MMC Activities

Activities of MEMS Foundry Service
Fumihiko Sato, Omron Corporation / Chair, MEMS Foundry Service Industry Committee, MEMS Industry Forum(1) Operating MEMS foundry service network

1. Introduction
Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are
expected to grow to become a market rivaled in size
only by the markets for flat panel displays (FPDs) andsemiconductors. In recent years, full-fledged adoptionof these systems in cellular phones and otherconsumer products has begun, and the scale of themarket is growing rapidly. As applications for thesesystems have expanded, the technology has become
increasingly diversified and Time To Market needs
have also increased. As a result, the role of MEMS
foundries in development and manufacture isbecoming increasingly important.
The MEMS Foundry Service Industry Committee
conducts activities to help expand the MEMS
industrial base and increase competitiveness throughthe creation of a foundry network in Japan.

To simplify the process of approaching foundrycompanies for users who want to use MEMS foundries
but do not know where to go to initiate the process, theCommittee has established the MEMStation(http://fsic.mmc.or.jp) as a clearing-house for user
inquiries.
(2) MEMS Seminars and other educational and joint
publicity activities

To support the training of MEMS development
personnel, the Committee plans and holds MEMS
Seminars twice each year. Designed for novice andmidlevel MEMS engineers, these seminars have met witha very favorable response.
(3) Activities to expand the MEMS industrial baseFor many years, foundry companies have usedequipment for manufacturing their own products andexpand their business to users outside the company. As aresult, in many cases the prototyping and mass
production services that they are able to provide arelimited to their own specific processes and materials.
Investment in equipment and the development of custom
processes for each customer require both time andmoney. So, it is not easy for small, medium-sizedcompanies and venture firms to take university MEMS
research achievement to the mass production andpractical application stage.
The MEMS Foundry Service Industry Committee
promotes the following activities in an effort to facilitate
the use of foundries by users and expand the MEMS
industrial base.

2. Activities of the MEMS Foundry ServiceIndustry Committee
The MEMS Foundry Service Industry Committee
membership comprises 11 companies and organizations
relating to MEMS foundries, each with its own uniquecharacteristics (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2).

1. Expansion of the MEMS foundry network system

The Committee has studied the standard process
recipes that would enable even users with little
experience in or knowledge of MEMS manufacture toeasily manufacture the MEMS they need. These recipes
are ready-made processes that utilize the abundant
manufacturing experience of foundry companies. Using
these recipes for prototyping is expected to make itpossible for customers to save both time and costrequirements.
In the future, the Committee will work to promote
activities to expand the use of these standard process
recipes, and will also study the possibility of setting up
organization or centers for consulting and coordination ofMEMS development activities.

Fig. 1 MEMS Foundry Service Industry Committee Members
Design &Simulation

Testing &Prototyping

ProductDevelopment

MassProduction

Machining of various types of MEMS through a combination of dry etching,vapor deposition polymerization and dielectric film formation technologies

ULVAC, Inc.
Oki SemiconductorCo., Ltd.

Silicon process integration MEMS

Omron CorporationTechnologies for creating original dies for various types of MEMS manufacture,primarily for bulk micromachining, as well as proprietary technologies; manufacture of lenses,
fine molds etc. using electroforming mass production technologies

Olympus Corporation

Has a wealth of accumulated knowledge relating to optical MEMS and bioMEMS and offers services
from design to mass production of various types of MEMS using precision bulk micromachining

Hitachi, Ltd.

MEMS processing and through wiring
on wafer level packages, silicon wafers, etc.

Fujikura, Ltd.
Panasonic Electric WorksCo., Ltd.
Mizuho Information &Research Institute, Inc.

Analysis services
Simulator development

UEL Corporation

Design / analysis support
Software development

Mathematical Systems,Inc.

Simulator and ECAD tool
development and sale

National Institute of Advanced
Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

2. Cooperative activities with public foundries andregional clusters in various locations

Assistance for research and development,
primarily relating to bulk micromachining

Working with domestic publicly-operated testing
entities, regional clusters and nanofabrication companies
the Committee is setting up an organic foundry network
as a framework for providing support for MEMS project
development and will promote activities aimed atexpanding the MEMS industrial base.

Sensors and actuators (silicon processes) / high-density packaging

MEMS device prototyping
Micronano fabrication(joint research only)

Fig. 2 Service Areas of Member Companies

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