Published Articles:
MEMS and Sensors
Many more articles addressing various MEMS and Sensors technologies and applications, including Automotive and IoT, are available. Please email Roger at [email protected] to request additional articles.
Please refer to Roger's bibliography and send any article requests to [email protected]
MEMS Commercialization Report Card Gets Another B-Minus Grade
The results of the annual MEMS Industry Commercialization Report Card (Report Card) market study are in and the overall grade is B-minus. Results of the previous year’s Report Card were reported in Fierce Electronics, part one and part two. [ 1, 2 ] The Report Card, created in 1998, has at its raison d’etre the assessing, monitoring and reporting on the status of the MEMS industry in its desire for the successful commercialization of this important and ever-growing technology. It has been conveniently accomplished by requesting study participants to assign letter grades to the 14 critical success factors that my research established were the key to successful commercialization of many emerging technologies.
Marketing in a Recession: How to Survive
Sensors Daily, April 8, Edition
Considering the current state of affairs worldwide, I was compelled to author this article which will address the major impact of the current unprecedented global pandemic resulting from the Covid-19 virus and its effects on the resulting financial-economic crisis (slowdown…yes…recession?) relating to business and marketing strategies...
Printed/Flexible/Stretchable Sensors: New Technologies Enable High Volume Applications
Commercial Micromanufacturing International
This article will address the motivation of developing P/F/S sensors and will provide information on some of the current offerings. Also to be addressed, and what I consider to be the most important and exciting aspect of P/F/S sensors is the work currently being conducted worldwide in research labs, institutes, and universities on new and exciting P/F/S sensors especially those which address the bio market sector.
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2019 MEMS Commercialization Report Card (Part 1 of 2 Parts)
Fierce Electronics, November 5, 2020
The MEMS Industry Commercialization Report Card (Report Card), introduced in 1998, has the objective to track and report on the progress (and sometimes lack thereof) in the commercialization of the worldwide MEMS industry. The impetus of the Report Card was based on my invitation to participate in a panel discussion on "Why aren't there more MEMS millionaires?”
2019 MEMS Commercialization Report Card (Part 2 of 2 Parts)
Fierce Electronics, November 10, 2020
In this article, we will take a closer look into several of the most interesting topics whose popularity is based on the number of verbatim comments received on each subject from the 43 respondents to this study. Some of the comments that help validate the grades are included.
MEMS Commercialization Report Card – Episode 6: Marketing (Part 1 of 4 Parts)
Sensors Daily, April 22, 2020
Marketing is one of the 14 critical success factors in the commercialization of MEMS as well as virtually for all products. “Marketing is Everything” [1] is the title of the Harvard Business Review article authored by Silicon Valley marketing luminary Regis McKenna.
MEMS Commercialization Report Card – Episode 7: Marketing
(Part 2 of 4 Parts)
Sensors Daily, May 6, 2020
This article will provide an overview of marketing principles and a brief review of the results of the MEMS Commercialization Report Card. When conducting interviews, it became apparent to me that, when following up on the 30 plus respondents to my annual Report Card study, it would be interesting to take a deep dive into the rationales for their submitted grades.
MEMS Commercialization Report Card – Episode 12: Summary/Conclusion/ Wrapup
Sensors Daily, June 17, 2020
I believe that the objective of the 2018 annual MEMS Industry Commercialization Report Card of providing a valuable tool for MEMS industry participants to objectively monitor the health of the MEMS industry has been realized once again. The results of the 2018 Report Card should provide industry participants with valuable information to effectively help craft their business strategies moving forward.
MEMS (and Sensors) Marketing:
Oxymoron or Opportunity? (Part 1 of 3 Parts)
Commercial Micromanufacturing International, Vol. 9, No. 4
The American Marketing Association defines
marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and
processes for creating, communicating, delivering,
and exchanging offerings that
have value for customers, clients,
partners, and society at large.”
In my over 30 years as an
independent technology marketing
consultant, I have worked with
literally scores of clients, the
majority of which have been in the
MEMS/sensors sector that have
engaged my consulting services
to assist them to increase their
success in the market, either
to successfully accelerate their
existing products into the market, launch new
products or even launch new companies.
How to Become a MEMS (and other High Technology) Millionaire: Strategies and Case Studies
Commercial Micromanufacturing International, Vol. 9, No. 1
Here, I will take a deep dive into the issues, which have in the past and currently can serve to help create MEMS Millionaires. This updated report is partially based on recent interviews of four of the MEMS industry’s most recognized successful and serial entrepreneurs.
Sensors for Advanced Automotive Applications
Electronic Products
Last month’s CES clearly indicated the ever-growing, mainstream role of electronics in automobiles — where several years ago there were no automakers at the event, this year there were 10, from Audi to Volkswagen. Many automakers were demonstrating their novel and advanced Infotainment and display systems as well as safety systems using radars lasers and camera to enable so-called “self-driving cars.”
MEMS Sensor Solutions for IoT in Transport and Buildings
Electronic Products
The good news is that all of the hardware for the realization of MBSS to support Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications is virtually off the shelf, with the exception of the package and an energy system (batteries are frequently being used for this purpose, sometimes in conjunction with energy harvesting).
Smart Sensors…Defined and Redefined
Product Design and Development (PD&D)
The bottom line is that products need to be more smart… a.k.a. more functional and possess more “bells and whistles” to be successful in today’s marketplace. Simultaneously, they must be more reliable and have a lower bill-of-materials to reduce cost.
Thermally-Based MEMS Sensors
(with Yongyao Cai and James Fennelly)
Commercial Micromanufacturing International, Vol. 6, No. 2
The electronic system designer is truly fortunate when it comes to specifying a sensor to optimally satisfy a specific system function. This results from the myriad of sensor technologies that currently exist to measure the various parameters to meet the system’s design requirements. This applies to accelerometer and gas flow sensors. This article will address the topic of acceleration.
Technology Clusters and Their Role in the Commercialization of Micro and NanoSystems
Commercial Micromanufacturing International - Vol. 5, No. 2
Industrial clusters have existed since the very beginning of the industrial revolution. Technology clusters first become prominent in the Route 128 area of Boston in the early 1940’s to support the U.S. military involvement in W.W.II. Silicon Valley saw its first technology cluster develop to support the meteoric growth of the the semiconductor industry in the early 1960s.
MEMS: Think Outside the Chip at the Package Level
(with Maryann Maher, Ph.D.)
Electronic Products
The packaging for a MEMS device is a critical component of delivering a successful MEMS-based system solution to the market. Our research has found that, for today’s typical MEMS-based products, the cost of packaging can be 20% to 40% of the product’s total material and assembly cost. Since testing after packaging is much more costly than testing at the device level because of yield factors, it is crucial that the package be correctly selected/designed for the application.