New-Tech Europe Magazine | Q1 2021

Imec increases focus on industry-ready sensor and actuator developments Paul Heremans , IMEC

The large number of sensors and actuators in industrial equipment or mainstream household devices is hard to ignore. Visual and touch interfaces are omnipresent on industrial equipment, as well as all kinds of sensors that tell exactly what is going on inside the machinery. A bit like the evolution in household printers, guiding you step by step whenever a sheet of paper gets stuck or an ink cartridge needs replacement. Nowadays, even an electrical toothbrush comes with OLED screen and Bluetooth connectivity. Imec internally reorganized and upgraded its activities on sensor and actuator technologies to better cater to the evolving needs of this growing industry. A shift towards higher TRL levels in combination with more pro-active developments

on specific applications are amongst the strategies, as Paul Heremans, vice president sensors and energy technologies at imec, explains. Market trends The number of sensor and actuator devices in industrial and consumer devices has never been so high. The industrial-sensors market exceeded $20B in 2019, according to a report by Global Market Insights. The demand in sectors such as manufacturing, energy&power and healthcare will push global shipments of industrial sensors above three billion units by 2026. A staggering number, and at the same time only half of what is observed in the imaging industry. IC Insights estimates image-sensor shipments to surpass six billion units in 2020 already. Which might not come as a

surprise knowing there’s an average of more than three cameras in each smartphone nowadays. Key to back these immense growth numbers are the scalability of the sensor and actuator devices and their building blocks. Scalability in terms of ‘manufacturing capacity at acceptable cost’ and scalability often also in terms of ‘downscaling their form factor to fit into embedded or mobile devices’. Take for example a high-end infrared camera. Depending on the desired specs, its current price point can go up and around ten thousand euros. Which puts it within reach of only a limited number of application areas such as military and space. Once similar capabilities can be integrated at the fraction of the cost (and size), an explosion of new markets and use cases can happen in industries

20 l New-Tech Magazine Europe