MEMS packing leapfrogs IC packaging growth

According to a new report by Yole, the MEMS packaging, assembly, test and calibration market will grow to reach $2.3 billion in value by 2016.

Packaging, assembly, test and calibration steps account for nearly 35 to 60 percent of a total MEMS packaged module's cost, according to Yole. MEMS types of packaging are more complex than most standard IC packages because they require "system-in-package" type of assembly, Yole said. Most MEMS packages are connecting sensors to their final environment, bringing specific constraints at the module level such as building a cavity, a hole in the substrate or metal lead for pressure sensor and microphones, an optical window for optical MEMS, a full vacuum hermeticity at the die level, the firm said.

Yole noted that the application scope of MEMS is broad and diversified. Since its early beginnings, the MEMS industry faced the issue of being a highly fragmented market, with no manufacturing standards clearly emerging, Yole said.

Key elements of a packaged MEMS module. Source: MEMS packaging report, April 2012, Yole Développement

- Dylan McGrath
??EE Times