Silicon Sensors

Abstract

In the course of human history, the development of high performance low-cost sensors has been fundamental for the progress of Homo sapiens in many fields. In the last 20 years, the pace of sensor development accelerated thanks to microfabrication techniques typical of semiconductor industry. Automotive was the first market to adopt in high-volume silicon sensors; then thanks to the sensor consumerization wave, silicon sensors spread widely in many products of the consumer market (MEMS, Industry group: 2007 industry report, 2007). Entering the internet of things era and with the advent of artificial intelligence, the importance of silicon sensors will continue to grow. Sensors are all around us: they are in cars, in smartphones, in factories, in pacemakers, in drones, in smart speakers, and in many other places, with the ultimate goal to sense and to monitor parameters of importance and interest in our daily environment. They play an essential bridge between electronic systems and the user or environment. This chapter is addressing both the technical and business aspects of the commercially most successful silicon sensors, highlighting also the most common wrong prejudices of this industry. Firstly, this chapter will detail the most relevant market applications of the silicon sensors and their future use in conjunction with the emerging technologies of artificial intelligence and low-power wireless connections, including 5G. Secondly, it will recap the most important features of the sensors, their taxonomy, their sensing fundamentals, their microfabrication technologies, and the great relevance of the package and testing for the sensors. Thirdly, it will discuss detailed examples of the most commercially successful sensors (MEMS, Industry group: 2007 industry report, 2007; MEMS, Trends, 10, pag. 18, 2012) that we can find all around us.