February 1, 2010 - Like sister electronics/device industries, MEMS suffered through a lousy early 2009 but managed to make it somewhat respectable for the full year -- thanks to a handful of key applications that are pushing into "major commoditization" for high-volume markets, according to an overview by iSuppli.


Like the overall semiconductor industry (and most others), the first quarter of 2009 was lousy for sales of MEMS devices, and despite an improving climate through the rest of the year, sales finished the year down about 8.6% from the prior year, to about $600M. Taken with a decline in 2008 as well, the MEMS industry shed about $1.2B in revenue.

Hardest hit among MEMS sectors is, as has been tracked, the auto sector, which saw shipments plummet 20% in 2009. Cars were among the worst-hit industries in the economic meltdown, and since each car incorporates multiple sensors, this was magnified to the MEMS auto sensor sector as well. Other end-use sectors took a beating, from consumer applications (printers and projectors) to industrial applications (instrumentation, oil/gas exploration, health usage monitoring).

While MEMS shipments sales declined, shipments actually rose by about 10% in 2009, which reflects "major commoditization" for the technology in areas such as consumer electronics and particularly mobile phones, according to iSuppli's Richard Dixon, in a statement. Among the brighter spots for MEMS in 2009:

• Accelerometers. Cell phones are now "recognized as the primary driver of MEMS sensor sales," noted Dixon. Of the 1000 new phones iSuppli examined in 2009, 27% of them had an accelerometer on board (vs. 11% in 2008). Accelerometer prices fell much faster than anticipated, which helped widen their consumption, he noted (and even too much, oversaturating the market for Nintendo Wii controllers). Big winners here include suppliers STMicroelectronics and Bosch Sensortec. (Another MEMS technology that broke into use for cell phones: Microvision's MEMS scanning laser technology, offered through Vodaphone's Nokia N97, for the Spanish market, Dixon points out.)
• MEMS microphones. Commoditization is also the story with MEMS microphones, which compete on price with incumbent and inexpensive microphone technology, Dixon notes. MEMS microphone technology was "disproportionally" hurt by the rapid decline of Motorola, an early adopter of the technology, but it's also been helped by incorporation into Apple's new fifth-generation iPod nano. Knowles is still "the 1000 lb. gorilla" in MEMS microphones, but ST and Bosch are making plays into this market, seeking ways to bring new work into their 200mm MEMS fabs -- Bosch through its acquisition of Akustica, and ST by partnering with Omron.
• DLP. Another bright spot in 2009 for MEMS devices was the pico projector, which can operate either piggybacked on a cell phone or as a compact standalone unit. Samsung offered the first of these devices domestically in early 2009, with LG joining the game in late 2009. Both of them use Texas Instruments' digital light processing (DLP) technology.
• Gyroscopes. These made big leaps in 2009, with gaming in the Nintendo Wii MotionPlus plug-in addition to its controller offering advanced motion gaming. Beneficiary of this was InvenSense, though STMicro also is laying out a range of consumer gyroscopes in 2010, "which is sure to speed adoption for gaming in mobile platforms in future," Dixon notes.