Israeli company Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM; TASE: TSEM) (which trades as TowerJazz) and Physical Logic Ltd., a developer of MEMS-based sensor applications, have announced a milestone achievement for mass production of its first generation high performance MEMS-based accelerometer family (MAXL-OL-2000). MEMS accelerometers are sensors that can be used in inertial navigation applications to calculate the direction and speed of moving objects such as ships, aircraft, submarines, guided missiles, and spacecraft. They are also used for measurement activities including monitoring cardiac patients to translate signals from the heart to the pacemaker, seismic sensing, tilt sensing, and more.
According to Yole Développement, many new applications are fueling the growth of the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) market, which is benefiting from significant technology evolutions, such as the continuous improvement of MEMS IMUs. High-performance inertial sensors and systems is a dynamic market segment as an ever-increasing number of platforms require stabilization, guidance or navigation functions. According to a Yole report, the IMU market is expected to reach $2.6 billion in 2015.
“TowerJazz meets our very high requirements for performance, on-time delivery, quality and technical support demanded by our customers,” said Physical Logic CEO and General Manager Katja Beyer. “TowerJazz’s MEMS offering, combined with its advanced power management platform and superior engineering capabilities, enhances our success in penetrating markets requiring MEMS-based accelerometer applications.”
“Physical Logic’s focus on MEMS-based sensors and its expertise in MEMS design has positioned the company to meet the needs of a multitude of applications including military and consumer electronics, where rapid scale-up can be achieved. We are extremely pleased to be Physical Logic’s foundry of choice for MEMS manufacturing to address this expanding market,” said TowerJazz VP Process Engineering R&D Zmira Shternfeld-Lavie.
Physical Logic Ltd. is a subsidiary of Physical Logic AG, a privately-held company headquartered in Zurich.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 30, 2014