MEMS, is a technology that in its most general form can be defined as miniaturized mechanical and electro-mechanical elements (i.e., devices and structures) that are made using the techniques of microfabrication.
In 2010, fabless semiconductor widened their share of the worldwide microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) market compared to four years ago, holding nearly one-fourth of the total MEMS value generated last year, according to new IHS iSuppli research.
Inkjet print heads accounted for the largest share of MEMS fabless revenue in 2010 at 43 percent, even though that percentage is down from 63 percent in 2006. Among companies in this space, Hewlett-Packard Co. outsourced more than half of its print head wafers to STMicroelectronics, while Texas Instruments fabricated 100 percent of the print heads from Lexmark International. Also fabless in nature were the no-name manufacturers of print heads in China, which work with MEMS foundries like APM in Taiwan.
The fabless MEMS business is expected to keep growing in the next five years, IHS expects, owing to a variety of market-encouraging factors.
For one, more innovative MEMS products from fabless startups will come to fruition and arrive in the market. InvenSense is the most successful MEMS startup, but several players have potential new killer products in development. Among such innovative startup firms are SiTime, Discera and Sand9 in timing devices; Debiotech and CardioMEMS in healthcare or biotech; and Microstaq in industrial and building control.
Also, more IDMs and vertically integrated manufacturers—under pressure from their shareholders to keep margins high—are likely to outsource part or all of their MEMS production to fabless firms. In fact, several automotive system companies that historically have run an internal fab, such as Delphi or Continental, either have started or will transition to a fabless manufacturing model.
Other factors that will promote the growth of fabless MEMS include the renaissance of optical MEMS, a major revenue generator for various MEMS foundries, in the telecommunications space; and the increasing MEMS content to be found in mobile phones and tablets. Already, wireless semiconductor companies have taken note of this trend, and not being experts in the MEMS field, will need to ally with fabless entities to grab some of the value associated with MEMS and possibly sell more silicon.
The main application market in 2010 for fabless MEMS was data processing, which includes devices such as inkjet print heads, timing devices for hard disk drives, and scanning mirrors used in laser printers.
The second largest fabless MEMS application, mobile and consumer electronics, was also the fastest-growing. Fabless microphones, gyroscopes and accelerometers are the important devices in this area. Automotive fabless was the third largest MEMS application, including devices such as pressure sensors, microbolometers, thermopiles and gas sensors.
Other fabless MEMS application markets of note during 2010, in descending order by size, were wired telecommunications, industry, medical, and civil and military aerospace.
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