MEMS & Sensors Executive Congress

John Smee, VP Engineering, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., will share insights on 5G – which is evolving to enable more reliable connectivity with higher performance in and beyond the era of Internet of Things (IoT) – in his keynote at MEMS Sensors Executive Congress, October 22-24, 2019, in Coronado, Calif.SEMI’s Maria Vetrano caught up with John to give MSEC attendees a preview of his talk.SEMI: Why should MEMS and sensors suppliers stand up and take note of the evolution in 5G, particularly 5G NR?Smee: 5G is the unifying fabric that will connect virtually everything around us. 5G New Radio (NR) is the global standard for a unified, more capable 5G wireless air interface. It will deliver significantly faster and more responsive mobile broadband experiences to users. It will also extend mobile technology to connect and redefine a multitude of new industries, including the IoT.As tens of millions of MEMS and sensors are the core components providing intelligence and interactivity to IoT devices, suppliers need to understand the capabilities and efficiencies that 5G will bring to connect the wide range of MEMS and sensors.We should also recognize that we are at the beginning of the 5G era, and 5G technologies will continue to evolve and expand in the coming years to connect new types of devices in increasingly efficient ways.SEMI: What’s special about the upcoming release of 5G NR, 3GPP Rel-16?Smee: While the first 5G NR release, 3GPP Rel-15, focused primarily on enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), it also established a solid technology foundation for continued evolution in Rel-16 and beyond.With Rel-16, we are seeing 5G NR’s expansion beyond eMBB to address new tiers of IoT services such as industrial IoT (e.g., automation) with ultra-reliable, low-latency communication (URLLC) and cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) for more advanced use cases, such as autonomous driving. MEMS and sensors are critically important to both types of use cases as they collect the raw information of the physical world, and 5G is the connectivity of these sensors to the network. This makes the technologies inextricably linked.MEMS and sensors are equally integral to the development of more efficient low-complexity massive IoT devices (MIoT) with in-band 5G NR deployments of enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC)/narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and the use of the new 5G Core Network. In practical terms, devices that enable smart city use cases – such as smart utility monitoring, connected parking meters, and smart street lighting solutions that support 3GPP Rel-16 – are MIoT devices that will delight city administrators and dwellers with their improved coverage and efficiency. SEMI: In addition to low-complexity MIoT devices, what other markets will benefit most from the evolution in 5G NR?Smee: We continue to enhance 5G NR to support the high-performance IoT, including URLLC.URLLC is one of the many new 5G capabilities that wasn’t possible with the previous generation of cellular technologies, such as LTE. Because it delivers services at very high reliability (i.e., 99.9999%) and ultra-low latency (i.e., sub-1ms), URLLC literally opens up new use cases that that only wired communication could serve in the past. Industrial IoT applications that require a mix of high reliability and low latency, such as robotic arm command and control, are foremost among these new URLLC use cases.Another example of IoT taking advantage of URLLC is smart grid, where faults in the electricity distribution network require immediate protection and control to ensure safety and avoid equipment damage.SEMI: How is Qualcomm building on the eMTC/NB-IoT for low-power wide-area IoT (LPWA) – and how will this influence IoT connectivity?Smee: We continue to evolve eMTC/NB-IoT beyond its initial 3GPP release in Rel-13, making these foundational LPWA IoT technologies more capable and efficient as they become the basis for 5G massive IoT.The most significant updates to eMTC/NB-IoT include multi-cast and positioning support in Rel-14 and improved spectral/power efficiencies in Rel-15. Multi-cast can help service providers to deliver firmware updates over the air with greater efficiency, which speeds deployment of new features. Positioning can create new values, which can inform end users where their assets/packages are located, potentially safeguarding assets in transit. Improving spectral/power efficiencies offers more power-efficient transmissions, which takes less toll on battery-operated devices.With Rel-16, we have further optimized eMTC/NB-IoT, which is supported by the new 5G Core Network and is also deployable in 5G spectrum in-band with other 5G NR services.The evolutionary path ahead for eMTC/NB-IoT enables support for an even wider range of 5G massive IoT devices. New enhancements in the pipeline, such as grant-free uplink and multi-hop mesh, will boost efficiency and coverage area that much more.SEMI: Where do mobile broadband devices such as ultra-high-definition (UHD) security cameras fall within Qualcomm’s realization of 5G-NR?Smee: Mobile broadband is at the core of 5G NR. We see it both powering the new generation of 5G smartphones and expanding beyond traditional devices (including always-connected PCs and tablets) to address the needs of high-performance IoT devices such as UHD security cameras.It’s actually an important part of our vision for 5G to have an industrial network that requires all types of 5G connectivity for devices spanning eMBB (e.g., cameras, laptops), URLLC (e.g., machines) and MIoT (e.g., sensors).SEMI: What can the MEMS and sensors industry do to prepare for the 5G wave?Smee: Because 5G can evolve to deliver even better performance and efficiency for connecting sensors in the 5G world, we will see even more widespread adoption of MEMS and sensors into larger numbers of connected applications. MEMS and sensors suppliers, therefore, need to get ready for the 5G wave by preparing to support 5G connectivity in their devices, which will ultimately help to realize the 5G vision of connecting virtually everything in the world around us.John Smee, Ph.D., is vice president of engineering at Qualcomm Technologies Inc., where he is the 5G R D lead responsible for overseeing all 5G research projects, including end-end systems design and advanced RF/HW/SW prototype implementations in Qualcomm’s wireless research and development group. He joined Qualcomm in 2000, holds over 100 U.S. Patents, and has been involved in the design, innovation, and productization of wireless communications systems such as 5G NR, 4G LTE, 3G CDMA, and IEEE 802.11. He also leads Qualcomm’s companywide academic collaboration program across technologies including wireless, semiconductor, multimedia, security and machine learning. John was chosen to participate in the National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering program and received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton University and also holds an M.A. from Princeton and an M.Sc. and B.Sc. from Queen’s University.Smee will present Evolving 5G NR to Connect the Internet of Things on Wednesday, October 23, 2019, at MEMS Sensors Executive Congress, Coronado Island Marriott Resort Spa in Coronado, Calif.Register today to learn how 5G NR will transform the user experience with MEMS- and sensors-enabled devices in IoT, automation and beyond.Interested in engaging with the MEMS and sensors supply chain? MEMS Sensors Industry Group is a SEMI technology community that enables the MEMS and sensors industry to innovate, address common challenges and accelerate business results.Maria Vetrano is a public relations consultant for SEMI.

When developing industry forecasts, market analysts gather data from hundreds of companies to provide actionable insights on established technologies and to identify near-term business opportunities. As a developer of new MEMS and sensor technologies for a range of commercial applications, clients often ask us, “What’s going to be hot?” Gauging the promise of emerging technologies that are five to 10 years from commercialization requires taking a different tack.History tells us that most of today’s blockbuster MEMS products were born as academic research projects. Years of hard work by entrepreneurs, funded by millions of dollars, have turned proof-of-concept research into new commercial products. To identify up-and-coming technologies, we gather information straight from the source: academic conferences and articles.Chirp Microsystems is a good proof point of our research methodology: In my 2012 report on emerging technologies, I highlighted research from UC Berkeley and UC Davis on “In-Air Ultrasonic Rangefinding and Angle Estimation Using an Array of AlN Micromachined Transducers.” Soon after publication, the authors incorporated Chirp Microsystems to commercialize their technology for gesture- and fingerprint-recognition applications.After five years of development work, Chirp’s products are entering the marketplace. In February 2018, the global supplier TDK InvenSense acquired Chirp, underscoring the company’s commercial potential. At October’s SEMI-MSIG MEMS Sensors Executive Congress in Napa, Calif., Chirp’s CEO, Dr. Michelle Kiang, held attendees rapt as she described her company’s journey from startup to wholly owned subsidiary.There’s a methodThis year, I reviewed over 100 papers from top researchers presenting noteworthy technologies at the Hilton Head Workshop on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems. My criteria for selection were: commercial relevance; offers a solution to a known or anticipated problem; and technology game-changers. The following caught my eye: Event-driven sensors: Cleverly designed silicon MEMS that consume no power while standing by. A triggering mechanical or thermal event closes a contact within the sensor to activate its circuitry and telemetry. These sensors leverage existing fabrication methods, so they could become commercial products within five years for event monitoring and security applications. (UT Dallas, Northeastern University). Figure: 5-bit accelerometer having zero standby power. The device is open circuit until a threshold acceleration closes a mechanical contact. Source: University of Texas at Dallas. Thin film piezoelectric resonators: Advances in PZT deposition methods and process integration with CMOS were used to create monolithic acoustic waveguides for RF filtering in 5G applications. This new filter design, using existing scalable processes, is ripe for commercialization. (Purdue University, Texas Instruments) Intra-body communications: MEMS ultrasound transceivers, made from aluminum nitride, can send data directly through flesh at Mbit/s data rate. With trends toward networks of multiple implanted or wearable medical devices, this innovation would enable medically safe, secure, intra-body wireless communication. This early-stage work still needs in vivo validation and would likely require 10 or more years for development and regulatory approval. (Northeastern University) Screen- and 3D-printed sensors: One example of many exciting innovations using screen- and 3D-printing are potentiometric nitrate soil sensors. Low-cost and biodegradable, these sensors could be spread over huge areas to monitor a farm’s soil quality. Table-top and hobbyist tools are currently used to make screen- and 3D-printed devices, so new manufacturing equipment and infrastructure must be developed before commercial production could occur. (Purdue University) Biodegradable batteries: A paper-based battery that can deliver 0.5 uW of power, ingeniously using bacterial metabolism as the electrolyte. These batteries dissolve in water and could one day be used to power temporary medical implants or biodegradable sensors. This exciting proof-of-concept prototype will require significant process development and new manufacturing infrastructure for commercialization. (SUNY Binghamton) Figure: Paper-based battery dissolves in 60 minutes after immersion in water. Source: SUNY Binghamton To read more about these technologies, please download my presentation from SEMI-MSIG’s MEMS Sensors TechXpot at SEMICON West 2018.Alissa M. Fitzgerald, Ph.D., is the founder and managing member of A.M. Fitzgerald Associates, LLC, a MEMS and sensors development company in Burlingame, CA. She has over 20 years of engineering experience in MEMS design, fabrication and product development and now advises clients on the entire cycle of product development, from business and IP strategy to manufacturing operations. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and currently serves as a director of the Transducer Research Foundation, sponsor of the Hilton Head Workshop. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MIT and her doctorate from Stanford University in Aeronautics and Astronautics.For more information, visit: www.amfitzgerald.com

SEMI-MEMS Sensors Industry Group (MSIG) welcomed a global group of industry executives to its 14th annual MEMS Sensors Executive Congress (MSEC), October 29-30, 2018 in Napa, Calif. MEMS and sensors represent a robust sector of the electronic industry. Analyst firm Yole Développement expects the global market for MEMS and sensors to double in the next five years, reaching $100B by 2023, spurred by growth of autonomous mobility products such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, autonomous cars, fitness and healthcare wearables, and agricultural sensors.“From drones that navigate any terrain in all lighting conditions, robo-taxis that ‘smell’ cigarette smoke, and sensors that monitor animal welfare and food safety, MSEC speakers shared inventive use cases representing new opportunities for MEMS and sensors suppliers,” said Carmelo Sansone, director, MEMS Sensors Industry Group. “Our keynote speakers spurred attendees to collaborate for the greater good. MITRE Corp. cybersecurity expert Cynthia Wright exhorted attendees to proactively address cybersecurity. DARPA Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) program manager Ron Polcawich invited participation in a rapid innovation and production concept that could dramatically speed design cycles for new MEMS. They exemplify the cross-pollination among commercial industry, government and academia that will continue to advance MEMS and sensors.”Getting serious about cybersecurityMITRE cybersecurity expert Cynthia Wright opened MSEC 2018 with a keynote on cybersecurity, alerting attendees to a topic that few in the industry have explored in-depth — but to which they need to pay attention.“Billions of connected mobile devices democratize knowledge, diversity and boost economies, and accelerate innovation by connecting humans to one another and to our environments,” said Wright. “At the same time, they easily create huge networks that carry operationally and personally sensitive data.”Because MEMS and sensors are deeply embedded into this vast array of connected devices, industry needs to get involved now or risk potentially grave consequences, claimed Wright. “From the destruction of critical infrastructure, cyberattacks on life-critical medical devices such as insulin pumps and heart monitors, and intrusions on autonomous vehicle safety systems, MEMS and sensors suppliers have a responsibility to help improve cybersecurity of connected devices,” she added.Allaying the potential fears of a roomful of suppliers envisioning complete redesigns of their products, Wright said that not every device requires the same level of security, and suppliers can make a difference with even “minor tweaks.” Wright suggested encryption at the edge and process authentication. She also gave MSEC attendees a list of design precepts: Build it in. Don’t bolt it on — Design your device with security in mind instead of retrofitting it after-the-fact to realize the most elegant design. Beware of shadow IT — You can’t protect what you don’t know about. Consider physical asset security; software/sensor-guided decision-making; personal or operational data collection; and key process control. Realize your points of vulnerability — because MEMS and sensors are susceptible to spoofing. Learn from cyberattacks of the past — even if they have not been tied directly to MEMS/sensors. Understand IoT software — Realizing that IoT software acts on what the hardware tells it, pay attention to altered sensor data that can lead to altered system performance. When asked about the role of US government regulation on the security of connected devices, Wright acknowledged that Europe has more restrictive cybersecurity guidelines than the US.“At the same time, it does not make sense to have two different approaches to cybersecurity of devices. US suppliers who implement more security measures can sell to both markets and to other parts of the world.”If she could leave MSEC attendees with a closing thought, it might be that companies “don’t need to put a firewall on a toaster.”“Not every chip has to be secure-foundry secure, but it would be nice if even 10% could hit that mark,” added Wright.Rapid Innovation through CollaborationIC designers typically enjoy three to four design cycles in a calendar year, leading to swift advancement of electronics over subsequent years.Designers in the MEMS community, however, generally have access to one design cycle or less per year, and typical time-to-market is four years for a new product. That slow fabrication pace has hindered deployment of innovative MEMS designs — and it’s something that MSEC closing keynote speaker, Ron Polcawich, program manager, DARPA MTO, would like to change.Polcawich’s vision of government collaboration with industry and academia spawned the investigational Rapid Innovation through Production MEMS (RIPM) Workshop, which Polcawich and his team held in May 2018. During his keynote, Polcawich shared lessons learned from the workshop while inviting MSEC attendees to get involved.Before RIPM can become a program, Polcawich knows it will require definition. What would a program concept look like? What is the best way to articulate the potential benefits to the MEMS community, and what additional inputs would be needed?“This is a daunting challenge from a program planning perspective,” said Polcawich. “In developing RIPM, we realized that we needed representatives from the entire MEMS ecosystem – integrated device manufacturers, or IDMs, equipment suppliers, foundries, and materials’ providers — to literally come to the table to tackle a common goal. Given the potential for the MEMS industry at large to benefit from rapid innovation and production, we hoped that competitors would realize that leveraging established MEMS processes could deliver significant benefits over the historically entrenched approach: one product, one process.”Polcawich believes that MEMS suppliers might relinquish the one product, one process paradigm if they knew that their IP were secure.“While technical challenges to realizing RIPM abound, we knew that we could tap the MEMS industry’s vast knowledge base to address them,” he said. “IP protection is an equally complex issue, and one that may bear a range of approaches. One model could ensure that each IDM owns their IP while the foundry owns the process technology, which it licenses to other companies through process development kits. In addition to speeding innovation, it also provides new revenue sources for the industry.”Polcawich sees RIPM as a win-win for both commercial industry and for the DoD. Speeding design-to-deployment of new MEMS devices could open new and larger markets to MEMS suppliers. It could also support greater product-line diversification and new revenue streams for foundries and other ecosystem members. The DoD could tap new MEMS devices for strategically important applications like tactical radios, unmanned aircraft systems such as drones, and image autofocus for cameras. Polcawich encouraged SEMI-MSIG members to get involved by emailing his group: [email protected] Hall of Fame MembersThree new industry leaders joined the SEMI-MSIG Hall of Fame, first established in 2011 as a means of honoring those who have made a substantial contribution to SEMI-MSIG. Selected by members of the Governing Council, 2018 Hall of Fame inductees include: Michelle Bourke, strategic marketing director, Customer Support Business Group, Lam Research Eric Pabo, business development manager, MEMS, EV Group Yoshio Sekiguchi, senior strategic advisor, TDK InvenSense Technology Showcase WinnerMSEC recognizes the latest advancements in applications enabled by MEMS and sensors — including those demonstrated by entrepreneurs competing in the Technology Showcase. Selected by a committee of industry experts, five finalists did their best to impress attendees with their technical approach and go-to-market strategies. The 2018 Technology Showcase winner, Alertgy, presented a biosensor-based wristband device that provides non-invasive, real-time blood glucose monitoring for people with type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 20 million Americans and hundreds of millions more worldwide. MSEC 2018 Sponsors MSEC 2019 Location and DatesMSEC 2019 will take place October 22-24, 2019, at the Coronado Island Marriott Resort Spa in Coronado, Calif., just minutes from downtown San Diego.For more information on MSEC 2019 and other SEMI-MSIG events and programs, please follow @MEMSgroup on Twitter, visit MSIG at SEMI and subscribe to SEMI’s weekly newsletter, SEMI Global Update.Maria Vetrano is a public relations consultant at SEMI.

Marcellino Gemelli, director of global business development at Bosch Sensortec, will present at the upcoming MEMS Sensors Executive Congress on October 29-30, 2018 in Napa, Calif. SEMI’s Maria Vetrano caught up with Gemelli to give MSEC attendees a preview of Gemelli’s feature presentation.Sensor fusion — the integration of different types of sensors through software algorithms to increase overall system performance and/or reduce power consumption— has come a long way since its inception. In those early days, sensor fusion generally involved MEMS inertial sensors only. The advent of new sensor varieties, including environmental sensors, is making new use cases a reality. Gemelli will explore the ways in which the next generation of sensor fusion is improving autonomous mobility devices. SEMI: Why are environmental sensors important to autonomous mobility devices?Gemelli: When most of us think of autonomous systems, we think that they are driven by motion sensors and proximity sensors (e.g., radar, Lidar). When vertical location comes into play, however, in applications such as drones or asset tracking, pressure sensors become an integral part of flight control, navigation and positioning in GPS-challenged areas.While not commonly considered an electronically enabled sense, the ability to “smell” the environment opens new opportunities. The quality of a user’s experience with personal cleaning robots and robo-taxis are good examples of where we might want to enable scent detection.SEMI: I’ve never thought much about using sensors to detect smell. How would a robo-taxi or a cleaning robot benefit from scent detection?Gemelli: Fully autonomous cars will inevitably give rise to robo-taxis. In fact, last month Volvo announced its fully electric robo-taxi, and in March 2018 Waymo announced that Jaguar Land Rover’s SUV would join Fiat Chrysler’s Chrysler Pacifica minivans in its planned fleet of robo-taxis, so we may see robo-taxis in the U.S. within the next five years.With robo-taxis fast-approaching, we need technologies that provide the same level of oversight that a taxi driver once fulfilled. Gas sensors would function like an electronic nose (e-nose) in a robo-taxi to inform the taxi’s owner of prohibited passenger behavior, such as eating, drinking or smoking in the vehicle, which could potentially damage the vehicle’s interior. Camera sensors could record the act as proof of the offense.Cleaning robots would be more sophisticated than they are today. In addition to leveraging image and range-finding sensors to more accurately map the rooms in your house, they could also detect scents from spilled red wine, pet urine or other foreign materials. When the cleaning robot, such as a vacuum, detects the foreign substance, it would navigate around the substance instead of going through it and spreading it all over the carpet.In addition to robo-taxis and cleaning robots, I will also discuss asset tracking and drones.SEMI: What role does sensor fusion play in autonomous mobility devices?Gemelli: Combining sensor fusion with artificial intelligence (AI) will generate new use cases and therefore new markets for sensor suppliers.There is another major benefit as well. With so many connected devices in our lives — including those with cameras, location awareness and always-listening capabilities — we are seeing growing concern about user privacy. Sensor fusion and AI can help to alleviate this concern: By supporting more local processing, they allow for greater control of data, safeguarding personal privacy.SEMI: Who is responsible for the AI part of the sensor-fusion equation?Gemelli: AI is a new frontier for MEMS and sensors suppliers. It benefits us and our customers to embrace AI algorithms through in-house development and/or partnerships.SEMI: What would you like MEMS Sensors Executive Congress attendees to take away from your presentation?Gemelli: I plan to issue a call to action to increase research in hybrid sensor-fusion software architectures, including AI, as suppliers’ collaboration will benefit the industry at large.Marcellino Gemelli is currently based in Palo Alto (CA) responsible for business development of Bosch Sensortec's MEMS product portfolio. He received the ‘Laurea’ degree in Electronic Engineering at the University of Pavia, Italy while in the Italian Army and an MBA from MIP, the Milano (Italy) Polytechnic business school. He previously held various engineering and product management positions at STMicroelectronics from 1995 to 2011 in the fields of MEMS, electronic design automation and data storage. He was contract professor for the Microelectronics course at the Milano (Italy) Polytechnic from 2000 to 2002.Marcellino Gemelli will present Environmental Sensors Systems Enabling Autonomous Mobility on Tuesday, October 30 at MEMS Sensors Executive Congress in Napa Valley, Calif.Register today to learn more about the connection between sensor fusion, AI and next-generation autonomous mobility devices.Maria Vetrano is a public relations consultant at SEMI.

DARPA’s Vision of Cross-CollaborationRon Polcawich, program manager, DARPA Microsystems Technology Office, will give the closing keynote at MEMS Sensors Executive Congress on October 29-30, 2018 in Napa, Calif. SEMI’s Nishita Rao spoke with Polcawich about the MEMS workshop on rapid innovation that he held earlier this year and his interest in continuing that conversation with a broad audience of MEMS and sensors suppliers attending MEMS Sensors Executive Congress. SEMI: What is your vision for the Rapid Innovation through Production MEMS (RIPM) concept and why does the MEMS and sensors industry need it?Polcawich: The goal behind our RIPM concept is to advance the state of MEMS device technology by creating enhanced access to mature process flows for utilization by military, academic and commercial MEMS designers.Compare MEMS to IC development and you will see much more rapid innovation in ICs. In many cases, IC designers can get through four design cycles in a calendar year because the process technologies are so mature.In contrast, it can take three to four years to develop the process flow for a MEMS device. I believe that we can do better. With so much process-flow development in MEMS having taken place over the past 15 years, we now have plenty of commercial designs out there. How do we capitalize on these existing production process flows so we can rapidly innovate to avoid those painfully long production cycles?With this question in mind, we launched a campaign to solicit feedback from small, medium and large foundries, integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), systems designers and integrators, and academic stakeholders. Our effort culminated in a May workshop where we were able to bring many of the same groups to the table. During one intensive day, we discussed challenges to the RIPM concept and what we would need to make it work.SEMI: What were some of your areas of focus?Polcawich: We covered a range of topics, from improving access to sophisticated packaging technology, such as advanced interposer technologies, to IP entanglement and the role of process design kits (PDKs).SEMI: In an industry historically defined by competition over collaboration, how do you hope to convince MEMS supply-chain members to work together?Polcawich: We see benefits from the proposed RIPM concept across the board. Foundries would benefit from outputting higher volumes of devices as well as charging for more sophisticated PDKs and process flows — which would comprise a new source of revenue for them.From our discussions at the workshop and throughout the summer, we understand that certain technology sectors are going to be more willing to engage with the community than others. Notional examples that we highlighted at the workshop include the possibility of manufacturing high-performance inertial sensors, oscillators and pressure sensors within the same process flow. The challenge to the community is having the MEMS designers work within a locked-down process flow and not requesting different material layers, gaps and critical feature dimensions for each device type, which is very common within our industry. We asked everyone the question, “If there were broader access to production process flows, would faster technology transition and innovation cycles enable a more rapid time-to-market for a wider range of products?”SEMI: What would you like MEMS Sensors Executive Congress attendees to take away from your presentation?Polcawich: We welcome additional feedback on the RIPM concept to help shape any potential program ideas. Furthermore, we would like assistance in identifying tipping-point technologies on each sector’s/foundry’s/IDM’s technology roadmap. We could use that information to determine mutual investment opportunities that could shift the roadmap timelines to the left, enabling more rapid production and commercialization timelines. Dr. Ronald Polcawich joined DARPA as a Program Manager in the Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) in August 2017. His research interests include advanced materials processing, micromechanics for small-scale robotics, device designs, and miniaturized position, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems. Read more.Polcawich will present Rapid Innovation with Production MEMS Workshop Outbrief on Tuesday, October 30 at MEMS Sensors Executive Congress in Napa Valley, Calif.Register today to connect with Ron and learn about DARPA’s rapid innovation in MEMS concept.Nishita Rao is a marketing manager at SEMI.

Nicolas Sauvage, senior director of Ecosystem at TDK InvenSense, will present at the fast-approaching MEMS Sensors Executive Congress on October 29-30, 2018 in Napa, Calif. SEMI’s Nishita Rao spoke with Sauvage to offer MSEC attendees advance insights on Sauvage’s feature presentation.SEMI: What is “autonomy value” and why is it important?Sauvage: How do you increase the perceived value of an electronic device? If it’s an autonomous car, its value is closely tied to the autonomy level — i.e., the independence — that it offers people. Higher autonomy value for a self-driving car, for example, means that even a blind person could use it. It’s been almost two years since Waymo demonstrated this, and here’s the video that shows it.Countless other sensor-based electronic products have their own “autonomy value.” Imagine the need to get medicine to people during a humanitarian health crisis. Drones could be your best option because they can deliver to inaccessible or remote locations. Unlike older drones, which require active piloting by a person, a drone with higher autonomy value could deliver medicine to Doctors Without Borders without ongoing human intervention.This drone could navigate objects, such as trees and birds, and would have excellent location-awareness. It could fly through any landscape in bright sunlight or during the night. To increase the drone’s autonomy value, you would need better sensors, including those sensors that can enable sensing in sunny conditions or in pitch-black night, as well as better machine learning.SEMI: In this example, what types of sensors would the drone manufacturer need?Sauvage: The manufacturer would need a “surrounding-sensing” solution that includes ultrasonic and pressure sensors as well as image sensors. Start with high-quality image sensors combined with ultrasonic range-finding sensors — high-accuracy devices that function in all lighting conditions and can detect objects of any color. Add motion sensors and a pressure sensor, which would capture the height of the drone to make known the drone’s location in space. The drone would need this combination of sensors, plus smart sensor fusion, because GPS alone cannot avoid obstacles: its signal can be sporadic in certain parts of the world or in certain terrain, making it unreliable.A key attribute of all these sensors would be low power consumption since the drone would run on battery.SEMI: To what extent might autonomy value cause manufacturers to consider multi-vendor solutions?Sauvage: I would like to see it inspire the MEMS and sensors ecosystem to work together, to arrive at multi-vendor solutions that will benefit humanity through greater autonomy value. Whether we’re looking at autonomous cars, drones, robotics or other applications, there are cases where we need to prioritize safety and security over industry competition. SEMI: Where are we today in terms of achieving true autonomy value – and where are we going?Sauvage: The sky is the limit, literally. Machine learning and surrounding-sensing solutions applied to cars, drones and robots will increase autonomy value to the point where we can justifiably call it artificial intelligence.SEMI: What would you like MEMS Sensors Executive Congress attendees to take away from your presentation?Sauvage: I hope that attendees will recognize the value of ecosystem solutions in increasing autonomy value. Together we can expand the variety of sensor types that address novel use-cases and jobs-to-be-done. Instead of waiting for customers to ask for ecosystem-level solutions, we need to articulate a complete MEMS and sensors supply-chain ecosystem if we want the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT) to grow more quickly. As senior director of Ecosystem, Nicholas Sauvage is responsible for all strategic relationships, including Google and Qualcomm, and other HW/SW/System companies. He is also responsible for strategic and market-driven goal-setting of our SensorStudio developer program, and driving select partnerships with SoC sensor hub platforms. Prior to joining InvenSense, Nicolas was part of NXP Software management team, responsible for worldwide sales, as well as for P L and product management of their OEM Business Line. Nicolas is an alumnus of Institut supérieur d’électronique et du numérique, London Business School and INSEAD. Register today to connect with Nicolas Sauvage at the event. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn.Nishita Rao is a marketing manager at SEMI.

You’re super busy. We know - it’s hard to take time away from work. So an industry conference must offer compelling value to justify your time. Whether you are brand new to MEMS Sensors Executive Congress (MSEC) or a veteran of the event, you’re sure to find a unique convergence of networking, learning, and fun in a single venue. This year’s theme is “Sensor Systems Enabling Autonomous Mobility” and we’re gearing up to make this event bigger and better than ever.Taking place on October 28-30, 2018 in Napa, Calif., this event is the most relevant, timely and authentic event of the year. Don’t just take our word for it. Look at what last year’s attendees said about MSEC.Here are the top three reasons we think MSEC is a must-see.Elevate Your NetworkWhere else but MSEC can you spend 2 days with industry executives from a broad spectrum of industries including automotive, communications, consumer goods, environmental, industrial, Internet of Things and biomedical. At this event, you’ll get many opportunities to mix and mingle with influential leaders who drive their company’s technology roadmaps and industry growth. Who knows, at a breakout session, you may find yourself sitting next to your future employer/employee, business lead for a new project or mentor.Stay Sharp with Powerful ContentThere's a wide range of sessions on the agenda with insightful topics such as the analysis of megatrends, production work flows and privacy challenges in the MEMS sensors business. You will get an inside view into what’s possible in this industry, so you can shape innovative solutions and drive early adoption. This is your chance to examine the enabling role of MEMS and sensors in diverse intelligent applications and gain actionable insights to advance your business.Encounter Emerging ApplicationsDiscovering unique applications for your business is necessary to thrive as technology changes at an unprecedented pace to drive rapid development of new products and applications. Our Technology Showcase session will feature 5 finalists who will be displaying a compelling and diverse set of demos. You’ll get the chance to interact with the newest MEMS/sensors-enabled applications and cast your vote for the winner. You will witness firsthand the edge of innovation in your field that will remind you why you love doing what you do.Jump ahead of the pack and register today!Nishita Rao is a marketing manager at SEMI.

ULVAC Technologies’ David Mount is working with The CIA. Is he the Jack Reacher of the MEMS and sensors industry, jetting around the world to secret meetings, you wonder? While David isn’t quite the super-spy that you might have imagined, he is doing some fascinating work on behalf of ULVAC Technologies, the world leader in vacuum technology.ULVAC has been collaborating with The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) on Menus of Change, “a ground-breaking initiative from The Culinary Institute of America and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health that works to realize a long-term, practical vision integrating optimal nutrition and public health, environmental stewardship and restoration, and social responsibility concerns within the food service industry and the culinary profession.”ULVAC also partners with Menus of Change (MOC) University Research Collaborative, a group of elite universities and food-service executives working together to “accelerate efforts to move Americans toward healthier, more sustainable, plant-forward diets.” MEMS Sensors Industry Group’s Nishita Rao caught up with David, a featured speaker at MEMS Sensors Executive Congress on October 29-30, 2018, in Napa, Calif. to give MSEC attendees a preview of David’s talk. SEMI: How did ULVAC get involved with The CIA on Menus of Change?Mount: People in the MEMS sensors industry may not know that ULVAC started as an equipment supplier to the food industry. In 1952 ULVAC began supplying freeze-drying equipment – which relies on vacuum technology — to food companies tasked with providing long-lasting foods and beverages for the U.S. military under the Marshall Plan. Think instant soup, ramen noodles and Tang. While ULVAC’s technology portfolio is now very broad — spanning deposition equipment for the semiconductor industry, vacuum brazing for automotive, and even vacuum freeze-drying of vaccines that can be shipped dry but combined with distilled water for administration — the company has kept a hand in food technology. ULVAC’s vacuum cooling equipment rapidly and safely cools foods, dramatically increasing shelf life.The CIA is at the forefront of innovation in food technology, so we worked with them to test a vacuum cooling system that can also be used in the kitchen or in the field. In the Central Valley of California, for example, it can be 104ºF in the fields where lettuce is picked; our vacuum cooling system can cool that lettuce down to 47ºF in minutes.The CIA is also developing prepared foods for industrial settings such as university cafeterias and airlines. A prepared chicken dish, for example, might be cooked at 350ºF and then cooled to refrigeration temperatures. The potential problem is that bacteria can grow when you cool that food for storage. Some of The CIA test kitchens in California are using ULVAC’s vacuum cooling system to quickly and safely cool prepared foods.Vacuum-cooling is just one stage in food production, of course. Sensors are also widely used in food production and safety.SEMI: How do The CIA test kitchens use sensors?Mount: Nearly all aspects of production, processing and management in agricultural and food systems involve measurement of product and resource attributes. Sensors are a natural fit here as they can provide inspection capabilities that are accurate, fast and consistent. I plan to dive into some specific examples of the ways that The CIA and the MOC Research Collaborative are employing sensors to increase the safety of food and agricultural production.SEMI: What would you like MSEC attendees to take away from your presentation?Mount: I love knowing that the work that we do in this industry can benefit humanity. Applying our various technologies to food and agricultural production is just one way to do that. I encourage MSEC attendees to explore those markets that improve human quality of life – as well as the life and health of our planet and its other inhabitants. ULVAC Technologies senior advisor David Mount is a 35-year veteran of the vacuum and thin film equipment industry. He tried to retire from ULVAC but they would not let him go! David consults with ULVAC on strategic projects such as the company’s collaboration with the CIA.He will present Sensors in Food and Agriculture on Tuesday, October 30 at the MEMS Sensors Executive Congress.Register today to learn more about how sensors are transforming the food industry.Nishita Rao is a marketing manager at SEMI.

Cynthia Wright, a retired military officer with over 25 years of experience in national security and cyber strategy and policy, now Principal Cyber Security Engineer at The MITRE Corporation, will give the opening keynote at the upcoming MEMS Sensors Executive Congress, October 29-30, 2018 in Napa, Calif. SEMI’s Maria Vetrano interviewed Wright to give MSEC attendees an advance look at Wright’s highly anticipated presentation.SEMI: MEMS and sensors suppliers provide intelligent sensing and actuation to hundreds of billions of autonomous mobility devices – but historically, our community has not been at the forefront of cybersecurity. Why is now a good time for us to get involved?Wright: From wearables, smartphones, refrigerators and agriculture to medical devices and military hardware, autonomous mobility devices pervade our lives. At the same time, Internet of Things (IoT) botnet attacks like Mirai — and other demonstrated cyberattacks on home devices, vehicles and infrastructure — highlight the increasingly urgent need to address cybersecurity and privacy in MEMS/sensors-enabled devices.As building-block players in autonomous devices, MEMS and sensors suppliers have several good reasons to get involved.The number of IoT cyber security bills before state and federal legislatures suggest that regulation is coming, and it is in everyone’s best interest to prepare. While original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) would generally be held liable in cases of component malfunction or data breach, if insecurity stems from a microelectromechanical component, OEMs would most likely choose component suppliers with secure products.Beyond legislation and competitive advantage, we must consider that people’s well-being, even lives, could be at stake. Imagine what could happen if someone hacks into an insulin pump, the accelerometer on a train, or the LIDAR of an autonomous car. Intrusions of this sort could prove catastrophic.SEMI: Where do you perceive the biggest potential threats to consumers, industry, government?Wright: In good military fashion, I would say that it depends. If a person is a consumer of medical implants, that’s a big threat. On the government side, we could be talking about networked devices involved in military situational awareness. In industry, it could be sensors governing critical manufacturing or safety processes.I am not saying that every sensor must be secure. In every sector, there are areas of greater or lesser vulnerability, depending on context. SEMI: What is security or privacy by design?Wright: Addressing security flaws is cheaper and more easily accomplished at the design stage and not after the vulnerabilities are discovered. At MITRE, we practice systems- and design-oriented thinking as we consult with people doing development. We help them to develop security standards and approaches that are broadly applicable, rather than focusing on a specific product.For example, MITRE looks at the ways that a person might hack into a car to steal location and life history data — or alter its functions — to facilitate general standards and approaches that will help manufacturers better ensure the privacy and security of autonomous vehicles. Hackers have demonstrated that they can interfere with vehicle transmissions and brakes. Ignition, steering and other critical systems are theoretically accessible through the same types of attacks. To what degree can MEMS/sensors suppliers help automotive manufacturers ensure the privacy and security of autonomous cars, and the safety of their drivers? SEMI: What would you like MSEC attendees to take away from your presentation?Wright: MEMS/sensors suppliers are on the leading edge of computing and should take some responsibility for considering cybersecurity and privacy, for the safety of their customers and their own competitive advantage. Recognize which devices should be secure and act accordingly. Get involved at the design stage. The market for secure microelectronics is only going to grow, and this will benefit suppliers who take secure design seriously.Cynthia Wright will present Cyber Security and Privacy in the Age of Autonomous Sensing on Monday, October 29 at MEMS Sensors Executive Congress in Napa, Calif.Register today to connect with her at the event. Maria Vetrano is a public relations consultant at SEMI.

Over the last three years the number of battery-operated electronic-component solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications has been increasing steadily. This trend will continue for years to come, particularly with the growing popularity of mobile devices of all flavors. Addressing power consumption for battery-powered always-on IoT/IIoT devices – which rely on dozens of electronic components, including sensors — is critical to their commercial success.The demand for ultra-low-power sensors has accelerated the race to squeeze every last mW from components. Compared to previous-generations of sensors, semiconductor suppliers have managed to drastically reduce power by as much as 50%-60% over older solutions. Leveraging new state-of-the-art analog design techniques, we have effectively optimized capacitive readings of MEMS structures. How effective are they? We estimate that with the right mix of our company’s power-saving technologies, it is possible our customers could save 3MW/year globally[1].What’s next?While the semiconductor industry continues to investigate novel technologies, approaches and analog IP for greater energy efficiency, we believe that bigger gains in reducing power consumption will come from thinking at the system level. The sensor node is a good place to start.A typical IoT node is composed of a set of sensors, a microcontroller, a radio frequency (RF) link, and a power-supply system, often based on Li-Po batteries.Of these, the microcontroller and RF link consume the most energy and, in the RF link, power consumption is a function of the distance between end point and receiver and of the amount of data transmitted. Thus, at longer distances reducing the amount of data transmitted can save power. We can achieve this by including some pre-elaboration capabilities on-board and by extracting more meaningful information from the raw sensor data.We address this by moving some computation and data analysis inside the sensors, where smart hardware “digital blocks” perform faster and more efficiently than software-based routines running in the microcontroller. We can achieve this by using dedicated hardware resources to reduce overall system power consumption. The beauty of this solution is that it allows the microcontroller to operate in low-power states by only transmitting significant information in batches. The SensorTile development kit can speed up prototyping of ultra-low-power IoT devices by integrating an ultra-low-power MCU and BlueNRG Bluetooth radio with sensors. Some examples of these advanced digital blocks are the Advanced Embedded Pedometer, the Finite State Machine and Decision Tree, and Compressed FIFO in an IMU.The Advanced Embedded Pedometer is a hard-wired step counter that works independently inside the sensor, without CPU intervention: By comparing sensor outputs to pre-defined and -loaded patterns, it autonomously decides whether the user is walking or running to start and stop counting the user’s steps. The sensor then makes this information available to the microprocessor for further elaboration or for simple notification to the user.The Finite State Machine and Decision Tree are new functions dedicated to pattern recognition (machine learning) and decision-making: They can perform complex classifications and state detection, and can send dedicated warning and signaling to the microprocessor. A good real-world example is industrial predictive maintenance, where the sensor can categorize and identify different malfunctioning states in the equipment before waking the microprocessor to react.Our products, on average, save about 1 mA (1e-3) over competitive devices or over our previous-generation parts. So 2.0 x 1e-3 x 1.5e9 = 3MW. Programmable Sensor and Decision Tree Finite State Machine Integrating programmable sensors and decision trees as well as finite state machines in the sensor allows the sensor to do more of the work while the MCU sleeps. Source: STMicroelectronics Another example is compressed FIFO (first-in, first-out) buffer, which can store sensor data in the sensor, not in raw format, by using efficient compression algorithms. In addition to saving memory (and therefore silicon area) inside the sensor chip, it also saves power by reducing the number of bytes transferred to the processor and by shortening the communication data flow, which reduces processor-active time.These examples – the Advanced Embedded Pedometer, the Finite State Machine and Decision Tree, and compressed FIFO buffer – are just some showing that we can develop low-power IoT/IIoT devices through intelligent management of sensors, microcontrollers and other components in any given system. Your starting point is an IoT/IIoT node that lets you selectively allocate some power-hungry tasks — such as computation and data analysis — to sensors instead of the microcontroller. Leveraging data blocks that reside in the sensors alleviates the microcontroller’s typical power drain, allowing the microcontroller to operate with maximum efficiency.[1] ST sells about 1.5 billion pieces/year (1.5e9), which typically run from a 2V supply. Luca Fontanella joined ST Microsystems in 1995 as an analog designer. In 2001 he joined the MEMS team in a marketing role and today he is marketing manager in the MEMS Sensor Division. Luca has contributed to 25+ international patents and has presented at multiple conferences. He earned a degree in Electronic Engineering from Padua University. Simone Ferri joined STMicroelectronics in 1999 as Central R D engineer, moved to the Audio Division as a digital designer and is now director of the Consumer MEMS Business Unit. He holds a degree in Electronic Engineering and an MBA from the Polytechnic of Milan. _______________________________________________________________________________________________Brush up on the latest MEMS and sensors trends and gain a new perspective on emerging applications. Register today!