On April 8, Ulvac reached a basic agreement with the German firm Robert Bosch, a global leader in the area of MEMS sensors, regarding the joint development of piezoelectric (PZT) element devices for MEMS.

Ulvac will develop low temperature, mass-production type PZT sputtering technology for MEMS devices with CMOS installed as the world’s first. This will become the mainstream for next generation MEMS devices.

Bosch will employ the sputtering device SME-200 based on this technology of Ulvac for use with the development of state-of-the-art MEMS. Up to now, Ulvac, along with the development of MEMS technology, has developed and commercialized sensors and actuators using PZT elements for the sensors. For semiconductor fabrication technology, such as the formation of thin film and dry etching, for what will become important technology for higher quality piezoelectric element, the company plans to put a main focus into the development of PZT element devices for MEMS in conjunction with Bosch.