X-FAB Silicon Foundries has expanded its MEMS foundry service portfolio with the introduction of ready-to-use design IP blocks for MEMS accelerometers.
The products have been developed along with HSG-IMIT (Institute for Microtechnology and Information Technology of Hahn-Schickard-Gesellschaft) and MicroMountains Applications and can be included in the client designs of MEMS capacitive accelerometers with ranges of force equal to 2, 10 and 100 G. They reduce design times and also decrease customer learning cycles for new product launch. The IP blocks run on the advanced open platform inertial sensor process offered by X-FAB and provide customers with the fastest development times for large–scale production of accelerometer and gyroscope designs. These design blocks could be utilized for fully characterized accelerometers that are suitable for an assorted range of applications, from crash detection for the automotive segment to motion sensing for toys and games.
Iain Rutherford, who is working as Business Line Manager for MEMS at X-FAB, stated that by working in conjunction with MicroMountains Applications and HSG-IMIT, the company is in the process of altering the ‘one product, one process’ rule that normally pervades the MEMS sector. This IP along with the inertial sensor process would enable companies to jump into the accelerometer market with rapid development times for such a complicated MEMS product.
The IP block development was created to generate IP for three wide application spaces, including finite element analysis simulation of the sensor components for getting significant data about shock-resistance, sensitivity and frequency performance of the structures. After the devices were manufactured, HSG-IMIT executed a complete characterization of the accelerometers, making use of varied rate tables for 3-axis simulation, vacuum and temperature along with temperature chambers and shakers.
Source: http://www.xfab.com