Nanusens is a MEMS-within-CMOS solutions provider that was founded in 2014 by Dr. Josep Montanyà, and Dr. Marc Llamas and is headquartered in Paignton, England. It leverages the research and expertise developed by the founders’ previous company, Baolab Microsystems. Nanusens specializes in developing innovative single-chip solutions based on MEMS and CMOS technology, resulting in significant reduction in size and cost to support next-generation 5G and 6G devices.
Innovative Technology Developed by Nanusens
Until now, MEMS sensors are all created using expensive proprietary processes to build the MEMS sensor structure on the top of a CMOS wafer. Each design of MEMS sensor needs a unique process to make the structure that takes 5-7 years to perfect and there are no economies of scale or ability to rapidly ramp production apart from duplicating the production line.
Nanusens creates nanoscale sensor structures inside the CMOS layers using standard CMOS processes within the same production flow as making the control electronics on the same chip. This innovative, patent-pending approach reduces the size and cost as it benefits from the vast economies of scale of using giant CMOS fabs. The resulting single chip solution has a packaged size of only 0.5 mm3.
They use 0.18-micron CMOS technology as it is a well-established, high-volume technology used by most fabs giving them the freedom to use any fab. This is important as it means that they can rapidly ramp production to whatever volumes are required. The company can also benefit from lower costs simply by moving to smaller CMOS process nodes.
The Inter Metal Dielectric (IMD) is etched away through the pad openings in the passivation layer using vapour HF (vHF) to create the nanosensor structures. The holes are then sealed and the chip packaged as necessary. As only standard CMOS processes with minimal post-processing are used, they can have high yields similar to CMOS devices. This also means that the production is fab-independent.
How does this Technology Benefit Customers
MEMS Sensors — Many different sensors can be built into the same tiny chip to enhance the user experience and differentiate products without taking up more space. The freed-up space can be used for larger batteries for longer operational life battery or additional features. Its expertise and pending patents place it as the uncontested leader in this technology that will revolutionize the next generation of sensors. They are so small that they are actually nanosensors or NEMS.
MEMS Capacitors – Instead of needing a set of discrete capacitors on a PCB for the RF front end of 6G mobile phones, we can integrate our digitally tunable MEMS capacitors within the CMOS layers to form a single chip solution.
These RF Digital Tunable Capacitors (DTCs) are ultra-compact and are exactly what the manufacturers of 6G mobile phones require to deliver optimal user experience.
This Technolofy is ideal for the development of 6G RF Front-Ends. The 5G RF front end needs to be redesigned for the challenges of many more and higher frequencies needed by 6G mobile phones. Thanks to our embedded capacitors, we are the only company with an ultra-compact solution that meets the needs of the RF front end of 6G mobile phones.
Key Benefits of Nanusens' MEMS within-CMOS Technology
- Much smaller than SOI PCB solution
- Much better performance than SOI
- State of the art linearity
- Better user experience
- High volume production in any standard CMOS fab
- Highly robust and reliable
- Much better solution for the higher frequencies of 6G
The Management
Dr. Josep Montanyà Chief Executive Officer - UK/Spain
Dr. Josep Montanya is the co-founder of Nanusens and is currently leading the company. He has over 18 years of experience in the area of MEMS, patents and the semiconductor industry. Prior to Nanusens, he founded Baolab Microsystems.
Dr. Marc Llamas Chief Technology Officer - Spain
Dr. Marc Llamas is one of the founders who has over 17 years of industrial experience in MEMS technology. He was previously at Baolab Microsystems and DelfMems.
Nanusens will soon be making combination solutions with several nanosensors on the same chip. This is very easy for them to do as all of their sensors use the same standard CMOS techniques to make them. What’s really exciting is that the additional sensor structures are all about the same tiny size so that there is only a tiny increase in the overall chip size as we add more sensor structures.The control electronics are mainly shared so again hardly any size increase as the number of sensors increases from this aspect.
Now designers can add sensors for improved functionality and device awareness without having to sacrifice valuable space. In addition, a single package solution with multiple sensors needs far less PCB real estate than a set of individually packaged MEMS sensors.
In addition to its headquarters in England, the company also has Research and Development offices in Barcelona, Spain and Shenzen, China. Click here to learn more about Nanusens.
