Product category:
Sensors and Data Acquisition
News Release from: Bosch Automotive OE Division
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 23 April 2007
MEMS process innovation wins Europe-wide
award
Two Bosch Group researchers have been named "European Inventors of the Year".
Andrea Urban and Dr Franz Larmer, two Bosch Group researchers, have been named "European Inventors of the Year" - an award sponsored by the EU Commission and the European Patent Office (EPO) The award was presented at a ceremony in Munich by Gunter Verheugen, EU Commission Vice-President, and Alain Pompidou, EPO President
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 6 Jul 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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"This award is recognition of the far-reaching consequences of many Bosch Group innovations", said Dr Siegfried Dais, Deputy Chairman of the Bosch board of management, whose responsibilities include research and advance engineering.
The award recognises inventors and innovations that have made a major contribution to technological progress in Europe and beyond - and thus also to strengthening Europe's economic position.
Urban and Dr Larmer developed a process that revolutionised the manufacture of the micromechanical components known as MEMS (microelectromechanical systems).
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Without them, safety technologies such as the vehicle airbag would not be possible.
The systems are also used in electronic stability programme (ESP), the electronic anti-skidding system, and in rollover protection.
Urban and Dr Larmer's development is a special plasma etching process for silicon.
It was only as a result of this process that it was possible to mass-produce sensors cost-effectively.
The process, now known commonly as the "Bosch process", is now indispensable for microsystems technology.
Wherever they are produced in the world, nearly all MEMS are based on this process.
The process has more or less completely replaced other processes, such as the wet etching of silicon in potassium solution.
The basic patent dates back to 1992, and has been constantly further developed and refined since then.
Today, there are roughly 40 patent families associated with this technology, and more than 350 individual patents have now been granted.
At the Bosch Reutlingen plant alone, more then 130 million sensors are produced every year using the Bosch Process.
The signs are that this number will increase further, since these products are being used in more and more areas.
Apart from the automotive sector, for example, they are used in mobile phones, laptops, or games consoles.
Bosch will start construction of a new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Reutlingen this year.
This represents a total investment of roughly Eur 600 million with start of production planned for the beginning of 2009.
In the Bosch Group, innovations are a top priority.
Research and development spending came to Eur 3.3 billion last year.
This is the equivalent of 7.7% of sales, up from 7.4% in the previous year.
A total of 25,300 men and women work in research and development at Bosch.
More than 300 of them are involved in work on MEMS.
Last year, the number of patents applied for rose by nine% to 3056.
Of these patents, 36% related to environmental protection and resource conservation.
Half of them will help to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions further.
Bosch has been researching in the field of MEMS, since 1988 and the company has already applied for more than 350 patents associated with these micromechanical components.
Up to now, the MEMS manufactured by Bosch have been used above all in the automotive industry.
These microchip components are the vehicle's "sensory organs", and include sensors for safety systems such as ABS, ESP, or the airbag, and well as for controlling the electronic engine management system or driver assistance systems.
Some of these sensors, which comprise several chips, are far smaller than a fingernail.
On average, between 100 and 200 of these control elements are installed in a middle or luxury-class car.
Mass production of many of these micromechanical sensors only became possible as a result of the "Bosch process".
As a result of the plasma etching process developed in 1992, deep structures with vertical walls can be etched into silicon wafers with extreme precision and at high speed.
Before this process, microstructures such as these could only be produced on a metal base using the expensive "LIGA" (lithography, electroplating and moulding) process.
For broad industrial applications, however, this process is far too complex and expensive.
The Bosch Process made it possible for the first time to manufacture comparable highly complex structures in silicon using comparatively simple and cost-effective procedures.
In his book "Microsystem design", Prof Steven D Senturia, a world expert in MEMS technology who teaches at MIT in Boston, writes: "The Bosch process is revolutionising the development of micromachining processes and designs".
Today's microsystems technology is inconceivable without the Bosch Process.
Nearly all the MEMS produced in the world are based on it.
The process has more or less completely replaced other processes, such as the wet etching of silicon in potassium solution.
One example of a sensor based on MEMS technology is the SMB 360, a triaxial, universally applicable acceleration sensor that has been developed specifically for consumer electronics.
It can be used in areas such as entertainment electronics, mobile phones, and computer technology, but also in the areas of security and medicine.
The sensor can for example trigger a radio alarm if someone falls or remains motionless on the ground, or if a notebook is removed without permission.
Apart from acceleration sensors, Bosch also currently supplies a number of pressure and yaw-rate sensors.
In the Bosch plant in Reutlingen alone - the headquarters of the Bosch Automotive Electronics division - more than 130 million sensors are manufactured every year.
And demand is increasing.
This year, Bosch will start construction of a new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Reutlingen, with a total investment volume of some Eur 600 million.
Rollout of production is planned for mid-2009.
The plant will be able to manufacture up to 1000 silicon wafers a day, equivalent to a daily production volume of as many as one million microchips.
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