Smart wearables stimulate giants to compete in nine-axis MEMS

The craze for Google Glass has not yet subsided, and the craze for wearable devices such as watches and bracelets has also come on the scene. The future of smart wearable devices is about to usher in an explosive period and become a new "arena" for Chinese and foreign giants. In the past year, many companies at home and abroad have begun to develop smart wearable devices. Since the release of Google Glass, Apple has just launched a smart watch. Driven by the two giants, more and more smart wearable devices have become popular. Foreign ones include Microsoft Paparazzi, Sony SmartWatch and Pebble, a new company. Medical equipment and sports equipment manufacturers have also joined the battle. Some small and medium-sized domestic manufacturers are preparing to launch related products. Wearable technology has begun to penetrate other fields such as medical care, entertainment, security, and finance. This industry may trigger the next wave of technological revolution. Correspondingly, the new generation of MEMS components actively caters to the needs of smart wearable devices, and develops in the direction of integrating multi-axis MEMS components such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers and pressure sensors. Nine-axis MEMS has begun to land.

　　The demand for nine-axis micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) single chips has recently begun to expand rapidly. In order to develop thinner and smaller products with richer human-machine interfaces, wearable electronics, smartphones and tablet brands have introduced nine-axis MEMS single chips in their high-end models, driving the sales of related components. The demand for nine-axis micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) single chips has expanded rapidly.

　　Multi-axis micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) have become a general trend. STMicroelectronics has planned to start mass production of nine-axis MEMS; MEMS suppliers such as Analog Devices, Freescale, and Bosch Sensortec have successively launched the deployment of nine-axis single-chip products; Lishun Precision has begun to develop nine-axis MEMS components; InvenSense, which only develops gyroscopes, provides other components through third-party partners. Following the six-axis MEMS sensors, it has also begun to actively invest in the development of nine-axis MEMS products.
 

　　ST and Google collaborate on next-generation operating system to promote nine-axis MEMS applications

　　As early as 2012, STMicroelectronics released the STM32 F3 development kit with a built-in nine-axis MEMS sensor to promote the application of nine-axis MEMS. Recently, Li Jiongyi, a senior technical marketing engineer of analog and micro-electromechanical components of STMicroelectronics, revealed that the company is negotiating with Google on the cooperation of the next-generation operating system version. It is expected that Google's next-generation operating system version for mobile devices will help the nine-axis MEMS single chip to rapidly expand its market share in mobile devices.

　　Li Jiongyi said that many manufacturers of wearable electronic products such as smart glasses, smart watches and mobile medical products are purchasing large quantities of nine-axis MEMS single chips and are preparing to develop terminal devices equipped with more diversified human-machine interfaces this year to highlight product differences and seize the market.

　　Li Jiongyi further pointed out that at this stage, in addition to Windows 8 tablets that must be equipped with nine-axis MEMS motion sensors, Android smartphones and tablet devices will also increase the proportion of imported nine-axis MEMS single chips this year to increase product added value.

　　InvenSense is vigorously developing nine-axis MEMS with the help of third parties to provide other components

　　Seeing that the proportion of wearable electronic products and mobile devices equipped with nine-axis MEMS chips will rise rapidly, InvenSense provides other components through third-party partners. After launching six-axis MEMS sensors, it has begun to invest heavily in the development of nine-axis MEMS products. The first generation of smart glasses released by Google, Google Glass, uses InvenSense's nine-axis MEMS chips.

　　It is understood that although InvenSense only has a single MEMS product, the gyroscope, in order to seize the nine-axis MEMS market opportunity, InvenSense obtained magnetometers and accelerometers through third-party partners, and then developed nine-axis products backed by its unique process technology. With the powerful ability to integrate multiple sensors on a single chip and InvenSense's unique complementary metal oxide (CMOS) MEMS process technology Nasiri, low-cost, small-size, high-performance nine-axis MEMS was developed. InvenSense's nine-axis MEMS successfully integrates the calculation technology of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers to achieve a high-precision, low-power user experience for mobile devices.

　　Bosch Sensortec builds a nine-axis MEMS product line

　　In addition to STMicroelectronics and InvenSense, Bosch Sensortec has also begun to accelerate its pace and add magnetometer product lines to prepare for the future development of nine-axis MEMS devices. Following the six-axis motion sensor, Bosch Sensortec also launched the three-axis magnetometer BMM150 to build the company's nine-axis sensor product line.

　　Bosch Sensortec has become the only MEMS supplier that can manufacture its own accelerometers, gyroscopes, pressure gauges and magnetometers, laying a solid foundation for nine-axis MEMS.

　　Kionix uses software simulation to enable six-axis MEMS components to have nine-axis sensing capabilities

　　MEMS component manufacturer Kionix is ​​actively targeting the mid- and low-end portable device market and vigorously developing a new generation of sensor fusion solutions with nine-axis MEMS components as the core.

　　As the current nine-axis MEMS power consumption and cost are too high, it is difficult to attract OEMs to adopt it; therefore, Kionix is ​​vigorously developing a nine-axis MEMS solution that uses sensor fusion software to integrate the six-axis solution of accelerometers and magnetometers to achieve software simulation of the nine-axis MEMS function. This solution can reduce costs by about 20% and power consumption by ten times.

　　Kionix has recently used software simulation to enable a new generation of six-axis MEMS components to have nine-axis sensing capabilities, which will be introduced into mass production in the third quarter of this year. The solution uses Sensor Fusion algorithm technology to integrate accelerometer displacement and magnetometer orientation change information, and then simulates the gyroscope angle detection function to achieve a cost-effective nine-axis solution.

　　Freescale and ADI are eyeing the market

　　ADI and Freescale have been developing MEMS-based sensors for nearly 30 years and have always been leaders in MEMS innovation. After ST and InvenSense plan to mass-produce nine-axis MEMS single chips by the end of the year, as pioneers in the micromechanical IC industry, will they be willing to fall behind?

　　ADI has launched six-axis MEMS with integrated accelerometer and gyroscope, while Freescale has launched six-axis MEMS with accelerometer and magnetometer. It is actively developing nine-axis MEMS.

　　Cost reduction will also accelerate the popularization of nine-axis MEMS

　　It is understood that there are currently two types of nine-axis MEMS single-chip solutions on the market: one is to use system-level packaging (SiP) technology to integrate a six-axis and a three-axis MEMS sensor. This type of solution is quite common due to its mature production technology. The other is to use SiP technology to integrate three three-axis MEMS sensors, which has the advantage of a smaller size.

　　Although the nine-axis MEMS single chip market is growing strongly, it is limited to the high-end mobile device market, and six-axis MEMS sensors may still be the market leader by 2014. However, the development technology of the nine-axis single chip solution integrating three three-axis MEMS sensors will become more mature, so the production cost may drop further, and the unit price may be lower than the nine-axis single chip solution integrating one six-axis and one three-axis sensor. By then, it may be widely popularized in the wearable electronic products and mobile device markets, accelerating growth.

　　In addition, in the future, MEMS devices in wearable and mobile devices will not only continue to move towards a high-integration design trend, but will also introduce MCUs to achieve intelligent control functions; and pressure sensors that can be used for indoor navigation applications will gradually become popular in mobile devices, bringing consumers a better user experience and further stimulating the nerves of major giants.