12 th anniversary. How to Successfully Transfer MEMS from a University Lab to a Commercial Foundry

How to Successfully Transfer MEMS from a University Lab to a Commercial Foundry Transducers 2015, Anchorage, AK Alissa M. Fitzgerald, Ph.D. | 23 June ...
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How to Successfully Transfer MEMS from a University Lab to a Commercial Foundry Transducers 2015, Anchorage, AK Alissa M. Fitzgerald, Ph.D. | 23 June 2015

12th

anniversary

Overview • • • •

About AMFitzgerald Are you ready? Choosing a foundry Transfer

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AMFitzgerald services

MEMS Innovation

MEMS Solutions

Technology Strategy

Creation of novel designs and IP

Paths to manufacturing and market

Key insights from MEMS experts

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Full development services from concept to production

AMFitzgerald in‐house

Strategic  partners

• Advantages of working with us: – Multi-disciplinary, expert engineering team focused on MEMS development for volume production – Rapid prototyping on state-of-the-art tools common to foundries – Own all the design and process IP – Bring a mature, de-risked design to the foundry to get better pricing and faster time to production

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Are you ready?

Are you ready to go to foundry? • YES, if you have: – Stable process flow and mask set – Budget (> $1M/yr.) – Order schedule for next 1-2 years (i.e. customers) – Cost targets NewCo’s Production Order Schedule

Production Number of Wafers

Target $/Wafer

Year 1

500

$1500

Year 2

1000

$900

Year 3

1500

$700

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Are you ready to go to foundry? • NO, if you: – Are still exploring the physics of your devices and trying to improve them significantly – Need Design of Experiments to characterize your device behavior (i.e. many design variants) – Don’t yet fully understand what design/process conditions create a “good” device – Have not yet secured > $1M in funding (just for MEMS fabrication)

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Do you need other manufacturing partners? Assembling an ecosystem takes time and resources

MEMS Product  Company

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Viable business models for new MEMS companies “Real men have fabs.” – Jerry Sanders, AMD Today: “Smart MEMS companies don’t have fabs” • Fabless – Plenty of capacity at 150 and 200 mm • Hybrid or Fab-Lite – Adds value with specialty processes/equipment that are kept in-house

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Read the MIG Foundry Engagement Guide • Written by a group of foundries and MIG members • Practical, how-to information http://memsfoundry.wikia.com/wiki/MEMS_Foundry_Engag ement_Guide_Wiki#Background_Information

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Largest MEMS Foundries

Source: Yole Developpment, 2015 Page 11 Transducers 2015

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Foundries for smaller wafer orders (< 100 wafers/year) • • • • • • • •

Micrel (US) MEMSCAP (US) MidWest MicroDevices (US) LioniX (NL) Micronit (NL) MEMS Core (JP) INEX (UK) CSEM (CH)

• Larger foundries may charge a premium for small orders

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Not all MEMS will need 200mm wafers Number of Wafers Needed to Produce 10M Units (85% yield) 20000

# Wafers/Year

15000 High‐volume foundry

150 mm 200 mm

10000

5000

0 0

1

2

3 4 5 Die Edge Length, mm

6

7

Pressure sensors,  Microphones Accelerometers Page 13 Transducers 2015

Oscillators

Gyros

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Choosing your foundry

• The foundry is your partner in a long-term relationship • Switching foundries = starting over ($$$ and time) • Take time and care to make a good decision! “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

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First steps • Sign Non-Disclosure Agreement • Write RFQ “Request for Quote” document – Device drawings, process flow, test requirements – Order quantities, cost targets – Business case

• Send RFQ to multiple foundries • Engineering review with each foundry – Their feedback can save you $ and time!

• Discuss quote with each foundry’s sales team

Process Flow Description

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The foundry quote 4 Major Phases of Wafer Production

• Quote will be for Feasibility phase only, with estimates for Prototype, Pilot phases – – – – –

NRE: masks, setup, shortloops Wafers Batch size minimum 10 wafers started Priced per wafer or batch No yield guarantees (“best efforts”)

• Typically – multiple Feasibility batches required before moving to Prototyping phase

Feasibility Quality Gate 1

Prototyping Quality Gate 2

Pilot Quality Gate 3

Production

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Ramp to production timeline (with an existing prototype) FOUNDRY

MEMS COMPANY System development Z loops Week 16

Week 8

Start

Talking/quoting to multiple foundries

Negotiating terms with selected foundry

Week 28

Week 20

Tech transfer

Feasibility wafer batch

Week 32

Week 30 Evaluation and test

Mask revision

N loops, as needed: 12 weeks typ.

Week 32 + (N*12)

Week 40 + (N*12)

Prototype wafer batches

1.5 years, minimum

Pilot qualification: six months minimum

Production

Continuous yield improvement

Wafers from these phases will be useable but may require extra testing Page 17 Transducers 2015

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How to get the best prices • Low technical risk keeps NRE low: – Frozen design/process – Repeatable process

• Confirmed order quantities keep wafer prices low: – The more you order, the cheaper it gets

• Show a path to volume – Foundries want to crank out wafers, not do engineering projects Page 18 Transducers 2015

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Making a decision • Evaluate foundry’s process capability and experience with your type of product • Make sure you have compatible: – Business models – Timelines – Expectations – Quality standards – Product volumes – ideally, don’t want to be smallest or largest customer

• Select for best fit, not lowest price Page 19 Transducers 2015

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The foundry will be evaluating you, too!

• Are you a stable company? • Are you well-funded? • Do you have established customers? • Do you know what you are doing? • What are your growth prospects? • Present your business well, don’t make them dig for information Page 20 Transducers 2015

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Closing the deal • Initial deal: – – – –

Price Contract terms Purchase order Downpayment

• Longer term: – Supply agreement – Acceptance terms – End of product life purchase

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Successful technology transfer and ramp up • Provide to foundry: – Die layout in .GDS – Runsheet, process data

• Dedicate an engineer to be foundry liaison – – – –

Transfer tech info to foundry Monitor wafers in progress Troubleshooting Visit foundry

• Timeline and budget management • To get the best results, be a teammate to your foundry

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Rookie mistakes • Only quoting one foundry • Expecting to go to production in less than a year • Not presenting a good RFQ or business case • Not discussing your process tolerances with the foundry • Twiddling design/process midstream • Being underfunded • Lack of communication with foundry

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Fabless challenges • “Golden Wafer” fixation – Just because you made one great wafer in the past, doesn’t mean it can be easily duplicated – You don’t have a device technology dialed until you have identified all the knobs and their settings

• Murphy lives in the fab – Bad, weird stuff will happen, guaranteed – Will you partner with your foundry to solve it, or play the blame game? Page 24 Transducers 2015

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Summary • Selecting a foundry is an extremely important business AND technical decision • Don’t underestimate time and money involved • We can help you! – www.amfitzgerald.com – (650) 347 6367 x101 – [email protected]

• Join MIG for access to important member resources

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