Entering the era of “Internet of everything”, we must first solve the problem of “perception”. As the “eyes, ears, mouths and noses” of the information age, sensors collect external information. However, on the one hand, the rapid growth of China’s sensor market, on the other hand, it is the domestic high-end sensor to break through. From process upgrading to engineering iteration, what is the way to advance domestic high-end sensors?
DSPU131 How many sensors do you have on your phone? Just take the photo function, the image sensor can deal with low light, autofocus, high-speed focus, etc. Motion sensors prevent jitter. In addition, acceleration sensors can be used to count steps, as well as gesture recognition; Ambient light sensors help automatically adjust screen brightness. Dozens of sensors are already integrated into a single phone.
Today’s sensors are smaller, consume less power, and cost less than they did in the beginning. This is closely related to the technology of MEMS, or tiny electro-mechanical systems. With semiconductor such as silicon wafer as the technical carrier, MEMS sensor will collect the fine sensitive signal and amplify it through the circuit. Ding Huiwen, general manager of Shanghai Microtechnology Industry Research Institute, said that from the most “basic” physical sensing, such as the perception of vibration and pressure, to light, to infrared, sound, multi-sensor fusion and the integration of artificial intelligence technology will be the future direction.
DSPU131 In recent years, the scale of China’s sensor market has maintained rapid growth. According to the “China Sensor Manufacturing Industry Development Prospects and Investment Forecast Analysis Report” released by the Prospective Industry Research Institute in June, the industry market size reached 147.2 billion yuan in 2018, an increase of 13.2% year-on-year, and maintained a double-digit growth rate for nearly five years.
Although China’s sensor market maintains rapid growth, it has been faced with the problem of “high-end sensors to be broken through”. “China’s sensor industry has formed a complete industrial system from research and development, design, production to application, but there is still a gap with the international advanced level, nearly 80% of high-end smart sensors rely on imports, especially chips.” Ding Huiwen said.
However, it is worth mentioning that the reporter’s survey found that in more and more segments, high-end domestic sensors have appeared.
DSPU131 Taking high-precision inkjet printhead as an example, Guan Yimin, chairman of Aorui Technology, introduced that in addition to ink printing, Aorui has also made progress in bioprinting. The cell solution is placed in a device similar to an ink cartridge, the sensor accurately controls the flow rate, temperature, etc., and the nozzle arranges the cells one by one on the petri dish according to a certain structure to generate tissue. These types of tissues can play a role in drug development, instead of mice “test drugs”, to observe the toxic effects of drugs.
Siloro has made a breakthrough in motion sensors. “We use 10 parameters to describe the speed, acceleration, rotation, and height of the motion. Cumulative sales of related accelerometer, magnetic sensor, gyro sensor and inertial sensor (IMU) chips have reached 100 million.” Silo technology CEO Sun Zhen introduced.
DSPU131 Regarding the development opportunities of domestic high-end sensors, Guan Yimin introduced that the “pilot line” built by some provinces and cities at present helps many innovative small sensor manufacturers to achieve the landing from drawings to samples.
High-end sensors require close coordination of design and production processes, and continuous cycle optimization of products during application, design, and production. However, due to the low output of small sensor manufacturers and limited funds, many large foundries are not willing to optimize and adjust the process for small companies, and the cost performance is not high. Even if the commissioning is successful, the small company needs to produce a limited number of chips, the amount of revenue is low, and the human and material resources spent in the process of commissioning is not lower than the ‘big order’ of the big company.” Ding Huiwen said.
DSPU131 The so-called pilot line, that is, the production line where the product conducts an intermediate test, can partially replace the past foundry for some innovative small sensor manufacturers, and there is an opportunity to continuously optimize the process.
Shanghai Institute of Microtechnology Industry has an 8-inch research and development pilot line. “At present, there are more than 90 projects in research and development, pilot test and mass production, most of which are projects of small companies in the start-up stage.” Ding Huiwen introduced.
DSPU131 In addition, Ding Huiwen believes that the development of domestic high-end sensors also depends on continuous engineering iterations in combination with practical applications.
“In our view, the sensor belongs to the ‘beyond Moore field’, which is no longer fully pursuing the continuous miniaturization of the process linewidth, but is also closely related to the material and process.” In many subdivisions, our equipment and process linewidth are basically in the same generation as foreign countries, and the gap between the accumulation of details is large. However, the vast domestic Internet of Things market makes us closer to the application scenario, which is conducive to the iterative update of the technology.” Ding Huiwen said.
Sun Zhen introduced that with the attention paid to supply chain security, some downstream manufacturers, such as mobile phone brands, began to seek domestic product alternatives, which will help the development of the domestic high-end sensor market. In addition, customized sensors are becoming a trend, and the choice of domestic sensors is more flexible.