Online proceedings - EDA Publishing Association

11-13 May 2011, Aix-en-Provence, France
Agile MEMS packaging
for mass customized MEMS products
Jens G. Kaufmann, David Flynn, Keith Brown, Marc P.Y. Desmulliez
Heriot-Watt University
School of Engineering and Physical Sciences
Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, Scotland, UK
jens@jens-kaufmann.net
Abstract - The market for micro electromechanical systems
(MEMS) is becoming increasingly competitive especially for
small and medium sized enterprises. The progressing trend in
mass manufacturing leads to very few competitors that dominate
the MEMS market. This competitive environment results in
cheap devices with limited variation, therefore opportunities at
the tail end of the market are usually neglected. The MEMS
research community predominantly focuses on new device types
and manufacturing methods with a high impact factor and those
are naturally settled in the mass market segments.
This paper introduces an approach for research and
development that aims to open the opportunities within the long
tail of the market. It consists mostly of a combination of new
design approaches for MEMS and packaging, software tools and
digital manufacturing technologies to ensure that solutions
developed are ones that can be adapted to different customer
requirement on a level that is perhaps uncommon in the MEMS
community.
I. INTRODUCTION
The high investment costs involved with producing MEMS
have in the past proven to put an emphasis on devices and
products for the mass market [1]. Even products that can have
revolutionary properties for some applications can take
decades to arrive in the commercial markets. This is often due
to a limit sized market and high development and
manufacturing cost of MEMS and therefore often rejected
until the market potential becomes large enough to justify the
common mass manufacturing approach [2].
The obsolescence of older aircrafts as well as the enormous
investments required to replace them, has stimulated an
increasing demand for innovative service concepts in the
avionics industry [3]. One of the key areas to keep an aircraft
flying is the condition of the electrical systems. However
faults in the wiring harnesses are highly difficult to detect [4].
To overcome these issues, a new sensor approach was
developed based on a distributed sensor network on board the
aircraft itself. [5] To make this technology available to the
ageing aircraft market it was necessary to incorporate the
specific requirements of the market. The large variety of
geometry, material combination and signals employed for
aircraft wiring over the last 70 years, not only between models
of aircraft but also amogst planes of the same model, makes it
impossible to develop a one-fits-all solution hence mass
manufacturing of the sensor product is not a viable
proposition.
II. MASS CUSTOMISATION OF MEMS PACKAGING
The ability to manufacture responsively is one of the principal
requirements for commercial MEMS products. The
automotive industry was the first to successfully optimize the
production of their MEMS devices, followed by the consumer
electronics and telecommunications industry. To achieve these
commercial volumes, the types of devices were limited.
New forms of MEMS devices have problems presenting an
attractive business opportunity, if they have a limited range of
applications. The resulting niche of potential customers is
often too small to justify large-scale productions that come
with the current methods of MEMS manufacturing. [1]
Even though this seems to be a problem that is difficult to
overcome, packaging as a support technology allows, in many
cases, the properties of a MEMS device to be extended into a
previously inaccessible application.
As with MEMS themselves the packaging technology is
mainly derived from the mass manufacturing methods from
electronics manufacturing and consequently suffers from
similar constraints. As a result of this, change has a high
impact on the entire product lifecycle and neither the
conventional design, manufacturing nor test tools have the
capacity to deal with an agile design and cost competitive
product requirement.
In this paper the Health and Usage Monitoring MicroSystems
(HUMMS) that are shown below demonstrate the vairous
strategies that were employed in the different stages of its
product life cycle to avoid impact of change originated from
the customer and allow selling of MEMS into the long tail
market of maintenance of ageing aircrafts. [5]
III. DESIGN CONCEPTS
Overview
The way the product was conceptualized is based on four
different concepts: Axiomatic design (AD), Generative design
(GD), Rapid manufacturing (RM), which allow for an
integrated design and manufacturing approach, and Automated
Testing. AD is the overarching design framework, GD is what
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