Help Shape the MEMS Content at SEMICON West 2010

SEMI invites the MIG community to suggest presentation topics for the MEMS Extreme Electronics TechXpot at SEMICON West 2010. They are interested particularly in user viewpoints on technology issues and application developments of wide impact and wide interest to the MEMS world for the Tuesday morning session. There will also be a session on micromanufacturing of energy devices (energy harvesting, batteries, power management, maybe fuel cells) and possibly also another session in a smaller venue for more specialized technical MEMS manufacturing presentations. Please send abstracts, and questions and suggestions, to Paula Doe (pdoe@semi.org) by March 26.

SEMICON West will also feature a panel on MEMS foundry issues, including several MIG members. The panel will review the findings of METRIC 2010 and look for other opportunities to overcome MEMS fabrication issues. Specifically the panel will talk about:

Technical Challenges in Optimizing MEMS Fabrication

Design evolution and the general characteristics of multi-generational designs
Cost considerations of wafer size, testing, materials
Hunting “yield killers” and the tradeoffs between using silicon vs. other substrates

New Opportunities for MEMS Fabrication

CMOS/MEMS integration
Wafer-level vs. unit-level packaging
6” vs. 8” wafers
Alternatives to silicon (including glass and plastics)
Using existing semiconductor equipment for fabricating MEMS
Designing for manufacturability, test, and cost

Captive Fab vs. Fabless

Cost of ownership of a fab versus fabless options with respect to low volume/concept development , process and volume
Case studies of successful and unsuccessful fabless MEMS startups

Working with a Foundry

Elements to a successful partnership
Processes (standard vs. non-standard, design rules)
Improving transparency in foundry specifications in regards to surface and bulk micromachining, integration, packaging, and testing