MNS Microlyne v Final DR 18/12/08 11:04 Page 37
MICRONANOSYSTEMS
37
1. Team Formulation
Developers may consider that a good semiconductor development
team can develop MEMS, it can do a partial but not a complete
job. They may consider that any patent attorney can understand
the uniqueness of their own Intellectual Property (IP), not true.
They may consider that design can be independent of a foundry,
it can’t. They may consider that project management can be
done by a good technical person, it usually can not. While not
unique to MEMS, team formulation is vital, and is often not
done well.
2. Lead Customers
In our opinion, this is the most egregious of errors, not having
lead customers in place. We hear developers say they do not
want to engage customers because they are ‘flying under the
radar’. Or that they do not need to engage customers because
their new product will be disruptive so customers will not
understand it until they see it. Or that competitors won’t respond
to their offering. Or that they need only a small fraction of
worldwide market to be successful. These are all major warning
signs that a new product development will fail. Customers are
the heart of new products, let them in, get their input and
commitment, make them need your success as much as you do.
3. Financing and Cost
We have yet to see an inexpensive new MEMS product
development. An ideal development takes three years and many
millions of dollars. And yet, we do see developers making
unrealistic budgets about development, and relying on optimism
that somehow costs will be lower than they would like. This
results in compromises on the major project steps, including
Precisiondownto
requirements not being fully identified, feasibility budgets being
tight, and validation procedures not being properly developed.
thesmallestdetail
4. Requirements
Requirements are easy to specify in general, but frequently very
“Hotembossing”technologiesarepavingthe
difficult to specify in detail. Starting development with a less
than complete set of requirements is common. Sometimes a
wayforapplicationsinbothMEMSandmicro
developer may ‘get away with this’. However, a missed technology–infactthesemarketsinclude
requirement can require a full product redesign, adding even
microfluidicsandmicroopticswhichdemand
more to cost and timeline. We suggest that having good lead
customers is the best way to get your requirements known fully
super-accuratestructuresandaprecisecom-
in advance.
ponentfitinthemicroandnanorange.
5. Product Quality Planning
Thelatesthigh-volumesystemintheJENOPTIK
This refers to design for manufacturing and other DFx activities,
including Failure Mode and Effects analysis, gauge R&R
HEXmachinefamilyoffersaprocessingcycle
studies, control plans, product development gates, and other
oflessthan3minutesfora300mmembossing
activities that result in products that meet their cost and
performance goals. These are often overlooked, or done
area.
incompletely: developers frequently expect that these activities
will be done ‘later’, after feasibility is complete. However, we
HEX04–perfectforhighvolumeproduction
believe that these should be part of feasibility, and delaying
ofmicrostructurestothestricteststandards.
them increases product development risks.
6. Packaging, Integration, and Validation,
and Verification
Validation, developing the right product, means the product
meets the external requirements its users have. Verification,
developing the product right, refers to compliance with the
JENOPTIK
developer’s or manufacturer’s specification. Both are critical,
Laser,Optik,SystemeGmbH
and unfortunately a common mistake in product development is
that these important steps are not defined up front. In addition,
mikrotechnik@jenoptik.com
MEMS products usually require custom packaging, which itself
www.jo-mt.com
is a significant portion of the total product cost. Finally, because
MEMS have physical performance specifications, interactions
December 2008 / January 2009 www.micronanosystems.info
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