Consumer MEMS to See Highest Growth Yet This Year at 37 Percent

Smartphones and media tablets drive expansion; 3-axis gyroscope is the star MEMS device

Contributed by Jérémie Bouchaud, Director and Principal Analyst, MEMS, iSuppli

The MEMS market for its largest and most dynamic sector, consumer and mobile devices, is set to generate record growth in 2011 on the back of robust exposure in smart-phone and tablet applications, according to a Consumer & Mobile MEMS Market Tracker report from information and analysis provider IHS.

Revenue in 2011 for consumer and mobile MEMS will hit $2.25 billion, up a best-ever expansion level of 37 percent, compared to the previous high-water mark of 27 percent in 2010 when revenue reached $1.64 billion. Consumer MEMS growth slowed to 6 percent in 2009 during the crucial period of recovery following the deep economic crisis of the prior year, but that has proven to be the only soft spot for the market. Overall, the five-year revenue prospects starting from 2010 call for solid growth by a factor of nearly three to $4.54 billion in 2015, equivalent to a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 22.5 percent.

A Peek Inside the Invensense ITG-3200 Three-Axis Gyroscope

Contributed by St.J. Dixon-Warren and R. Krishnamurthy, Chipworks

Invensense is a leader in the MEMS gyroscope market segment. According to Yole, they experienced nearly 500% growth 2009 over 2008. They now hold the #1 position in the MEMS gyroscope for consumer electronics market.

Chipworks recent had a look inside their new three-axis digital gyroscope, the ITG-3200. The device is built using the Nasiri, single-chip, MEMS process, where the MEMS layer is sandwiched between a fusion-bonded cap wafer and the ASIC. The ASIC and MEMS are bonded using eutectic metal bond. The SEM image in Figure 1 provides a tilt-view of the corner of the MEMS chip, where the MEMS layer can be seen between the cap and ASIC die.

MEMS & Sensors for Smartphones Report: When Sensing Comes Right into your Pocket!

Contributed by Laurent Robin, MEMS Market Analyst, Yole Développement

Yole Développement released a new report dedicated to MEMS devices and sensors for smarphones applications: MEMS & Sensors for Smartphones Report. Yole Développement’s report provides market data on MEMS & Sensors for mobile phones: key market metrics & dynamics including unit shipments, revenues and average selling price by type of MEMS & Sensors, market shares with detailed breakdown for each player.

This analysis also presents application focus on key sensors that are changing the mobile phone industry: new features, technical roadmap, insight about future technology trends & challenges.

3-axis Gyroscope, the new killer product for cell phones

Contributed by Jérémie Bouchaud, Director & Principal Analyst, MEMS, iSuppli

When a sensor makes it into the cell phone market it can consider itself to be in the “big league.” As iSuppli reports in the news section of this issue, Steve Jobs’ recent announcement of the new Apple iPhone 4G featuring a 3-axis gyroscope is certainly good news for the small pool of suppliers of these devices. And, given its trendsetting nature and the way the company helped establish accelerometers in cell phones, Apple could not be a better champion to establish this device among other phone manufacturers.

This article looks at the reasons why the gyroscope has finally “earned its spurs” for mobile phones, and at the applications that will support its implementation in the coming years.

Shifts Occurring in the MEMS Competitive Landscape

Contributed by Jérémie Bouchaud, Principal Analyst, MEM, iSuppli

iSuppli has just released its MEMS competitive analysis for 2010, which screens the revenue of almost 150 MEMS manufacturers—98% of the market—by device and application for the years spanning 2006 to 2009. Not only does this major ground-up and historical analysis provide a robust foundation for all MEMS forecasts at iSuppli, it also provides unique insights on the shifts induced by the crisis in the competitive landscape at the end of 2008 and in the second half of 2009. Finally, it helps to identify longer term trends like the growth of the fabless business or the importance of captive markets in the MEMS industry.