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Strong Growth In MEMS

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One billion Bosch micro mechanical sensors for automotive and consumer electronics.
Since 1995, Bosch has manufactured one billion MEMS sensors (micro-electro-mechanical systems or MEMS) at its Reutlingen plant. The annual production volume has increased to more than 200 million sensors, more than half a million units per working day.

Sensors are the electronic sensory organs which perceive the surrounding conditions. MEMS sensors include mechanical functional elements such as springs, beams, weights, or membranes in the form of fine silicon structures just thousandths of a millimetre thick. They are used to measure physical variables such as pressure, acceleration, yaw rate, flow quantity, or gas composition accurately and reliably. Highly integrated electronic circuits pre-process the fine sensor signals and transmit them via analogue or digital interfaces to control units for further processing.

Bosch has many years of experience in the development and manufacture of micro-mechanical sensors. Since the middle of the 1980's, Bosch researchers have developed the fundamental manufacturing technologies needed for volume and surface micro mechanics, thus paving the way for the mass production of MEMS sensors.

Following the start of production in 1995, economic success was quickly achieved. In 2007, Bosch researchers received the European Patent Office's Inventor Award for their development of a process for vertical silicon structuring, known as the “Bosch process.” On the basis of this invention, Bosch has taken a number of micro mechanical processes from research to industrial mass manufacturing during the past decade. In recognition of this, a Bosch team is currently nominated for the German federal president's prize for innovation and advanced technology.

Optimised sensor distribution channels for automotive technology and consumer electronics. Bosch extended its MEMS sensor business in 2005. The Automotive Electronics division covers the automotive industry's needs, and the separately founded subsidiary Bosch Sensortec serves the consumer electronics industry. This two pronged approach is clearly reflected in the product portfolio: extreme functional safety and robustness are the main concern for automotive sensor technology. The Bosch Automotive Electronics program encompasses several hundred model variants of such intelligent sensors, adapted to the specific requirements of individual vehicle types. Nowadays, compact class vehicles incorporate a good 50 of these measurement sensors, and the premium class includes more than twice as many. The applications for MEMS sensors in cars include measurement of the intake pressure for engine management, fill level measurement in fuel tanks, yaw rate measurement for the ESP electronic stability program, triggering rollover protection, or collision detection to activate airbags.

Consumer electronics present completely different requirements for MEMS sensors. Here, every cubic millimetre less space and each micro ampere less current consumption can be decisive. That is why the smallest Bosch Sensortec MEMS sensors measure 3 x 3 x 0.9 millimetres and require so little current in stand-by mode that even the self-discharge of the energizing batteries is higher. Due to their accurate altitude measurement, MEMS sensors improve the navigation function for mobile consumer items such as cell phones. They record hand movement for device control in new operating concepts, change automatically between landscape and portrait format in digital cameras, open up surprising variants for game consoles, and protect laptop hard disks against data loss due to rough treatment or impact. MEMS sensors have only just started to find their way into mobile consumer items and to open up new functions. The innovation potential in this market is very high.
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