Will drive growth in the customization and personalization market

Norway's Forright Adopts Thin-Film Piezoelectric MEMS Technology to Innovate Mobile Camera Autofocus Function

Seoul, October 31, 2014 – STMicroelectronics (ST), a global semiconductor company contributing to customers across various electronic applications, the world's leading manufacturer of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), and a major supplier of MEMS for consumer and mobile applications, announced the commercialization of its innovative piezoelectric MEMS technology.

This innovative technology is the result of ST’s long-established leadership in the design and manufacturing of mass-production MEMS and the opportunities in new applications made possible by piezoelectric[i] technology. Because ST’s Thin-Film Piezoelectric (TFP) MEMS technology is easily customizable as a basic process platform, it enables collaboration with customers worldwide to develop dedicated MEMS products optimized for specific applications.

One of the first customers to use ST’s TFP process is poLight, whose innovative TLens® (Tuneable Lens) mimics the focusing function of the human eye by using a piezoelectric actuator to change the shape of a transparent polymer film. This technology is an ideal solution for camera autofocus (AF) applications that have so far relied mostly on voice coil motors (VCMs), which are large, power-consuming, and expensive.

Anton Hofmeister, Business Unit President and Group Vice President of ST’s Custom MEMS, said, “We are now able to manufacture piezoelectric actuators and sensors at the Agrate 8-inch fab, which has produced billions of motion sensors, and this allows ST to fully leverage its long-held position as a global MEMS device manufacturer. ST’s TFP MEMS technology will change the market landscape and create new cost/revenue scenarios, ultimately enabling numerous new applications.”

Christian Dupont, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of poLight, stated, “poLight plans to manufacture TLens autofocus lenses using ST’s TFP MEMS technology. This product enables new camera autofocus performance for smartphones. For example, with TLens, cameras can focus instantaneously. Not only does it focus 10 times faster with 20 times lower battery power consumption, but it also refocuses after a photo is taken and provides stable continuous autofocus during video recording. This innovation was made possible by combining poLight’s innovative technology with ST’s capabilities to optimize the TFP process and provide powerful piezoelectric actuators through high-volume manufacturing processes critical to our smartphone customers.”

The pilot production line for ST's new TFP MEMS platform was partially funded by the European LAB4MEMS program. This technology is important for actuators in potential applications such as inkjet printheads in commercial, industrial, and 3D printing fields, and can also be used in the development of piezoelectric sensors in fields such as energy harvesting. ST anticipates mass production for its early customers to begin in mid-2015.