After Rare Slowdown, MEMS Sensors Set to Rebound

[Daniel Nenni]

New multi-sensor platforms, platforms, wearable systems, and Internet of Things are expected to lift total MEMS semiconductor sales to a record-high of $8.0 billion in 2014.

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For most of the last decade, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology spread quickly into high-volume electronic products, accounting for 70% of today’s semiconductor sensor sales, but MEMS has suffered growing pains in the last two years with total device sales declining 1% in 2012 and being flat in 2013 at $7.0 billion. Price erosion in MEMS-based sensors—especially accelerometers and gyroscope devices used in smartphones and other portable products—along with slower unit growth have caused this segment to languish. However, new multi-sensor platforms, wearable systems, and the rush to connect things to the Internet are reigniting sales once again, according to IC Insights’ 2014 O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discretes.

Total MEMS-based semiconductor sales—sensors and actuators—are forecast to grow 14% in 2014 to reach a new record-high of $8.0 billion, surpassing the current annual peak of $7.1 billion set in 2011, says the 350-page O-S-D Report. The 2014 report shows MEMS-based sensor and actuator sales climbing 16% in 2015 to $9.2 billion (see Figure 1).

Between 2013 and 2018, MEMS sensor and actuator sales are projected to rise by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7% reaching $12.2 billion in five years compared to a CAGR of 9.8% in the 2008-2013 period. Unit shipments of MEMS semiconductors are expected to grow by a CAGR of 14.0% in the forecast period, going from 4.8 billion devices in 2013 to 9.3 billion in 2018. In the 2008-2013 period, MEMS-based semiconductor unit growth surged by a CAGR of 23%. This growth was driven by the introduction of accelerometers and gyro sensors into smartphone handsets for intelligent control and motion-sensing applications for navigation and a range of new uses, such as activity tracking, health monitoring, and hand-gesture interfaces.

Tiny microelectromechanical structures etched and layered into silicon on MEMS semiconductors are used to perform transducer functions for sensing and measurement of changes around devices or instigate physical action from electronic signals. MEMS is employed in acceleration and yaw sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes), pressure sensors (including altimeter and microphone chips), and a wide variety of actuators (for inkjet printer nozzles, micro-mirrors in digital projectors and displays, timekeeping oscillators, radio-frequency filters and switches, and “biochips”).

Figure 1​

Roller-coaster growth rates in the large-but-fragmented actuators category has held back overall sales in MEMS semiconductors in the last 10 years, but sensors have been more consistent in climbing higher. For instance, MEMS sensor sales grew by a CAGR of 19.2% between 2008 and 2013 to $3.8 billion, while actuator revenues rose by an annual average of just 2.8% in the five-year period to $3.3 billion last year, according to the O-S-D Report. In the 2013-2018 forecast period, both MEMS sensor and actuator sales are expected to rise by a CAGR of about 12%. IC Insights expects actuator sales to strengthen and become less volatile as more devices move into high-volume systems and new application concepts finally taking off in the commercial market—such as inexpensive disposable lab-on-chip devices for low-cost drug development, DNA analysis, and infectious disease identification.

The challenge for MEMS sensors will be coming off extremely high growth rates in the past five years, which were mostly concentrated in a few major applications, such as smartphones and interactive video games, along with steady increases in automotive electronics. MEMS sensor unit shipments surged by a CAGR of 35% between 2008 and 2013, which is more than double 15% annual growth rate expected in the next five years, according to IC Insights’ 2014 O-S-D Report, which forecasts 7.7 billion devices to be sold in in 2018 compared to 3.9 billion sensors in 2013. MEMS sensor sales in 2014 are forecast to grow 16% to $4.4 billion after increasing just 4% in 2013.

While overall annual unit growth rates are expected to be lower in the next five years, shipments of MEMS-based sensors will be driven by a much wider range of system applications, including more devices in smartphones and automobiles, but also new uses in consumer electronics, portable products, wearable systems, handheld test and instrument equipment, home automation, factory gear, and personal medical devices. The spread of MEMS-based sensors and actuators into a broader range of new applications will help keep ASPs from eroding in the coming years because higher-priced designs will become more specialized, and thus, dollar sales growth is expected to be stronger in the years ahead despite the easing of unit volume increases in the 2013-2018 period.

Report Details: The 2014 O-S-D Report
In a one-of-a-kind study, IC Insights expands its coverage of the semiconductor industry with detailed analysis of trends and growth rates in the optoelectronics, sensors/actuators, and discretes market segments in its newly revised 350-page O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discretes.

Now in its ninth annual edition, the 2014 O-S-D Report contains a detailed forecast of sales, unit shipments, and selling prices for more than 30 individual product types and categories through 2018. Also included is a review of technology trends for each of the segments. The 2014 O-S-D Report, with more than 230 charts and figures, is attractively priced at $3,190 for an individual-user license and $6,290 for a multi-user corporate license.




To review additional information about IC Insights’ new and existing market research reports and services please visit our website: IC Insights | Semiconductor Market Research.


PDF Version of This Bulletin
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[Arthur Hanson]

The real revolution in MEMS is going to be in multiple mems integrated into a single system that dramatically lower the cost of lab, manufacturing and monitoring functions at a small fraction on the cost of current systems. An example of this is putting an entire lab process on a single low cost chip. Even taking several functions and putting them on a chip has lowered the costs of dramatically as in the case of Illumina lowering the cost of genetic mapping by factors of hundreds.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

The real revolution in MEMS is going to be in multiple mems integrated into a single system that dramatically lower the cost of lab, manufacturing and monitoring functions at a small fraction on the cost of current systems. An example of this is putting an entire lab process on a single low cost chip. Even taking several functions and putting them on a chip has lowered the costs of dramatically as in the case of Illumina lowering the cost of genetic mapping by factors of hundreds.

I agree. This is the tip of the MEMs iceberg. We certainly know how to manufacture them now lets get some design starts going. I certainly hope the Universities are teaching MEMs because I see a lot of IoT and wearable design starts coming from academia, absolutely.

 

[Arthur Hanson]

Mems used to focus, channel, control and manipulate light are going to be the next great frontier in that they will become key in solar energy, communications, sensors, imaging and medical.

In solar they will used to gather, focus and direct light to achieve the maximum possible efficiency of a large part of the spectrum and to focus a panel that appears flat at the sun changing to whole energy platform. By gathering and using various frequencies not only will the efficiency be dramatically increased, but according to recent studies the time energy can be harvested effectively will be increased by up to two hours.

In medical cheap spectrum analysis will allow diagnosis of pulse rate by color change. Also by analyzing breath and smell will be able to detect many diseases including cancer besides giving a more complete view of the bodies metabolism. Since this could be done cheaply on a continuous basis this will totally change the power of diagnostics from the physical to the routine check which only give the results of a pin point in time. This new source of continuous real time information will radically change medical research in speed and power. People will be able to wear and have injected sensors give a view of functions of the body economically that was previously available in the most expensive labs at significant displacement of the persons living conditions. The size of the database used in research will be able to be increased by a factor of millions by the multiple of people (and animals) monitored times the number of data points monitored on a subject. Add to this quick cheap mapping of just the genes needed and the cost and accuracy of medical will increase dramatically taking much of what is just guess work out of medical. Much of this can be done now with existing devices and processes if one has the time and inclination. This will open the door to open source medical research, treatment and diagnostics. The current laws, regulations and rules will have to be modified to cope with world that will demand change.

Mems will also change manufacturing and almost every aspect of our lives and already have in making many of the things we already interact with cheaper, more effective and just plain better. They are truly the final link in the big data/communication/processing power/mems revolution. There is not a single facet of our lives they will not touch.