MEMS devices: widely used, little known

A microelectromechanical-system device probably saved my life 15 years ago. At the very least, MEMS technology prevented me from sustaining massive injuries. Editor's note: This article originally appeared in the Winter 2009 issue of MICROmanufacturing magazine.

A microelectromechanical-system device probably saved my life 15 years ago. At the very least, MEMS technology prevented me from sustaining massive injuries.

I was driving an automobile involved in a head-on collision with a car heading the wrong way on an exit ramp. Both vehicles were traveling at 45 mph. My car had an airbag system that incorporated a MEMS accelerometer, a type of sensor. When these sensors experience rapid deceleration, they signal a control unit to deploy the airbag—a sequence that lasts less than 60 milliseconds. My airbag worked perfectly.

The upshot of the story is that I spent 6 hours in the hospital, for observation, was discharged and home in time for dinner. The other driver, whose car wasn’t equipped with an airbag, spent 4 days in the hospital’s intensive care unit followed by 6 weeks recovering from extensive external and internal injuries.

Many people have had their lives saved by airbags, which became standard equipment on vehicles because relatively low-cost MEMS accelerometers made them aff ordable. And many, many more people have benefited from and had their lives enriched by MEMS devices without realizing they exist.

Few know that the technology underlies the operation of inkjet printer heads; bar code scanners; smart phones, such as Apple’s iPhone (an accelerometer transforms the screen from portrait to landscape view when the user turns the phone sideways); microphones; televisions; laptop computers; GPS navigation systems; and Nintendo’s Wii.

Experts predict MEMS applications will grow significantly in the coming years.

An industry analyst from Yole Développement SARL who spoke at a recent conference sponsored by the MEMS Industry Group projected that worldwide sales of MEMS devices would rise from $6.9 billion in 2009 to $13.2 billion in 2013.

Before an uptick can occur, though, the companies that buy MEMS devices will need relief from current economic conditions. A representative from the market research firm Gartner Inc. told conference attendees that, in 2009, he expects revenues for the automotive and consumer product sectors—two major industries served by MEMS suppliers—to be down 30.1 percent and 19.9 percent, respectively.

To fulfill its potential, the MEMS industry will also have to change some of the ways it conducts business and brings product to market. For one, it will need to improve design processes, which is the subject of this issue’s cover story. It will also have to develop mass-fabrication processes for MEMS. And, according to the Yole analyst, suppliers must decrease the time and expense of commercializing MEMS devices. On average, it takes 4 years to bring a MEMS product to market—at a cost of $45 million.

The ongoing “microsizing” of consumer products and medical devices will be a prime driver of MEMS growth. Maximizing profitability will necessitate finding new applications for existing technologies.

“We are experiencing a technology convergence in MEMS,” said MEMS Industry Group Managing Director Karen Lightman. “Sensors made for automobiles—extremely complex systems requiring the highest levels of safety and reliability—are being used for health-care devices, such as heart monitors, and 3-D motion tracking. MEMS-based energy harvesters (clean, renewable alternatives to batteries for powering small systems) are being utilized in consumer and industrial systems, and they may one day be used in more energy-efficient, or even all-electric, automobiles.”

Assuming that day comes, the general public may come to understand—and appreciate—the benefits of MEMS technology as much as I do.