If it is difficult to start a chip business, it is even more difficult to start a MEMS chip business, and the difficulty is mainly reflected in the difficulty of transforming research and development results. Because the manufacturing process and integrated circuit chips are completely different, and the manufacturing processes of different types of MEMS chips are not the same, chip research and development companies often find it difficult to find tape-out manufacturers to mass-produce after making experimental chips, and even if they achieve mass production, it is difficult to gain a foothold in a highly fragmented market. Therefore, there are few domestic enterprises engaged in the research and development and production of MEMS chips for a long time.
In order to break this passive situation in the international market and even achieve import substitution, in 2018, Zhongkemi Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. came into being. In recent years, Zhongke Miwei has persevered and committed to tackling tough problems, successfully solved a series of core key technical problems such as chip design, manufacturing and packaging and testing, and then opened up the complete industrial chain of optical communication MEMS chips. Its commercial products can fully realize the import substitution of similar products, and it has certain advantages over foreign counterparts in terms of "cost" and "service".
After becoming the world's third and only supplier of key chips in the core module of optical communication, Zhongke Miwei has further developed a series of MEMS scanning mirrors that can be used for lidar and head-up displays, as well as MEMS sensor chips. Based on this, Zhongke Miwei has developed a number of MEMS chip products, some of which have been mass-produced, supplying nearly 20 major domestic optical device companies, and achieving revenue of more than 32 million yuan in 2021.
Although the road to innovation is full of difficulties and challenges, Zhongke Miwei has not given up, and with perseverance and will to solve the relevant "card neck" technology of MEMS chip research and development and mass production, break the foreign monopoly and contribute to the localization of MEMS chips. So, how did ZhongkeMice conquer one fortress after another? What are the key technological breakthroughs achieved? What are the future development plans? To this end, Jiwei Network interviewed Xu Jing, technical director of Zhongkemi Micro, and Li Wei, deputy director of technology, to answer them one by one.
Jiwei Network: As the only domestic and the third largest supplier of key chips for optical communication core modules, how does Zhongkemi micro do it?
Zhongke Miwei: Zhongke Miwei can achieve today's results, I think the key is to insist on not giving up. Our samples were actually made very early, but because of the immature conditions for mass production, insufficient trust from customers, imperfect supply chains, etc., it took a long time to go to mass production. During this period, even though we faced many difficulties, we did not give up our goal, but worked hard in the direction we had to work in the direction we had with the support of all walks of life.
Secondly, the accumulation of early technology is also very important. The Technical Team of Zhongke Mi Micro technology comes from the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has been doing related topics related to the combination of optical communication and MEMS since 2004, including cooperation projects with leading domestic optical device companies. Although the product was not very mature at that time, we firmly believe that MEMS technology has its absolute advantages and uses in the intelligent control of optical communication. Later, the Shanghai Microtechnology Industry Research Institute also gave us strong support in the aspects of tape-out verification and test analysis platform. To put it simply, after a long period of technical accumulation, ZhongkeMiwei Company has now blossomed and borne fruit.
In addition, although the release of products is relatively late, the company can be targeted according to the pain points of customer use, and the product deficiencies of international counterparts have been upgraded and transformed, so it has a certain advantage of being a latecomer.
Jiwei Network: In the process of attacking the MEMS chip of the core module of optical communication, what key technologies or important breakthroughs have been achieved by Zhongkemice?
Zhongke Miwei: In terms of key processes, we have broken through the technologies of multi-step etching, silicon-silicon bonding, step engraving alignment and optical mirror degumming treatment. However, in order to truly do mass production, it is necessary to fully open up the production process from tape-out and testing to dicing and back-channel processing. Unlike IC chip Fabless, which has specialized chip design, tape-out, foundry and packaging testing, each link of the optical MEMS chip production process has no ready-made specifications, such as how to test, which indicators to measure, and what equipment to test without relevant standards. Therefore, we must grope for solutions to the problems that arise in each link.
In addition, for optical communication MEMS micromirror chips, different customers may use different packaging methods, so it is not possible to use standard packaging to protect the chip itself like IC chips, usually delivered in bare Die. But bare Die delivery is risky and needs to overcome key issues such as dust and particle contamination. In this regard, Zhongke Micro has gradually established a complete set of perfect quality inspection processes to ensure that the quality of micromirrors chips meets customer requirements.
Jiwei network: Domestic manufacturers usually only focus on a certain link in the semiconductor industry chain, and Zhongkemi micro has opened up the entire industrial chain of optical communication MEMS chips. Why was there such a plan in the first place? How long does it take to open up the industrial chain?
Zhongke Miwei: Optical communication MEMS chips to truly achieve product commercialization, must open up the industrial chain, no matter which link of the problem will lead to the final commercialization. Based on the accumulation in the early stage and the "favorable time and place", Zhongkemiwei has reached the current relatively good state. Our first product to open up the whole process should be from 2013, when the domestic tape-out verification, then to the foreign tape-out to mass production, and finally back to the domestic mass production. But the real independent mass production should be in 2019, before and after the overall experience of about 6 years of long time.
Jiwei network: Compared with international competitors, what are the outstanding advantages of Optical Communication MEMS chips such as VOA (Tunable Optical Attenuator), OSW (Optical Switch), AND TOF (Tunable Optical Filter) of Zhongkemico?
Zhongke Miwei: Overall, I think the level is quite comparable, and individual indicators may be superior to us. One is because the design principle of this type of chip is basically similar, and the other is because we will optimize it according to the customer's application needs. In addition, on the basis of import substitution products, we can also develop new product models according to customer needs. For example, some customers want the angle slope of the product to be larger and the mirror surface to be larger, and we will comprehensively analyze the market demand for new product development. In contrast, we have closer contact with domestic customers and can provide more convenient and high-quality customized services.
Jiwei network: Zhongke Miwei's products are both domestic substitution and benchmark foreign products. So, from the customer's point of view, the motivation for their replacement is more reflected in the flexibility of the company's products or in the cost?
Zhongke Miwei: Objectively speaking, there are both. On the one hand, the international form of the environment, now domestic customers are willing to try domestic chips, otherwise they can only be "card neck" by foreign suppliers. On the other hand, because the product industry chain of Zhongke Miwei is all in China, there must be certain advantages in cost. Overall, unlike other industries, optical communications are relatively more concerned with performance. Sometimes for safety, customers don't necessarily really value price as much, but put performance first. However, if you want to occupy a larger market share, you must show an advantage in terms of cost.
Zhongkemi micro MEMS micromi microscopic products (Courtesy of the interviewee)
Jiwei Network: In the field of scanning mirror products, compared with traditional mechanical radar, what are the advantages of Sinocom micro's hybrid solid-state MEMS lidar scanning mirror?
Zhongke Miwei: First of all, compared with traditional mechanical radar, which requires scanning parts such as motors and bearings, hybrid solid-state MEMS lidar scanning parts are smaller and lighter. Second, hybrid solid-state radar can be mass-manufactured to reduce costs while lasting longer. Because of this, it can gradually move from a very segmented mapping market to a relatively large consumer market.
Because the traditional mechanical radar is too large, it becomes a problem to install on the car. Hybrid solid-state MEMS lidar or pure solid-state radar, perhaps now the performance is not comparable to traditional mechanical radar, but has been developing upgrades. If the technology is more optimized and stable, coupled with a smaller size and convenient application, it will become a mainstream trend in the future. However, in some areas that are not limited by volume and life, traditional mechanical radar still has the advantage of high precision, so it will coexist with hybrid solid-state and pure solid-state radar in the future.
Jiwei Network: What is the development progress of ZhongkeMiwei's MEMS scanning mirror chip? In what areas will the positioning application be used in the future?
Zhongkemi micro: The larger the scanning mirror, the more difficult the design and production process, so the development of Zhongkemi microscanned mirror chip is also gradually advancing according to the difficulty. At present, the first product we have developed, the two-millimeter diameter MEMS scanner, has been relatively mature, and the beam horizontal and vertical scanning angles can reach 60 degrees and 30 degrees respectively. In addition, the four-millimeter diameter scanning mirror product has completed the first version of the tape-out, which can basically meet certain indicators, but there are still areas that need to be improved, and the final application is expected to be realized after the optimization is completed. The simple summary is that the MEMS scanning mirror products of Zhongke Micro, which adopt electrostatic drive mode, mature process, easy to mass manufacture, are currently mainly positioned in the field of laser radar applications such as automobile assisted driving, service robots, and intelligent transportation.
Micro network: The optical communication module and the lidar scan mirror of Zhongkemi Micro are used in MEMS. So what are their similarities or differences in design or process?
Zhongkemi micro: Optical communication MEMS micromirrors are generally quasi-static applications, that is, the angle of the micromirror needs to remain stable under a certain voltage, but the scanning mirror must always be in the scanning working state. Therefore, the two application methods have different requirements for chip structure. Specifically, optical communication MEMS micromirrors are direct voltage control angles, and the voltage corresponds to the angle one-to-one, usually open-loop control. This places high demands on the stability of the production process. However, when the scanner reaches a large angle through resonance, closed-loop control is required if the amplitude is stable, which can achieve timing calibration.
Optical communication MEMS chips and scanning mirrors have different design priorities and process complexity. Since the two-dimensional scanning mirror of Zhongkemice combines the two driving modes of quasi-static and harmonious oscillation, the product process is actually more complicated. At the same time, the scanner also needs to achieve internal feedback and encapsulate into a scanner drive module to make it more convenient for customers.
Jiwei Network: For MEMS scanning mirror products that can be used for lidar and head-up indicators, is the future development plan of Zhongke Micro vigorously developed or a small test knife?
Zhongkemiwei: MEMS scanning mirror products that can be used for lidar and head-up indicators, the specific index requirements are completely different. According to the market demand, if the demand is more clear or strategic cooperation with customers, we will definitely invest heavily. At present, the scale of Zhongkemi Micro is still small, and the focus of recent research and development is still on optical communication MEMS chips. However, the company will also adjust resources according to market signals in a timely manner, and increase investment in the research and development and mass production of scanning mirror products.
Jiwei network: In terms of planning, the positioning of Zhongkemi Micro is to do MEMS micromirror series product line, including the previous fist product optical communication chip, and the MEMS scanning mirror now developed. However, the design form and customer cooperation method of these two types of products are different, and in the long run, will the company have a bias of focus?
Zhongke Miwei: Zhongke Miwei's products are cut from the subdivision field, gradually expanded, and at the same time, within the scope of technical capabilities, the advantages are fully exerted. For example, we first did the optical communication MEMS chip, and then extended to the MEMS scanning mirror. Because their underlying processes are similar, and we have enough technical accumulation. In general, our current thinking is still committed to optical communication MEMS chips, gradually iterative upgrading, from small mirror small angle products to large mirror large angle products, from low-end independent mirror products to high-end micro mirror array products, to provide the best customized services for downstream customers. While expanding the range of optical micromirror products from point to surface, the company will methodically select and follow up according to the maturity of the market.