MEMS+

How To Build A Better MEMS Microphone

Posted in: Coventor Blog by Marketing | Comments Off on How To Build A Better MEMS Microphone Tuesday, February 20, 2018

By: Chris Welham, Senior Manager, MEMS Applications Engineering

A Section of a MEMS Microphone Model

Overview

Here at Coventor, we are seeing a lot of interest in simulating noise, particularly for condenser microphones. With any transducer noise reduction is always a plus, and with microphones there are two specific applications that need low noise. One is where the microphone is positioned away from the sound source, such as in video calling or when using voice commands with tablet computers. The other is where multiple microphones are positioned in an array, to detect the direction of incoming sound or for noise canceling applications. read more…

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The Future of MEMS Design: Making MEMS Design More Like CMOS Design

Posted in: Coventor Blog by Sandra Liu | Comments Off on The Future of MEMS Design: Making MEMS Design More Like CMOS Design Tuesday, July 18, 2017

By: Christine Dufour, MEMS PDK Program Manager

MEMS-based component suppliers want to rapidly ramp their designs into high-volume production.  This demand is driving MEMS suppliers to focus on ways to more efficiently re-use established process steps, stacks or technology platforms. To meet this need, we see the emergence of standard MEMS technology and design platforms similar to those used in CMOS design.

The semiconductor industry and EDA vendors have established integrated design environments based on PDKs (Process Design Kits), standard cell libraries, memory architectures, and IP, to give easy access to the technology for IC designers and increase chances of first-pass successful silicon. Coventor’s vision is that the MEMS eco system and MEMS EDA software vendors should play a similar role in accelerating MEMS product development. read more…

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MEMS Microphones – A Bright Spot among Commoditized Consumer Sensors

Posted in: Coventor Blog by Marketing | Comments Off on MEMS Microphones – A Bright Spot among Commoditized Consumer Sensors Wednesday, March 15, 2017

By: Jun Yan, Ph.D., MEMS Technical Director

MEMS Microphone picture

Source: InfineonTechnologies, AG, “The Infineon Silicon MEMS Microphone”, DOI:10.5162/sensor2013/A4.3

MEMS microphones have emerged as a bright spot among consumer sensors, which in general are going through a rapid commoditization and profit-squeezing trend.

read more…

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MEMS Grand Challenge Debuts

Posted in: Press Coverage by Steve Breit | Comments Off on MEMS Grand Challenge Debuts Wednesday, March 16, 2016

ee-timesBy R. Colin Johnson, EE Times

LAKE WALES Fla.—Simplfying and popularizing microelectromechanical system (MEMS) design is the goal of the MEMS Design Contest announced yesterday (March 16) at the conference titled Data Automation and Test in Europe (DATE 2016, March 15 to 17, Dresden, Germany). More specifically, the contest encourages chip designers to add MEMS blocks to a chip design, using tools designed for the purpose.

Sponsored by Cadence Design Systems, Coventor, X-FAB and Reutlingen University, the contest will feature a special process design kit (PDK) that the winners will use to fabricate their MEMS chip at X-Fab. If interested attend the DATE session Launch of the Worldwide MEMS Design Contest.

read the full article here

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The Sensor Swarm Arrives

Posted in: Press Coverage by Marketing | Comments Off on The Sensor Swarm Arrives Tuesday, March 1, 2016

By Tom Kevan, Desktop Engineering

Desktop Engineering Logo

It all started with smartphones and airbags. Design engineers began to integrate sensors in growing numbers into such systems to enable smarter performance. These applications mark the prelude to what Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, describes as a “sensory swarm” — a flood of heterogeneous sensors interfacing the cyber and physical worlds. By 2025, experts predict that the swarm could number as many as 7 trillion devices.

One of the first stages in the realization of this sensor-dominated world, the Internet of Things (IoT) requires technologies that can take on smaller form factors and operate on miserly power budgets. In their search to find sensing devices that can meet these requirements, designers have turned to micro-electromechanical systems, or MEMS. Before they can take full advantage of the miniaturization the technology offers and expand its role in the marketplace, engineers must be able to bridge the gaps between the MEMS, analog and digital design worlds. To do this, they will require a new set of tools.

read the full article here

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