The full name of MEMS is Micro-Electro-Mechanical System. Micro-electro-mechanical system is a kind of micro-device or system that can be made in batches, which integrates micro-mechanism, micro-sensor, micro-actuator, signal processing and control circuit, even interface, communication and power supply. You can think of it as a technology that uses traditional semiconductor processes and materials, uses micron technology to make micro-machines on a chip, and integrates them with their corresponding circuits as a whole. So it is an advanced manufacturing technology platform developed on the basis of semiconductor manufacturing technology.
Advantages: They are smaller in size than traditional machines, the largest of which is no more than a centimeter, or even a few microns, and their thickness is even smaller. Using silicon as the main material, the electrical properties are excellent. The strength, hardness and Young's modulus of silicon material are equivalent to iron, the density is similar to aluminum, and the thermal conductivity is close to molybdenum and tungsten. Adopting the same generation technology as integrated circuit (IC), the mature technology and process in IC production can be utilized in large quantities and low cost production, and the cost performance ratio can be greatly improved compared with the traditional "mechanical" manufacturing technology.
With the development of electronic technology, the application of MEMS is more and more extensive, from the earliest industrial, aviation applications to the general consumer market. and aerospace are so-called high-value MEMS applications, but they are too small to be worth about $40 million a year and have limited room for growth. The value of MEMS devices in medical electronics is also good, and the average selling price of its sensors is much higher than that of other comparable MEMS fields. Overall, the annual revenue of the high value MEMS industry will reach about US $300 million. But the most widely used fields are automotive electronics industry and consumer electronics application market, which account for more than 60% of the MEMS sensor market. We will analyze these two main applications.
Automotive electronic MEMS sensor:
The automotive electronics industry is considered to be the driver of the first wave of applications of MEMS sensors in automobiles. The rapid development of MEMS sensors in automobiles is mainly due to the comprehensive introduction of automotive safety regulations (such as requiring all automobiles to adopt TPMS systems) by governments and the development trend of intelligent automobiles. The world average contains 10 sensors per vehicle, and in high-end vehicles, about 25 to 40 MEMS sensors are used. The better the car, the more MEMSs it will use. BMW 740i has more than 70 MEMSs on it. The MEMS sensor can meet the requirements of harsh environment, high reliability, accuracy and low cost. Its application direction and market demand include ABS, ESP, ECS, EPB, HAS, EPMS, engine shake prevention, tilt angle measurement and jump detection.
Pressure sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes and flow sensors together account for 99% of the automotive MEMS system. Its five-year growth rate is 3-12%. MEMS pressure sensors are the most widely used sensors in automobiles, and they cost about $5 to $7. In the automotive sector, MEMS pressure sensor revenue is expected to reach $1.26 billion in 2013, accounting for 74% of the total industry revenue. At least 18 automotive applications will boost the growth of pressure sensors, including tire pressure, brake sensors in electronic stability control systems, side airbags, engine controls related to increasingly stringent emission standards, atmospheric pressure and exhaust gas recirculation pressure.