In July 2013 I visited a silicon wafer foundry in Austria as the technical expert for an American company. The problem they were having was low yield due to leakage current in their power device technology. I quickly identified the root cause as Ion Implantation and subsequent insufficient annealing and prescribed a much lower and longer temperature for the anneal. I also enjoyed the visit with old friends as I had been at this plant six times previously. They are very hospitable and treated me with great food and drink in the two evenings I was there. My successful consulting advice was proven out in mid-August as the split lot results confirmed the leakage is greatly reduced resulting in a 25% improvement in device yield.

I recently attended three MEMS conferences representing Semefab Ltd, a Scottish Silicon wafer foundry. The three conferences covered different aspects of this rapidly growing market, which is currently the only segment of the Silicon wafer manufacturing business with positive growth of approximately 8% per annum. This business is a very exciting market as it manufactures health sensors, medical sensors and environmental sensors that are very key to our future.

In April I attended the Biomedical MEMS and Sensors conference in Cleveland, OH where I was introduced to the amazing possibilities of life changing technology which can restore previously permanent disabilities. Replacements were presented for corneas in which eyesight was restored to a blind eye. Also cochlear repairs made by micro-arrays and vestibular function, the sense of balance, restored by reconnecting the inner ear were described in detail. In addition drug micro pumps and implanted techniques solving many controlled delivery requirements were demonstrated such as implantable insulin delivery for diabetes.

In May I was at the MEMS eHealth Symposium in San Jose, CA where I was exited to learn about the wearable health monitors and prevention indicators for concussions. These have been publicized by the popular TV show, Biggest Loser, which uses Bodymedia monitors to track the weight loss and health of their contestants. Also shown were MEMS motion trackers which can be used for fine tuning the training for many sporting events for the Olympics such as diving, gymnastics, skiing and snowboarding etc.

Another conference I was at during May was the MEMS Business Forum at which the exciting breadth of the MEMS sensors market was publicized. MEMS devices are used for monitoring pressure even at above 200 degrees C, focusing micro lens mobile cameras, replacements for quartz oscillators, micro gyroscopes and inertial sensors among the many other areas already highlighted; eHealth and Biomedical.

In summary the MEMS and sensors market is a growth area for silicon wafer fabrication that is key to the future of our industry and will make our lives easier.