at ETH Zurich, Ph.D. in micro technology.

Moritz Lechner, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, SensirionHe researched at ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute in the fi elds of microelectronics and detector technology. He is the co-founder of Sensirion AG and co-CEO since 1998. He won numerous entrepreneurial awards during his career. He studied physics at ETH, Ph.D. at ETH Zurich.

quickly adjust its ambient temperature reading based on a smart analysis of what’s going on inside the phone, preferably optimized for the specifi c phone model.

Lechner and Felix Mayer founded the spinoff from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) 15 years ago, and now run it as co-CEOs. The company makes temperature and humidity sensors integrated in CMOS for wide range of applications, from controls for air conditioning systems and refrigerators, to automotive climate control, anti fogging, and engine optimization. It also makes MEMS fl ow sensors for gases and liquids.

www.sensirion.com

“More potentially useful, may be using the very low power device for baseline locationinformation, to detect changes beforewaking up other sensors for more detail,”says Moritz Lechner.

M E M S ’ T r e n d s

A humidity and

temperature sensor

made from a tiny

die using Sensirion’s

CMOSens® process...

Discoverthe new reverse costing

analysis onwww.i-micronews.com

Sensirion Humidity &

Temperature Sensor

Page 14: MEM's Trends 2013

C O M P A N Y I N S I G H T

Qualcomm works on building the ecosystem for indoor navigation and location based servicesBig players are getting together to create the complex ecosystem to make seamless indoor location information on mobile devices a reality, with sensors playing a supporting role.

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

Indoor location and context awareness will provide a huge potential opportunity for new kinds of mobile applications, but building

the ecosystem to provide seamless and accurate information, and a consistent user experience, across multiple different systems is also a huge job. Big players are getting together to fi gure out how to make the chip sets, servers, maps and software from different providers work together to make it happen.

The wide deployment of WiFi networks in venues means WiFi will be the backbone of many indoor location systems. But inertial sensors will also be used to help deliver a seamless location experience, and particularly where better than one meter accuracy is needed.

“The goal for a truly seamless location experience is to leverage all the signal inputs on the smartphone, so consumers can fi nd what they need in any environment, with the least use of power, says Leslie Presutti, Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm-Atheros, noting the use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), terrestrial data, WiFi, and sensors.

The main role for sensors may be outdoors in urban canyons where satellite signals are blocked by buildings, or in the transition from outdoor to indoors. “Our belief is that sensors can help when other signals are not available. However, sensors tend to drift and can be power intensive, so may not be the best long-term solution indoors,” she notes. In internal studies, though, Qualcomm fi nds that sensor data improves the auto navigation experience by a 2X in challenging urban environments. It also sees power savings from turning off the GNSS when the sensors indicate the user does not need navigation.

Qualcomm’s solution integrates the modem with the GNSS, so that the chipset can use the modem to keep a constant fi x on location with GNSS when it’s on, and then hold that fi x in a warm state so it can be called up immediately when needed, to improve accuracy and save power in many cases.

Its IZAT solution uses the WiFi infrastructure and WiFi chipsets for indoor location with accuracy within 5 meters or better. But for consumers to use these systems, there needs to be an entire ecosystem of seamless technology and useful applications, with all the parts working together. So Presutti notes that

14 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Leslie Presutti, Senior Director of Product Management Mobile, Location and Computing Business Unit,Qualcomm Atheros

“The goal for a truly seamless location

experience is to leverage all the signal inputs on

the smartphone, so consumers can fi nd

what they need in any environment,”says Leslie Presutti.

The IZat location platform. (Courtesy of Qualcomm Atheros)

Page 15: MEM's Trends 2013

23

I S S U E N ° 1 4 A P R I L 2 0 1 3

M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Qualcomm is working with companies across the whole value chain, from venues that need to add the infrastructure for value-added services, to map providers, to wireless access point infrastructure vendors, to system integrators to host both coupons and promotions aimed at consumers and analytics on customers for venue owners.

The company recently announced its partnership with Cisco Systems, which has a big percentage of the growing market for enterprise wireless access points and management systems, to interface Qualcomm location chip sets with Cisco’s wireless systems indoors, to address the scale challenges. Cisco’s mobility service engine aims to expand beyond monitoring the performance of the enterprise WiFi system to also using that system for everything from tracking assets and monitoring traffi c patterns to offering maps and personalized location-based information. Qualcomm is also working with many app developers to deliver applications and software platforms for indoor location services for both consumers and venues.

Other big players are similarly working on moving indoor location services forward. Google is aggressively mapping many indoor locations. Apple recently acquired the indoor mapping startup WiFiSLAM, which apparently has technology to ease indoor mapping by locating wireless points, and by collecting path data from the sensors in many mobile phones passing through the area. Aruba, a provider of WiFi access point hardware, recently acquired Meridian, a provider of indoor mapping platforms and applications. “We’ll see more consolidation as people come to understand that this is such a huge endeavor,” says Presutti.

Also helping to foster development of the ecosystem is the In-Location Alliance, an industry organization with more than 60 members from across the sector trying to come up with common interfaces for WiFi and low power Bluetooth indoor location systems, and sharing information on pilot programs and the like to help move the business forward. “I’ve heard there are more than 100 companies trying to pitch indoor location systems,” says Presutti. “You can’t have that without some sort of agreement on how it will all work, for some consistent experience for the user.” Issues to be worked out include such things as a consistent formats for the digital indoor maps from different providers, and for delivering the analytics across different systems. Consistent interfaces will also be vital for servers from the different systems integrators and for communication with the enterprises’ own backend servers for enable effi cient use with other corporate data.

“When you think of it all at once it is overwhelming, but when you take it step by step it’s doable,” says Presutti. “There’s a willingness from many players to defi ne the interfaces. The industry at its recent meeting was already starting to coalesce around some things. But it will defi nitely take some time. It won’t happen in a year.”

www.qualcomm.com

Need to know

more about the

hottest sensor

market?

Discover the NEWreport on

i-Micronews.com/reports

MEMS for Cell Phones & Tablets

Leslie Presutti, Senior Director of Product Management Mobile, Location and Computing Business Unit, Qualcomm AtherosLeslie currently serves as senior director of product management for Qualcomm Atheros’ location and GNSS business. She also manages business development for the group. Leslie has been with Qualcomm for 15 years, managing initiatives within Qualcomm’s GPS, audio and sensor-based technologies. Leslie holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Penn State University.

Page 16: MEM's Trends 2013

C O M P A N Y I N S I G H T

Freescale sees sensor hub as near term solution for integration of more sensorsOpen platform MCU with physical and software hooks for attaching any kind of sensor could help speed development time, ease integration of diverse sensors.

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

Freescale Semiconductor aims to speed development of products using more new sensors with its open- platform sensor

hub. The hub consists of an MCU plus a 3-axis accelerometer, with physical and software connections to interface with other sensors, and a platform for users to create their own custom algorithms for other sensors as well. “It’s a sandbox for engineers to explore new devices and new applications,” says Babak Taheri, Freescale’s new VP &GM of the sensor and actuator business. He suggests the platform could ease the integration of a pressure sensor to feed into the indoor navigation system, or the addition of a temperature and humidity sensor, or chemical sensing, for example. “It’s the interim solution—the Swiss army knife of MEMS,” he notes. “It will take years for all these other sensors, including pressure and humidity, to be fully integrated otherwise.”

Freescale offers its own magnetometer and software for adding to the hub to create an e-compass, so is apparently primarily targeting many diverse applications including mainstream motion processing. It plans to offer an open source library of sensor integration solutions, probably starting with pressure sensors and gyros, as well as working with customers on integration of other sensors and custom applications.

The volume and number of features and functions of sensors in mobile devices are rapidly increasing, beyond motion and pressure to things like eye-tracking to determine what the user is doing, image stability, ambient light, bio-monitoring and probably some 20 or 30 other functions all coming, notes Taheri. These sensors will all need integration, and not just sensor fusion, but increasingly also intelligent interaction with other context data for more sophisticated functions.

These sorts of context awareness applications will require heavy data processing that will put a heavy load on the processor, creating the need for one or even two more processors to do the sensor data processing, probably with some processing at the sensor level and some at the hub. Meanwhile, the only integrated sensors with higher level functionality currently available off the shelf are accelerator/magnetometer and accelerator/gyroscope combos. Everything else remains a separate package, and the intermediate solution is to use a sensor hub. Freescale’s 32-bit MCU hub includes memory and management systems to reduce power usage, in addition to a high performance 3- axis accelerometer. The development kits have interfaces for both Android and Windows.

“While phones remain the big market, as those fi ll with sensors many systems developers are looking at applications in other markets, spurred by the Internet of things, where sensor hubs open the door to markets that will need other sensors and other functions,” suggests Taheri.

This open platform on the sensor hub will provide a shortcut for initial development of new systems with many sensors, but ultimately Freescale aims to provide exclusive solutions for its customers,

16 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Babak Taheri, Vice President and General Manager, Freescale Semiconductor

“It’s a sandbox for engineers to explore new devices and new

applications—a Swiss army knife of MEMS,” says Babak Taheri.

(Courtesy of Freescale Semiconductor)

Page 17: MEM's Trends 2013

I S S U E N ° 1 5 J U L Y 2 0 1 3

Taheri says, which will mean adding a mass producible gyro of its own to its lineup of consumer accelerometers, magnetometers and pressure sensors.

After some six weeks on the job, MEMS veteran Taheri says he sees Freescale’s high volume manufacturing capability will be key to its success in MEMS, supported by its capability on the IC side, and its experience meeting the high quality requirements of the automotive market. Part of the company’s semiconductor legacy to be usefully applied to the MEMS industry, he suggests, is the IC-industry’s practice of customer support at all levels. “In the old days of MEMS with analog output, you just had to make sure the die wiggled,” says Taheri. “But in the current world of digital output, sensor hubs, data fusion, and context awareness, the customer needs more support. We have a systems group that can guide developers on how to use sensor data, and an army of software and system guys to support the hardware.”

www.freescale.com

Babak Taheri, Vice President and General Manager, Freescale SemiconductorIn May 2013, Babak Taheri joined freescale as the vice president and general manager of the sensors and actuators solutions division (SASD). Prior to Freescale, Dr. Taheri was the vice president of non-volatile products (NVP) at Cypress Semiconductor where he acquired Ramtorn, and ranked No.1 at Cypress BU for gross margin. Dr. Taheri has held other positions at Cypress including VP of corporate IP, whose team headed up development of Cypress’s fi rst multi-touch sensing technology. He also established over 12 centers of excellence worldwide managing design IP for the corporation. Prior to re-joining Cypress, Dr. Taheri was vice president of engineering at InvenSense Inc., a fabless MEMS semiconductor company focusing on high-volume product delivery to consumer markets. Dr. Taheri has more than 28 years of semiconductor industry experience including founding Integrated Biosensing Technologies, a sensor biomedical corporation. He also has held key positions at Intel, SRI International, Redwood Microsystems, and Apple. Dr. Taheri holds a doctorate degree in electrical engineering & Neurosciences from the University of California at Davis, and more than 21 issued U.S. patents.

Freescale freedom platform with sensors.(Courtesy of Freescale Semiconductor)

M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Which of today’s

IP portfolios will

enable tomorrow’s

successful

gyro growth?

Discover the NEW report on

www.i-Micronews.com/reports

MEMS Gyroscope

Patent Investigation

Page 18: MEM's Trends 2013

C O M P A N Y I N S I G H T

Cavendish Kinetics expects its RF MEMS to be in consumer productby end of yearAs demand for bandwidth challenges mobile phone reception, another potential RF MEMS antenna tuning device moves into qualifi ed production.

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

Cavendish Kinetics says the fi rst production lots of its RFMEMS antenna tuning device at foundry TowerJazz have passed qualifi cation

and are sampling to strategic customers. The company expects to have fully qualifi ed devices available later this summer, and a device out in a consumer product by the end of the year.

The increasing challenges of big displays that block signals, of multiple frequency bands, and of ever more consumer demand for bandwidth for video and other downloads means actual mobile antenna performance may be only 10%-50% of its theoretical effi ciency in communicating with the cell tower. “Tuning the cell phone antenna to change its fundamental resonant frequency to precisely cover the LTE band of 700MHz optimizes its effi ciency—without introducing losses-- and signifi cantly improves system performance,” says Larry Morrell, EVP Marketing & Business Development.

The same tuner attached to the antenna can also match the changing impedance as it shifts under changing conditions, to let more power pass through to the antenna to further improve performance as conditions differ from the most common ones for which the system design was

optimized. Tuning by the variable capacitors in the optimized chip itself reportedly does not add losses as a switch would.

The company reports performance improved by as much ~2X (2-3dB) in LTE/4G bands, for twice the signal at the receiver, for higher data rates and longer battery life for users, and more effi cient network usage for wireless operators.

Cavendish Kinetics suggests its variable capacitor technology addresses some past RF MEMS issues with manufacturability and yield by using an array of hundreds of movable capacitor plates, moving them in groups for each bit, and then using the sum of the group for the reading, so the manufacturing variability or even the failure of individual capacitors doesn’t much matter. Using its proprietary CMOS-integrated process, Cavendish enhances reliability by building the MEMS structure directly within a cavity in the metal interconnect layers in the CMOS process fl ow, entirely in vacuum with no post processing. Morrell says this means a pristine environment with no contaminants to cause stiction and failure. Activating the membrane movement from both the top and the bottom of the cavity, means no free state, and stability at both the top and bottom positions improves RF linearity, and means the whole cavity can be used for a large difference in capacity between the two states. Making the plates of multiple stacked materials, and alternating successive deposition methods, allows biases to cancel out to manage fl atness.

“So far we’ve gone through 2.5 billion cycles with zero failures and zero performance shift,” he says.

The company built up this knowledge of process and design from some twenty years of work on the MEMS-in-CMOS-cavities structures, originally

18 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Larry Morrell, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Business Development,Cavendish Kinetics

“Tuning the cell phone antennato change its fundamental

resonant frequency signifi cantlyimproves system performance,”

says Larry Morrell.

MEMS tuning mobile device antenna. (Courtesy of Cavendish Kinetics)

Antenna frequency tuningTuning the antenna resonant frequency to the band in use

Page 19: MEM's Trends 2013

I S S U E N ° 1 5 J U L Y 2 0 1 3

aimed at permanent memory applications. When the memory devices proved too expensive to be practical, the company brought in new management, veterans of Novellus, Applied Materials and Texas Instruments’ DLP business, to fi nd a new focus. Converting the moveable capacitor arrays from memory switches to RF tuning meant making the plates some 10X larger. The company has been working for the last year with strategic partners across the mobile handset supply chain, from antenna makers to module makers to OEMs.

The same technology can also be used to tune power amplifi ers, and eventually to tune fi lters, to address more bands over a wide range instead of needing a different RF component chain for each band, to reduce the necessary bill of materials. “We’re working on that too, but it’s a very diffi cult problem to solve and still 3-4 years out,” says Morrell.

www.cavendish-kinetics.com

Larry Morrell, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Cavendish KineticsLarry Morrell joined Cavendish Kinetics in 2009 from Impinj, where he was Vice President and General Manager of the IP Products Division. The division created and licensed AEON nonvolatile memory (NVM) IP for semiconductor companies; Impinj’s NVM IP business was later purchased by Virage Logic. Earlier, Mr. Morrell directed marketing for Cypress’ Computer Products Division, which launched the USB and programmable clock product lines. Prior to Cypress, he was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Data I/O Corporation, and he also held various engineering and marketing positions at Seattle Silicon and The Boeing Company. Mr. Morrell has a BS degree in electrical engineering and a BA in languages from New Mexico State University.

MEMS operation as a variable capacitor.(Courtesy of Cavendish Kinetics)

www.plastic-electronics.org

Co-located with:

The Power of [x]

Emerging use-cases which are driving new MEMS technologies

Viable production concepts for MEMS products

The Power of [MEMS]

International MEMS/MST Industry Forum

www.semiconeuropa.org

8–10 October Messe Dresden, Germany

New materials and processes for MEMS, front-end, back-end and testing

Entering a New Growth Cycle!

EUVLED/SSL450mm

More than Moore

3D ICMEMS

Fab AutomationEquipment

Conference Sessions:

Page 20: MEM's Trends 2013

C O M P A N Y I N S I G H T

Tactus Technology uses microfl uidics for pop-up keyboard on the touchscreenLiquid-fi lled bumps could add tactile sensing to the touch screen for easier typing. Combining them with pressure sensors could add new dimensions of control as well.

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

Tactus Technology co-founder Craig Ciesla missed the button keyboard of his Blackberry fi ve years ago when he struggled to get used to typing on his iPhone touch screen, and wondered if transparent microfl uidics could be used to make keyboard buttons on the display. Now his company says fi rst mobile device products with keys that pop up from the display on demand will be on the market next year.

This tactile panel works by moving liquid through microfl uidics channels to fi ll defi ned areas and raise dome-shaped, liquid-fi lled bumps in a fl exible polymer layer on top of a conventional touch screen display. When not needed, the liquid is pushed back to the reservoir in the device housing, and the display returns to its normal fl at state. This microfl uidics layer replaces the cover glass or plastic that typically tops the touch sensor and display, while maintaining the same thickness and reputedly similar robustness.

“One key to the technology was making the microchannels invisible,” explains co-founder and CTO Micah Yairi. The solution was to match the refractive index of the liquid and the substrate, so that instead of bending and scattering at the

channel interfaces with the liquid, the light tends to pass straight out of the device. The relatively large channels for microfl uidics allow an increased number of options for fabricating the fl uidic panels, but making the network of fl uid delivery holes and channels without creating distortions that impacted the invisibility was another challenge. Also key was miniaturizing the actuator to fi t inside the extremely thin mobile devices and be able to fi ll and empty the raised key system very quickly without using a lot of power. Robust elastic polymer materials are clearly also needed.

If the microfl uidics materials and actuation system was challenging, the actual integration into touch screen devices is relatively simple. Control is a straightforward “buttons up” or “buttons down” signal in the applications software, such as when an Android application calls for a keyboard, or by a user-activated control of some kind, to activate the liquid pump. The actuating system is bistable, so it only uses power when it changes state. Pushing on the liquid-fi lled bumps pushes directly on the touch sensor below, without need for further controls.

“We’re focusing fi rst on the mobile space because we see critical problems to solve there for basic text entry,” says Yairi. “But combinations with pressure sensors would make it easy to detect how fast and how far down a button is pushed, adding the z direction to controls.” He suggests this better haptic feedback would be highly useful for gaming, industrial design, and automotive controls. In the automotive market, pop up buttons on the display could allow controls that can be adjusted more easily by feel, requiring only a quick glance away from the road, while not taking space away from the display. Flat surfaces would allow keyboards or controls used on portable medical equipment to be more easily cleaned to keep sanitary. Equipment could be designed with a smooth surface for looks or function until a proximity sensor or motion sensors told control buttons to pop up, Yairi also suggests. The tactile bumps can be in any shape or arrangement, determined by the pattern made in the microfl uidic layer. Currently the pattern is preconfi gured for the device, but the goal is to eventually make the entire display surface confi gurable by software.

20 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

“One key to the technology

was making the microchannels

invisible,” explains Micah Yairi.

Tablet ButtonsUp wide view. (Courtesy of Tactus Technology)

Page 21: MEM's Trends 2013

23

I S S U E N ° 1 4 A P R I L 2 0 1 3

M E M S ’ T r e n d s

The Fremont, California, based company plans to manufacture the tactile layer and controls, and sell it to OEMS or ODMs to incorporate and test in the display stack. It has worked with touch sensor suppliers TPK and Synaptics on initial prototypes, as it aims to make sure its layer is compatible with all parts of the ecosystem for integration. The company raised a $6M series A funding in late 2011.

www.tactustechnology.com

After years of limited growth,

the MEMS pressure sensor

market is expected to show a 22% CAGR …

Discover the NEW report on

www.i-Micronews.com/reports

MEMS Pressure Sensor

Dr. Micah Yairi, Co-Founder and CTO, Tactus TechnologyPrior to founding Tactus, Yairi led development efforts for microfl uidic-based programmable transdermal drug delivery systems as well as advanced optical sensors for Los Gatos Research. Dr. Yairi also founded Fortnight Solutions, a business-to-business “match-making” service that helped engineering companies locate solutions to technical problems without needing to “reinvent the wheel.” He managed Fortnight’s growth of its expert-base to several hundred scientists and engineers, with its experts successfully fi nding solutions for companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Micah received bachelor degrees in engineering physics and economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Cambridge, England where he earned a master’s degree in economics, and earned his PhD. at Stanford University in Applied Physics.

Tactus DialPad Up8. (Courtesy of Tactus Technology)

Page 22: MEM's Trends 2013

A N A L Y S T C O R N E R

Smart phones and tablets on track to become $6 billion opportunity for MEMS sensorsDriver is demand for more gyros and microphones now, pressure sensors and IMUs next, and a host of emerging sensors to follow.

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

The value of MEMS used in cell phones and tablets exploded by $500M last year, to a $2.2B business. We expect to see continuing

healthy 18.5% CAGR in this sector, to become a $6.4B market for MEMS by 2018. That means almost a 4X increase in number of MEMS die—and a sobering continued decline in prices.

This growth will be driven in part by the migration of more sensors into more lower- priced, value smart phones that will account for an increasing share of the mobile market as demand at the high end saturates. The other major driver will be the addition of new kinds of sensors, and new, more sophisticated applications that put sensor data together in more useful ways. That means more MEMS gyros and microphones now, growing adoption of pressure sensors and IMUs next, and then a host of emerging sensors and integrated systems, including for indoor navigation and context awareness, soon to follow. Smart phones are also becoming the hubs and brains for managing the data from all sorts of wearable or other separate sensor devices, spurring another signifi cant growth opportunity, which is not included in these totals, but which will impact the value chain.

The market for MEMS in phones and tablets is currently dominated by inertial sensors (~60%) and microphones (~20%), but by 2018 we expect 60% of the market to be other types of devices, lead by RF MEMS, optical MEMS, and pressure and humidity sensors.

Inertial sensors and microphones see more integration, more competition

Combination inertial sensors are seeing growing adoption, with 6-axis IMUs rapidly taking over from separate accelerometers and gyroscopes. We expect 9-axis devices to follow shortly, as sizes come down. Chip sets now available from makers like Qualcomm, Broadcom and CSR are integrating information from inertial and pressure sensors for indoor location solutions and context awareness, helping push that potentially hugely signifi cant application into wider adoption, though the high power consumption of the gyro still limits continuous running.

As more mobile devices add gyros or combination devices, it becomes ever more important for suppliers to offer a full range of inertial sensors and solutions. Accelerometer makers will need to have access to a

22 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Laurent Robin, Activity LeaderInertial MEMS Devices& Technologies, Yole Développement

Global MEMS market for cell phones and tablets (Source: MEMS for Cell Phones and Tablets, Yole Développement, June 2013)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

in $

M

Cell Phone Tablet

Page 23: MEM's Trends 2013

gyro, and it’s not an easy task to make a low power, 3mm x 3mm 3-axis device that does not confl ict with anyone else’s IP. Major suppliers STMicroelectronics, Bosch Sensortec and InvenSense together currently control more than 40% of the total market for MEMS for mobile devices, in part because they can offer a wide product line.

However, we expect to see more competition in this market coming soon, however, as big IDMs Maxim Integrated Systems and Fairchild enter the IMU market from the IC side. Also challenging the established players may be Qualtre’s very different gyro technology, now reportedly coming to market next year with the recent investment by Alps. The startup also makes an accelerometer with the same process to they can offer combos and sensor fusion as well. But it will take some time for any of these new players to have much impact on the established value chain. Even Bosch, a well established supplier of other MEMS sensors who has gotten good response to its recently introduced gyro and combinations, has still taken only a few percent market share away from the two already established suppliers.

As the software for sensor fusion and functions becomes more important, leading phones are beginning to include sensor hubs, and successful MEMS products will increasingly need to include the right level of software and be qualifi ed with the common sensor hubs.

Gyros are also fi nding a new application in mobile phones for camera stabilization, which can differentiate a phone by noticeably improving the photo quality, bringing the feature that’s the been

very successful in digital cameras to the mobile phone market. One approach is to add a second gyro dedicated to image stabilization to the camera module, making the feature easy for phone makers to integrate without having to change the software for the existing gyro applications. The alternative approach is to use the main gyro for the image stabilization as well, which could save on system costs in the long run.

Microphones will continue to see strong growth, as more phones and tablets add two mics for noise cancelation, and now sometimes even a third for high fi delity voice recording. Long time market leader Knowles still dominates, but lost 19% market share last year, as competition from newer players increased. Chinese microphone company AAC saw particularly strong growth selling MEMS mics using Infi neon MEMS die to its established electret customers in Asia. Bosch Akustica, Wolfson, Analog Devices and ST/Omron are all now also chasing this business. We wouldn’t be surprised to see InvenSense enter this business as well to expand its offering to mobile makers.

Strong adoption coming next for pressure sensors and RF MEMS

Pressure sensors are now starting to see fast adoption in mobile phones and tablets, initially for faster and more accurate location information, as the altitude adds another point for triangulation when satellite access is limited, as well as for altitude measurements for outdoor sports and barometer applications for weather stations. But the coming market for indoor navigation

I S S U E N ° 1 5 J U L Y 2 0 1 3

M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Simplifi ed view of a smart-phone board TOMORROW (in 2018)(Source: MEMS for Cell Phones and Tablets, Yole Développement, June 2013)

23M E M S ’ T r e n d s

“More MEMS gyros and microphones now, growing adoption of pressure sensors and IMUs next, and then a host of emerging sensors and integrated systems, including for indoor navigation and context awareness, soon to follow,” comments Laurent Robin.

MEMS in red

Page 24: MEM's Trends 2013

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

applications will make pressure sensors a must-have for more phones. And the volume consumer mobile business will bring strong pressure to reduce power consumption and prices. Suppliers who can offer or integrate other inertial sensors as well may have the advantage.

On the RF side, BAW duplexers will continue to see fast growth for LTE RF modules, and RF MEMS from several suppliers will at last start to show up in more mobile models for antenna tuning to improve reception and fl exibility. These devices are just beginning to see some adoption, but as demand for bandwidth continues to grow, and as the new RF solutions prove their reliability, we think it will see wide adoption. WiSpry’s impedence matching capacitor array is reportedly coming out in a few more products this year, DelfMEMS’ ohmic switch for switching between bands is now in advanced sampling, and Cavendish Kinetics’ frequency tuning array is now in qualifi cation, targeting commercial applications by the end of the year.

MEMS timing devices are fi nding applications in cell phones, with SiTimes’ entry in the 32KHz market, but they face new competition for the main TCXO timing slot from the big baseband chip makers, who are moving to take over more of the value by doing the compensation themselves in the baseband IC, with just a quartz resonator. However, as the market moves towards more demanding specifi cations, this approach may no longer be good enough, and it will have to turn back to TCXO instead, and MEMS performance is getting close to the required levels. MEMS stability is improving from 10-20 ppm to as low as 2.5ppm from Sand9’s devices long in development, but

that’s still not good enough for the 0.5ppm needed for mobile GPS devices. Both Sand9 and Discera appear to be now targeting other industrial and networking applications in addition to mobile.

Plenty of new types of sensorsin the pipeline

The latest new type of sensor to be added to a major smart phone is the temperature and humidity sensor from Sensirion included in the fl agship Samsung Galaxy S4. Main initial use is for a personal weather station, but other applications for this sensor we’ve seen include warnings to avoid exertion in extreme heat or humidity, or advice for skin care, attracting more interest in Asia than in the West. But bit by bit developers will surely fi nd compelling applications for these sensors.

A number of other promising emerging devices are seeing serious interest from mobile phone makers, but the MEMS technology has taken a while to mature enough for volume commercial production. There’s real demand for the performance of MEMS autofocus systems, for instance, but manufacturing has proved challenging. First samples are now slated to ship this year.

The very challenging MEMS speakers remain in development with foundries, but solving issue after issue takes time. We think it is possible that other players besides AudioPixel may be looking at this market. STMicroelectronics may be looking at it itself or only serving as a foundry for AudioPixel, and Knowles could potentially be a player, since it already sells small conventional speakers. But any product is at least two years out.

As prices come down, we see some interest in adding IR-sensing uncooled microbolometers to mobile phones, as a lower cost alternative for temperature sensing, to fi nd air or water leaks for energy effi ciency and building repairs.

Other environmental sensors in development include UV sensors for health and skincare, at Alps and Rohm, and gas sensors for information on air quality or safety and security, such as those from Synkera. Power requirements for gas sensors may be a key challenge, since most need heat to clean out the gas absorbed into the sensor to be able to detect again.

Qualcomm continues to develop its MEMS displays, which now presumably will use some technology from its acquisition Pixtronics and its partner Sharp, but these low power solutions are still in the development stage.

www.yole.fr

24 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Laurent Robin is in charge of the MEMS & Sensors market research. He previously worked at image sensor company e2v Technologies (Grenoble, France). He holds a Physics Engineering degree from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Toulouse, plus a Master Degree in Technology & Innovation Management from EM Lyon Business School, France.

ST Microelectronics

30.3%

Knowles Acoustics 12.7%

Avago 11.5%

AKM 11.4%

Bosch Sensortec 7.1%

InvenSense 5.9%

TriQuint 5.4%

AAC Acoustics 3.1%

Kionix 2.0%

Yamaha 1.9%

ADI 1.6%

Goertek 1.4%

Memsic 1.3%

Alps Electric 1.2%

Freescale 1.1% Others

2.0%

MEMS in cell phones and tablets - 2012 market sharesTotal = $2.2B

(Source: MEMS for Cell Phones and Tablets, Yole Développement, June 2013)

Page 25: MEM's Trends 2013

Yole Développement’s third annual inertial sensor networking event returns November 4-6, in Sonoma this time.

Since the most useful part of any conference is typically the people one connects with, Yole Développement created its MEMS in Motion event specifi cally to bring inertial sensor makers and users together directly in an informal setting to build relationships and foster collaboration across this fast changing sector.

Though the event features some talks from industry thought leaders and Yole Développement analysts to stimulate discussion, the real purpose is to build relationships. “We aim to set this up to foster connections,” notes Mike McLaughlin, Business Development Manager at Yole Inc. “The idea is time in a relaxed atmosphere to build new relationships and foster old ones, to talk with people you know and people you don’t, about the issues of the fast changing inertial sensor sector.”

Attendance is limited to ~60-80 participants, all in the business of inertial sensors, aiming at a balance across the value chain, to facilitate actually getting to know the other key people in this specifi c fi eld. Attendees are typically executives involved in the strategy and direction of their companies’ MEMS business. The attendee list and online scheduling

system are distributed beforehand, so everyone arrange meetings with the people they most want to see. All participants introduce themselves to the group at the beginning, and have a series of speed dating meetings arranged ahead of time with others of shared interests the fi rst day to get things started, then have more time later for other personally scheduled meetings. Meals and informal events encourage relaxed interaction, like playing with the new inertial sensor products that participants brought that was a hit last year.

“People liked that they could plan meetings in advance, that there were some forced meetings, and that there was plenty of time to network and talk with everybody in a relaxed setting in a nice place,” notes Yole Développement’s inertial sensor analyst Laurent Robin.

“We started this event because we saw the MEMS industry needed a less structured, more collaborative opportunity for people to talk to others in the industry that they don’t usually just happen to meet, to talk about what’s driving development, what’s needed next, what works and what doesn’t to drive the sector forward,” says McLaughlin.

For more details and to register,see www.memsinmotion.com

I S S U E N ° 1 5 J U L Y 2 0 1 3

M E M S ’ T r e n d s 25M E M S ’ T r e n d s

E V E N T R E V I E W

MEMS in Motion collaboration event moves to Sonoma, California this NovemberYole Développement's program aims to bring inertial sensor maker makers and users together to drive the industry forward.

“It’s not who you know today,it’s who you’ll need to know tomorrow,” says Mike McLaughlin,Yole Inc.

Page 26: MEM's Trends 2013

E V E N T R E V I E W

Innovation opportunities in Europe for Swiss SMEsThe next European R&D framework program Horizon 2020 (H2020) will begin in 2014 and will offer many new business opportunities for innovative Swiss SMEs. While public funds are available to help promote key technologies and future applications, a few rules need to be observed in order to become a part of the huge investment program. At the end of June, CSEM, Cowin, Cluster Precision, and Creapole organized a joint information workshop in Biel, targeting SMEs located in the geographical area between Lausanne, Basel, and Bern.

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute the largest part of Switzerland’s economic fabric. Innovation plays a key role

in long-term success. The Swiss government’s innovation agency—the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI)—supports SMEs by providing funds for the innovation projects that they undertake with selected academic institutions and seasoned experts in technology transfer.

But what about outside Switzerland, and more specifi cally Europe? At the June-end event, four key players in the innovation business invited SMEs to get acquainted with the tools and programs in place to help them initiate innovative projects and developments in Europe. Experts discussed examples and procedures and discussed the opportunities and threats to be aware of.

The workshop session, with over 30 participants from various fi elds of industry, started with a presentation by Fabian Käser from Creapole and Patrick Roth from Cluster Precision. Both explained how their institutions provide counseling, expertise, know-how, and fundraising and networking services to interested SMEs.

Régis Hamelin, from COWIN, explained how to develop a product in the framework of a European project. The value of the collaborative approach is in risk reduction, the leverage effect on knowledge, the avoidance of resource limitations, and the opportunity to turn the customer/supplier relationship into a partnership.

Hamelin was followed by Georges Kotrotsios, who stressed CSEM’s mission in the development and transfer of microtechnologies to the industrial sector. Providing several examples, he illustrated the numerous opportunities for SMEs to work with CSEM, ranging from subcontracting in large projects to participation in European SME- and direct projects. Patrick Furrer from the Euresearch Offi ce gave a presentation on the monitoring and coaching services provided by his organization.

A concrete example of a successful EU-SME project was presented by Vincent Peiris of CSEM. The ‘Wear a Ban’ project started in 2010 and ran for two years with funding of €3.6M, €2.7M of which came from Europe. It brought together 15 partners across the EU, including seven SMEs/SME-associations. Peiris also provided a good overview of pros and cons for SMEs, including the challenge of moving toward the EU mindset, a certain administrative burden (that can be reduced when working with partners), and concerns regarding trade secrets and IP (which are addressed by strict contractual and confi dentiality agreements).

Last but not least, Géraldine Andrieux-Gustin, COWIN coordinator, concluded the workshop with a look toward Horizon 2020, Europe’s new framework program for research and innovation, which begins in 2014. Andrieux-Gustin reminded participants that all types of innovative SMEs (new actors/FP7) are targeted, and that the program only allows SMEs to apply for funding. She emphasized the potential of the EU-dimension and of a competitive, market-oriented approach, the simple rules and procedures, and how the quality of evaluation would be essential to the framework’s success.

“We are convinced that this type of workshop meets a real need”, stated Georges Kotrotsios of CSEM, adding—“Similar events will therefore be organized in other areas of Switzerland to inform SMEs and to support their innovation endeavors.”

www.csem.ch

26 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Event co-organized by:

Page 27: MEM's Trends 2013

Romain Fraux,Electronics Cost Engineer,System Plus Consulting

Romain Fraux is Project Manager for Reverse Costing

analyses at System Plus Consulting. Since 2006, Romain is in charge of costing analyses of MEMS devices, Integrated Circuit and electronics boards. He has signifi cant experience in the modeling of the manufacturing costs of electronics components.Romain has a BEng from Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh, Scotland and a master’s degree in Microelectronics from the University of Nantes, France.

27

I S S U E N ° 1 5 J U L Y 2 0 1 3

M E M S ’ T r e n d s

R E V E R S E E N G I N E E R I N G

Adding value to MEMS with bigger dieWhile most MEMS devices have been steadily driving down to smaller sizes to reduce cost and footprint, there are also applications where the distinguishing feature is increased functionality, even if that means a larger device.

Both STMicroelectronics and Analog Devices Inc. have recently drawn upon their ASIC design expertise to make more complex

controller die that add value to standard inertial sensors even as they add more costly silicon area. ST adds the processing power to its existing gyroscope to make a dual purpose version, while ADI adds extreme power management to a standard accelerometer to make an ultra low power device. While gyros for optical image stabilization are commonly included in digital cameras, the Nokia Lumia 920 is one of the fi rst smart phones to add the feature, using ST’s L3G4IS 3-axis gyro.

The device is in a 4mm x 4mm LGA package, though it uses the exact same MEMS die as the company’s standard 3-axis gyro which comes in a smaller package. The difference, as can be seen in the cross-section SEM image below, is the larger

ASIC on top. This more complex processor allows the single MEMS die to be used both for the very precise, high sensitivity motion sensing needed for the optical image stabilization and also for the coarser motion sensing needed for gaming and

other gesture controls. Even with this larger and more expensive ASIC, which we estimate accounts for >50% of the total cost of this device, this single dual-purpose gyro will likely still be cheaper, and take up less space, than two separate gyros with their own separate ASICs and packages. And it suggests how economics pushing MEMS towards combination sensor solutions, as there may not be much room left to reduce costs by continuing to simply reduce die size, now that the typical 2-axis gyro package is down to a 2mm x 2mm package. It’s not yet clear how widely smart phone makers will adopt image stabilization, or if they will use a single gyro or two separate ones. Rival gyro maker InvenSense argues that integrating two separate gryos for the two separate applications will be the simpler and preferred approach.

We found two version of the dual-purpose MEMS device in our teardowns. The one in the Nokia phone, used traditional glass-frit wafer bonding, while one sourced as a component used gold-gold thermocompression wafer bonding to shrink the MEMS die size by ~30%. The smaller version also replaced the usual buried polysilicon interconnect layer with a stack of three materials.

ADI, meanwhile, makes its ultra-low power ADXL362 3-axis accelerometer by adding smarter power management, by similarly adding a larger ASIC to the same MEMS die used in its more standard 3-axis accelerometer. The device is currently being tested to extent battery life in the always-on Blast Gauges used by the US military to continuously monitor soldiers for exposure to concussive forces. ADI also targets other monitoring applications where batteries are hard to replace for the device, with its 1.8μmA operation at a 100Hz output data rate, 270nA in motion sensing wake-up mode, and 10-nA in deep-sleep mode.

Here the ASIC is 3X larger, and likely costs ~3X more, to account for roughly half the total cost of the device. Instead of packaging the MEMS and ASIC dies side by side, ADI stacks the MEMS on top of the larger ASIC, which enables it to keep the package to the same 3mm x 3.25mm footprint.

www.systemplus.fr

Nokia Lumia 920 camera module(Courtesy of System Plus Consulting)

L3G4IS cross-section(Courtesy of System Plus Consulting)

Top: ADXL362Bottom: ADXL342.

(Courtesy of SystemPlus Consulting)

IR FILTER

CIS

MEMSgyroscope

OIScontroller

Package epoxyASIC

MEMS Cap

MEMS Sensor

Package PCB

Camera Module PCB

MEMS

ASIC

MEMS ASIC

Page 28: MEM's Trends 2013

J U L Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E N ° 1 5

28 M E M S ’ T r e n d s

Editorial StaffBoard Members: Jean-Christophe Eloy – Editor in Chief: Dr Eric Mounier - Editors: FrédéricBreussin, Paul Danini, Wenbin Ding, Jean-Christophe Eloy, Dr Eric Mounier, Laurent Robin,Benjamin Roussel, Paula Doe, Kathy Liszewski – Media & Communication Manager: Sandrine Leroy – Media & Communication Coordinator: Clotilde Fabre - Production: atelier JBBOX

About Yole Développement

CONTACTS

Founded in 1998, Yole Développement has grown to become a group of companies providing marketing, technology and strategy consulting, media in addition to corporate fi nance services.With a strong focus on emerging applications using silicon and/or micro manufacturing, Yole Développement group has expanded to include more than 50 associates worldwide covering MEMS, Compound Semiconductors, LED, Image Sensors, Optoelectronics, Microfl uidics & Medical, Photovoltaics, Advanced Packaging, Nanomaterials and Power Electronics. The group supports industrial companies, investors and R&D organizations worldwide to help them understand markets and follow technology trends to develop their business.

CONSULTING• Market data, market research & marketing analysis• Technology analysis• Reverse engineering & costing services• Strategy consulting• Patent analysisMore information on www.yole.fr

For more information about :• Consulting Services: Christophe Fitamant (fi [email protected])• Financial Services: Géraldine Andrieux-Gustin ([email protected])• Reports: David Jourdan ([email protected]) • Media & Communication: Sandrine Leroy ([email protected])

MEDIA• Online disruptive technologies website: www.i-micronews.com• Editorial webcasts program• Six magazines: Micronews - MEMS Trends – 3D Packaging – iLED –

Power Dev' - New in 2014: Image Sensors Industry• Communication & Webcasts services

REPORTS• Collection of technology & market reports• Manufacturing cost simulation tools• Component reverse engineering & costing analysis• Patent analysis

FINANCIAL SERVICES• Mergers & Acquisitions• Due diligence• Fundraising• Coaching of emerging companies• IP portfolio management & optimizationMore information on www.yolefi nance.com