An additional three suppliers will receive their ADI Supplier Excellence Award locally. The 13 suppliers were selected from among the more than 2,000 companies that contribute to ADI’s global semiconductor manufacturing operations.

‘The 2012 ADI Supplier Excellence Award acknowledges 13 companies for outstanding adherence to rigorous manufacturing standards, supply continuity and service. Our strategic suppliers are vital to ADI’s mission to deliver high-performance signal processing products. We congratulate the 2012 Supplier Excellence Awards winners for their innovation and responsiveness.’ said Vince Simonelli, director of global purchasing, Analog Devices.

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Europe remains a centre for semiconductor technology development in emerging applications along with the cost-effective manufacture of legacy products, both of which benefit from production-ready remanufactured legacy semiconductor processing equipment – a market poorly supported by conventional suppliers. Under McKie’s guidance, memsstar will expand its portfolio of process capabilities and services to better supply the needs of its customers.

At the same time, single wafer dry release etch is seeing global adoption by the leading advanced MEMS manufacturers to overcome the process challenges associated with traditional wet etch and batch etch processes. memsstar’s proprietary sacrificial vapour release etch technology is market-proven and positioned to take advantage of emerging requirements for MEMS manufacturing.

“Tony has been a key resource as the company has developed,” said Andrew Elder, non-executive director representing Albion Ventures. “His extensive knowledge of the industry, together with his vision for ongoing development and expansion, makes him the obvious choice to lead the company through its next stage of growth.”

As one of memsstar’s founders, McKie was responsible for developing the memsstar range of technology products and managing business development activities for the single wafer release etch platforms. He brings an extensive background in semiconductor equipment manufacturing through prior management roles at Electrotech, Lam Research and Applied Materials.

memsstar Limited

Founded in 2003, memsstar Limited is a leading provider of deposition and etch equipment and technology products & services to manufacturers of semiconductors and micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS). The company’s remanufactured etch and deposition equipment and it’s proprietary technology solutions support the European semiconductor market and the global MEMS market. memsstar delivers proprietary process technology and equipment to help the MEMS industry meet the challenges of developing and manufacturing increasingly complex and integrated MEMS devices. ISO 9001 certified, memsstar is recognized for its remanufacturing excellence, technology development, process guarantees, as well as extensive service capabilities to support its full range of OEM and remanufactured equipment.

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“Our proprietary memsstar systems are aggressively positioned for growth, delivering critical technological differentiators to customers engaged in MEMS etch release and surface coatings,” said Tony McKie, general manager of memsstar, Ltd. “Our advanced process capability is key to minimizing process limitations, in turn driving the next generation of structures for our customers. These new orders mark our entry into two important MEMS markets in Asia and reflect our ability to deliver and support our technology around the world.”

memsstar’s patented process is compatible with the widest wide range of metals – especially Al/alloy and other metals commonly used in MEMS mirrors and electrical contacts, while the single wafer processing platform guarantees excellent release etch repeatability with a wide process window to maximize performance and yield. memsstar’s dry release etch process using hydrogen fluoride (HF), or xenon difluoride (XeF₂), is unique because of its ability to eliminate stiction in a single process.
memsstar processes are stable with excellent repeatability, tunable etch rates, high uniformity and selectivity. Coupled with the system’s unique endpoint capability and thermal control of the wafer during the sacrificial etch process, memsstar systems ensure that each wafer receives the same etch process across a wide process window. The combination of these features allows customers to achieve high yield, highly repeatable processing to drive down manufacturing costs.

To learn more about memsstar’s etch release and surface coating processing capabilities, please visit memsstar at SEMICON Korea 2013 from January 30 to February 1, where they will exhibit with SEMI-ENCE in booth 4635.

About memsstar Limited

Founded in 2003, memsstar Limited is a leading provider of deposition and etch equipment and technology solutions to manufacturers of semiconductors and micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS). The company’s remanufactured etch and deposition equipment and it’s proprietary technology solutions support the European semiconductor market and the global MEMS market. memsstar delivers proprietary process technology and equipment to help the MEMS industry meet the challenges of developing and manufacturing increasingly complex and integrated MEMS devices. ISO 9001 certified, memsstar is recognized for its remanufacturing excellence, technology development, process guarantees, as well as extensive service capabilities to support its full range of OEM and remanufactured equipment.

This growth in end-user devices has filtered down to the manufacturers and equipment suppliers, challenging them to provide more efficient and cost effective means to manufacturing at the component level. Low cost has always been a major consideration in the manufacturing of MEMS devices and now there is the added complexity of increasingly sophisticated devices. Any consumer market is price driven with increasing levels of competition between component manufacturers, so, to be competitive, manufacturers need to employ standard techniques where possible with a manufacturing process that provides high yields.

This need to provide increased process capability and performance has now reached equipment suppliers, who must provide more advanced processes to allow manufacturers to design and manufacture their structures in a cost effective manner with consistently high yields. In addition, advanced process monitoring is a critical differentiator that ensures processes are stable and predictable, minimizing testing and ensuring high yield for a given manufacturing step.

One new application on the horizon for MEMS devices is autofocus, and its potential to drive the MEMS market has yet to be determined. We also see significant potential coming from the area of energy harvesting. As devices are continually designed with more and more components, the need for low power components becomes a high priority issue, as consumers will no longer accept a short battery lifetime between charges. One method to accommodate the higher power requirements would be to employ energy harvesting techniques to further extend battery lifetime of devices.

In the end, while the consumer market continues to evolve and the demand for better, faster, smaller increases even further, MEMS should continue to grow and find success as they are designed into more and more devices.

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