In electronic and electrical equipment, sensors are used to acquire the original physical signals from the outside world, including sound, image, temperature, humidity, pressure and light signals, etc., and convert these physical signals into electrical signals, typically in the form of voltage/current. Traditional physical and chemical sensors only acquire external signals and do not have computing and processing capabilities. MEMS sensors based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processes are becoming more and more popular as manufacturing process technology, size, and cost requirements increase.

Among the wide-ranging applications of sensors, smartphones deserve special attention. Both CMOS image sensor (CIS) and touch/fingerprint recognition chip manufacturers have gained huge opportunities for development. Among them, domestic representative manufacturers include OmniVision, Grid Kewei, Huiding Technology. In addition, some smart sensor startups based on scientific research and academic achievements are also worthy of attention. Their technological breakthroughs in lidar, optoelectronics and human sensing have also won the favor of venture capital.

MEMS sensor

MEMS is the abbreviation of Micro-Electro-Mechanical System, which is a system that integrates micro-circuits and micro-machines on a chip according to functional requirements. MEMS is based on traditional semiconductor technologies such as lithography and corrosion, integrated with ultra-precision machining, combined with the knowledge and technical foundations of mechanics, chemistry, optics and other disciplines, so that a millimeter or micron-scale MEMS has precise and complete mechanical, chemical, optical, etc. feature structure. MEMS devices can be mainly divided into MEMS sensors and MEMS actuators, where sensors are devices used to detect and detect physical, chemical, biological and other phenomena and signals, while actuators are used to realize mechanical motion, force and torque and other behaviors.

Figure 1: The working principle of MEMS sensor

MEMS sensor is a miniature sensor manufactured by microelectronics and micromechanical technology. It converts the input signal and derives another monitorable signal through the micro sensor element and transmission unit. Compared with the sensor manufactured by the traditional process, it has the characteristics of small size, light weight, low cost, low power consumption, high reliability, suitable for mass production, easy integration and realization of intelligence. Generally, the size of a single MEMS sensor is measured in millimeters or even micrometers. At the same time, the miniaturized mechanical components have the advantages of small inertia, high resonance frequency, and short response time.

Figure 2: China's MEMS market structure in 2019 by application

According to Yole's statistics and forecasts, the global MEMS market size in 2019 will be 11.5 billion US dollars. In 2020, the market growth will slow down due to the global new crown epidemic. From 2021, the market will resume growth. It is expected that the market will reach nearly 17.7 billion by 2025. USD, with a CAGR of 7.4% from 2019 to 2025.

In terms of product structure, the top five MEMS sensor segments are radio frequency, pressure, microphone, accelerometer and gyroscope, accounting for nearly 65%. According to Yole's forecast, the MEMS sensor segments with a market size of more than $1 billion in 2024 include radio frequency, inertial combination, ultrasonic fingerprint, pressure, microphone and inkjet printing.

From the perspective of application terminals, driven by the Internet of Things and mobile phone 5G replacement, the global consumer MEMS market is expected to grow from US$6.87 billion in 2019 to US$11.14 billion in 2025; driven by the increase in the penetration rate of smart cars , the automotive MEMS market size is expected to grow from $2.18 billion in 2019 to $2.6 billion in 2025, with a CAGR of 3% during the period. In addition, market demand in the industrial, medical, communications, defense, and aerospace fields is also increasing.

China has been the fastest growing market for MEMS in the past five years. According to statistics from CCID Think Tank, the Chinese market size in 2019 is about 60 billion yuan, accounting for about 54% of the global market; the domestic market continues to grow faster than the world, and it is expected that China's MEMS market will exceed 100 billion yuan in 2022.

Figure 3: China is the fastest growing MEMS market in the past five years

In 2019, the top ten manufacturers in China's MEMS market were Broadcom, Bosch, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, QORVO, Hewlett-Packard, Knowles, NXP, Goertek and TDK, of which US companies accounted for 54%. The Chinese company Goertek squeezed into the top ten, and AAC Technology ranked 22nd. At present, the overall scale of domestic MEMS sensor manufacturers is not large. Except for Goertek and AAC, whose annual revenue is more than 100 million US dollars, the annual revenue of local MEMS sensor manufacturers such as MEMSIC, Mattel Technology, and Xinao Microelectronics are all below 60 million US dollars, and the overall scale is small.

my country's domestic supply capacity is insufficient, especially high-end products are almost entirely supplied by imports, and 80% of chips rely on foreign countries; the remaining share is only concentrated in the hands of a few listed companies, such as Goertek, Crystal Optoelectronics, Hanwei Electronics, Silan Five companies including Micro and Jinlong Electromechanical occupy more than 40% of the domestic MEMS market; 70% of the domestic MEMS companies are small and medium-sized enterprises, and their products are mainly concentrated in the low-end and middle-end products. In general, the current status of my country's MEMS sensor companies is that the competition in low-end products is fierce, but there is no competitiveness in the competition of high-end products.

Since the MEMS industry is the basis for the development of science and technology in the new era, and policy support is strong, China's MEMS industry investment and financing cases are increasing year by year, both in terms of quantity and amount. In terms of amount, the investment amount in 2019 is about twice that of 2018. Although the overall investment in the primary market is cold, the investment in the MEMS industry has continued to grow.

From the perspective of subdivisions, the four fields of MEMS+AI, RF MEMS, optoelectronic MEMS, and biological MEMS have the largest number and amount of investment cases. The substantial increase in the number and amount of investment indicates that the capital market is paying more attention to the MEMS industry. In terms of geographical distribution, Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu topped the list in terms of the number of investment cases.

Basic Statistics of Domestic Sensor Chip Manufacturers

Aspencore's "Electronic Engineering Album" analyst team conducted a first-hand investigation and network compilation of local sensor chip manufacturers in China, and selected 40 companies from many companies, including core technologies, representative products, application solutions and target markets. dimension was analyzed.

This is part of the China Fabless series of research and analysis reports. Interested friends can check other types of research reports, or contact us directly. Published research reports include:

1. Ranking of 30 listed companies in China's IC design industry by comprehensive strength Statistics 6. Research report on 20 domestic analog/mixed-signal chip manufacturers 7. Research report on 30 domestic digital chip (CPU/FPGA/storage) manufacturers

At the upcoming China IC Leaders Summit, we will select Top 10 from each category to form the China Fabless 100 list. Among these 40 sensor chip manufacturers, 13 start-up companies have been included in the "50 Chinese IC Design Start-up Companies Survey and Statistical Compilation", including: Qipuwei Semiconductor, Ruisizhixin, Hainawei, Baiweishen Technology, Titanium Technology, Zhongke Fusion, Luowei Technology, Yijian Technology, Sidian Micro, Juxin Microelectronics, General Micro Technology (GMEMS), Titanium Technology, Zhongke Galaxy Core. Therefore, only the remaining 27 companies are counted and analyzed in this report.

Table 1: List of basic information of 40 domestic sensor chip manufacturers

Among the 40 sensor chip manufacturers, there are 3 image sensor (CIS) companies; 7 touch/fingerprint recognition/tactile sensor companies; 2 RF MEMS companies; 19 MEMS sensor companies; 4 optical/LiDAR companies ; and other smart sensor companies.

In terms of geographical distribution, in addition to Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, there are also many MEMS sensor manufacturers in Suzhou and Wuxi. Suzhou Industrial Park has become the region with the highest concentration of nano-industry and talents in China, and ranks among the eight largest nano-industry clusters in the world. The MEMS Branch of the China Semiconductor Industry Association also held the "China MEMS Manufacturing Conference" in Suzhou to gather global MEMS manufacturing industry resources, strengthen the linkage of the entire industry chain such as MEMS design, R&D, processing and manufacturing, packaging and testing, and promote industrial resources with MEMS manufacturing as the main line. Vertical integration accelerates breakthroughs in the development bottleneck of my country's MEMS manufacturing field.

In addition, most of the sensor manufacturers included in this report are small and medium-sized enterprises, of which 7 have been listed or are in the process of applying for the Science and Technology Innovation Board. Among MEMS manufacturers, we do not include companies that focus on processing and manufacturing, such as Goertek, AAC, Crystal Optoelectronics, Hanwei Electronics, Silan Microelectronics and Jinlong Electromechanical.

Details of 27 domestic sensor chip manufacturers

Below we will show these 27 companies one by one in terms of core technologies, main products, target markets and competitive advantages.

Howe Group

Core technologies: CMOS image sensor technology, Pure Cel and Pure Cel Plus technology, High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology, Camera Cube Chip technology

Main products: CMOS image sensor, micro image module package (CameraCubeChip), liquid crystal on silicon projection display (LCOS), dynamic vision sensor, and ASIC chips for specific applications.

Applications: Smartphones, tablets, laptops, webcams, security monitoring equipment, digital cameras, automotive and medical imaging applications.

Target market: mobile phone, automobile, security, medical and other fields.

Goodix Technology

Core technology: under-screen optical fingerprint recognition technology (IN-DISPLAY FINGERPRINT SENSOR), screen touch technology, smart touch, human heart rate sensor technology

Main products: fingerprint recognition products, human-computer interaction products, heart rate sensors, audio decoding and amplifiers, BLE Bluetooth chips, smart haptic drivers

Application scheme: living fingerprint identification scheme, IFS fingerprint identification and touch integration scheme, cover fingerprint identification scheme, coating fingerprint identification scheme, in-ear detection scheme, voice and audio scheme

Target Markets: Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops, Home Touch, Cars, etc.

Zhaoyi Innovation

Core technology: multi-touch chip technology, press-type fingerprint recognition sensor, under-screen optical fingerprint recognition technology, ultrasonic recognition technology

Main products: biometric sensor SoC chip; capacitive, ultrasonic, optical mode fingerprint recognition chip; embedded biometric sensor; self- and mutual-capacity touch screen control chip

Application scheme: optical fingerprint recognition scheme under the screen, ultrasonic scheme

Target Market: Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops, Smart Homes, etc.

Western centaurs

Core technology: MEMS smart sensor chip production line and MEMS device processing platform

Main products: MEMS, ASIC and microfluidic medical chips; pressure chip series, infrared thermopile chips, charge amplifier chips, laser diode chips; acceleration sensors, pressure sensors, lubricating oil sensors

Application scheme: mechanical fault diagnosis system, intelligent wind power system, intelligent power system, etc.

Target markets: Control and monitoring of civil aviation, energy, medical, transportation and industrial equipment.

Minxinwei

Core technology: MEMS / ASIC chip, MEMS pressure sensing

Main products: MEMS silicon microphones, pressure sensors and accelerometers

Target market: wearable devices, mobile phones/tablets, automotive electronics, Bluetooth headsets, etc.

Nano Core Micro

Core Technologies: MEMS, High Voltage Isolation, Mixed Signal Chain Processing and Sensor Calibration

Main products: temperature sensor, intelligent pressure sensor, sensor signal conditioning chip, power driver and interface chip

Application Solutions: Sensor Signal Conditioning Solutions for Automotive Applications; Sensor Signal Conditioning Solutions for Industrial Applications; Sensor Signal Conditioning Solutions for White Goods; MEMS Sensor Solutions for Consumer Electronics

Target market: consumer electronics, smart home, industrial control, automotive electronics, etc.

Gekewei

Core technology: High-performance third-generation CIS packaging technology based on solder COB

Main products: CMOS image sensor, DDI display chip

Application scheme: main camera, front camera and multi-camera sub-camera of smart phone; mobile display driver, wearable device display driver, industrial control display driver; driving recorder, in-car camera, 360-degree surround view, reversing rear view and driver fatigue Automotive application solutions such as detection; camera solutions for notebook/USC/smart screen TVs.

Target market: mobile phone, smart wear, mobile payment, tablet, notebook, camera and automotive electronics and other product fields.

Smartway

Core technologies: night vision full color technology, SFCPixel patented technology, global exposure technology of Stack BSI, focused video imaging HDR technology, QCell TM + LFS technology, AI Sensor technology, Smart AECTM technology, near-infrared enhancement

Main products: AI series, AT series, GS series, IoT series, CS series image sensors

Application scheme: security monitoring application field visual imaging, machine vision application scheme, intelligent transportation system application, driver status monitoring DMS application scheme, high frame rate CMOS image sensor + 3D recognition

Target market: security monitoring, vehicle imaging, machine vision and consumer electronics; emerging application fields such as artificial intelligence, mobile imaging, vehicle electronics, etc.

North Microsystems

Core technologies: Thin-film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) technology, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) manufacturing technology using silicon substrates

Main products: FBAR RF filter, RF front-end MEMS filter chip

Application Solutions: Wireless RF Filters, Duplexer and Multiplexer Solutions, BAW RF Solutions

Target market: wireless communication, mobile terminal and base station.

Ximewei Nano

Core technology: Hierarchical and integrated design technology of RF MEMS switches and RF MEMS-based filters, smart antennas, and phase shifters

Main products: RF MEMS switches, phase shifters, attenuators

Target market: wireless communications.

Shendi Semiconductor

Core technology: six-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU), MEMS gyroscope

Main products: six-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU) series products

Target market: IOT applications such as smartphones and smart homes.

Mizuki Zhixin

Core technology: MEMS gyroscope and accelerometer

Main products: MEMS gyroscope, MEMS accelerometer

Target Market: Consumer Electronics Market.

Minghao Sensing

Core technology: 3D CMOS-MEMS process technology,

Main products: acceleration sensor, smart pedometer chip, silicon microphone, gyroscope, pressure sensor and magnetic sensor

Application solutions: handheld device application solutions, motion sensing, smart home, automotive electronics, industrial automation, smart medical

Target market: consumer electronics, automotive electronics, industrial automation and aviation and other fields.

Love Core Micro

Core technology: smart fingerprint sensor, face recognition and vein recognition

Main products: fingerprint sensor chip, driver chip

Application scheme: schemes such as face recognition and vein recognition

Target market: IoT markets such as smart door locks.

Mindray

Core technology: fourth-generation fingerprint sensor technology

Main products: fingerprint sensor chip and information security chip

Application scheme: smart door lock

Target Market: Security Market

Gnawell

Core technology: micro-inertial navigation indoor positioning technology, micro-inertial navigation system and multi-sensor fusion

Main products: high-precision MEMS-IMU, micro-inertial navigation personnel positioning module

Application scheme: fire/emergency search and rescue positioning system, "micro inertial navigation + UWB" robot/AGV positioning system, workshop/plant personnel and equipment precise positioning system, construction site/port/power personnel positioning system, laser SLAM robot positioning and navigation system

Target market: firefighting, drones, autonomous driving, indoor positioning, etc.

Core Microelectronics

Core technology: MEMS packaging technology

Main products: silicon-based microphones, MEMS pressure sensors, MEMS accelerometers, MEMS optical switches, MEMS air valves, MEMS microfluidic chips, MEMS microphones, and MEMS devices such as MEMS gyroscopes.

Application scheme: mobile phone, computer, e-book, media player

Target market: consumer electronics, medical, industrial control and automotive electronics and other fields.

MEMSIC

Core technology: single-chip capacitive accelerometer technology, AMR sensor technology

Main products: thermal accelerometer, AMR geomagnetic sensor, capacitive accelerometer, micro-power Hall switch and other products.

Applications: Smartphones, laptops/tablets, smart watches/bands, cars, motorcycles, drones, TWS headsets, power tools/toys, smart door locks.

Target Markets: Automotive, Industrial, Wearables, Smart Home and Consumer Electronics.

Mattel Technology

Core technology: 6-inch MEMS process line

Main products: MEMS inertial devices and systems, MEMS sensors, automotive sensors, pressure sensors, radio frequency (RF) MEMS devices, etc.

Target markets: aerospace, high-speed rail, automobiles, autonomous driving, communications, earthquake monitoring, Internet of Things, smart cities, smart home appliances, etc.

Huajing Sensing

Core technology: high-efficiency piezoelectric thin film and advanced silicon semiconductor microelectromechanical system (MEMS) micromachining technology

Main products: silicon microphone, ultrasonic sensor, acceleration sensor

Target market: IoT, industrial sensing, consumer electronics, etc.

Dragon Micro Technology

Core technology: MEMS-specific simulation design

Main products: MEMS pressure, temperature, humidity sensors

Target market: automotive electronics, medical electronics, high-end equipment manufacturing and other fields.

Fein Microelectronics

Core technology: process stress model packaging technology, efficient batch calibration test algorithm,

Main products: various automotive pressure and differential pressure sensors, industrial control oil-filled cores, gas meter temperature and pressure sensors, water pressure sensors and other MEMS sensors and system products.

Target market: automotive, IoT, smart home and industrial control industries.

micro yuan era

Core technology: SOG MEMS sensitive structure processing technology

Main products: silicon-based MEMS accelerometer MUA100, MUG series gyroscope, silicon-based MEMS inertial measurement unit MUS600

Target market: unmanned, unmanned aerial vehicle, electronic compass, geological exploration, etc.

Core Microsystem

Core technology: sensor chips such as diffused silicon pressure sensors and their packaging technology

Main products: automotive pressure sensors and medical pressure sensors

Target market: industries such as automotive and medical.

Dual Bridge Sensing

Core technology: MEMS piezoresistive pressure sensing technology

Main product: MEMS pressure sensor

Target market: blasting field, automotive application, engine testing, high-end equipment, etc.

Knowing Micro Sensing

Core technology: MEMS micro-galvanometer technology

Main products: MEMS micro-galvanometer chip, MEMS solid-state lidar

Application scheme: Dkam series 3D camera solution

Target market: 3D scanning, industrial inspection, logistics sorting, size measurement, 3D face recognition, machine vision and other fields.

Fushi Technology

Core technologies: 3D structured light face sensing technology, fingerprint sensing technology under LCD screen, AI and machine vision

Main products: visual sensor chip, fingerprint chip under LCD screen

Application scheme: optical fingerprint under the mobile phone screen, face recognition smart lock, smart access control, face payment, space modeling, etc.

Target market: mobile phone, smart door lock, financial payment, industrial control, smart home, smart city.

Epilogue

Although there are many domestic sensor and MEMS chip manufacturers, most of them compete in the low-end market. In addition to the relatively concentrated sensor manufacturers of image sensors and fingerprint recognition for the smartphone market, other sensor manufacturers for industrial control and monitoring, vehicle transportation and energy are relatively scattered, and their comprehensive strength and market positioning are not particularly prominent. In the field of automotive electronics and the emerging Internet of Things market, startups centered on smart sensors and lidar technology will usher in greater development space with the support of venture capital and local governments.

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