Omron's MEMS Foundry Service
Masayuki Maeda
MEMS Division, Semiconductor Division H.Q.
Electronic Components Company
Omron Corporation
1. Outline

2. Features of Omron's foundry service

The Semiconductor Division and MEMS Division atthe Omron Corporation ECB Company officially begana MEMS foundry service in 2001 due to the risingdemand for the MEMS foundry. In 1988 Omron began
producing bipolar ICs and in 1999 began MEMS
research at the Central R&D Laboratory in Tsukuba,
Ibaraki Prefecture. Through achievements made inthis research, Omron began mass-producing ultrasmall
capacitance-type pressure sensors and accelerometersat its Minakuchi factory in Shiga Prefecture in 1996. In
1998 Omron added a microlens array project thatcombines the use of semiconductor micromachining
and electroforming, and has been mass-producing
microlens arrays for LCD type data projectors andLCD backlights for cellular phones and PDAs. Omron
has amassed a production of more than 18 million
ultrasmall capacitance sensors and more than 50
million microlens-related devices.
In addition to the mass-produced products
described above, Omron has undertaken thedevelopment of numerous MEMS devices whenparticipating in the national Micromachine Project in
the 1990s. These MEMS devices include opticalscanners, micromachine relays (MMR) currently underdevelopment, 3-axis accelerometers, and flow sensors
that are now being mass-produced.
With the increasing need for a MEMS foundry,
Omron has been encouraged to develop such afoundry by many people seeking the participation of amanufacturer with mass-production experience.
Accordingly, we have officially established a MEMS
foundry that is founded on such strengths as ourtechnological know-how, production experience, andinfrastructure.

Processes provided by the foundry service focus on
bulk micromachining techniques such as anodic
bonding (including bonding in vacuum) andelectrochemical etchstop (ECE) that are basetechnologies for mass-produced sensors. The foundry
performs on commission such silicon processes as
thin-film formation, wet and dry etching, impurity
layer formation, and electrode formation; and suchglass wafer processes as metal formation on speciallines and etching. The foundry also accepts
commissions for processes based on the microlens
array technology, including an electroforming
technique using substrates produced throughsemiconductor micromachining, and ultraprecision
formation using photopolymerization (a curing method
using ultraviolet rays). The electroforming foundry hasgarnered very high praise from the market for its
production of substrates that can be formed in any
shape by the foundry's unique methods and forelectroforming in its clean room. The merging ofelectroforming or machining techniques withsemiconductor fabricating techniques has expanded
the possibilities not only in the field of sensors, butalso for a variety of devices and structures, such aslabs-on-a-chip and microneedles.
Omron accepts orders ranging from a small numberof prototypes to mass-production and can delivery
wafers or chips or only perform partial processing,depending on the user's wishes.
Procduction is carried out at our Minakuchi factoryin Shiga Prefecture using production lines and a clean
room for bipolar ICs and a clean room dedicated toMEMS. Another of our strengths lies in our foundry
members, who have a wealth of experience from R&D
to mass-production.

Products of OMRON
Semiconductor Division
Silicon
Devices

Pressure Sensor
Acceleration Sensor

Blood Pressure Monitor

Micro Lens
Array

Projector-MLA

LCD type Data Projector

3. Conclusion
Last year we combined the two laboratories atTsukuba City and Nagaokakyo City in Kyoto andestablished a new base for MEMS research in the KyotoOsaka-Nara area. At this base, we are also conducting
research on RF switch manufacturing techniques in the"MEMS project" adopted by NEDO.
In addition to sophisticating more about the techniques
accumulated thus far, we hope to introduce newtechnologies and continue to expand the foundry service.

AnalogCustom ICFor PhotoelectricSensors,
Motor Drivers, Powersupply ......

Backlight-MLA

For further details, refer to the URL:
http://www.omron.co.jp/ecb/products/sc/index.html

PDA Cellular phone3