News Release
January 17, 2024
Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd.

AMFitzgerald and MEMS Infinity Form Alliance to Accelerate
Commercialization of Piezoelectric MEMS Products--Integrated design-to-production services speed development of piezoelectric sensor or
actuator chips for performance-driven products
AMAGASAKI, HYOGO, Japan and BURLINGAME, Calif., USA — January 17, 2024 — A.M.
Fitzgerald & Associates, LLC (AMFitzgerald), a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
product development company, and Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd. (SPP)’s
MEMS Infinity — which offers a full-service MEMS silicon wafer foundry —today
announced a strategic and technical alliance to expedite the commercialization of thinfilm PZT MEMS chip technologies. PZT is a versatile piezoelectric material that is sought
after for MEMS sensors or actuators serving high-growth applications such as True
Wireless Stereo, automotive LiDAR, medical ultrasound imaging, AR/VR, haptics andother applications that require precise performance in a robust, ultra-miniaturized form
factor.
“As a material that enables many types of emerging, performance-intensive MEMS
devices, thin-film PZT is much in demand,” said Dr. Alissa M. Fitzgerald, founder and CEOof AMFitzgerald. “PZT, however, requires specific process tools and expertise that arenot widespread. For companies trying to develop PZT MEMS technologies, it’s been
especially difficult to access commercial-quality material during development stages,
while wafer volumes are low. That’s a problem because using poorly controlled
research-grade materials during prototyping really slows down product development.

Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd.
General Administration Department / Public Relations
1-10, Fuso-cho, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660-0891, Japan
Tel 81-(0)6-6489-5829 Fax 81-(0)6-6489-5801
https://www.spp.co.jp/

But that’s about to change. Our new alliance with MEMS Infinity will give our customers
an integrated design-to-manufacture solution using high-quality PZT from day one.”The AMFitzgerald-MEMS Infinity alliance meets a critical need in the MEMS industry
ecosystem:
Pairs AMFitzgerald’s expertise in MEMS development with MEMS Infinity’s
aerospace-grade prototyping and manufacturing capability in PZT MEMS.

Offers a seamless design-to-production experience for customers.

Facilitates global access to MEMS Infinity’s thin-film PZT.

Leverages proprietary data on thin-film PZT to improve accuracy of MEMS designand modeling, minimizing the need for design-build-test cycles and acceleratingproduct development.

Provides customers with foundry-specific MEMS design — which lowers barriers
to access, decreases risk, shrinks overall development cost, and speeds the path
to commercialization.

“For decades, SPP has used production-proven processes of its high-quality PZT toproduce MEMS inertial sensors for the most demanding applications,” said Mr.
Masahiko Tanaka, managing executive officer, Sumitomo Precision Products. “Torespond to increasing worldwide needs, our foundry expansion through MEMS Infinity
broadens our manufacturing capability in PZT MEMS. Together with AMFitzgerald — ourchoice collaborator for PZT MEMS design and product development — we can deliver an
exceptional solution for customer needs in growing markets.”
About PZT MEMS
Piezoelectric materials transduce electrical energy to mechanical energy and vice-versa,
a property that makes them useful as sensors or actuators. PZT is a piezoelectricmaterial that delivers an optimal combination of performance, efficiency, environmentalrobustness and high reliability. These attributes enable PZT MEMS to pack maximum
functionality into a small volume for performance-intensive applications, such as
ultrasound transceivers, micro-speakers, micro-mirrors, RF switches and microfluidics,

Page 2

Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd.
General Administration Department / Public Relations
1-10, Fuso-cho, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660-0891, Japan
Tel 81-(0)6-6489-5829 Fax 81-(0)6-6489-5801
https://www.spp.co.jp/

as well as emerging technology devices. For more information, visit
https://www.amfitzgerald.com/pztmems
Availability
AMFitzgerald and SPP are available now to discuss design, development and fabricationof PZT MEMS devices. Contact us to discuss your needs: pztmems@amfitzgerald.com
About AMFitzgerald
Founded in 2003, AMFitzgerald provides MEMS chip design and product development
services for high-value aerospace, industrial, and medical markets. Using its provendesign-for-manufacturing methodology that brings emerging silicon technologies fromconcept to volume production, AMFitzgerald has successfully helped hundreds ofclients, including numerous Fortune 100 companies, to develop strategic
microelectronic technologies for commercial applications. AMFitzgerald describes its
technology development methods in the book, MEMS Product Development: FromConcept to Commercialization (Springer, 2021). For more information, visit
https://amfitzgerald.com or email: info@amfitzgerald.com.
About Sumitomo Precision Products
Founded in 1961, Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd. (SPP) is a leading provider ofprecision technologies and manufacturing services. Its core business capabilities include
a full line of MEMS-related offerings: manufacturing equipment, process development,
foundry production, test and manufacturing. Guided by a core set of principles thatvalue integrity in all business practices, SPP seeks to advance a more sustainable society
through technology innovation. For more information, visit
https://www.spp.co.jp/English/
MEMS Infinity, newly launched at SPP, advances the development and mass productionof MEMS sensors and actuators for diverse industries. Featuring a 20,000 square-footcleanroom housing 150mm and 200mm wafer fabrication lines — which include PZTspecific patterning equipment and proprietary high-figure-of-merit epitaxial-PZT (epiPZT) thin film deposition — MEMS Infinity is located in the industrial and technology
hub of Amagasaki, near Osaka, Japan. For more information, see “Sumitomo Precision
Products Launches MEMS Foundry Services through MEMS Infinity” (press release,January 17, 2024), visit https://www.spp.co.jp/mems/ict/en/index2.html or email:mems-infinity@spp.co.jp###Press Contacts
Maria Vetrano
Email: maria@vetrano.com
Anja-Maria Hastenrath
Email: AH@embedded-pr.dePage 3

Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd.
General Administration Department / Public Relations
1-10, Fuso-cho, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660-0891, Japan
Tel 81-(0)6-6489-5829 Fax 81-(0)6-6489-5801
https://www.spp.co.jp/