editor's blog
Subscribe Now

MEMS First Silicon Success

Some time back, AMFitzgerald and Silex, a MEMS consultancy and foundry, respectively, announced their “RocketMEMS” program in order to take steps to accelerate the notoriously slow MEMS design cycle. At the recent MEMS Executive Congress, they announced the first fruits of this labor.

They had designed three pressure sensors: one for blood pressure/medical, an altimeter, and one for industrial use. Critically, Silex provided design guidance to drive the design. While that might seem obvious, it’s the reverse of what usually happens, where the designers tell the foundry how they want the process details to look. As a result, the design had a better chance of working, given that the process had been characterized already.

The designers used Ansys, SoftMems, and Tanner tools. DRC was manual (since there is no automated MEMS DRC tool, although apparently the hooks are available if anyone wants to step up…).

Results? First silicon worked. And it took only 7 months for design and fab; wafer and package-level test took an additional month.

In this model, their customers handle the packaging (design and assembly) and the sensor algorithms, so that wasn’t part of the project.

This would appear to validate the concept that MEMS design can happen in less than five years.

You can read more in their announcement.

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Mar 29, 2024
By Mark Williams, Sr Software Engineering Group Director Translator: Masaru Yasukawa 差動アンプはã1つの入力信号ではなく2つの入力信号間の差にゲインをé...
Mar 26, 2024
Learn how GPU acceleration impacts digital chip design implementation, expanding beyond chip simulation to fulfill compute demands of the RTL-to-GDSII process.The post Can GPUs Accelerate Digital Design Implementation? appeared first on Chip Design....
Mar 21, 2024
The awesome thing about these machines is that you are limited only by your imagination, and I've got a GREAT imagination....

featured video

We are Altera. We are for the innovators.

Sponsored by Intel

Today we embark on an exciting journey as we transition to Altera, an Intel Company. In a world of endless opportunities and challenges, we are here to provide the flexibility needed by our ecosystem of customers and partners to pioneer and accelerate innovation. As we leap into the future, we are committed to providing easy-to-design and deploy leadership programmable solutions to innovators to unlock extraordinary possibilities for everyone on the planet.

To learn more about Altera visit: http://intel.com/altera

featured chalk talk

Miniaturization Impact on Automotive Products
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Molex
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton and Kirk Ulery from Molex explore the role that miniaturization plays in automotive design innovation. They examine the transformational trends that are leading to smaller and smaller components in automotive designs and how the right connector can make all the difference in your next automotive design.
Sep 25, 2023
23,358 views