MEMS Manufacturing & Packaging Trends Report

DUBLIN /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Trends in MEMS Manufacturing & Packaging 2011" report to their offering.

New MEMS manufacturing approaches pave the way to smaller, better-performing, and cost-effective devices. Although MEMS technologies have not been driven by the same size demands as ICs, it doesn't mean that MEMS manufacturing is standing still. The fast-growing MEMS markets, now driven by consumer applications, are:

  • Size-driven, for demanding consumer applications, such as smartphones and laptops
  • Performance-driven, for high-end applications, such as aerospace
  • Cost-driven, for high-volume applications, such as cell phones, automotive, and games consoles

New MEMS manufacturing, packaging technologies, and specific materials are necessary to address these issues. This Yole Development report highlights the future challenges for MEMS production and packaging. From bulk micromachining to surface micromachining to SOI, MEMS technology has been following a well-defined evolutionary technical roadmap, with 3D integration being the next possible step. In the report, you will find manufacturing trends for the different MEMS devices in terms of processes, new packaging approaches, 3D integration, CMOS MEMS integration, and new materials, such as structured wafers.

The Future of MEMs Manufacturing
The report analyzes the current MEMS manufacturing trends and presents some clues for understanding the next evolution in terms of die size, cost, and packaging.

Among other MEMS technologies to watch for the future, we have identified:

  • at the substrate level, SOI, glass, thin wafers, and silicon
  • at the MEMS die level, getters, fusion bonding, release stiction, singulation, CMOS MEMS, DRIE, and trench isolation
  • at the packaging level, TGV, TSV, pixel-level packaging, thin-film capping, and active capping

Wafer forecasts for 2009-2015, by type of step (DRIE, wafer bonding, sacrificial etch, through Si vias, thin-film packaging, CMOS MEMS, thin wafers), are estimated for all the analyzed MEMS technologies.

DRIE and wafer bonding are the technologies subject to major evolution. The main reason is that both are increasingly used for 3D TSV in the mainstream semiconductor business. Wafer bonding is the direct competitor for the CMOS MEMS approach.

For example, microbolometer players are more and more considering the wafer bonding approach to stack the MEMS to the ROIC wafer. MEMS have been scarcely pushed by technological innovation. Most of the time, a MEMS is developed either by the use of micromachining to reduce existing sensors or the push coming from system makers.

For example, lateral MEMS (accelerometers) have been developed by Leti because of military request from Thales. DRIE has been developed by Bosch because of automotive applications. The only exception is ADI, which wanted to use its existing CMOS lines. Using CMOS is sometimes an historical choice (with the disadvantage that now the CMOS technology is evolving quicker than the MEMS technology). Indeed, CMOS MEMS are likely to be restricted to specific applications, where MEMS arrays will need close electronic processing. For all other cases, it will depend on MEMS product cycle time, flexibility, cost, integration, market demand, and power consumption.

In 2011, simplification of manufacturing remains an objective. The Yole Development MEMS law "One product, one process, one package" still rules. Will it still rule in 2020? Current work on technology and product platforms attempts to overcome the law, but this approach will be custom-made standard processes. By 2020, it is likely that MEMS fabs will have developed internal standard process blocks, but it will be fab-specific standard tools.

Key Features of the Study
The objective of this report is to provide an understanding of the current challenges of MEMS manufacturing, packaging, and materials. For each MEMS manufacturing step, bottlenecks and challenges will be highlighted. The report includes 350+ slides.