Vision - November/December 2007 - (Page 14)

tech speak defining the digital world ] • [ by murray slovick “A subset of nanotechnology, known as Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), is rapidly emerging as a factor in CE product design.” I that measure physical movement to provide motion sensing capability, Nintendo’s Wii wireless game controllers allow users to interact with and manipulate items on screen via movement and pointing, translating motion (such as swinging your arm to simulate the movement of a tennis racket) into game action on the screen. MEMS accelerometers—used for years as sensors tasked with initiating airbag deployment in automobiles—also are employed in Apple’s iPhone to detect when the device is rotated so that the iPhone automatically changes the format of its display from portrait to landscape and vice-versa so you see an entire Web page or a digital photograph in f good things do indeed come in small its proper vertical or horizontal alignment. packages, think of the magical promMEMS devices first became prominent in ise of a highly sensitive device whose the CE world when Texas Instruments develsize is measured in nanometers, or oped the Digital Mirror Display (DMD), billionths of a meter. To put nano- which lies at the heart of its DLP system for meter-scale objects in better perspective, projection TVs. The original masterwork of consider that a hydrogen atom is roughly Dr. Larry Hornbeck in 1987, the DMD essen0.1 nanometer (nm) across, while bacteria tially is a light switch containing a rectangucan be as small as 200nm in length. A strand lar array of up to two million hinge-mounted of human hair, to provide a more familiar microscopic mirrors; each of these micromeasuring post, is gigantic by comparison mirrors measures less than one-fifth the at 100,000 nm wide. width of a human hair. In TI’s newThe science of manipulating and est generation of DLP chips a DMD manufacturing things at the nearis used to generate the left and right atomic level is called nanotechnolviews required for stereoscopic (3-D) ogy. A subset of nanotechnology, viewing at HDTV resolution. known as Micro-Electro-MechaniSince the late 1990s MEMS cal Systems (MEMS), is rapidly devices have been utilized to enable Murray Slovick emerging as a factor in CE product image stabilization in camcorders design. MEMS devices are tiny machines and digital still cameras. As new versions integrating mechanical and electronic of these cameras become ever smaller while components on a silicon substrate. They offering higher resolution, photographs are are fabricated in a foundry using semicon- increasingly prone to blurring ductor processes for the electrical part and due to hand jitter. To countermicromachining the mechanical elements act this phenomenon, MEMS by either directly etching onto a silicon gyroscopes developed by Anawafer or adding new structural layers. log Devices, InvenSense, ST Microelectronics and others measure the rotational Cool MEMS Applications MEMS inertial sensors are playing an movement of the camera integral role in two of today’s must-have and send this signal to a products. Using MEMS accelerometers microcontroller, which in NanoVision turn directs small linear motors to move either the lens or the image sensor to compensate for the unwanted camera motion. To prevent information loss due to disk drive damage MEMS motion sensors are employed as a protection measure in laptop computers. A MEMS accelerometer on the motherboard detects shock or free-fall conditions that can lead to a catastrophic impact and within a fraction of a second signals the drive’s read/write heads to temporarily park, helping prevent contact with the disk drive until the computer is stabilized. Harald Sund/Getty Images MEMS-based microphones They are more heat-resistant and more immune to vibration and shock than the electret condenser mics widely used today. Knowles Acoustics was first to introduce the silicon MEMS microphone to the market and it, as well as Infineon Technologies, offer two-chip solutions; the MEMS chip and an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), both of which share the same package on a surface-mounted device. Earlier this year Akustica revealed what it says is the world’s smallest analog microphone. The single chip 1-mm mic uses a MEMS diaphragm and on-chip analog circuitry. It can be mounted directly onto a printed-circuit board. The small size of the MEMS microphone makes it suitable for cell phones, PDAs and handheld products. Looking to the future, a funny thing is happening to MEMS devices on their way to carving out a niche market: the niche has become full of eager customers. In a research report titled Global MEMS/Microsystems —Markets and Opportunities study sponsors Yole Développement and SEMI reported that in 2005 MEMS devices represented a $5.9 billion market. Fueled in large part by CE applications, the study projects the market for MEMS devices will grow to $10.8 billion by 2011. • www.ce.org 14 November/December 2007 http://www.ce.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Vision - November/December 2007

Vision - November/December 2007 Contents Shapiro's Spectrum In This Issue The Economist C4 Visionary Tech Speak Going Global Eye on Business Tech Policy Special Supplement: CES Unveiled 2008 CES Technologies to Watch Eastern Europe Embraces CE M&A Fest Displaying the Future CEA Newsline Market Insider Just the Stats

Vision - November/December 2007

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