MEMS sensor sales will grow strongly

According to the MEMS market brief from IHS iSuppli Corporation, MEMS-based multi-sensor packages, so-called “combined” sensors, will have a bright future in consumer applications and automotive applications, with total sales in these two areas over the next five years. It will increase to 50 times now.

MEMS composite sensors contain different combinations of accelerometers, gyroscopes, or electronic compasses in a single sensor package. The sales of such sensors will be close to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars by 2015, slightly lower than 24 million U.S. dollars in 2010, and the compound annual growth rate for 2010-2015 will be as high as 120%. It is expected that this year's growth rate will reach three digits, and this trend will remain until 2013, highlighting the tremendous opportunities for such sensors in the automotive and consumer electronics sectors. For example, sales in 2011 are expected to reach $70.9 million, a 200% increase over the $23.6 million in 2010, of which consumer applications will account for $48.1 million and automotive applications will account for $22.8 million.

The combination sensor saves space and costs by integrating more functions in a single package. This type of MEMS sensor is very useful in situations where price pressure is high and circuit board space is limited, such as mobile phones; due to the mandatory use of certain technologies, cost becomes a key factor, which is common in the automotive field.

In the next few years, the consumer sector will continue to account for a large share of combined sensor sales. Its sales will grow to 1 billion U.S. dollars by 2015, and the automotive sector will be 131.8 million U.S. dollars, as shown in the chart below.

For the automotive sector, automakers are under pressure to reduce costs as various government-mandated safety systems become standard equipment for cars, prompting them to seek to use smaller sensors that are more efficient and have lower production costs.

Depending on the device contained in the package, the configuration of the combination sensor can vary. For example, in the consumer sector, a 6DOF (6 DOF) compass module usually contains a 3-axis accelerometer plus a 3-axis compass; when using inertial sensors, the device is called the inertial sensor measurement unit (IMU). In contrast, a 9DOF consists of a 3-axis compass, a 3-axis gyroscope, and a 3-axis accelerometer; and a 10DOF contains all of the 9DOF devices, plus a pressure sensor for height measurement. At the same time, 4DOF to 6DOF combination sensors are emerging in the automotive field, mainly inertial IMUs without compasses.

At present, the suppliers of combination sensors include Bosch, Germany, which is mainly used for its stable control system, and VTI Technologies of Finland, which is used for the stable manufacturing system of German manufacturer Continental AG.

The combination of sensors began to emerge in mobile phones and tablets. In consumer applications, most accelerometers are currently shipped as separate, discrete devices. These discrete devices will dominate the mobile phone market in the next four years. Starting in 2013, it will gradually be integrated within the 6-axis IMU, which will become the main form of combination sensors in 2015.

However, the integration in the 6-axis compass module is another case, since the accelerometer and compass need to be placed in different locations in the handset, resulting in no significant cost advantage, so this integration will still be insignificant. In mobile phones, the motion sensor needs to be close to the center of the phone, and the compass needs to stay away from sources of electromagnetic interference.

Due to the temptation of revenue opportunities from the Blackbird solution, some 9-axis IMUs will be adopted by several OEMs, but due to their large size and not suitable for mobile phones, their market share will be very limited.

At the same time, combined sensors may be more widely used in the field of tablet PCs due to more available space for tablet PCs. In this field, the 6-axis IMU will have an advantage. The 6-axis compass and the 9-axis IMU will be more popular in the field of tablet computers than the mobile phone field.

Other consumer applications for combination sensors include laptops, cameras, MP3 players, and remote controls.

So far, the suppliers of 6-axis compasses have been Japan's Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) Inc. and Aichi Steel; Italy-France company STMicroelectronics and Germany's Bosch Sensortec. The 6-axis IMU can also be obtained from STMicroelectronics and US InvenSense Inc.