“Ron’s work combines the two needed areas for MEMS commercialization to thrive. He mastered the science but knew that the business side especially the cost of manufacturing had a huge impact on market acceptability and success. His work will impact the landscape of MEMS commercialization. Well written and done.”

Prof. Sul Kassicieh - Anderson School of Management, USA

“This book provides a highly readable in-depth discussion of the various processes and costs involved in the manufacture of MEMS devices. Fabrication, testing and packaging techniques are reviewed together with their cost implications and comparisons. Compared to the related IC manufacturing industry where detailed in-depth cost analysis is a critical driver in any new product development, in the MEMS industry manufacturing cost analysis models are currently relatively immature. Thus, by addressing this issue head-on, the book becomes a valuable and timely contribution which will be of great interest to those involved in the economics of manufacturing MEMS devices.”

Prof. Malcolm Gower - Imperial College London

“There wasn’t anyone more knowledgeable than Prof. Ron Lawes when it came to cost calculations of MEMS devices and its fabrication processes. This books reflects the width of his knowledge and the depth of his insight in the complex world of MEMS manufacturing. It is compulsory reading for each MEMS designer who takes his job seriously.”

Henne van Heeren - enablingMNT, the Netherlands

“We have all been waiting for a real-world book dealing with MEMS. The early chapters of this book provide a useful historical background of the topic that leads into an excellent introduction of each of the manufacturing processes used by the industry. Later chapters develop sophisticated cost analysis that, rightly, is rooted in the basic science and engineering that underpins each of the fundamental manufacturing processes. Detailed examples are worked up for the costs of high-volume production of accelerometers and microphones, concluding with an engineer’s view of the business issues related to implementing the technology. This is an invaluable resource for any new entrant to the subject or any researcher wishing to understand the fundamental limitations of the industrial processes. In addition, this is a comprehensive reference for any sophisticated developer or anybody contemplating applying MEMS processes to their products and wishing to know which processes to select and what their scaling impacts could be.”

Dr. Erol Harvey - MiniFAB, Australia

“If this was just a book on MEMS technology, it would still be an excellent reference; however, it goes much further than this.

“It focuses on the real issue with MEMS, i.e., it is not just an interesting technology that can produce very small, novel and innovative devices, but it importantly and crucially focuses on costs and hence their economic manufacture. As a technology spawned from mainstream semiconductors, this should have been obvious, as this is what made semiconductors so successful, but many have only focused on the technology, which may explain the slow success of MEMS.

“This excellent, well-written, clear and easy-to-understand book, packed with practical advice and examples, will help you decide if a MEMS device can be fabricated economically and profitably in high volumes. If you are already in, or are thinking of entering, the MEMS industry, then you need this book on your desk! Otherwise you might have an interesting journey but empty pockets, and end up looking for a new job at the end!”

Rob Santilli - Applied Microengineering Ltd., UK

• Attempts to enable fabrication, testing, and packaging of MEMS to be approached with a clear costing methodology in a unique way


• Examines costs and market prices of MEMS accelerometers and MEMS microphones  and their major commercial applications


• Describes in sufficient detail the special manufacturing technology that company accountants need to understand and the financial costing constraints that development and production engineers need to understand


• Presents excellent schematic diagrams and photographs of each piece of typical manufacturing equipment along with a machine simulator that provides throughput estimates for cost analysis


• Presents extensive data flow diagrams to show how costing information is derived and used to produce cost estimates

MEMS products have developed over the last 20 years to become highly cost competitive rather  than simply novel. While cost analysis for semiconductor design and manufacture is well established, it is less so for MEMS.

This volume seeks to show how cost analysis can be adapted to MEMS, taking into account the wide range of processes and equipment, the major differences with the established semiconductor industry, and the presence of both large-scale, product-orientated manufacturers and small- and medium-scale foundries.

The content examines the processes and equipment sufficiently for the reader to appreciate how costs arise. Appropriate publications are referenced so that such technical details may be examined in detail, outside the confines of cost analysis. Representative costs are examined in sufficient detail and accuracy for specific equipment, processes, products, or foundries to show how financial models can be introduced to estimate the cost and price for a MEMS product.

Academics and industrialists, who  are bringing industrial MEMS products to market from research; research and development engineers, who have to understand the cost implications of their research and methods of fabrication; and those in finance and accounting, who have to bring a product to market for a price