Dr. Douglas Sparks

Dr Douglas Sparks is the founder of M2N Technologies LLC. M2N Technologies is a consulting firm specializing in the MEMS and Semiconductors technology, product and process commercialization and supply chains. Dr. Sparks has international business experience in these fields in the US, China, Japan and Europe in medical, industrial, aerospace, semiconductors, consumer and automotive applications. He has worked at large MEMS IDMs, start-ups and MEMS foundries. Doug was the CTO of Hanking Electronics which built the first 200mm pure MEMS wafer fab in China. He also led technology acquisition, foundry process and MEMS related product development at Hanking. He founded a microsensor packaging company called NanoGetters, which was acquired by Materion. He was the EVP at Integrated Sensing Systems where he launched multiple microfluidic sensor products, including an FDA approved MEMS drug infusion device and industrial products acquired by Endress + Hauser. Doug worked in automotive sensors and semiconductor fabs with Delphi. Dr. Sparks holds a PhD in materials engineering from Purdue University and has published more than 120 technical papers and has 70 issued patents.

MEMS Global Landscape Overview and Challenges

The requirements for a successful semiconductor ecosystem will be discussed along with the global distribution of CMOS and MEMS foundries and OSAT packaging participants in the industry. A cost breakdown for the wafer fabrication, packaging and test of typical MEMS products will be overviewed. A Case Study of the speaker’s experience in starting up a MEMS semiconductor industrial park and high-volume 200mm wafer fab in China will be outlined. The element required to design, construct, staff and equip this wafer fab will be part of the Case Study. Applying the lessons learned in China to starting a similar foundry facility in Oman will be covered, as will potential strategies for building a local semiconductor ecosystem in the Gulf region. Comparison in capabilities and development strategies between similarly sized Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia and that of Oman’s will also be discussed.