According to the consulting report of Mymes, Benedetto Vigna, executive vice president of STMicroelectronics (STM) and general manager of Analog Devices, MEMS and Sensors Division, stated: "All actuators driven by voice coil motors will be replaced by MEMS. ”
It may take several years for Vigna to talk about this transition, but it refuses to reveal whether STM will develop and commercialize MEMS speakers or autofocus units. However, STM has determined that it possesses this technical capability and production capacity and has cooperated with startup companies.
Sened Executive Vice President and General Manager of Analog Devices, MEMS and Sensors Benedetto Vigna
Vigna gave a speech at the European MEMS Summit held in Stuttgart last week. He listed the autofocus system launched by PoLight AS, a Norwegian manufacturer of piezoelectric MEMS autofocus lenses. STM is the production partner of PoLight AS. Vigna said: “We started implementing the Piezoelectric MEMS autofocus project and subsequently transferred to the cooperation of the optical image stabilization project.” As smartphones start to use multiple image sensors, multiple frames and calculations Image reconstruction, which is likely to take advantage of the rapid response of piezoelectric MEMS actuators. Another example is the MEMS speaker developed by the USound company in Austria and Audio Pixels in Australia. Vigna did not disclose whether STM is a manufacturer of USound. Audio Pixels chose Tower Semiconductor as its manufacturing partner.
When asked if STM is ready to enter the MEMS speaker market to strengthen its position in the MEMS microphone market, Vigna declined to comment directly. But in the keynote speech of the European MEMS Summit, Vigna talked about the importance of piezoelectric actuators, microfluidic MEMS and micromirrors. He said: "Actuators include the application of piezoelectric, electrostatic and electromagnetic technologies. The next two or three years are very important, and we are trying to find the correct application of these technologies."
Andrea Onetti, general manager of STM's analog and audio system products division, also emphasized the importance of microprocessors to STM's diversification strategy during the conference's follow-up agenda.Microprocessors have created a wide range of technology combinations, and STM is relying on this to achieve a wide range of IoT application changes.
Andrea Onetti, General Manager of STM Analog and Audio Systems Products
MEMS loudspeakers are used in loudspeakers in large rooms and in headphones in the ears, and their performance controversy still exists. In general, headphones use balanced armature speakers. However, Onetti has objections that the use of magnetic coils to drive diaphragms has interference problems. The MEMS speaker array can well match the output characteristics of the MEMS microphone, which is very useful for noise cancellation.
Vigna mentioned: "Transition from precision mechanical engineering to MEMS will happen. But you can't simply replace traditional speakers with MEMS speakers. You have to design a complete solution."
USound's co-founder and CEO Andrea Rusconi Clerici claimed at the European MEMS Summit that USound's MEMS speakers can reduce power consumption by 50% compared to voice coil actuators, making them more suitable for portable headset applications. In terms of cost, it can reduce the cost by 40% to 80%. Rusconi Clerici told reporters: "On the headset application, our product's power consumption is equal to the voice coil actuator's speaker level." USound's MEMS speaker is based on lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric material technology.
Co-founder and CEO of USound Inc. Andrea Rusconi Clerici
Rusconi Clerici said USound is committed to improving and reducing the cost of analog sound products, not digital sound wave structures.Another advantage of MEMS speakers over voice coil speakers and balanced armature speakers is that the thickness of the products is reduced. Although USound Corporation still retains the former two products, the share has gradually decreased. USound also has two projects - Moon and Jupiter III, targeting smart phone motherboards and headphones.
The three founders of USound have served on Sensor Dynamics and Sensor Dynamics has been taken over by Maxim. Two of the founders Rusconi Clerici and Ferruccio Bottoni also worked at STM.
Rusconi Clerici refused to disclose the manufacturer's information. The X-FAB was included in the list of partners by USound, and the X-FAB company's official website did demonstrate the process capability of sputtering PZT films. The other two processes that have the ability to sputter PZT films are the European foundries Silex (a Swedish company acquired by China) and STM.
Rusconi Clerici also highlighted the potential advantages of MEMS speakers as a USound company's R&D program, including the application of MEMS arrays to form audio beams, spatial audio localization, ultrasound applications, and use the same MEMS membrane as a diaphragm for MEMS microphones. Although people think that the microphone and speaker function are different, this may require an optimized upgrade of the electronic components. However, Rusconi Clerici said: "The speaker can be used as a microphone, and we have intellectual property in this area!"
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