PCB News - The love of MEMS sensor and ceramic PCB

The love of MEMS sensor and ceramic PCB
Let’s start with a brief introduction to MEMS sensors: the full name of MEMS is micro-electro-mechanical system. Micro-electro-mechanical system refers to those that can be produced in batches, combining micro-mechanisms, micro-sensors, micro-actuators, signal processing and control circuits, up to interfaces, Communication and power supply are equal to an integrated micro device or system. You can understand it as a technology that uses traditional semiconductor processes and materials to manufacture micro-machines on a chip with micron technology and integrate it with the corresponding circuit as a whole. So it is an advanced manufacturing technology platform developed based on semiconductor manufacturing technology.
Its advantages: Compared with traditional machinery, their size is smaller, the largest is no more than one centimeter, or even only a few microns, and their thickness is even smaller. It uses silicon-based materials with excellent electrical properties. The strength, hardness and Young's modulus of silicon materials are equivalent to iron, the density is similar to aluminum, and the thermal conductivity is close to molybdenum and tungsten. Using the generation technology similar to integrated circuit (IC), mature technology and craftsmanship in IC production can be used in large quantities, and low-cost production can be carried out, so that the cost performance is greatly improved compared with traditional "mechanical" manufacturing technology.
Take the microphone as a simple analogy:

If the previous text cannot be understood, it can be seen from the picture of the traditional microphone and MEMS microphone above that the previous seven or eight mechanical accessories are all integrated into a small MEMS sensor chip. So the volume is very small and the weight is very light. Because it is a chip manufacturing, it has good consistency and low power consumption, making it easier to mass produce. But the technical requirements are very high. The emergence of MEMS sensors greatly meets everyone's requirements for small size and high performance.
And this powerful chip is made of ceramic PCB. MEMS sensors use ceramic PCB as the chip substrate for a reason. Let's first look at the application field of MEMS, and then it is better to understand why ceramic PCB is used.
With the development of electronic technology, the application fields of MEMS have become more and more extensive, from the earliest industrial and military aviation applications to the ordinary consumer market. Military and aviation belong to the so-called high-value MEMS application fields, but the amount of these two fields is too small, about 40 million US dollars a year, and the room for growth is also limited. The value of MEMS devices in medical electronics is also good, and the average selling price of its sensors is much higher than other comparable MEMS fields. Overall, the annual operating income of the high-value MEMS industry will reach about 300 million US dollars. But the most widely used ones belong to the automotive electronics industry and the consumer electronics application market, which account for more than 60% of the MEMS sensor market. Let's analyze these two main application areas below.
One is automotive electronics. Everyone knows that the sensors on the car are basically on the control system, mainly collecting engine data, but the operating environment of the car is very harsh, high temperature, corrosion, dust and other factors may be possible. Causes the fragile sensor to fail. At this time, a ceramic PCB is needed to ensure the normal operation of the entire sensor. If the sensor is a scout, then the ceramic PCB is his body armor. This "bullet armor" can withstand high temperature and corrosion.
Another important field is the field of consumer electronics, that is, terminal consumer electronics such as mobile phones and computers. Basically all consumer electronics currently on the market have a common problem, that is, heat dissipation is difficult, mobile phones and computers are all "fever", ceramic PCB is a "anti-fever" for consumer electronics, and it has a ceramic PCB with ultra-high thermal conductivity. It can ensure that electronic consumer products will never "fever".
The ceramic PCB is based on MEMS sensors, just like a comrade-in-arms who will never leave, always guarding its side. The editor also hopes that my country's MEMS sensors can achieve world-class breakthroughs with the help of loyal ceramic PCB comrades.