Standards for MEMS and Miniaturized Gas Sensors
By Sreeni Rao, Leader of the SEMI MEMS/NEMS North America MEMS and Miniaturized Gas Sensing Task Force, TDK Invensense
In recent years, general awareness around using gas sensors to monitor the environment we live in and indoor spaces we occupy has been steadily increasing, leading to gas detection as an emerging sensing modality. Several applications spanning the consumer, automotive, industrial and IoT markets are becoming promising candidates for deploying miniaturized gas sensors. Micro-electromechanical, or MEMS-based technologies have proven to be the platforms of choice to meet the cost, power, size and performance requirements of many of these emerging markets.
However, as with many emerging technologies and markets, MEMS gas sensor products today do not conform to specific or well understood standards with regard to parameter definitions, testing methods, reliability requirements, packaging, pin configurations, communication interfaces, etc., to name a few. Having a lack of standardization causes many drawbacks which can lead to a lack of basic commonality between sensors from different vendors resulting in slow adoption into end products because of system customizations required. It is currently difficult for users to compare solutions from multiple vendors without performing their own extensive comparison testing. A system that needs to use multiple sensors from different vendors would become unnecessarily complex and costly, further impacting its acceptance by end users. Lack of standards could also distract vendors from focusing on fundamental innovation needed to advance the sensing technology itself, and instead of focus on lower value-added incremental engineering work.
To address these issues, a MEMS and Miniaturized Gas Sensing Standards Task Force within the SEMI MSIG Device Working Group was formed with the goal of proposing generic but well-defined guidelines for the key parameters that characterize the performance of a gas sensor. The goal of the task force, made up of about a dozen technologists/experts mostly from the sensor vendor community, was to identify and define a set of performance, interface, and testing related parameters to be reported on a typical gas sensor datasheet. The proposal developed by the task force was voted on and approved by the MEMS/NEMS North America Technical Committee Chapter. The released standard within the SEMI portfolio of industry standards is available for purchase or view/download with a SEMIViews license - SEMI MS14, Guide for Critical Parameters of Gas Sensors.
Given the state of technology evolution and the markets in this space, the timing is right for the adoption of well-defined defined standards regarding gas sensors across the industry. From helping system integrators compare offerings from different vendors more effectively, to enabling innovation in this up-and-coming sensor space, SEMI hopes this Guide and future such efforts will be widely adopted in the industry.
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Standards Watch
SEMI
www.semi.org
June 15, 2022