Title
Miniaturisation of a colour sensor by MCM
The miniaturisation achieves a reduction of the dimension of 98% and lower production costs
Technologies used

MCM

Industrial sector (PRODCOM code)
    333 Industrial Process Control Equipment
    332 Instruments for measurements
Abstract
The company UWE SPECK SENSORSYSTEME (USS) is an SME founded January 1994 in Jena (East Germany). The manager and employees came from the companies Carl Zeiss and JENOPTIK. USS's main business fields are the design, manufacturing and sales of optical sensor systems.

The objective of the AE was to capture additional market shares by the miniaturisation of the company's colour sensor "FENSOR", which is used for colour recognition in manufacturing processes. This sensor was based on conventional PCB and SMD technology. To achieve the object of the AE the Multi Chip Module technology was introduced in our business. The new system allows more flexibility in configuration of sensor systems and a better adaptability to customer needs.

Potential customers are other OEM sensor companies, system-integrators, distributors and end-users like printing industry, paper and colour industry, machine building companies. In detail, the new solution contains an AT90S8515 CPU from ATMEL. This results in faster measuring and evaluation capabilities of colours. The size reduction of the system is 98%, the new device is 50times smaller than the old. Furthermore the new solution is characterised by the ability of in-circuit programming of the system. This reduces the testing cost after assembling of the system.

Within the experiment USS obtained knowledge in the introduction of new technologies (especially MCM) and manufacturing as well as corresponding test strategies of MCM-circuits.

Beside the technical lessons learned USS understood what it means to introduce new technologies in close co-operation with an experienced subcontractor as best practise. Furthermore USS learned that it is necessary to spend enough time for a detailed testing and to create test points within a MCM design. Additional costs for the industrialisation should be planned at the start of the AE.

The AE was started in January 1998 and finished in June1999, this results in a duration of 18 month, with a funding of 62 k€. With the estimated sales figures of the new product a payback period of about 12 month and a ROI of about 313% over a 3 year lifetime of the product can be calculated.
Company
UWE SPECK SENSORSYSTEME
Göschwitzer Str. 32
D-07745 Jena
Germany
Detailed information
You can also benefit from microelectronics

MCM technology provided UWE SPECK SENSORSYSTEME with the means of improving its products and enhancing its market position. You can also achieve significant benefits by acquiring the right microelectronics technology and utilising it in your product or manufacturing process. You can get help from FUSE to realise this.

FUSE is a technology transfer programme, funded by the European Commission to stimulate the wider use of microelectronics technologies by European enterprises to increase their competitiveness and enhance their economic growth. The demonstrator described here is one of many examples in the public FUSE portfolio covering the whole spectrum of microelectronics technologies and spanning a wide range of applications and industry sectors.

FUSE provides you with:

  • Best practice in acquiring specific microelectronics technologies and conducting full development projects through the FUSE portfolio of real life demonstrator documents.
  • Local training and expert support to plan your innovation realistically and help you conduct your project successfully.

Further information and support relating to this and other demonstrators can be obtained from the addresses below.
Further information   Guiding Technology Transfer Node
For further information and support regarding this case study, please contact a Technology Transfer Node (TTN) in your region.
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