MEMS

Focusing on applications that help assist movement in people with neuromotor disorders & aging muscle, Georgia Tech is developing a flexible system that uses sensory feedback through EMG to assess muscle and motor neuron health and augments strength through pneumatically actuated artificial muscle.

What is analog computing and what do engineers need to know about it so they can make sound decisions during product development to differentiate their battery-operated always-on devices?

AEM Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-based multinational corporation, is listed in Forbes Asia’s 200 Best Under A Billion 2019 and 2020 spotlighting small and midsized companies in the Asia-Pacific region with sales under $1 billion. AEM clinched the Singapore Business Review Technology Excellence Award 2020 for Analytics-Semiconductor and the Singapore Business Awards Enterprise Award 2019/2020. These achievements are testament to AEM’s vision and innovation and the company’s contributions to the increasingly complex testing of chips in a rapidly evolving technological world. I spoke with AEM CEO Chandran Nair, a new Regional Advisory Board (RAB) member of SEMI Southeast Asia, about the company’s intelligent test and handling solutions, its role in digital transformation, the company’s key role in the smart manufacturing movement and the growth prospects for Singapore’s electronics sector. SEMI: AEM’s application-specific, intelligent system test and handling solutions for semiconductor and electronics companies serve the advanced computing, 5G and AI markets. How do you differentiate your solutions from those offered by competitors? Nair: A key differentiation for AEM is that we work closely with our customers to develop application-specific integrated test and handling solutions that meet their needs in a scalable manner from lab to production. We offer our customers customized, full-stack test and handling solutions that give them the agility to accelerate their delivery cycles and enhance product quality. Over the years, AEM has developed and acquired world-class technologies in instrumentation, test, automation, robotics, optical inspection, high-end thermal control, and software. These technology pillars, along with our deep know-how to customize test and handling solutions using the technology pillars as a platform, enable AEM to meet the fast-changing needs of our customers faced with the challenges of testing heterogeneous and complex devices. In addition to investing in technology, AEM has also invested in delivering application-specific solutions to meet customer demand. Our recently announced acquisition of CEI with its manufacturing capabilities in Vietnam and its specialization in low-volume, high-mix manufacturing increases our geographical reach and our ability to quickly turn application-specific test and handling solutions to be deployed. We have a unique and differentiated approach that enables our customers to test high-performance computing devices, automotive devices, and mobility devices with maximum test coverage, cost-effectively, in a manufacturing environment. Our experience in serving the high-performance computing market that traditionally drives advancements in thermal control also puts us at the forefront of delivering comprehensive thermal management, vision, and deep automation and test solutions for the computing, automotive, and mobility markets. AEM also has a strong instrumentation portfolio, including high-density digital instruments and mixed-signal and protocol-aware instrumentation that is well-suited for ATE solutions for SoC, high-power devices, and CMOS image sensors. Over the last few years, we have also established leadership positions in developing and deploying application-specific test solutions for MEMS devices and offering wafer and frame probing stations suitable for R D, wafer sort, and final test. We form strong partnerships with our customers, provide them with end-to-end support in product development, and take them through the entire life cycle process from concept to mass production. Chandran Nair and Goh Meng Klang, vice president of operations, at the AEM manufacturing site in Singapore. (Photo credit: AEM) SEMI: Digital transformation is powering strong growth of advanced computing, 5G and AI. Will AEM be expanding its AEM manufacturing plants in China, Malaysia and Singapore to meet rising demand for these technologies in the coming years? Nair: In regards to manufacturing, AEM currently has manufacturing facilities in Singapore, Malaysia, the U.S., Finland, and China. With our recently announced acquisition of CEI, we will add manufacturing capability in Vietnam and Indonesia. AEM will continue to expand manufacturing appropriately to give our customers cost-effective solutions while maintaining our proven track record of delivering on time and scaling rapidly in times of crises like the pandemic or geopolitical disruptions. As for advanced technologies, the three key factors that will bring the full potential of 5G to fruition are 1) cost-effective, high-powered processing devices at the edge, 2) easy access to high-bandwidth communications, and 3) cost-effective sensor technology. Semiconductors are the primary drivers of these three key success factors. As devices become more complex and our reliance on semiconductor-powered devices in all aspects of our lives deepens exponentially to include mission-critical applications, AEM’s role is to ensure that our customers' electronic and semiconductor devices are shipped thoroughly tested, safe to use, and highly reliable. It is imperative that, as a testing company, we find innovative ways to help our customers test their products with maximum coverage and minimum cost. To do this, we are focusing our R D efforts and investments to continue building on our key technology pillars to ensure that we stay ahead of the curve when it comes to test and handling solutions. We prepare our customers to test increasingly complex devices manufactured on the latest process node. SEMI: During your career you’ve driven projects in test and automation and more recently robotics solutions for ports, logistics warehouses and transport. With robotics and automation a key part of Industry 4.0, what role do AEM solutions play in powering the smart manufacturing movement? Nair: The smart manufacturing movement is powered by semiconductors, software and increasingly by artificial intelligence (AI). Test is at the heart of the process of ensuring that semiconductor and electronics devices reach the consumer well-tested for reliability. With our vision of enabling A Zero Failure World, AEM addresses the necessity for safe, highly reliable devices. The semiconductor companies themselves are adopting smart manufacturing methods. AEM’s tools are Industry 4.0-ready, and we continue to invest in machine learning and data analytics, which are integral to the future of test. Our tools are automated and feature embedded sensors to provide our customers with data about tool usage, the state of a machine’s health, and more. Our tools are connected to our customers’ manufacturing automation platforms. Additionally, we continue to invest in our ability to better slice and dice test data to understand trends and patterns to help our customers analyze data and make decisions faster. SEMI: You also have experience heading autonomous vehicle projects. With the COVID-19 pandemic hastening digital transformation, do you see an acceleration in the development of fully autonomous vehicles and smart manufacturing? Research and development efforts for autonomous vehicles (AV) continue at a fast pace worldwide. With shutdowns and restricted movement rules globally, the pandemic has hastened digital transformation in many ways. The delivery of goods and services is transforming, and AV will surely play a part, especially in secure environments for autonomous transport. The pandemic has accelerated the development of autonomous vehicles and smart manufacturing technology in automation-friendly environments like factories and ports. SEMI: At the recent Global Technology Summit hosted by SEMI, you spoke about testing innovations to meet the demands of highly complex devices. Please elaborate on innovative testing solutions versus traditional testing? Nair: AEM offers a disruptive and differentiated solution, one that is driving a paradigm shift to asynchronous, modular, highly parallel, smart testing solutions. ​ The traditional approach of ATEs to test increasingly complex devices on advanced nodes has reached a point of diminishing returns as it gets exponentially more expensive to increase test coverage to acceptable levels. Additionally, as devices get more complex and companies are rapidly adopting heterogeneous packaging technologies, the realization that System Level Test (SLT) is necessary is forcing a rethink of the entire test process. AEM’s provides asynchronous, modular, highly parallel test cell solutions that enable each test cell to run SLT, final test, or burn-in all in one system and its ability to handle hundreds of test cells independently with each test cell testing multiple devices. Our solutions suddenly make comprehensive testing of every complex device cost-effective. Freeing us from legacy ATE allows AEM to provide these innovative solutions to our customers. AEM engineering and manufacturing teams in Singapore at work on semiconductor test and handling systems for global deployment at world-class semiconductor facilities. (Photo credit: AEM) SEMI: Singapore seems to be in the sweet spot of digital transformation. Singapore’s industrial production grew 8.6% year-over-year in January 2021, an expansion driven mainly by a surge in sectors including electronics, and more growth is seen in the year ahead. Digital technologies such as 5G technology and cloud computing together with continued demand for work-from-home equipment is behind this growth. What are the growth prospects for the region’s electronics sector? Nair: Singapore is well-poised to benefit from the current digital transformation accelerated by the adoption of these technologies during the pandemic. Being a safe, well-governed country with strong IP protection, excellent infrastructure, and the rule of law, Singapore is in a great position to play a central role in cloud-based services, 5G, and the semiconductor industry. Singapore’s semiconductor sector output is at a record high, and the prospects for renewed growth in the region are very good. SEMI: As a new Regional Advisory Board member of SEMI Southeast Asia, how is your industry experience relevant to the scope of this role? What opportunities lie ahead for the region? Nair: I am honored to represent AEM in the SEMI’s Southeast Asia RAB. The SEMI RAB can influence policymakers with ideas and information on the current and future needs of the industry. I also believe that SEMI Southeast Asia can cultivate a strong innovative semiconductor ecosystem that helps regional and global growth. I look forward to working with other very experienced and accomplished board members. Bee Bee Ng is president of SEMI Southeast Asia.

SEMI spoke with Tom Doyle, founder and CEO of Aspinity, about the challenges of packing more localized intelligence into portable Internet of Things (IoT) devices without draining their batteries. Doyle shared his views on Aspinity’s system-level approach – solve the power problems by performing machine learning in analog – ahead of his presentation at the SEMI MEMS Imaging Sensors Technology Showcase, 18 February, as part of the SEMI Technology Unites Global Summit, 15-19 February 2021, online event. Join us to meet experts from Aspinity and other key industry influencers. Registration is open. SEMI: Why is power efficiency so important for IoT devices? Doyle: Hundreds of millions of IoT devices are improving our lives at home and at work. Always on and always sensing the environment for data, these smart devices have traditionally been wall-powered and have relied on the cloud for their data processing needs, but clogged networks, as well as privacy and performance issues, have necessitated the migration to edge processing.Spanning consumer, medical and industrial, these IoT devices are becoming smaller and more portable. And a portion of them is operating remotely in hard-to-access locations. So now we are packing more functionality into the device and we are moving to battery power and the batteries need to last a long time. That is a big challenge before us, and to answer it, we need to find the most power-efficient ways to integrate always-on sensing capability into IoT devices because we cannot afford to have short battery life limit market adoption.SEMI: Why is it so challenging to deliver low-power, always-on solutions and how can sensors suppliers achieve improvements in system power? Doyle: In today’s always-on IoT devices, all sensor data – which are naturally analog – is immediately digitized at high resolution, and then it’s analyzed to determine whether a wake word has been spoken, a specific motion has been made, or some other anomaly has occurred. But since most of the data collected will not contain the information for which the device is waiting, this digitize-first approach wastes significant battery life by continuously running irrelevant data through the ADC and the digital processor.Sensors suppliers have some options to consider for reducing power. If they are satisfied achieving incremental improvements in battery life, both sensors and digital processor suppliers can continue to drive down the power of each individual component in the system. But to achieve revolutionary power savings, we must look at a more holistic system solution.The fundamental problem is that moving data through a system costs power. That is why the most efficient way to save power is to reduce the amount of data down to what’s actually important as early as possible, right at the start of the signal chain, where the physical world becomes data. If we can minimize the amount of data that require downstream processing, then we can maximize battery life.SEMI: Aspinity aims to solve the battery-life problem in IoT devices by introducing a new system architecture. Could you explain how your approach differs from digitize-first?Doyle: Aspinity’s solution, called the Reconfigurable Analog Modular Processor (RAMP), is an analog processing technology that combines analog machine learning (analogML™) and analog compression to enable accurate, ultra-low-power analog event detection and system wake-up. RAMP technology enables a new system architecture, which we call analyze-first, that allows an always-on system to spend just a little bit of analog power up front at the sensor to determine whether sensed data are relevant to the task at hand before waking the digital system for further processing. The analyze-first architecture can extend battery life by months or years over digitize-first architectures because it keeps the higher-power digital components asleep unless important data require digitization and analysis, which in some applications – such as voice-first or acoustic event detection – may occur very rarely. Aspinity RAMP voice activity detection with preroll from Aspinity on Vimeo. SEMI: Can you give us an example?Doyle: Here is a practical example of how this works: For most voice-enabled systems, such as smart speakers, voice-activated TV remotes and hearables, voice is only present 10%-20% of the time – but the digitize-first architecture on which these devices are traditionally based is digitizing 100% of the sound data captured by the microphone, even when most of that data are irrelevant and could not possibly contain a wake word.In contrast, the RAMP-based analyze-first architecture is highly efficient since it uses feature extraction and a neural network to analyze the sound at the microphone, right where it enters the device, to determine if the sound contains voice before waking the digital wake word engine. Additionally, the accuracy of most wake word engines relies not just on waking up and analyzing the wake word, but also on analyzing the 500ms of sound prior to the wake word (preroll). To support wake word engine performance, the RAMP also continuously compresses 500ms of preroll that can be stored in just 2k of memory and delivered to the wake word engine along with the voice data. So, this new analyze-first approach using RAMP technology can extend battery life by 10 times over older digitize-first designs, without sacrificing performance and accuracy.SEMI: What solutions can Aspinity bring to address the current market needs? Doyle: Aspinity offers the only analogML chip for always-on IoT devices that run on battery: the RAMP chip.The RAMP is trainable and programmable to detect many different types of sensor events directly from the raw analog sensor data. One application that benefits from a RAMP chip are devices that are always-listening for voice, for glass break or alarms, or for some other type of sound. Other examples include vibration sensors that monitor industrial equipment for predictive and preventative maintenance, and heartrate sensors that are used to detect anomalies in wearables and other biomedical applications.Aspinity just recently introduced our voice-first evaluation kit – which we will be demonstrating during the Technology Showcase at Technology Unites – to enable our customers to get first-hand experience with our RAMP-based analog voice wake-up solution. With this complete hardware and software kit, customers can experience all of the benefits of analogML and analog data compression – 10x power savings without a reduction in wake word detection accuracy –for their next generation of voice-enabled devices.SEMI: How can technology unite us? What do you expect from your participation at SEMI Technology Unites Global Summit?Doyle: I think this past year has shown us that when time gets tough – and for many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most difficult challenges we have faced – that innovation is critical to solving major problems. The microelectronics industry has played an important role in providing critical components for COVID-19 testing, ventilators, air-purification systems, and other equipment used in healthcare settings. COVID-19 has also accelerated the move to voice as a preferred interface to many devices in an effort to stem the spread of germs on surfaces.The biotech industry is gearing up to provide the vaccines that we hope will restore more normalcy to our daily lives. We can thank the successful collaborations between R D innovators and established companies in many different markets for the new devices and drugs now going into production.With traditional in-person conferences still on hold until the pandemic eases up, attending industry conferences with exceptional speakers presenting interesting content is more important than ever. SEMI Technology Unites Global Summit provides that opportunity, and I’m genuinely looking forward to participating.Tom Doyle, Founder and CEO of Aspinity, brings over 30 years of experience in operational excellence and executive leadership in analog and mixed-signal semiconductor technology to Aspinity. Prior to Aspinity, Tom was group director of Cadence Design Systems’ analog and mixed-signal IC business unit, where he managed the deployment of the company’s technology to the world’s foremost semiconductor companies. Previously, Tom was founder and president of the analog/mixed-signal software firm, Paragon IC solutions, where he was responsible for all operational facets of the company including sales and marketing, global partners/distributors, and engineering teams in the US and Asia. Tom holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from West Virginia University and an MBA from California State University, Long Beach.Serena Brischetto is senior manager of Marketing and Communications at SEMI Europe.

At the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Walt Disney and his team of Imagineers debuted Audio-Animatronics® in four attractions, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, General Electric Carousel of Progress, Ford Magic Skyway, and it’s a small world. As “a new type of animation” that Walt said was “so lifelike that you might find it hard to believe,” Audio-Animatronics captivated audiences, setting the stage for the technological innovation that would transform theme-park attractions for decades to come. While the Audio-Animatronics in classic Disney® attractions such as Enchanted Tiki Room and Pirates of the Caribbean® continue to delight park-goers, more modern attractions take full advantage of the miniaturized, sensitive enabling hardware components, software algorithms, and connectivity technologies that are available to today’s engineers.When Michael Tschanz, director of engineering technology and analysis, a segment within Disney Parks, Experiences and Products’ Global Engineering and Technology department, gives the opening keynote at MSEC 2020, SEMI’s first virtual MEMS Sensors Executive Congress (October 6-8 and 13-15, 2020), attendees will get a rare look inside the magic of select Walt Disney World attractions. Join MEMS Sensors Industry Group and SEMI on October 6 for Tschanz’s keynote presentation, Model-Based Design and Scientific Data Analytics of Disney Attractions — and experience video footage that you won’t see anywhere else. Register now for MSEC 2020.MEMS Sensors Industry Group® (MSIG), a SEMI technology community that connects the MEMS and sensors supply network in established and emerging markets, enables members to grow and prosper. Visit us today.In his role at Disney, Michael Tschanz leads a multidiscipline team which develops detailed mathematical and physics models for transportation, ride and animatronic systems, custom software and network applications, and robotics. The responsibilities for this team also include the development of optimization algorithms, servo controllers, interactive/immersive experiences, data analytics, and material process solutions. Michael’s rich and diverse background includes designs of numerous attractions at various Disney theme parks including: Test Track® Attraction; Mission: SPACE® Attraction; Toy Story Mania!® Attraction and the Expedition Everest® Attraction. Michael also designed all the velocity profiles at the worldwide locations of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™.Nishita Rao is product marketing manager at SEMI.

MEMS sensors have come a long way over the past few decades. The late 1990’s brought us the mass production of both MEMS accelerometers for automotive air bag crash sensors and MEMS gyros for rollover detection and anti-locking braking systems (ABS). In the early 2000’s, MEMS sensors made the jump from automotive to mobile and consumer electronics, first with a MEMS microphone in the wildly successful Motorola RAZR phone and then with a MEMS accelerometer in the first Nintendo Wii remote.Following this initial period of MEMS’ commercialization, the timetable for the mass proliferation of both MEMS and non-MEMS sensors accelerated dramatically. Just take Apple iPhone. Released in 2007, the first iPhone had one MEMS accelerometer and one proximity sensor. Released 10 years later, iPhone X included four MEMS microphones, a barometer, three-axis gyro, MEMS accelerometer and proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor and an infrared (IR) sensor, a magnetometer, and multiple image sensors. For perspective’s sake, well over two billion iPhones have been sold since 2007, making iPhone a major growth-driver in MEMS. According to Yole Développement[i] (Yole), MEMS will generate $10.9 billion in revenue in 2020 alone (non-MEMS sensor revenue will be even higher), spanning automotive, consumer and mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), medical and healthcare, aerospace, industrial and other markets.With so much growth behind us, what’s ahead? Jens Fabrowsky, executive vice president of Automotive Electronics at Robert Bosch GmbH, will share his insights on the future of MEMS during his MSEC 2020 keynote, The Next 10 Years of MEMS: An Outlook on Opportunities and Challenges. I recently spoke with Fabrowsky to preview his October 15 presentation at SEMI’s first virtual MEMS Sensors Executive Congress, October 6-8 and 13-15, 2020. Register now for MSEC 2020 and explore this topic with Fabrowsky by participating in the Q A segment of his presentation.SEMI: What are some of the primary challenges facing the MEMS industry?Fabrowsky: Development costs for new generations of MEMS sensors are increasing, leading to several major shifts. To compensate for rising development costs and reduce risk, MEMS sensors suppliers are pursuing wider, diverse markets instead of just targeting high-volume applications. At the same time, end-device manufacturers are demanding greater product differentiation, but they don’t want to pay a premium for it or wait for new hardware iterations. To stay competitive, sensor suppliers are providing software solutions that support new features and functionality. That approach is more cost-effective and speeds design-to-production cycles. SEMI: What factors are increasing development costs for new MEMS sensors, and what can companies do to mitigate their R D risk? Fabrowsky: As with most electronic components, MEMS’ costs are driven by development and capital expenditures. The increasing complexity of the content, especially in interface ASICs and software, makes MEMS development a multidisciplinary feat, requiring several competencies across multiple design centers to meet ever-demanding timelines.Manufacturing also plays a role. We often see dedicated manufacturing lines built for new MEMS products, which stresses both investments and capacity planning. Working together as an industry, we can reduce risk and costs by applying the same manufacturing process to more than one generation of product, which will speed time to market, increase volumes and improve ROI. SEMI: To what degree will the COVID-19 pandemic continue to affect sensors suppliers?Fabrowsky: MEMS manufacturing flows have been affected by disruptions in the supply chain. While the benefits of multiple sourcing and more direct ownership of the flow itself (on-shoring, vertical integration) have helped us, no one in the industry can claim they are out of danger, especially if a new wave of contagion occurs. Our industry relies heavily on just-in-time manufacturing and logistics, and we are all watching for influences that could alter flow. The pandemic has reminded us all that an important competitive advantage is a predictable, secure supply — which also comes at a cost that the end customer must value. SEMI: Why and how are traditional hardware companies like Robert Bosch differentiating their platforms for end-device manufacturers? Fabrowsky: On-shoring was already a trend before the pandemic. We’ve always believed in and are still investing in our own manufacturing facilities. That includes the 12-inch ASIC fab in Dresden, Germany, where we expect to manufacture future generations of power and control electronics to satisfy the growing appetite for silicon that vehicle electrification demands.We think that one of our biggest differentiators is that our portfolio includes more than just components: Close collaboration with our internal partner divisions gives us comprehensive system know-how across the automotive supply chain. On the consumer-electronics side, we have extensive partnerships with makers of application processors, wireless systems, and sensor processing software. With this expertise behind us, we can provide flexible system-integration options to our end customers — who also benefit from a mature supply chain that supports high volumes and field-tested quality.SEMI: What does customer demand for software solutions mean for sensor suppliers and how will suppliers evolve to meet this need? Fabrowsky: In some silicon product business units, the R D effort to develop software is higher than the effort to design the hardware! Software is not only what’s needed on the application layer. It also runs the interface to the processors – the drivers. In addition, increasingly complex testing software ensures high yield and minimizes defects. On the application layer, we are increasingly using and promoting open-source platforms to encourage better collaboration throughout the ecosystem. In contrast, companies that charge fees to access their own proprietary software environments are missing the opportunity to remain competitive in the long run. SEMI: Why are end-device manufacturers looking for plug-and-play solutions instead of standalone devices? Fabrowsky: Consumers of electronic devices always want products with more features and lower prices. Their requirements produce a trickle-down effect that reaches all the way to component suppliers such as ourselves. This requires us to manage a healthy innovation pipeline, and to choose products and technologies that promise growth and high volumes. This isn’t always simple, however, and many times the component itself is not enough. Think of our Light Drive projector for Bosch Smartglasses. The only way we can hope to win designs in this market is by realizing a fully integrated module, with our own scanning mirrors and driver chips, as well as our integration of laser modules and the display system. This lets us offer an individually tested and calibrated end product ready for assembly.SEMI: What would you like MSEC 2020 attendees to take away from your presentation?Fabrowsky: We’ll be looking at what’s driving the next decade of MEMS applications. For example, the embedded computing inside the sensors, together with enhancements in integration, materials and packaging, will increase the pervasiveness of MEMS sensors and actuators as touchpoints between electronics and the physical world. This will create a new form of intimacy between us and the machines, which we call Artificial Empathy.To learn more about Bosch Smartglasses Light Drive and other MEMS advancements, register now for MSEC 2020.Robert Bosch GmbH is a longtime member of MEMS Sensors Industry Group® (MSIG), a SEMI technology community that connects the MEMS and sensors supply network in established and emerging markets, enabling members to grow and prosper. Visit us today.Jens Fabrowsky began his more than 20-year career at Bosch Group as department head responsible for hydraulic units in the Blaichach plant, Germany Chassis Systems division, in 1999. He soon moved onto technical plant manager and later to plant manager within the company’s Germany Gasoline systems division. He has held the role of executive vice president, Automotive Electronics at Robert Bosch GmbH, since April 2012. Fabrowsky studied mechanical engineering and industrial engineering at the University of Stuttgart (Germany) and the Technical University of Munich (Germany). [i] Status of the MEMS Industry report, Yole Développement, 2020.Nishita Rao is product marketing manager at SEMI.

Jack McCauley understands the interplay between video game hardware and human interaction like few others in the industry. He designed the guitar and drums for Red Octane’s (later Activision’s) Guitar Hero video game series. As co-founder and chief engineer of Oculus VR, he designed the Oculus DK1 and DK2 virtual reality (VR) headsets and helped guide the company through its acquisition by Facebook in 2014. Now active in automotive technology, he builds cars at Black Lab, his private R D facility and hardware incubator in Livermore, California. And, in no small feat, he thinks he’s solved the head-tracking problems in augmented reality (AR)/VR headsets – which he’ll demonstrate during his keynote presentation, MEMS Applications in Augmented Reality, October 6 at MSEC 2020. SEMI’s first virtual MEMS Sensors Executive Congress. The event is October 6-8 and 13-15, 2020, and registration is open. I interviewed McCauley to preview his presentation. Register now for MSEC 2020.SEMI: What inspired you to become the first person to use a MEMS sensor in a gaming device?McCauley: When I started designing the Guitar Hero peripherals, I had intermittent problems with the motion tracking. I switched to a Freescale single-axis accelerometer, developed some IP around it, and that fixed the problem. That’s how I became an early customer of MEMS. SEMI: When you pioneered immersive VR gaming experiences at Oculus VR, tech industry analysts predicted widespread adoption of VR for gaming. What do you think happened?McCauley: There are a lot of reasons why VR hasn’t become the standard bearer for gaming. Gaming used to be a solitary activity, but as companies like Microsoft and Sony got behind multiplayer gaming, we realized many gamers found the social aspect more important than the visual aspect. Many gamers are content to play on a 2D screen or on multiple monitors because they’re playing against many people. The proliferation of internet connections worldwide has also promoted the kinship and social aspect of gaming.SEMI: Do you think VR has a place in other applications?McCauley: I think it has a lot of potential in real estate, VR movies, and engineering and design, among other areas. The automotive designer Henrik Fisker, for example, created whole vehicles in a game-engine model. If you wanted to buy one of his cars, let’s say, you could change the color and upholstery, for example, and then view it in a VR environment. SEMI: One of the biggest obstacles to VR adoption is the motion sickness some people experience during game play. What would you do to fix that?McCauley: The vestibular system in the brain, which uses the inner ear, is crucial to helping you balance. If there’s a mismatch between what your eyes see and your brain is perceiving, you’re likely to feel dizzy. I’ve built a VR headset that uses a MEMS pico projector with micromirrors and a small laser for position tracking as well as for facial tracking and modeling. But the platform’s not for sale.Still, many of the technical advances that we’ve made in VR are helping us with AR development. The increasing power of mobile chipsets and GPUs, the decreasing geometry for individual transistors and the way specific chips are processed, screen interfaces that will drive a 4K panel at a high frame rate, plus MEMS devices inside the eyewear for rotations and tracking are all helpful innovations.SEMI: When designing cars in your own lab, you’re doing a lot of work with AR. What do you think of AR’s commercial viability?McCauley: I know there are well-funded AR programs in place at major companies. That’s because mobile-device companies want an omnipresent phone in front of your face. I thought Google Glass, for example, was brilliant, but it was way too early for that product, and there was too much hype behind it.McCauley's latest R D project is a vehicle that incorporates augmented features and a computerized display. The vehicle is a custom built, environmentally friendly super-car with enhanced driver safety and high vehicle performance. AR is appealing because it lets people see through a screen – and have objects appear on that screen – while they are moving through space. My son actually came up with one of the ideas I’m implementing in a car I’m designing. We were driving in Spain, and he suggested that instead of using Google Maps to show me driving directions – which would force me to look down at an infotainment display – a sign could appear on AR glasses that would instruct me how to drive to Italy. That’s just an example of how we’ll use AR. SEMI: After you sold Oculus VR to Facebook, you began investing time and resources into engineering education. Why did you make that choice?McCauley: I’m originally from a blue-collar family, and then I got an education at Berkeley. That made a major difference in my life. When I sold Oculus, I donated to education-focused charities primarily, because an education can lift an entire family out of poverty. Let’s say your family are farm workers, but you get a degree in engineering and land a job at Apple. That could produce a ripple effect. As other members of your family and people in your community see the benefits of your education, they’re more likely to get an education, too. SEMI: What would you like MSEC attendees to take away from your presentation?McCauley: I appreciate what the MEMS industry has done for VR because if Oculus didn’t have a nine degrees of freedom (9DoF) IMU, no one would have bought our company. A new application will come along sooner or later that will require a different type of MEMS technology, and I have total confidence that the MEMS industry will deliver what’s needed. For more information on McCauley’s R D projects or on his position as Innovator in Residence at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, visit his website. MEMS Sensors Industry Group® (MSIG), a SEMI technology community that connects the MEMS and sensors supply network in established and emerging markets, enables members to grow and prosper. Visit us today.Jack McCauley is an Innovator in Residence at the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, where he mentors students, lectures in courses focused on product design and design for manufacturing, and leads research and development projects focused on applications of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality for design professionals and students.McCauley graduated from Berkeley Engineering with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1986, and credits the time he spent at Berkeley as an undergraduate with helping to ignite his career. Maria Vetrano is a public relations consultant at SEMI.

Earlier this year when the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, began sprinting around the world, public health officials told us that social distancing was the most effective way to slow its spread. We’re now many months into the pandemic, and social distancing, combined with mask-wearing, is still the best way to prevent new cases of the disease.On March 20, 2020, governors on opposite coasts, Gavin Newsom in California and Andrew Cuomo in New York, shut down their states, and other states soon followed. Only essential businesses, such as select retailers – grocery and hardware stores as well as pharmacies, for example – were allowed to remain open. Depending on location, however, it was days or weeks before strict social distancing measures were in place. Tape stuck six feet apart on store floors has helped shoppers keep their distance. But shouldn’t there be a more exact and reliable way to gauge social distances in retail stores, gyms, workplaces and other settings?David Horsley, founder and CTO of Chirp Microsystems, a TDK Group company, believes so, and the company is developing technology that does just that. Horsley will share the details in his keynote A Wearable Social Distancing Solution Based on Ultrasonic Time-of-Flight Sensors October 14 at MSEC 2020, SEMI’s first virtual MEMS Sensors Executive. The event is October 6-8 and 13-15, 2020. Register now for MSEC 2020.I spoke with Horsley to learn more about the sensors.SEMI: What was the inspiration for providing Chirp’s ultrasonic Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors for social distancing?Horsley: Companies actually started contacting Chirp about six months ago to inquire about social distance tags to measure distance between people. They already knew about us because we’ve been supplying MEMS ultrasonic ToF sensors for virtual reality and robotics for several years, so they knew we could provide the same kind of low-power range-finding accuracy for resource-constrained devices. SEMI: How are your customers using Chirp-based social distance tags?Horsley: They’re designing Chirp’s ultrasonic ToF sensors into wearable tags worn by workers in distribution centers, in factories, and in oil and gas production, to name a few areas. The tags alert workers when they’re closer than two meters from another worker to ensure social distancing. Chirp’s ToF sensors also support contact tracing without recording any personal information, which is a major advantage over contact-tracing applications from companies like Google and Apple. Because those apps use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which is already in your smartphone, the user has to enable location services. This records your GPS location, a privacy concern.BLE is problematic on some other levels as well. It only provides one-meter accuracy while Chirp’s ToF solution for social distancing delivers one-centimeter accuracy. Because BLE is only accurate within one meter, it can’t alert you in real-time that you’ve crossed that two-meter boundary to another person. Imagine you’re in the checkout line at the supermarket. BLE can tell you that other people are in your general vicinity, but it doesn’t have enough resolution to tell you whether the next shopper is two meters away from you or only one-and-a-half meters away. And because it doesn’t use the air as a medium, it registers a lot of false positives. If, for example, you’re separated from a person by a partition or a wall, and you’re within two or three meters of each other, your phone’s social-distance app will register a false positive.SEMI: Are you talking with customers in other environments, such as college campuses and theme parks?Horsley: There’s great deal of potential in those markets. For example, Professor Prabal Dutta’s group at UC Berkeley is working on a system that uses our sensors. His work also made us aware of some of the privacy concerns around contact tracing because universities are much more uneasy about student privacy than some private-sector companies are today. SEMI: What would you like MSEC attendees to take away from your presentation?Horsley: From the beginning, we believed that MEMS ultrasound was very versatile. We expected it to find a home in different types of applications because of its low power, small size and ease of use, particularly since we provide the enabling software that makes it all work. With design wins in four to five vertical markets, we’re experiencing significant marketplace validation. We’re all hoping that COVID-19 will wind down in the first half of 2021. As the focus on social distancing begins to fade, we’re looking forward to building out our customer base in the markets we’re in today as well as gearing up to explore new markets.Chirp Microsystems and TDK InvenSense are longtime members of MEMS Sensors Industry Group® (MSIG), a SEMI technology community that connects the MEMS and sensors supply network in established and emerging markets, enabling members to grow and prosper. Visit us today to learn how MSIG membership can make a difference in your business.David A. Horsley, Ph.D., is co-founder and CTO of Chirp Microsystems Inc., a TDK Group company. Horsley is also a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Davis, and is adjunct professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Since 2004, he has been co-director of the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC), the National Science Foundation’s Industrial/University Collaborative Research Center (I/UCRC) focused on MEMS research. Horsley is also a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, and has authored or co-authored over 150 scientific papers and holds over 20 patents.Maria Vetrano is a public relations consultant for MSIG, a SEMI technology community.

While the world awaits a working vaccine to protect us from COVID-19, we need to employ all available tools to help curb the spread of this novel virus. On the one hand, it’s remarkable that we’re relying on the same low-tech tools that our forebears used to moderate the pandemic of 1918 — social isolation, mask-wearing and hand-washing. On the other, we have access to numerous technologies that hadn’t even been invented a century ago. Among the most important is molecular diagnostics for advanced testing.While we continue to face a scarcity of test kits in the U.S., the majority of commercially available genetic tests for COVID-19 are reliable, so accuracy is rarely the problem. We’re hampered instead by the timeliness of getting the results and by the level of detail the tests provide.To save more lives and reduce the burden on our healthcare system, we need point-of-care genetic tests that deliver accurate results rapidly, telling us right away who’s positive and who’s negative. We also need pertinent test data shared as quickly as possible via secure networks to improve our ability to track surges in infections. These are two of the challenges that emerging biotech companies are pivoting to embrace. RT-PCR: The Gold Standard in Accuracy, Not SpeedWhen I read about some of the high-quality COVID-19 tests on the market – such as Abbott’s, which detects positive results in as little as five minutes — I am awed by how far we’ve come since the last global pandemic. The core enabling technology in test platforms such as Abbott’s uses the molecular genetics technique real-time reverse polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The vast majority of rapid tests administered today in hospitals and other clinical settings use RT-PCR.While accuracy is high for RT-PCR tests, getting tests results to patients is slow because test samples are sent to the lab for analysis. That lab could be located in a hospital, in a doctor’s office, or in an urgent care facility run by a large company such as Quest Diagnostics. Regardless of location, each lab must have an RT-PCR machine to read the test results. Plus each RT-PCR machine costs thousands of dollars, and requires a technician to read the results, , factors that have limited the proliferation of these machines.New COVID-19 cases are still surging in parts of the U.S., India and Brazil, and in some areas, we’re seeing instances of inundated labs, with test results coming back in one to two weeks. That’s not fast enough for a virus this contagious. We need to get accurate tests results to healthcare providers, public officials, and patients as close to real-time as possible. To meet this goal, we need to apply molecular-diagnostic techniques to new types of biosensors that deliver test results at the point of care in minutes through platforms that send that data in near real-time to the cloud. This essential information will allow public health institutions, states, cities and other key stakeholders to identify and mitigate emerging hot spots of disease.Over the past seven months, we’ve had the privilege of working with a handful of biotech companies that have pivoted to develop rapid point-of-care molecular diagnostics that target COVID-19. One of these, HEMEMICS, is developing a handheld molecular diagnostic test platform that could be administered by healthcare workers in triage settings such as ambulances, emergency rooms, community clinics and makeshift hospitals. As a true point-of-care test platform, it would deliver results onsite, without requiring the transfer of test samples to a lab. “We’re aiming to redefine point-of-care testing for COVID-19,” said John Lehman Warden, Jr., CEO and co-founder, HEMEMICS. “Unlike the most common type of on-site test — the lateral flow monitor — our test isn’t waiting for osmotic reactions to occur. We place the sample from a quick nasal swab or a drop of blood right on-chip, and binding takes place within a standing drop of fluid. That makes our platform fast, delivering results in about 60 seconds. Plus it simplifies sharing test results with other communities of interest, such as public health departments and municipalities, because it’s Bluetooth-enabled and supports cloud-based management networks.”As its foundry partner, we’re collaborating with HEMEMICS as it continues to refine its biochip’s sensitivity for both antibody and antigen testing of SARS-CoV-2. Once HEMEMICS is satisfied, it will move forward with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) emergency use authorization (EUA), which it hopes will bring the HEMEMICS platform into the hands of the millions of people who stand to benefit.As we head into the fall and winter months, we’ll need both rapid, connected point-of-care biosensor test platforms such as HEMEMICS’ and high-accuracy RT-PCR tests to fight COVID-19 effectively. And at their root, we’ll have MEMS and biosensors to thank. For more information on Rogue Valley Microdevices’ biosensor solutions, please contact the company at [email protected] or visit its website. As founder and CEO of Rogue Valley Microdevices, Jessica Gomez has created a world-class precision MEMS foundry in the heart of Southern Oregon. Integral to her role as CEO, Gomez practices a business philosophy of offering best-in-class process technology and R D expertise to customers to help them achieve the highest quality and reliability in their products. Gomez plays an active leadership role within and beyond the technology industry. She is a board member of the prestigious SEMI Board of Industry Leaders, she was the first executive selected for Spotlight on SEMI Women, and she is chairman of the Oregon Institute of Technology Board of Trustees.Rogue Valley Microdevices is a longtime member of MEMS Sensors Industry Group (MSIG), a SEMI technology community that enables the MEMS and sensor industry to address common challenges, innovate and accelerate business results.

About 70% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is driven by consumer demand. What consumers are looking for is influenced by, for example, fashion trends, product innovations, environmental forces, and personal interests. Regarding personal interests: Sales of electronic components at Fry’s are poor. Radio Shack stores even vanished completely. Today’s consumers do not like to tinker; they want to buy software-enabled, user-friendly systems with over-the-air updating that serves their current and future requirements well – e.g. smartphones. System vendors followed the same transition, and so did semiconductor vendors. Instead of offering (low margin) components, they develop and manufacture big portions of, if not complete, (high value) hardware and software solutions for electronic systems, targeted at specific markets.Mid-August, two SEMI webinars outlined the Smart Mobility market and what it expects from system and semiconductor vendors.SEMI's Smart Initiative“None of us knows as much as all of us,” “Connect – Collaborate – Innovate,” and other strategic considerations have motivated SEMI to become the gateway for the $2 Trillion (= 2,000 Billion) global electronic design and manufacturing supply chain. Figure 1 shows how many companies and organizations have joined this large industry organization, to work together efficiently and serve customer demands cost-effectively. Especially in four high-growth markets/application areas – Smart Data, Smart Mobility, Smart MedTech, and Smart Manufacturing – SEMI enables highly rewarding cooperation. Figure 1: Overview of SEMI members, technology communities, and areas of focus. (Courtesy: SEMI) MEMS and Sensors for Smart Mobility Tim Brosnihan, executive director of MEMS Sensor Industry Group (MSIG), moderated the webinar on MEMS and sensors for Smart Mobility. Bettina Weiss, Chief of Staff and Global Smart Mobility Lead at SEMI, presented the overview. In addition to Figure 1 above, she showed how many companies are now supporting SEMI’s Smart Mobility efforts and have joined the Global Automotive Advisory Council (GAAC). The European GAAC was founded in 2018, based on requests from VW and Audi. Regional chapters have also been formed in the U.S., China, Taiwan, and Japan. Figure 2 shows the current members of the American GAAC – new members are welcomed in all five regions. Figure 2: Current GAAC members in the Americas. (Courtesy: SEMI) Market Trends and Technology Innovations in MEMS Sensors Andreas Breiter, Partner at McKinsey Company, addressed markets, and Armen Mkrtchyan, Associate Partner at McKinsey Company, spoke about technology. Breiter addressed both vehicle and infrastructure changes required, as well as many ongoing and planned activities to enable Smart Mobility. He outlined autonomy, connectivity, electrification, and shared mobility of vehicles as the major opportunities for MEMS sensors. Mkrtchyan showed which technologies enable Smart Mobility and which regions will invest how much in software, hardware, and services by 2030, to capture data and process it in partially/fully autonomous vehicles’ Domain Control Units (DCUs) – see Figure 3. Figure 3: Pre-COVID market estimates. (Courtesy: McKinsey Company) MEMS-based sensors are used in vehicles to monitor pressures and perform as accelerometers or gyroscopes. Non-MEMS-based sensors capture light (e.g. for time-of-flight distance measurements) or magnetic fields (e.g. for RPM measurements). Regarding the many infrastructure upgrades needed for enabling autonomous vehicles on the roads, in Figure 4, Breiter gives road planners a lot of food for thought and planning work. City planners face much more complex challenges. That’s why electronic systems will also be needed to make these large infrastructure investments earn returns. Figure 4: Smart roads are essential for autonomous driving. (Courtesy: McKinsey Company) EDA and Smart Mobility The second Smart Mobility webinar focused on how Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tool vendors, Intellectual Property (IP, System Building Blocks) vendors, and system/IC Design Services can contribute to the success of Smart Mobility. Bob Smith, executive director of Electronic System Design Alliance (ESDA), moderated the webinar, highlighting where the relatively small but essential ESDA and its members fit in the semiconductor ecosystem – see Figure 5. Figure 5: EDA, IP, and design services enable the entire electronics ecosystem. (Courtesy: ESDA) Bettina Weiss explained how SEMI and the Smart Mobility Team are working to bring together stakeholders in the semiconductor ecosystem in general and the Smart Mobility segment specifically, to jointly address topics of common interest, work on solutions and agree upon standards where and when needed. Market Trends and Technology Innovations in EDA, IP and Design Services Andreas Breiter and Armen Mkrtchyan presented McKinsey’s perspectives regarding these topics. In addition to the above-mentioned market data, Breiter emphasized that DCUs are playing an increasingly important role in capturing the data provided by smart sensors, are processing it, and initiating appropriate actions. Together with application-specific software, these DCUs perform tasks like sensor fusion, manage creature comfort, assure safe operation of the vehicle, and secure communication with the outside world (Figure 6). Figure 6: High growth for DCU; likely shift in business models. (Courtesy: McKinsey Company) Mkrtchyan addressed EDA, IP, and services for Smart Mobility from 10 different technical perspectives. Here are the highlights. Component failures can and will have severe consequences in Smart Mobility. Therefore screening, testing, and exhaustive verification are extremely important. Software content is likely to increase at 10% CAGR during this decade. To increase the productivity of software and middleware developers, he emphasized that standards need to be agreed upon. Over-the-air (OTA) updating capabilities are needed. That’s why cybersecurity is important to keep vehicles current and safe. Power train electronics need to function at up to 150°C. New materials will be needed to increase reliability, reduce cooling efforts, and lower unit costs. Last, but not least, Mkrtchyan emphasized that every city needs to design its own infrastructure, not only to enable Smart Mobility but also to monetize the large investments needed; EDA, IP and design support will help to achieve both. In summary, he stated that Design and IP as well as packaging and test will be the most impacted areas in the transition to Smart Mobility. Personal Comments After having attended several MSIG events, I am impressed by how MEMS, NEMS (Nano…), and sensors can lend machines in many ways sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. They can replicate these human senses, often better than found in us. If you, like me, celebrated when your first modem enabled your PC to communicate with the entire world, you’ll appreciate the value MEMS and sensors can and will add to machines’ “communication skills.” Also, I can assure you that innovative engineers in this field will find many new ways to capture data in the physical, chemical, and biological domains and enable machines to keep humans safe. (I look forward to a handheld Covid-19 sensor that provides results within a few seconds!) Having worked for a small, then a large EDA vendor, many years ago, and for the ESD Alliance several years ago, I know how difficult it is to motivate innovative software developers to work together or agree upon standards. I am glad that the ESD Alliance is now working closely with SEMI. Most SEMI member companies, and their innovative employees, have learned over the years how important standards are to reduce development cost, processing, and test time, as well as time to profit. I wish Bob Smith and the ESDA members all the best for cooperating closely to define design standards, bi-directional hand-off points up and down the entire supply chain, primarily at the interface between design and manufacturing. I want to encourage EDA and IP experts to work closely with the experienced and knowledgeable people in materials, equipment, manufacturing, and test. 5G mm-wave communication, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), reliable solutions for Smart Mobility, and development/characterization of new materials offer great opportunities and challenges for design AND manufacturing. Together, these two big camps can monetize required solutions much better and faster, than on their own. Your contact at SEMI can tell you how and where you can watch the webinar recordings and/or download all the slides. P.S.: Having two eCars and one eBike in our garage encourages me to appreciate SEMI’s efforts in advance Smart Mobility! Republished with permission from 3D InCites.