In this article I will be discussing why the growth in MEMS development is lagging the growth that was witnessed for IC development in many respects – but highlighting that there are valuable lessons available to accelerate future growth too. Both for design and manufacture there are non-trivial challenges that continue to hinder the growth of this technology in the way IC technology developed. The emergence of Fabless MEMS design houses as a successful model is only just starting to expand. The promise of successfully mimicking Fabless Chip design houses as a functioning corporate model, has not happened as expected. Fabless growth is limited by many factors such as an absence of standardisation, a diverse range of foundry capabilities, and also that MEMS behavioural modelling is still the poor cousin of IC modelling. Independent MEMS foundries are also struggling to mimic the growth seen by their IC brethren. The lack of standardisation and the variety of FAB processes required to support a broad spectrum of MEMS designs, continues to be a hindrance. Routine volume based profits available from a dial-up/high yield/integrated process are proving elusive. Every MEMS Foundry is offering a different toolset and process book, and yields/costs can still be variable. Because the range of applications is so diverse, it is difficult to streamline or standardise the manufacturing process for clients supporting different markets. There are no ‘off the shelf’ processes that can be equally applied to devices as varied as a microphone and a gyroscope, and the old adage of ‘1 process/1 product’ is proving to be difficult to overcome. This situation is further complicated by the introduction...
Our latest newsletter covers: Accelerate your MEMS Development with FIB Structural Edit and Analysis Direct ‘Structural Edit’ of fabricated structures Page3d ‘exact site’ Structural Analysis Structural Prototyping Read our testimonials on LinkedIn Download it here – E-Newsletter – Autumn...
Apparently the only two things that you should never try are folk music and incest, so blogging must surely be in the other column. Well here goes…. I’m a first generation pure FIB technologist – in that my first microscope was a Focussed Ion Beam instrument and I only learned how to use an SEM and other techniques later on. The immediacy and interactive nano-surgery capabilities of the technology, captured my interest on day one, and I’m as hooked now as I was then. Since 1992 I have been lucky enough to work for Rutherford Appleton, FEI Company (twice)- now Thermo, Micrion Corporation (now FEI), Raith GmbH and now NanoScope Services. I’ve helped develop many of the main aspects of how this technology is employed – from writing the first published FEI TEM sample prep protocol, and developing new sample holders for the 611 and FIB 800, through 3D gun-shot residue and forensic analysis and AFM tip customisation, and leading the applications initiative for using Cryo-DualBeam within the Life-Sciences. The latest major project was developing and rolling out an entirely new FIB technique for truly automated 3D nano-fabrication using ultra fine Ga+ beams now called IBL or Ion Beam Lithography for Raith GmbH. I have become co-author on over 100 publications for this application alone. ( I don’t have time to write papers myself). FIB is cool, and everyday we get to do cool new stuff for scientists and engineers from across the Nanotech spectrum. From Circuit Edit to Solid State Nanopores and frozen Fibroblast sectioning, from VCSELs and OLED’s to GSR and FZP’s, FIB is enabling us to explore...
Our Micro-Electrical- Mechanical-Structures leaflet gives full details of the services we offer MEMS designers, engineers and R&D teams. 3d Structural Analysis to solve construction issues Structural Editing to allow rapid prototyping and development Direct nano-fabrication of structural prototypes Enabling toolsets for advanced MEMS development Download it here – MEMS flyer...
Our latest newsletter covers: FIB on the Web – bringing high-end FIB applications to your own office Focus on FIB on the Web: is it secure? No extra charges for copper device edits Safe handling – find out how we prevent damage to your copper devices Download it here – E-newsletterSpring...
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