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MEMS - Vendor View
MEMS design challenges
MEMS has moved from a emerging potential for microelectronics manufacturers to
an ever growing market with real opportunities. Market growth, however, requires
better tools to address the inherent engineering challenges. Design automation
company Coventor discusses the unique challenges of MEMS design and presents
solutions that are helping MEMS manufacturers improve time to market by catching
potential issues before mask tapeout.
M
icro-electromechanical systems gyroscopes for stability control. Some consumer
(MEMS) are micro or nano-scale electronics products such as inkjet printers and
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devices typically fabricated in a similar fashion as digital light projectors (DLPs) have depended on
integrated circuits (ICs) to exploit the benefits of MEMS for years, but recent years have seen
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semiconductor manufacturing processes such as explosive growth in the integration of MEMS
.eur miniaturization, integration, and batch with consumer electronics products such as
oasiasemiconductor
processing. Unlike ICs which consist solely of mobile phones, cameras and gaming controllers.
electrical components, MEMS devices combine Yole Development projects that the total market
3D model components from multiple physical domains and for MEMS components will grow by more than
constructed from may contain, for instance, electrical, mechanical, 40 percent from 2008 to 2012, from just over $7
standard building RF, optical or fluidic components. billion US worldwide to over $13 billion.
blocks in the MEMS may be invisible to the naked eye, As promising as these forecasts sound, only
.com
MEMS+ model but they’ve become ubiquitous in everyday life. a few large IDMs are well positioned to benefit
library Automobiles now contain numerous MEMS, from this rapidly growing market due to the
(springs, plates, including pressure sensors for engine control, specialized expertise, long development time,
square4
Issue I 2010
comb drives, etc.) accelerometers for crash sensing, and and high costs of bringing MEMS devices to
market. Within the MEMS industry, stories of
products that took a decade or more and 10s of
millions US to bring to market are legend. In no
small part, the historically long lead times and
high costs were due to the lack of design tools
that addressed the unique challenges of MEMS
product development. These challenges include
the realities that:
ring6 MEMS design proceeds hand-in-hand
with refinements to the fabrication
process, unlike IC design which relies
on standardized CMOS processes;
ring6 MEMS, in contrast to ICs, are
fundamentally three dimensional (3D),
allowing an extra degree of freedom in
design that translates into a much larger
available design space.
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