在一窩蜂地為平板電腦和智能手機(jī)開發(fā)國(guó)產(chǎn)應(yīng)用處理器之后，中國(guó)企業(yè)家現(xiàn)在又得出結(jié)論：智能手機(jī)中的MEMS器件數(shù)目快速增長(zhǎng)，這是不容放過的巨大商機(jī)。
因此，中國(guó)企業(yè)又信心十足地轉(zhuǎn)向了MEMS。
市場(chǎng)調(diào)研公司Yole Développement列出了20家排名最領(lǐng)先的MEMS廠商，其中沒有中國(guó)企業(yè)的身影，至少現(xiàn)在還沒有。新興的中國(guó)MEMS廠商可能集中在低端領(lǐng)域，比如麥克風(fēng)和壓力傳感器。
中國(guó)初創(chuàng)企業(yè)能否成為全球MEMS市場(chǎng)中的風(fēng)云人物，這是中國(guó)微電子產(chǎn)業(yè)歷史尚未書寫的篇章，后事如何，未來(lái)10年甚至20年才能見分曉。
單位：百萬(wàn)美元
Source: Yole DevelopmentNa0esmc
在基于CMOS的SoC開發(fā)領(lǐng)域，中國(guó)無(wú)廠設(shè)計(jì)公司盡管開始的時(shí)候經(jīng)驗(yàn)相對(duì)缺乏，但上手非常迅速。該領(lǐng)域的機(jī)會(huì)造就了幾個(gè)國(guó)內(nèi)贏家(即展訊、全志和瑞芯微)，他們脫穎而出。但是，大量廠商最終只能相互大打價(jià)格戰(zhàn)。這一章節(jié)提供了一個(gè)極好的例子，它充分顯示：廣泛的可授權(quán)IP內(nèi)核(來(lái)自ARM、Imagination和其它一些廠商)、設(shè)計(jì)、SPICE和掌握更精細(xì)節(jié)點(diǎn)的代工廠商，給中國(guó)無(wú)線設(shè)計(jì)公司創(chuàng)造了前所未有的公平競(jìng)爭(zhēng)環(huán)境。
MEMS可能與此不同。MEMS將考驗(yàn)中國(guó)初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的耐心、遠(yuǎn)見，以及他們擁有的IP資源的廣度與深度。中國(guó)企業(yè)在這些方面通常沒有優(yōu)勢(shì)。
目前，中國(guó)只有四家MEMS企業(yè)，即美新半導(dǎo)體(MEMSIC)、深迪、上海矽?？萍?QST)和明皜傳感(MiraMEMS)。據(jù)稱還有大量MEMS廠商在中國(guó)涌現(xiàn)，主要是因?yàn)楸镜貏?chuàng)投公司與企業(yè)家對(duì)MEMS的興趣越來(lái)越大。
注：紅色部分是中國(guó)MEMS廠商。
Source：上海微技術(shù)工業(yè)研究院(SITRI)Na0esmc
地方政府也在聯(lián)手研究機(jī)構(gòu)推動(dòng)MEMS產(chǎn)業(yè)發(fā)展。上海微技術(shù)工業(yè)研究院(SITRI)由中國(guó)科學(xué)院與上海政府聯(lián)合建立，致力于開發(fā)“超越摩爾”的技術(shù)。
上海微技術(shù)工業(yè)研究院仿效臺(tái)灣工研院(ITRI)的模式，是一個(gè)開放性的創(chuàng)新平臺(tái)，主要包括8寸微制造線、研發(fā)設(shè)施、工程中心、供應(yīng)鏈伙伴和行業(yè)協(xié)會(huì)等。SITRI還提供專門的投資基金。
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本文下一頁(yè)：老東家的一句話讓謝志峰走上MEMS創(chuàng)業(yè)路
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• 蘋果訂單助攻，博世力克ST成MEMS領(lǐng)域第一名
• 深迪慣性傳感器產(chǎn)品線路演，迎接多軸化趨勢(shì)
• 谷歌新手機(jī)原型將配置3D深度傳感器Na0esmc
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上海矽?？萍?/b>
據(jù)上海矽睿科技有限公司(QST)總經(jīng)理謝志峰，公司成立于2012年，從一開始就專注于生產(chǎn)“高端磁傳感器與MEMS傳感器”。
謝志峰是半導(dǎo)體行業(yè)的資深人士，職業(yè)生涯從英特爾開始，在美國(guó)加州從事設(shè)計(jì)X86處理器。他后來(lái)返回亞洲，積累了16年的晶圓代工經(jīng)驗(yàn)：開始是在新加坡特許半導(dǎo)體，后來(lái)到上海的中芯國(guó)際。
2011年，年過半百的謝志峰開始感到不安，毅然創(chuàng)立了自己的公司?！拔以谟⑻貭柟ぷ鞯臅r(shí)候，老板對(duì)我說(shuō)，如果不是為英特爾工作，我就無(wú)足輕重，”他說(shuō)，“我感覺必須創(chuàng)建一家公司，只是為了向原來(lái)的老板證明我可以自立。”
謝志峰看上了MEMS。雖然他不是這方面的專家，但他喜歡MEMS，因?yàn)楫?dāng)初這個(gè)領(lǐng)域沒有什么競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。
上海矽?？萍加邢薰?QST)總經(jīng)理謝志峰
Na0esmc
在做盡職調(diào)查的時(shí)候，謝志峰偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)了上海微系統(tǒng)與信息技術(shù)研究所(SIMIT)，該研究似乎擁有不錯(cuò)的陀螺儀技術(shù)。
謝志峰發(fā)現(xiàn)，幾乎世界任何地方的研究所，“對(duì)于把技術(shù)轉(zhuǎn)化為成功產(chǎn)品必然涉及的可制造性、占位面積和成本都不了解，尤其是轉(zhuǎn)為消費(fèi)電子市場(chǎng)中的成功產(chǎn)品?！?
謝志峰說(shuō)服SIMIT把陀螺儀技術(shù)和相關(guān)專利授予QST，換取QST的股份。謝志峰說(shuō)：“不涉及金錢交換。”
謝志峰隨后取得了另一個(gè)突破，獲得了“全球著名的霍尼韋爾各向異性磁阻(AMR)磁傳感器技術(shù)的獨(dú)家、全球和永久授權(quán)”。
借助上海華虹宏力半導(dǎo)體制造有限公司的一條生產(chǎn)線，并與這家晶圓代工廠商合作，QST去年秋天得以推出其首款產(chǎn)品：AMR磁傳感器QMC6983。QST在霍尼韋爾技術(shù)的基礎(chǔ)上開發(fā)了這款三軸單芯片磁傳感器。自從兩個(gè)月以前開始，這款產(chǎn)品賣出了70萬(wàn)個(gè)。
由于存在干擾，智能手機(jī)中的壓力傳感器通常不能很好地用于室內(nèi)GPS。謝志峰表示，他的公司推出的AMR磁傳感器解決了這個(gè)問題。該傳感器擁有內(nèi)置自檢驗(yàn)功能和溫度漂移補(bǔ)償模塊，因此可以實(shí)現(xiàn)高精度和更好的可靠性。QST表示，由于具有這種優(yōu)點(diǎn)，其AMR磁傳感器可以用于穿戴式系統(tǒng)和各種其它應(yīng)用。
但謝志峰承認(rèn)，要想追上博世和意法半導(dǎo)體等領(lǐng)先廠商，QST和其它中國(guó)MEMS企業(yè)還有很長(zhǎng)的路要走。初創(chuàng)企業(yè)不僅要追趕領(lǐng)先者，而且也必須制訂長(zhǎng)期計(jì)劃，使自己能夠?qū)鞲衅鞯陌l(fā)展作出快速反應(yīng)。
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
本文下一頁(yè)：六條進(jìn)入MEMS市場(chǎng)之前必須了解的事情
相關(guān)閱讀：
• 蘋果訂單助攻，博世力克ST成MEMS領(lǐng)域第一名
• 深迪慣性傳感器產(chǎn)品線路演，迎接多軸化趨勢(shì)
• 谷歌新手機(jī)原型將配置3D深度傳感器Na0esmc
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MEMS的新模式
Yole Développement最近發(fā)表的報(bào)告指出：“慣性MEMS一直面臨劇烈的市場(chǎng)與技術(shù)進(jìn)化?！痹凇蔼?dú)立”MEMS器件方面，“6和9軸自由度(DOF)傳感器正在組合傳感器領(lǐng)域形成新的模式，”該公司寫道。正在興起的一個(gè)趨勢(shì)是，把幾個(gè)慣性傳感器組合在一個(gè)封裝之中。該報(bào)告指出，這類傳感器的主要應(yīng)用是消費(fèi)領(lǐng)域。主要形式包括加速計(jì)與磁力計(jì)組合，或者加速計(jì)與陀螺儀組合。
比較隨意的MEMS觀察者認(rèn)為，中國(guó)人對(duì)MEMS感興趣，主要是因?yàn)镸EMS是一個(gè)模塊，不會(huì)被手機(jī)中的大型SoC集成，這樣就給他們足夠的喘息空間獨(dú)立生存。
但是，實(shí)情遠(yuǎn)非如此。
謝志峰表示，MEMS市場(chǎng)的進(jìn)入門檻比多數(shù)企業(yè)家所認(rèn)為的要高得多。他一口氣列出了六條進(jìn)入MEMS市場(chǎng)之前必須了解的事情。
● 第一，每項(xiàng)MEMS技術(shù)都要求獨(dú)特的制造工藝。你不能隨便找一家代工廠商生產(chǎn)自己的MEMS。多數(shù)代工廠商并不擁有生產(chǎn)你們MEMS所必需的IP。
● 第二，MEMS要求你有自己的傳感器設(shè)計(jì)。
● 第三，MEMS也要求傳感器與低功耗ASIC配合，低功耗ASIC在弱信號(hào)條件下精度很好。
● 第四，傳感器與ASIC必須放置在一個(gè)封裝之中。但多數(shù)代工廠商可能缺乏這方面的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。
● 第五，MEMS需要在運(yùn)動(dòng)過程中測(cè)試。
● 第六，傳感器需要與系統(tǒng)中的主芯片通訊，比如手機(jī)中的傳感器。但是，每個(gè)傳感器都是不同的，而且每個(gè)手機(jī)模塊也是不同的。因此，他們的通信方式也不同。
如果說(shuō)謝志峰在進(jìn)入MEMS市場(chǎng)之前低估了什么的話，那就是他的公司和現(xiàn)場(chǎng)應(yīng)用工程師的軟件工作量，他們花費(fèi)了大量精力來(lái)微調(diào)應(yīng)用軟件。他說(shuō)，當(dāng)發(fā)現(xiàn)公司生產(chǎn)的MEMS能夠在一款手機(jī)中完美工作，在另一款手機(jī)中卻不行時(shí)，“我們意識(shí)到軟件是關(guān)鍵?！?
混合與匹配不同的算法以及與不同廠商ASIC集成的傳感器，非常復(fù)雜性和困難，這是推動(dòng)MEMS向6D和9D傳感器發(fā)展的主要是因素。謝志峰解釋道：“一站式解決方案讓MEMS集成變得更加干凈、簡(jiǎn)單和可靠?！?
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
本文下一頁(yè)：MEMS未來(lái)面臨的挑戰(zhàn)是“傳感器中樞”
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• 深迪慣性傳感器產(chǎn)品線路演，迎接多軸化趨勢(shì)
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傳感器中樞
MEMS未來(lái)面臨的挑戰(zhàn)不僅是單一封裝中的傳感器數(shù)量不斷增加。新出現(xiàn)的一個(gè)事物是“傳感器中樞”，即廠商給封裝中的傳感器-ASIC組合增加了一個(gè)微控制器。謝志峰解釋道，傳感器中樞中需要微控制器，主要用于管理功耗。
據(jù)謝志峰，以前手機(jī)中的主CPU承擔(dān)了這項(xiàng)任務(wù)。但每當(dāng)傳感器需要測(cè)量什么東西的時(shí)候就喚醒CPU，非常耗電。
除了本周剛宣布的公司首款加速計(jì)，QST目前還有一個(gè)CMOS集成6D運(yùn)動(dòng)傳感器(比如3軸加速計(jì)+3軸陀螺儀，3軸磁傳感器+3軸加速計(jì)技術(shù))和9D傳感器路線圖。
但謝志峰表示，隨著傳感器中樞的出現(xiàn)，“我們決定提前我們的計(jì)劃，更早地在MEMS中增加一個(gè)微控制器。”原來(lái)公司計(jì)劃是在2015或2016年這么做。
QST有兩個(gè)選擇，可以把MEMS封裝外包給一家MCU廠商，或者與一家MCU廠商合作把MCU集成到自己的MEMS之中。QST決定采用后者。謝志峰表示：“考慮到ARM的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，ARM內(nèi)核將是我們的首要考慮。為了推出專用、低功耗版本，我們也可以考慮MIPS?！?
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
編譯：Luffy Liu
參考英文原文：Will China Conquer MEMS?
相關(guān)閱讀：
• 蘋果訂單助攻，博世力克ST成MEMS領(lǐng)域第一名
• 深迪慣性傳感器產(chǎn)品線路演，迎接多軸化趨勢(shì)
• 谷歌新手機(jī)原型將配置3D深度傳感器Na0esmc
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Will China Conquer MEMS?
6 reasons why its barrier-to-entry remains high
SHANGHAI, China -- After a mad rush to develop home-grown apps processors for tablets and smartphones, Chinese entrepreneurs are now concluding that the rapidly growing number of MEMS inside a smartphone is too huge an opportunity to pass up.
So, it’s on to MEMS… after a (Chinese) fashion.
Among the top 20 MEMS players listed by the market research firm Yole Développement, no Chinese vendor shows up — at least, not yet. Emerging Chinese MEMS vendors are likely to be concentrated in low-end MEMS segments such as microphones and pressure sensors.
How Chinese startups might become key player in the global MEMS market is a chapter of China’s microelectronics history yet to be written, over the next 10 or even 20 years.
Unit: U.S.$ million
(Source: Yole Development)
In the world of CMOS-based SoC development, Chinese fabless companies, despite relatively little experience in the field, have been able to get rich quickly. The opportunity generated a few domestic winners (i.e. Spreadtrum, Allwinner, and Rockchip) who rose above the pack. Many, however, eventually ended up ruthlessly beating each other up on price. This chapter offered a great example of how broadly available licensable IP cores (from ARM, Imagination, and others), designs, SPICE and access to foundries with finer geometry nodes presented an unprecedented level playing field for Chinese fabless companies.
MEMS is likely to be a different story. MEMS will test the patience, long-term vision, and breadth and depth of the IP portfolios held by Chinese startups. All of these qualities tend not to be China’s forté.
Today, China has thus far four MEMS pioneering vendors. They include MEMSIC, Senodia, QST, and MiraMEMS. A lot more MEMS players are reportedly coming upon China, largely driven by growing interest in MEMS among local VCs and entrepreneurs.
Note: Companies in red are China’s MEMS companies. Source: Shanghai Industrial μTechnology Research Institute (SITRI)
There is also the push for MEMS by the local government in conjuction with a research institute. Shanghai Industrial μTechnology Research Institute (SITRI) was established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai government to focus on the development of "More than Moore" technology.
SITRI, established after Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) as its model, is an open innovation platform that encompasses an 8-inch micro-fabrication line, R&D facilities, engineering services, supply-chain partners, and industry Association. SITRI also offers dedicated investment funds.
QST in Shanghai
Enter Joseph Xie, CEO of Shanghai Quality Sensor Technology Corporation (QST) founded in 2012. QST, according to Xie, is focused on producing "high-end magnetic sensors and MEMS sensors since its inception."
Xie is a semiconductor veteran who cut his teeth at Intel designing X86 processors in Santa Clara, Calif. He later returned to Asia and accumulated 16 years of experience in foundries -- first at Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing in Singapore, then at SMIC, China’s flagship foundry based in Shanghai.
By 2011, Xie, over 50 years old, was getting jittery to start up his own company. “I was once told by my boss at Intel that I was nobody if I had not worked for Intel,” he said. “I felt I needed to start up a company, just to prove to my old boss that I can stand on my own.”
Xie set his sights on MEMS. While he’s no expert, he liked MEMS because he initially saw little competition in the field.
Joseph Xie, CEO at QST Corp.
While doing his due diligence, Xie stumbled across the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), which appeared to have good gyroscope technology.
Almost anywhere in the world, research institutes in general have “no sense of manufacturability, footprint, and cost necessary to turn their technology into successful products -- especially for the consumer electronics market,” Xie observed.
Xie initially talked SIMIT into giving QST the research institute’s gyroscope technology and its related patents in exchange for shares in QST. “No money changed hands,” said Xie.
Xie got another break when he was able to obtain “exclusive, worldwide and perpetual license of Honeywell's world famous Anisotropic Magneto-Resistive (AMR) magnetic sensor technology.”
By leasing a manufacturing line at Shanghai Huahong Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (HHGrace) and working with the foundry, QST was able to announce its first product last fall, the AMR magnetic sensor QMC6983. QST developed the three-axis single chip magnetic sensor based on Honeywell’s technology. The startup has sold 700,000 units of its first product since two months ago.
Pressure sensors in smartphones tend not to work well for indoors GPS largely due to interferences. Xie said his company’s AMR magnetic sensor solves this problem, offering high accuracy and better reliability because of its built-in self-checking function and temperature drift compensation module. Touting this advantage, QST says its AMR magnetic sensor can be used in wearable systems and a variety of other applications.
Xie, however, acknowledged that there’s still a long way to go before his company and other Chinese MEMS companies can catch up with such leading vendors as Bosch and STMicroelectronics. Startups not only have to play catch-up with the leaders, but they also need long-term plans that enable them to respond quickly to the evolution of sensors.
MEMS’ new paradigm
Yole Développement’s recent report pointed out, “Inertial MEMS have been subject to dramatic market & technological evolution.” Along with “stand-alone” MEMS devices, “6 and 9-axis degree of freedom (DOF) sensors are creating a new paradigm in the combos business,” the firm wrote. Emerging is a combination of several inertial sensors integrated in a single package. Main applications for such sensors are consumer, said the report. They include accelerometers with a magnetometer or accelerometers with a gyro.
Casual observers of MEMS say that the Chinese are interested in it largely because MEMS is a block that won’t get integrated by a big SoC in a handset, thus giving them enough breathing room to stand on their own.
That, however, is far from the truth.
The barrier to entry in the MEMS market is a lot higher than most entrepreneurs think, said Xie. He rattled off six things anyone needs to know before getting into MEMS business.
? First, each MEMS technology requires a unique manufacturing technology. You can’t just go to any foundry and ask them to produce MEMS. Most foundries don’t have the IPs necessary to produce your own MEMs.
? Second, MEMS requires your own sensor designs.
? Third, MEMS also demand the pairing of a sensor and a low-power-consumption ASIC that works with precision under weak signals.
? Fourth, a sensor and ASIC must be put in a single package. Chances are that most foundries don’t have that experience, either.
? Fifth, MEMS needs to be tested while in motion.
? Sixth, sensors in a handset, for example, need to talk to the main chip in the system. Each sensor, however, is different, and each cellphone module is different. Hence, the way they communicate is also different.
If there’s anything Xie underestimated before getting into the MEMS market, it was the amount of software work his company and field application engineers needed to fine-tune the application software. When Xie discovered that his company had made MEMS that worked perfectly in one phone but wouldn’t work in another, he said, “We realized that software was the killer.”
The push toward the 6D and 9D sensors has been largely driven by sheer complexity and difficulties in mixing and matching different algorithms and sensors integrated with ASIC offered by different vendors. “A one-stop solution makes MEMS integration cleaner, simpler and more reliable,” Xie explained.
Sensor hub
Challenges MEMS faces in future aren’t just the increasing number of sensors that must be integrated in a single package. The industry’s new thing is a “sensor hub,” in which vendors add a microcontroller to the sensors-and-ASIC combination in the package. The microcontroller is needed inside the sensor hub, mainly to manage power consumption, Xie explained.
Previously, the main CPU in a handset did that job, according to Xie. But waking up the CPU every time sensors need to measure something turns out to be a huge power drain.
Beyond the company’s first accelerometer just announced this week, QST today has a road map for CMOS integrated 6D motion sensor (such as tri-axial accelerometer + tri-axial gyroscope, and tri-axial magnetic sensor + tri-axial accelerometer technology) and 9D sensors.
But at the advent of the sensor hub, Xie said, “We decided to move up our plan to add a microcontroller to our MEMS sooner.” Previously, it was on the comapny's agenda for 2015 or even 2016.
QST has a choice between outsourcing its MEMS package to an MCU vendor and working with an MCU vendor to integrate it into its MEMS. QST decided on the latter. Xie said, "Considering ARM's ecosystem, ARM core will be the first one we will consider. For specialty, low-power version, we may consider MIPS as well."
責(zé)編：Quentin
