MEMS | ARTICLE MEMS Opportunities in the Long Tail
Looking beyond the mega platorm, what are some examples of Long Tail business opportunities for MEMS-enabled products?
Consider products in the industrial equipment space where shipments range from thousands to hundreds of thousands of units per year. Tese may be specialty industrial machines, high performance robotics or products in non-automotive transportation categories like backhoes, tractors and combines.
Another example might be products in the medical equipment industry. According to Markets and Markets, “Te current magnetic resonance imaging industry is producing over 2,000 units per year. Te global market for these systems [is] value[d at] $4.13 billion, as of the first quarter of 2013, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.56% reaching approximately around $5.24 billion by 2018.” [Source: Markets and Markets, April 2013.]
In this example, if a new MEMS device were to achieve a disruptive new functionality in MRI imaging, the actual number of MEMS devices demanded by the market would be quite small (2,000+ units per year, depending on the ratio of MEMS devices deployed per MRI system).
But the business case to develop this MEMS device only makes sense if the cost of developing the new MEMS device is low,
based perhaps, on a readily available standard reference design, and only if the time to bring the new MEMS device to market is quick, and only if there is already a dedicated MEMS foundry able to reliably manufacture the new MEMS device in the relatively small quantities required to meet market demand.
Te MEMS Problem
Problem 1: Te development of a new MEMS device can be high- cost and high barrier to entry. Developing a new MEMS device starts at a minimum $2 million and three years. Development budgets surpassing $10 million and five years are not uncommon.
Problem 2: Te economics of MEMS fabrication can make low chip volumes a poor fit for business opportunities in Long Tail markets. Many MEMS foundries have minimum wafer orders that typically begin the 100,000 devices per year range.
Problem 3: Te hurdle known as Yole Développement’s MEMS Law: “One product, one process, one package – for each MEMS device, specific manufacturing and packaging processes are necessary. Unlike CMOS, MEMS has no standard process, no CD shrinking, no p-n junction — and process standardization isn’t possible.” [Source: Yole Développement, July 2012.]
>> Continued on page 36
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