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iniewski
I think if MEMs market becomes large enough (or perhaps it is already) there ...
peter.clarke
MEMS foundry Micralyne makes design link
Peter Clarke
11/2/2011 7:12 AM EDT
LONDON – Canadian pure-play foundry Micralyne Inc. (Edmonton, Alberta) has formed a partnership with MEMS product development firm A.M.Fitzgerald & Associates (Burlingame, Calif.).
The combination of A.M.Fitzgerald's MEMS design and rapid prototyping services with Micralyne's volume manufacturing capability provides a one-stop means to move from proof-of-concept to mass production, said Micralyne in a statement.
Micralyne creates MEMS for high-value applications in the biomedical, telecommunications and industrial markets and was ranked as the tenth largest MEMS foundry in 2010 by Yole Developpement with revenues of about $19 million.
"Navigating the MEMS ecosystem can prove challenging to customers who want to take IP or even a conceptual design to the commercial phase. In many cases, they are strong conceptually with an in-depth understanding of the problems addressed by their specific application but may not have experience in MEMS design or manufacturing," said Nancy Fares, CEO of Micralyne in a statement. "Our strategic partnership with AMFitzgerald allows us collectively to divide and conquer. Our customers do what they do best: conceptualize innovative applications for which MEMS is the perfect vehicle. We do what we do best: help them to bring to market the highest quality MEMS devices as quickly and as efficiently as possible."
In the same statement Alissa Fitzgerald, founder and managing member of AMFitzgerald, said: "An important part of our work is the delivery of a proven MEMS prototype – both a mask design and a robust process flow – to the foundry for a fast ramp to high-yield volume production."
Related links and articles:
Top 20 MEMS foundries ranked
Murata to buy MEMS firm for $260 million
MEMS-in-mobile market to reach $1.5bn
Teledyne buys Dalsa in MEMS play
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iniewski
11/2/2011 10:46 AM EDT
Micralyne is #10, who is #1 in MEMs? Kris
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peter.clarke
11/2/2011 12:44 PM EDT
Kris
According to Yole Developpement STMicroelectronics was the number one MEMS foundry in 2010 with $204 million of business.
The top 20 can be found on the link provided at the foot of the article.
But, of course, we are interested in the 2011 ranking now.
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iniewski
11/2/2011 2:26 PM EDT
thank you Peter, this is a very interesting list (copied below), STM is #1 and there is nothing behind for a long time...I thought Analog Devices was big in MEMs, why is that on the list? They used to be the largest supplier of sensors in air bags which I presume are MEMs based...Kris
STMicroelectronics $204 million
Silex Microsystems $37 million
Sensonor $35 million
Asia Pacific Microsystems $31 million
Texas Instruments $30 million
Dalsa Semiconductor $30 million
IMT $24 million
Sony $20 million
TSMC $20 million
Micralyne $19 million
Tronics Microsystems $15 million
Touch Microsystems $12 million
XFab $12 million
Semefab $11 million
Jazz $ 7 million
UMC $ 7 million
Silicon Sensing Systems $ 7 million
MEMSTech $ 5 million
Honeywell $ 5 million
Olympus $ 4 million
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peter.clarke
11/2/2011 2:38 PM EDT
I that is because this is a foundry list, companies who make MEMS for others to sell under their own brand.
Analog Devices is big in MEMS but as an IDM MEMS supplier. And i guess the implication of this list is that they dont do foundry.
I have heard that Infineon is doing quite a lot of MEMS die manufacturing for Taiwanese silicon microphone manufacturers.
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iniewski
11/2/2011 2:47 PM EDT
thank you Peter, that makes sense, I guess this implies that TI is using MEMs technology both internally and as a foundry...what happened to Dalsa? I am pretty sure they were a foundry...Teledyne acquisition changed that? Kris
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yalanand
11/3/2011 2:23 AM EDT
Peter, is Micralyne the only company providing one-stop services like this or is this trend common in MEMS industry ?
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peter.clarke
11/22/2011 5:28 AM EST
@yalanand
I am noticing the emergence of a number of MEMS design service companies. And they are linking up with MEMS foundries for mutual benefit.
This allows the end customers to take a more hands-off approach in what is a highly specialised form of micro-engineering.
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iniewski
11/22/2011 11:28 AM EST
I think if MEMs market becomes large enough (or perhaps it is already) there will be MEMs fabs and MEMs less designed companies...some standardization in MEMs processes will be required to achieve that status...Kris
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