Micro-Tech, Mega Impact: MEMS Shaping the Future of Experience

Venue: IME A*STAR – MPH 1 and 2 (Multi-Purpose Hall)
Fusionopolis Two, Innovis, Level 1, MPH 4 Fusionopolis Way Singapore 138635

 

08:15 – 08:55

Registration

09:00 – 09:20

Keynote

MEMS leadership in turbulent times

The MEMS industry is living in turbulent times. Geopolitical tensions, tariffs and regulatory changes are causing us to rethink our supply chains, to meet changing customer needs and to deal with unforeseen shortages in strategic materials, used in our sensors. The rapid adoption of AI opens opportunities in many areas of our business from product development over manufacturing to integration of AI enabled features in our sensors.

To successfully lead through these turbulent times requires resilience through in-house manufacturing, strong partnerships and a mindset of relentless innovation. The speech will highlight how these attributes are the key ingredients of ST’s ongoing success in MEMS.

Anton Hofmeister

Group Vice President – GM Central R&D

STMicroelectronics

09:25 – 09:45

The Future of MEMS – Pathways for Innovation and Collaboration

MEMS technology provides miniaturization, precision, and scalability, while quantum technologies introduce superposition, entanglement, and unprecedented sensitivity. The convergence of these fields enables hybrid quantum–MEMS systems with transformative potential. European quantum pilot lines offer fertile ground for accelerating such innovation, but strong cooperation across disciplines will be essential to fully realize their promise. Early demonstrations, such as quantum sensing for next-generation GPS and pathways toward chip-scale entanglement, highlight how these technologies can unlock novel device functionalities. Exploring this synergy will define new frontiers for MEMS and shape the future of quantum-enabled applications.

Christina Hirschl, Ph.D.

CEO

Silicon Austria Labs (SAL)

09:50 – 10:10

Building a MEMS and Optoelectronics Platform to Enable Technological and Industrial Innovation

R&D pilot platforms are essential for advancing MEMS and silicon photonics, providing the foundation for transforming research breakthroughs into manufacturable technologies. SITRI has built China’s first open 8-inch “More-than Moore” platform dedicated to MEMS and silicon photonics development. It supports the entire innovation chain from design and process development to pilot production, mass production, testing and packaging—enabling rapid prototyping and industrial scaling. SITRI also fosters an innovation ecosystem that connects industry, academia, and research. Through joint development projects, shared facilities, and incubation programs, it accelerates technology transfer and the commercialization of emerging microsystems. By combining strong process capabilities with collaborative innovation, SITRI has become a key enabler of industrial transformation in MEMS and silicon photonics, strengthening the foundation for next-generation intelligent sensing and optical interconnection technologies.

Wei Wang, Ph.D.

Senior Director

Shanghai Industrial Technology Research Institute (SITRI)

10:15 – 10:35

A new MEMS manufacturing paradigm – democratized fabrication

Accelerating innovation in MEMS devices requires the establishment of a new manufacturing paradigm that democratizes access to microfabrication. In an ever-more interconnected world powered by IoT sensors and actuators, new application-specific technologies are rapidly emerging with unique fabrication requirements. Traditional manufacturing approaches create significant barriers to entry, limiting innovation to well-funded organizations. InchFab has developed a modular fabrication platform that breaks down these barriers, enabling rapid prototyping and production of custom MEMS devices. This democratized approach to MEMS fabrication accelerates device development cycles and empowers a broader community of innovators to bring their microscale ideas to life, ushering in a new era of accessible microfabrication innovation.

Mitchell Hsing, Ph.D.

CEO

InchFab

10:40 – 11:00

MEMS-CMOS Integration: Process Innovation Enabling the Future Experiences

This talk highlights Silterra’s CMOS-MEMS integration platforms and scalable manufacturing driving the next generation of intelligent microsystems. Material breakthroughs like Aluminum Scandium Nitride (AlScN) enable high-performance piezoelectric MEMS for CMOS-PMUT integrated devices, while Silterra’s MOEMS integrated platform pushes boundaries by seamlessly combining mechanical, optical, and electronic components into manufacturable systems, including micromirrors and other MEMS solutions. Application examples, such as ultrasound imaging in healthcare and smart headlamps (ADB) in automotive, show how these advances move from research to real-world applications, paving the way for smarter, safer, and more connected user experiences.

Timothy Lee

Senior Director, Business Development

SilTerra

11:05 – 11:25

Seamless MEMS-CMOS Integration Enabled by TSRI’s Design and Service Platform

Implementing MEMS sensors and actuators by using CMOS foundry processes is attractive because of the high fabrication accuracy and good reliability. More attractively, the possibility of monolithic integration of MEMS components and interface/control circuitry enables the realization of complete micro systems on a chip. Leveraging the strength of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan, Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI) has been bridging the academia and industry in semiconductor/MEMS design and fabrication. In this talk, I will present a number of CMOS-MEMS sensors, actuators, and computing devices enabled by TSRI’s Design and Service Platform. Their recent initiative to foster international collaboration will also be introduced.

Yi Chiu, Ph.D.

Professor

National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

11:25 – 11:50

Networking Coffee & Tea Break

New Applications & Use Cases Driving Technology

11:55 – 12:15

Fast-Tracking PiezoMEMS: From Concept to Manufacturing Readiness

This talk presents the recent advancements in piezoelectric MEMS (piezoMEMS) technology at the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), A*STAR, and highlights the strategy to accelerate the transition from innovative concepts to manufacturing-ready solutions.

Zhu Yao, Ph.D.

Head of MEMS Department

Institute of Microelectronics, A*STAR

12:20 – 12:40

New Generation AI glasses and Micro Cooling Technology

Joseph Jiang

CEO & Co-Founder

xMEMS Labs

12:45 – 13:05

Challenges in Modeling and Simulation of MEMS

Faster MEMS Development: Reducing Tapeouts
MEMS development is time-consuming and costly. As mechanical structures—whether accelerometers, gyros, or micromirrors—become more complex, meeting specifications grows increasingly difficult. Process Design Kits (PDKs) are also more sophisticated, adding to the challenge. This presentation demonstrates how to significantly reduce the number of tapeouts needed to develop a production-ready sensor. Learn how advanced modeling and simulation can accelerate development, cut costs, and improve first-time-right success. Whether you’re designing next-generation inertial sensors or or revise existing designs, this talk provides practical methods to streamline your design process and shorten time-to-market.

Jan Mehner

Managing Director

i-ROM

13:10 – 14:10

Networking Lunch

Research & Academia

14:15 – 14:35

Silicon Photonic Optical Circuit Switch (OCS) for AI Networks

Optical circuit switching (OCS) is essential for resolving network bottlenecks in AI supercomputing, offering a high-speed, reconfigurable interconnect with ultra-low latency for data-intensive workloads. Current 3D free-space OCS systems used by hyperscalers are bulky and expensive. Fully integrated 2D OCS provides a path to drastically cut size, cost, and energy consumption while simultaneously boosting switching speed. This talk presents a novel, 2D silicon photonic OCS. We integrate micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) actuators with silicon photonics to physically move optical waveguides, a technique particularly effective for high-radix OCS designs.

Ming Wu, Ph.D.

Professor

UC Berkeley

14:40 – 15:00

Commercialization of MEMS-based ultrasonics

Over the last 10 years, my group has developed and commercialized PMUT-based systems for consumer electronics applications, starting with air-coupled PMUTs used for time-of-flight (ToF) range-finding and human presence sensing. These ToF sensors were commercialized by my startup, Chirp Microsystems (now part of TDK), and are used in many products such as smart-locks, robot vacuum cleaners, and laptops. We subsequently developed an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor based on the monolithic integration of PMUTs with CMOS that is used for biometric authentication.

David Horsley, Ph.D.

Professor

Northeastern University

Startup Session

15:05 – 15:25

Intelligent Gas Sensing at Scale: From Electrified Mobility to Smart Energy

Gas sensing is emerging as a cornerstone for safety and intelligence in next-generation mobility and energy systems. However, today’s solutions remain critically limited in performance, scalability, and reliability for applications such as EV battery prognostics and smart energy networks. Serinus Labs addresses this gap with ultra-low power, application-specific sensors designed for mass manufacturability — enabling safer battery systems, smarter energy networks, and frontier energy exploration.

Hossain Fahad, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Serinus Labs

15:30 – 15:50

Unprecedented Cost Effective Thermal Imaging Sensor fabricated solely in CMOS Fab for AI Applications

As AI technology accelerates, the demand for low-cost, mass-producible thermal imagers is growing—driven by the need for high-quality data to train AI models and enable intelligent applications across industries such as smart appliances, automotive, IoT, healthcare, and security. Meridian Innovation’s SenXor™ platform addresses this need with thermal imaging sensors built on a scalable, hybrid silicon CMOS structure. This design supports compact, cost-effective manufacturing and is backed by a robust and efficient supply chain.

Piotr Kropelnicki, Ph.D.

VP of Engineering & Co-Founder

Meridian Innovation

15:55 – 16:15

Seeing the invisible: real-time chemistry revealed in your wet bench with next generation semiconductor infrared spectroscopy

In semiconductor manufacturing, every detail matters, even a small process drift can mean costly waste or lost yield. Inline chemical monitoring is essential for those who want to push precision further and minimize risk.Paeonia has developed the Novel Mid-IR Spectrometer to provide rapid, real-time chemical analysis (900–3,500 cm⁻¹, ~0.3 s response, ~5 × 5.5 × 6 cm) directly in your process stream.Our talk will show how with new innovative technology, we can improve on key wet-process steps—etching (device dimensions), cleaning (contamination), and electroplating (voids).

Lennon Lee, Ph.D.

CEO

Paeonia Innovations

16:20 – 16:40

Zepsor: Sensing Without Power — Enabling the Next Wave of Human–Machine Interfaces

Edge AI is only as useful as its ability to know when a human is there. Zepsor’s zero-power infrared MEMS sensors provide that missing link by operating in an off-but-alert state—harvesting ambient IR to mechanically trigger a microswitch and wake systems only on a target event. This event-driven architecture eliminates standby drain and enables truly always-ready human–machine interfaces across wearables and smart glasses, AR/VR, smart buildings, automotive cabins, healthcare/public touchless systems, and security.

In this talk, I’ll unpack what zero-power sensing means for scaling edge AI sustainably and show how our patented device physics translates into instant presence/gesture detection with near-zero standby power. I’ll also preview customer traction and the multi-segment market opportunity for low-power HMIs, and detail our lab-to-fab transition—including initial prototypes from a commercial foundry featuring wafer-level vacuum-sealed devices. To close, I’ll present a video demonstration of instant detection in action and discuss how “off-but-alert” sensing unlocks responsive, human-centric AI at massive scale.

Matteo Rinaldi

Co-founder & CEO

Zepsor Technologies

16:45 – 17:15

Networking Coffee Break

17:20 – 17:40

Project-based Talent Development for MEMS Industry – a case study

In this talk, we present the R&D projects, emploment placement, and scientific publication outcomes of MEMS talent development under a joint scheme amongst Melon Tech, Shanghai University and the National Innovation Center par Excellence. With this joint scheme, graduate students from Shanghai University engage in industrial R&D projects identified by Melon Tech, a Hi-Tech MEMS startup company, with partial Scholarship earmarked to.encourage project-based learning. The results suggest that the scheme is much welcome by the students, the collaboration industrial partner, as well as the broad MEMS industry in China.

Yuandong Gu, Ph.D.

Vice President

National Innovation Center par Excellence

17:45 – 18:05

Beyond Moore’s Law: Sustainable Semiconductor Investments in the AI Era

As the semiconductor industry moves beyond the focus of traditional Moore’s Law scaling, there is a growing recognition of the critical need for innovations that can harmonize rapid expansion with long-term sustainability. The urgency of this transformation has intensified due to the surge in AI-driven development, as the resulting demand for computational power is placing tremendous strain on power grids and raising environmental concerns. In response, corporations and VCs are directing investments into emerging materials, novel devices, and advanced manufacturing technologies, which promise to minimize energy consumption and carbon footprint, while supporting the rapid proliferation of AI data centers and more.

Michelle Kiang, Ph.D.

Founding Managing Partner

MTM Venture Partners

18:10 – 18:25

Closing Remarks

18:30 – 21:00

Dinner Offsite

Venue: Pietrasanta Ristorante 

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