February 25, 2015, ISSCC, San Francisco—Ganesh Balachandran from Bosch presented the design of a 3-axis gyroscope for electronic stability control (ESC) with continuous self test. Active and passive control systems are the driver for more functionality and capability within a car and these functions create a need for more sensors. In a car, a gyroscope…
July 8, 2014, LETI Day, San Francisco—Various executives from the research consortium LETI talked about technology platforms to address future industrial challenges. Hughes Metras opened the event with comments on the facilities and research areas within the organization. Some key topics are in semiconductors and MEMS, which are supported by their 200 and 300mm wafer…
July 11, 2013, Motion Tracking Developers’ Conference, San Francisco—Jean-Christophe Eloy from Yole Development presented the trends in MEMS and their applications. The mobile space and many consumer devices are now including MEMS. The mobile space, while requiring a full set of sensors, is looking for greater differentiation in their products. This push is driving the…
January 2013 – At the CES tradeshow this year, CEATEC held a briefing to overview the expo that would be taking place in Japan and some of the themes and exhibitors that would be present. One of the key members of the Japan ecosystem that presented was Murata. The company, incorporated in 1950 after starting…
Invensense MEMS enabled drill the Black & Decker Gyro January 2013, The International CES event in Las Vegas in currently turning the innovative concepts to natural human interface, into being the default method. Leveraging from the mass world wide market acceptance of the Nintendo Wii for a “no instruction” UI and use model…
May 2012 – At the MEMS Technology Symposium, we had a chance to see the Movea Interactive TV remote motion controller core. The MEMS motion sensing core has shipped over 5M units to date and is supported by over 400 patents the last 5 years. The current application follows incorporation of the core in health…
May 24, 2012, MEMS Business Forum, Santa Clara, CA—Kurt Petersen from KP_MEMS gave a historical perspective on MEMS. The ability to integrate complex functions into a chip has led to high volumes and lower costs. Starting in ’75, there were pressure sensors, strain gauges, and thermal print heads. Now, the range of applications using MEMS…
May 24, 2012, MEMS Business Forum, Santan Clara, CA—Al Pisano from UC Berkeley describes research into Wireless MEMS for harsh environments for energy and power monitoring. These sensors are not something for a smart phone and they cannot use standard silicon. The economic impact of additional sensor capabilities is fairly high. Gas turbines are used…
May 24, 2012, MEMS Business Forum, Santa Clara, CA—Frank Melzer from Bosch Sensortec talked about the growing movement of MEMS into consumer products. the abilities to increase levels of integration in silicon are resulting in smaller, lower cost, higher performance devices. MEMS started over 25 years ago with single-axis motion sensors. Now, markets in mobile…
March 29, 2012, Sensors in Design, San Jose, CA—Karen Lightman from the MEMS Industry Group described the organization’s functions and organization. MIG functions include standards development, reliability studies, and sharing of information among its 140 members. The semiconductor industry has had its leaders change many times over the decades. Now the top 30 suppliers are…