Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) chips continue to be integrated into diverse consumer applications, according to the MEMS Executive Congress, hosted by the MEMS Industry Group Nov. 5-7 in Monterey, Calif. As a result, analysts at the conference predicted, the MEMS consumer market will grow 4 percent to 5.5 percent in 2008, to about $7 billion. But as consumer spending slows, they said, the overall MEMS market will slow—and may even contract in 2009. Handheld media players and cell phones will all come in MEMS-enabled versions in 2009, and by 2012 nearly all consumer devices will include at least one MEMS chip, according to an analyst panel at the conference. MEMS also will pioneer application areas—for instance, drastically cutting power requirements and increasing brightness and color accuracy of flat-panel displays, starting in 2010.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212001531
Audio: http://homepage.mac.com/guitarmedia/interviews/rcjMEMS.mp3
