We’ve already heard that microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) ICs have been on the verge of penetrating mass-market applications. However, aside from traditional automotive and medical electronics applications where MEMS pressure sensing constitutes the bulk of their use, they haven’t yet made large gains in mass-market applications like mobile phones, PCs, and many other consumer electronic items. But that seems to be changing quickly, judging from presentations at the MEMS Executive Congress meeting held from Nov. 5-7 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Driving all this is a new generation of MEMS microphones, timing devices, tri-axis accelerometers, RF MEMS ICs, as well as improvements in manufacturing using CMOS processing.
According to a keynote presentation given by David Smith, Vice President for consulting, alliances and education at Technology Futures Inc., and an internationally known futurist, the worldwide market for MEMS ICs will nearly double to close to $10 billion by 2010, much of it in devices for mass-market applications (see Fig. 1). That same forecast is shared by French market research firm Yolé Developpement.
These new lucrative markets are presenting MEMS IC manufacturers with challenges to devise the proper testing, packaging and manufacturing strategies to satisfy the low-cost demands of mass-market applications. MEMS IC manufacturers are confident, however, that they can meet these challenges, many of whom have had at least two decades of experience in manufacturing MEMS products.
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS IS GUNG HO
MEMS ICs are now finding use in a variety of consumer electronics products like digital cameras, camcorders, video games, PCs, iPods, PDAs, GPS devices, sports and fitness machines, home healthcare products, etc. Many estimates predict that MEMS ICs could grow from the present 5-6% in the consumer electronics sector alone to 20-25% in the next few years.
Just look at Nintendo’s ingenious Wii (pronounced “whee”) video game system to appreciate how far MEMS ICs have come in the consumer electronics field. The console’s wireless controller, nicknamed the Wiimote, allows the system to be totally sensitive to any motion in every axis thanks to the use of MEMS accelerometers. The system can mimic a baseball bat, ping-pong paddle, tennis racket, conductor’s baton, fishing rod or a sword (see With Wii Remote, Gaming Is Child's Play).
German market forecaster Wicht Technologie Consulting predicts that the market for MEMS inertial sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes) for consumer applications is set to grow from $835 million in 2004 to over $1360 million in 2009, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10%.