MEMSOI, Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) prototyping and foundry service for MEMS on Thick SOI, featuring DRIE High Aspect Ratio and Hermetic Wafer Level Packaging.

March 2007

Vincent Gaff

Pioneering SOI technologies for custom MEMS

Since our launch in 1997, Tronics has envisioned the strong potential of SOI High Aspect Ratio Micromachining technologies for MEMS. After years of development and deliveries of extreme performance sensors, we are now the undisputed leader in manufacturing custom MEMS components on SOI.

In 1999, Tronics introduced the first manufacturing technology for miniature accelerometers on SOI. We quickly capitalized on that success by offering MEMSOI as the first low-cost Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) service on our standard 20µm Epitaxied SOI surface micromachining technology with Wafer Level Packaging.

New State-of-the-Art 60µm SOI technology

We have expanded our leadership at the cutting edge of SOI-MEMS since then. In 2006, Tronics upgraded the technology offered on MPW, enabling users to benefit from our latest thick SOI-MEMS manufacturing technology. Tronics became the first company to offer a qualified and reliable industrial technology of 60µm thick SOI High Aspect Ratio Micromachining featuring hermetic wafer level packaging in a MPW service.

This technology allows the fabrication of innovative components, such as:

High-performance capacitive sensors
Electrostatic actuators
High Q factor resonating structures
Electrostatic optical structures
Energy scavengers

Multi-Project Wafer for MEMS on SOI

Our MPW service provides research labs and companies with a Design Rules Manual for our technology and a Software Design Kit based on the Coventor tool suite. This enables them to design their own structures and components based on proven design rules. Regular low-cost manufacturing runs then allow design improvements prior to real product industrialization projects.

Tronics, together with Infineon-SensoNor, annually co-sponsors a three-day hands-on design training course twice a year on our respective technologies. This course is supported by STIMESI (www.stimesi.org), an EC-funded initiative to train students and designers on state-of-the-art MEMS technologies. The next course will be held at EPFL from April 24-26, 2007.