May 24, 2012, MEMS Business Forum, Santa Clara, CA—Marc Madou from UC, Irvine described his research in nano-materials. The range of applications for his processes spans batteries, battery sensors, and nano-wire sensors. Making a sensor from carbon nano-materials eliminates the machining needed for most MEMS. This enables the development of complex structures that are not…
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, Santa Clara, CA—Harmeet Bhugra from IDT talked about the emerging market for MEMS passive capacitor oscillators. He detailed the arguments for MEMS oscillators and tried to explain why there is a preference for a lower-grade quartz technology. Currently, most users consider piezoelectric oscillators over passive capacitive oscillators. Partly this…
May 24, 2012, MEMS Business Forum, Santa Clara, CA—Gabriel Rebeiz from UC San Diego talked bout RF MEMS switches and tuners and the commercialization of those devices. The technology enables higher performance and agility over discrete and other integrated solutions. The investigations into RF MEMS is separated by UC campuses. San Diego focuses on switches…
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…
May 24, 2012, MEMS Business Forum, Santa Clara, CA—Jeffery Hilbert from WiSpry discussed the drivers for better performance in mobile devices. Adding RF MEMS and changing driving software can be a cost-effective solution to the problems of current architectures. Mobile phones represent a multi-billion unit market for the RF front-end components. Smart phones are forecast…
May 24, 2012, MEMS Business Forum, Santa Clara, CA—Shahin Farshchi a principal at Lux Capital Management looked at MEMS in healthcare. The MEMS has an evolving role in improving care, health, and well being. Lux started in ’00 with a focus on health and energy. They have funded 20 companies and have 3 funds for…
May 24, 2012, MEMS Business Forum, Santa Clara, CA—Jeremie Bouchard, director and MEMS analyst at IHS ISuppli talked about MEMS and consumer tends. At issue is the possibility for long-term growth in an industry that is starting to see longer term price erosion. Currently, the big drivers for sensors are consumer and mobile, which are…
May 24, 2012, MEMS Business Forum, Santa Clara, CA—Sandhiprakash Bhide senior strategist and futurist from Intel described his view of the near future as a world where computers are aware of all of you, environment, emotions, health, and many more aspects. An increasing diversity of sensors and actuators will change the way computers and humans…