MEMS sensor industry will welcome new opportunities

With the rapid development of China's automotive electronics, new digital consumer electronics and medical electronics industries, various new demands for MEMS sensors and innovations based on this technology are emerging, with the emergence of new applications and MEMS device manufacturers. With its technological innovation, the MEMS sensor industry will usher in a new round of opportunities.

Diversified Applications Drive the MEMS Market The earliest practical application of batch MEMS devices originated in the automotive electronics industry and is also considered to be the first wave of MEMS sensor applications. However, with the continuous emergence of consumer electronics innovation in recent years, consumer electronics has become the largest application market for MEMS, with market size exceeding US$1.5 billion and growing at a rate of nearly 20% per year.

As the second wave of MEMS sensor applications, MEMS sensor applications in consumer electronics include motion/fall detection, navigation data compensation, game/human interface, power management, GPS enhancement/deadline elimination, speed/distance counting, and other sports. And health care applications and so on. Among them, the gyroscope is the fastest growing part and has become the second largest application product after the accelerometer.

Healthcare is known as the third wave of MEMS applications and is also referred to as the high-value market by the MEMS industry. As the population ages and health care costs increase, various distance monitoring and high-precision treatment equipment will be introduced more and more.

Technological advancement pushes up market demand for MEMS sensors Technological progress is also an important driving force for the development of the MEMS industry. In particular, on-chip integration of MEMS and digital chips in the same package has brought tremendous support to the revitalization of the MEMS market.

The MEMS oscillator used for clock generation is also a hot spot in current MEMS applications. With the increase in the volume and precision requirements of clocked solutions for portable electronic devices, the demand for replacing MEMS crystal oscillators with MEMS is also increasing. The bigger it is. Market research company Yole's analysis shows that the global market for MEMS oscillators will grow rapidly from 8 million U.S. dollars in 2009 to 645 million U.S. dollars in 2015.

ESP (ESC) will once again promote the use of MEMS sensors in automotive electronics. MEMS applications in automotive electronics are extremely broad. Their application directions and market requirements include the vehicle's anti-lock braking system (ABS) and electronic body stabilization program (ESP). Electronically controlled suspension (ECS), electric handbrake (EPB), ramp start assist (HAS), tire pressure monitoring (EPMS), engine image stabilization, vehicle inclination measurement and in-car heartbeat detection. Among them, the electronic body stabilization program ESP is a new application that many MEMS manufacturers are highly concerned about. Because its active anti-skid function requires more sensors and advanced processing systems, it will make automotive electronics, the traditional MEMS application market, shine again.

As a new road safety technology with active safety measures, many countries and regions around the world have begun legislation to force the installation of an electronic body stabilization system (ESC) with ESP. The US and Canada will require all new production from September this year. ESCs are installed for light vehicles. The EU and Australia require that all new models be installed with ESCs from November 2009, and South Korea and Japan respectively require that all new models carry ESCs from January and October 2010.

Analyze from the speed of global legislation, by 2015, more than half of light vehicles produced globally will have ESC; at the same time, electronic equipment integration and sensor fusion will further lower the cost of ESC systems, and silicon-based gyroscopes in the next three years. It will become the mainstream technology for active or passive security systems.