Héctor J. De Los Santos, Tom Hall and Yie He, IntelliSense Corporation, Woburn, MA, USA, and Xiaoddo Zhang, IntelliSense Nanjing Facility, Nanjing, China
The legendary reputation of IntelliSense, one of the premier MEMS software companies in the world, was cemented back in 2000 upon being acquired by Corning for ~$750M. Upon reacquisition of the core assets of Corning IntelliSense in 2004, a new birth has taken place, this time centered around software operations at the birthplace of the company in Boston, USA, and, since 2006, foundry services at a new location, Nanjing, China. With its new global footprint, IntelliSense is now poised to provide a new paradigm to both the Asian and worldwide MEMS markets, namely, the “Total MEMS Solutions” scheme. In this article, this new paradigm is unveiled.
Semiconductor foundries, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in Taiwan, have become an integral part of the ecosystem surrounding ‘fabless’ electronics companies producing large volume integrated circuits (ICs). This paradigm traditionally exploited the partitioning of the design and fabrication disciplines, as well as the economies of scale enabled by a dedicated fabrication facility utilising common processes to mass produce a variety of end ICs. Similarly, the ecosystem of MEMS foundries has followed this partitioning among disciplines, as typified by TSMC’s MEMS foundry services, Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) in Santa Barbara, California, Tronics in Texas and others. The standardisation of MEMS processes, however, is not trivial, given the multiplicity of device operating principles, which rely on a large number of scientific disciplines, physical principles, design methods, fabrication processes and materials. Enter IntelliSense Total MEMS Solutions.
The Total MEMS Solutions paradigm is a new concept in MEMS services, which provides the MEMS market with the expert support needed to take their ideas and concepts to market, beginning with its world class modelling, simulation and design MEMS software, MEMS device design services, customised MEMS software development, MEMS device prototyping and traditional MEMS foundry services.
Many customers have benefitted from IntelliSense Total MEMS Solutions. In one instance, a company required the development of special wet etch technology to enable timely delivery of its latest medical MEMS device. IntelliSense delivered IntelliEtch, an anisotropic wet etch simulator for silicon and quartz, together with Blueprint, a unique MEMS mask layout tool with a built in DRC tool. Using these tools, the client worked with IntelliSense engineers to design their multi-step etch process and achieve their desired wet etch surface profile. In addition, IntelliSense helped the client to extract their own unique, proprietary etch rate database so they could remain competitive.
Along with software and fabrication services, IntelliSense has also been able to assist clients in navigating the market to find more cost-effective solutions while protecting their IP, all without sacrificing performance. With operating entities in both the US and China, world-class designers and a state-of-the-art facility, IntelliSense provides its solutions globally.