With the vigorous promotion of "Made in China 2025," the "Internet Plus" action plan, and the "National Integrated Circuit Industry Development Promotion Outline," the importance of sensor technology and the sensor industry is becoming increasingly prominent. As a crucial component of the Internet of Things (IoT) sensing layer, what progress has been made in the application of sensors in automotive electronics, consumer electronics, biomedicine, industry, agriculture, and other fields ? What are the new development trends in the global IoT and sensor industry ? How can the sensitive components and sensor industry achieve healthy and sustainable development under the new circumstances ?
Achieve 30% domestic production target by 2020
"Electronic components are the foundation of the electronic information industry, and sensitive components and sensors are the foundation of the Internet of Things," Wen Xueli, chairman of the China Electronic Components Industry Association, pointed out. "However, sensitive components and sensors are also the bottleneck of my country's Internet of Things industry, and currently 80% still rely on imports."
Looking back at the "12th Five-Year Plan", China's sensitive components and sensor industry achieved rapid development with an average annual growth rate of 20.9 %. In 2015, sales reached 54.7 billion yuan, exceeding the original target of 36 billion yuan by more than 50%.
Currently, my country's sensor industry has basically taken shape and achieved certain results. It possesses a fairly complete range of product categories, with mid-to-low-end products largely meeting market demand, and its design, R&D, and application levels have improved to some extent. China's sensor industry has formed a complete industrial system from technology R&D, design, production to application, and some sub-sectors have reached world-leading levels.
However, in general, domestically produced sensor products are still mainly low- to mid-range, and their technology is relatively backward. Imports account for 80% of the mid- to high-end sensors in the Chinese market, and there is a serious lack of digital, intelligent, and miniaturized products.
Domestic companies mainly focus on low-end products such as pressure gauges, temperature gauges, and strain gauges, which are low-value-added products. In recent years, several companies have started producing MEMS products, among which microphone products have shown good momentum, but other products such as pressure gauges, accelerometers, and gyroscopes are also relatively low-end products.
During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, driven by a series of favorable factors such as market demand and policy guidance, the competitiveness of my country's sensor industry is expected to be further enhanced.
Gu Qun, Secretary General of the China Electronic Components Industry Association, said that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, my country's electronic components industry (excluding printed circuit boards and batteries) will maintain a medium-speed growth, with an average annual growth rate of about 5%. Among them, the three sub-sectors of hybrid integrated circuits, sensitive components and sensors, and optical devices will maintain a relatively high growth rate, with the growth rate of the sensitive components and sensors industry expected to reach as high as 9%.
Gu Qun believes that with the growth of national enterprises and the continuous increase in the market share of local brands, the goal of achieving 30% localization of sensitive components and sensors will be achieved by 2020 (the localization rate here refers to the proportion of the domestic sales of electronic components products under the independent brand of Chinese electronic component manufacturers in the total domestic market).
IoT applications drive strong market demand
The booming demand for IoT applications is a powerful driving force supporting the achievement of the 30% domestic production target. Sensors are a crucial component of the IoT sensing layer, bearing the heavy responsibility of data collection and transmission, and are the foundation and prerequisite for IoT realization. Data shows that the global IoT market size is expected to reach $11 trillion by 2025, and the corresponding sensor market will also reach a market size of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Currently, a smartphone uses more than a dozen sensors, a high-end car may use hundreds, and a modern smart factory uses tens of thousands of sensors. Sensors have permeated every aspect of people's production and life. Jeremy Rifkin, author of "The Third Industrial Revolution" and "The Zero Marginal Cost Society," boldly predicts that by 2030, the number of sensors used globally will surge from 3.5 billion in 2013 to over 100 trillion, and humans and the natural environment will be closely connected through sensors.
“Through its capabilities in major Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as smart homes, smart lighting, automotive electronics, smart healthcare, smart agriculture, and building structural health monitoring, sensors will create a truly smart life for people,” said Sun Kunquan, Executive Vice President of Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in China.
Take heart rate monitoring as an example. Murata's innovative modular solution combines an accelerometer MEMS sensor, signal processing, and a wireless module to non-contactly measure the cardiac impact scan signal of a patient lying in bed. It can not only separate the patient's motion signal from the bed's motion signal, detecting the patient's swaying, rolling, and stillness, but also monitor sleep quality and the heart rate and respiration of at-resting patients. This allows medical staff to remotely monitor the patient's real-time condition by installing devices with such sensors on hospital beds. Similarly, it is also highly suitable for elderly people living alone and nursing homes.
Jia Yongping, Marketing Director of Sensata Greater China, is very optimistic about the continued growth of the automotive sensor application market. The global automotive sensor market demand will reach US$25.3 billion in 2020, with China being one of the world's three largest automotive sensor markets, reaching US$5.5 billion in 2020 with an average annual growth rate of 8.9 %.
Jia Yongping believes that driven by the demand for more energy-efficient, cleaner, and safer vehicles, the installation rate of many advanced systems in automobiles, such as sensor-controlled air conditioning systems, electronic stability control systems, common rail systems, diesel after-treatment systems, and tire pressure monitoring systems, will continue to increase, and these systems all have a large number of sensor applications.
Sensitive components and sensors also have broad application prospects in the color TV industry. Chen Hezhi, factory director of the color TV plant at TCL Kingstar Color TV Chengdu Co., Ltd., said that in addition to key indicators such as size, resolution, and display technology, the biggest selling point of televisions today is interconnectivity and intelligence. Based on this, sensitive components will undoubtedly play a significant role in the future television industry.
First is the light sensor. A sensor is installed on the TV casing to detect changes in ambient light. It can automatically adjust the TV brightness according to changes in ambient light, thereby achieving energy saving and eye protection functions.
Secondly, a Hall sensor is used to control the power on/off of the projection TV. The specific principle is based on the Hall effect: the potential across a current-carrying conductor changes under the influence of a magnetic field, thereby controlling the conduction and cutoff of a transistor, and thus sending a power-on or power-off signal to the motherboard.
Secondly, a temperature sensor is used to control the heat dissipation of the projection TV's optical engine. When the sensor detects a high temperature, it instructs the CPU to output a signal to the cooling fan, increasing its speed. When the temperature is slightly lower, the CPU outputs a control signal to make the cooling fan run at a lower speed, thereby achieving energy saving and noise reduction.
Finally, the television is controlled via gestures. Currently, gesture sensor output based on electric fields is a well-established human-computer interaction solution, allowing designers to easily integrate 2D multi-touch and 3D gesture recognition functions into their display applications.
Expert opinion:
Professor Tai Huiling of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China: New materials and processes help miniaturize and intelligentize sensors.
Sensors are core components of automatic control and information systems, and a key technological foundation for the Internet of Things (IoT). The new generation of information technologies, represented by mobile internet+, IoT, big data, and cloud computing, are reshaping the information industry ecosystem, promoting the deep integration of informatization and industrialization, and ushering in a new industrial revolution. From the perspective of information system structural elements, the third wave of informatization will further address information collection issues, accelerate the improvement of the basic architecture of information systems, resolve system shortcomings, and truly usher in the sensor era.
As one of the three pillars and the foundation of information technology, sensor technology has attracted significant attention and fierce research pursuit from developed countries worldwide. With ever-increasing demands for precision and accuracy in information detection, traditional sensors can no longer meet the needs of the new era. Therefore, globally, various novel sensors and sensitive functional materials have been researched and developed using modern science and technology. Simultaneously, the introduction of advanced processes such as microfabrication and nanotechnology into manufacturing has enabled sensor technology to develop rapidly and achieve remarkable success.
The future development trends of sensor technology are mainly reflected in four aspects. First, the research and application of new principles, new materials, and new processes. Among these, the recently popular design concept of biomimetic sensors mainly covers two parts: biomimetic sensing mechanisms, including the biomimetic design of sensitive materials and sensing principles, and biomimetic sensor functions. Biomimetic sensitive materials (also known as biomimetic smart materials) and biomimetic principles are the cornerstone and core of the development of biomimetic sensors, directly determining the application value of biomimetic sensor technology. In addition, new materials such as nanomaterials, graphene, silicon nitride, memory materials, and composite materials, as well as innovative processes such as MEMS+NEMS+thin film technology, are also receiving widespread attention from the industry.
Second, integration, miniaturization, and multifunctionality. Currently, various integrated chips are constantly emerging, and companies are facing challenges in many aspects, including low-cost design (MEMS process technology), multifunctional integration (multi-parameter fusion), expansion into new markets and supporting applications (the Internet of Things replacing mobile smart devices), and price pressure.
Thirdly, flexibility. In the era of wearable devices 2.0 , wearable computing and close-fitting intelligence have become the design direction. However, currently, wearable devices are more about changes in form. Whether in terms of product practicality, impact resistance, salt and water resistance, hygiene, lightweight softness and comfort, or interaction, wearable devices still have a very long way to go. One of the biggest constraints is the limitation of manufacturing materials.
Fourthly, there is the aspect of intelligence and networking. Intelligent sensors are sensors equipped with microprocessors, possessing functions such as information detection, processing, memory, logical thinking, and judgment. Structurally, an intelligent sensor is a typical computer-based detection system with a microprocessor at its core, capable of self-diagnosis, self-calibration, logical judgment, statistical processing, self-adaptation, self-adjustment, memory, storage, and data communication. Sensor networks are also a rapidly emerging and cutting-edge research field that has attracted significant international attention, characterized by a high degree of interdisciplinary collaboration and possessing very broad application prospects.
Gu Qun, Secretary General of the China Electronic Components Industry Association: A multi-pronged approach is needed to enhance the overall competitiveness of the industry.
In terms of enhancing the strength of supporting industries, on the one hand, we should focus on key electronic component product categories that urgently need development, and form 1-2 suppliers of key raw materials and components for each category whose technical strength is close to that of well-known foreign brands; on the other hand, we should promote the localization of key production equipment and testing equipment, and strive to achieve 50% localization of general equipment in each sub-sector of electronic components, basically meeting the needs of producing mid-range electronic component products, and achieving global advanced or even leading status in specific sub-markets.
Regarding social responsibility and the credit system, firstly, we will implement the "Administrative Measures for the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Products" to promote energy conservation, consumption reduction, and emission reduction in electronic components that are high in energy and water, contain acids, lead, or cadmium; secondly, we will enhance corporate social responsibility awareness, ensuring that more than 30% of key backbone enterprises in the electronic components industry pass social responsibility standard systems such as SA8000 and OHSAS18000; and thirdly, we will focus on promoting the credit rating evaluation of China's electronic components industry.
In 2014, the State Council issued the "Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System (2014-2020)," which clearly stated that "the content of integrity building should be incorporated into the articles of association of various social organizations, strengthening the integrity and self-discipline of social organizations and improving their credibility. The role of industry associations (chambers of commerce) in industry credit building should be brought into play, and members' integrity publicity, education, and training should be strengthened." Also in 2014, with the approval of the Ministry of Commerce and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, our association, in conjunction with a third-party credit rating agency, began the "Credit Rating Evaluation of Chinese Electronic Components Industry Enterprises," marking the beginning of the construction of a credit rating system for my country's electronic components industry.
On May 30, 2016, the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Joint Incentive System for Trustworthiness and the Joint Punishment System for Untrustworthiness to Accelerate the Construction of Social Credit," which clearly pointed out the need to "improve the mechanism for commending and incentivizing trustworthy behavior" and "give priority to trustworthy market entities and increase support in the implementation of various government preferential policies, such as the allocation of fiscal funds for projects and preferential policies for investment promotion." At the same time, it strengthened industry-specific constraints and punishments for untrustworthy behavior, guided industry associations and chambers of commerce to improve their internal credit information collection and sharing mechanisms, and established member credit files. It also encouraged industry associations and chambers of commerce to conduct credit rating evaluations of member companies.
Over the past year, including the batch collected in the first half of this year, a total of 95 companies have obtained a credit rating of A or above. To reflect the importance of this work, we have adjusted the ranking rules for this year's Top 100 Electronic Components Companies, incorporating the industry's credit rating as one of the scoring criteria. This year, 57 of the Top 100 Electronic Components Companies have already obtained a credit rating of A or above.
We strive to have more than 300 enterprises with a credit rating of A or above during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, and to initially launch a pilot program for a credit blacklist system on the official website of the China Electronic Components Association.
In terms of standardization, firstly, we will optimize and improve relevant national and industry standards for the electronic components industry, and encourage and promote outstanding enterprises to participate in the formulation of international standards; secondly, we will vigorously promote the standardization reform of the electronic components industry, with the association as the core, and promote the formulation of group standards within the industry; and thirdly, we will establish a system for enterprises to self-declare and disclose their product and service standards and a supervision system within the industry.
Sun Kunquan, Executive Vice President of Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. China: Reducing sensor costs and response time, improving accuracy and reliability.
In various IoT applications, sensors transmit information via wireless communication technologies after sensing it. For example, short-range transmission can use Wi-Fi, while long-range transmission utilizes narrowband IoT technology, which Huawei is currently promoting. The data passes through sensor network nodes and is then analyzed by an MCU. There are many noteworthy aspects to the entire sensor workflow.
For example, in the development of sensor technology, new and intelligent materials, self-diagnostic, self-repairing, and self-enhancing adaptive functions, advanced processes, nanotechnology, MEMS technology, and biomimetic sensors are all future development directions. In the development of sensor products, miniaturization, integration, multifunctionality, intelligence, systematization, and networking have also become industry consensus.
In summary, to achieve ubiquitous and ubiquitous sensors, reducing costs and response times, and improving accuracy and reliability are the major directions we should strive for.
Energy self-sufficient systems for sensors used in wireless communication are currently a hot topic of interest. These systems utilize natural power generation and, in conjunction with capacitors, can store electrical energy, eliminating the need for batteries and making them suitable for simple information transmission. Although the current energy harvesting intensity is only 10μW-1mW, it can reach 1W when used with capacitors. This can meet the power supply needs of the sensor and enable information transmission. Murata's photovoltaic elements, in particular, exhibit good power generation capabilities under indoor lighting or low-light conditions, and are designed to be thin, lightweight, and unbreakable, making them easy to use.
This photovoltaic power generation element allows nodes to be set up anywhere there is light, without the need for batteries and wires.
Zhang Li, Plant Manager of Factory No. 4 at Chengdu Hongming Electronics Co., Ltd.: Innovation and Development Break Through the Sensor Industry's "Large but Not Strong" Nature
Sensors, situated at the perception layer of the Internet of Things (IoT), serve as the window for sensing, acquiring, and detecting information within the IoT, playing a crucial role in modern information technology. However, key components, materials, and equipment related to sensors still rely on imports. Chinese companies not only have to purchase them at high prices, but some products even face embargoes and blockades. China's sensitive components and sensor industry is "large but not strong." How can we innovate and develop to improve the industry's core competitiveness ?
First, we should stand on the shoulders of giants to accelerate our climb to the peak of technology.
Data has become a crucial asset for enterprises and a core driver of innovation. The "Big Data Era" has arrived, and data analytics capabilities have become a core competitive advantage for businesses. With the development of the Internet+ and cloud computing, the volume of real-time data is exploding.
Second, we must build a good design platform so that we don't lose at the starting line.
The performance of a component depends on its microstructure, materials, structure, and manufacturing process. Key electrical performance parameters should include both rated and limiting values. If our product design parameters only include a few standard parameters, our product is already at a disadvantage from the start.
Third, technological and process improvements determine success or failure.
The construction of a process platform is crucial for the transition of a product from trial production to mass production. As the saying goes, "To do something well, you must first have the right tools." For the same product, advanced process equipment can improve the yield rate, increase production efficiency, boost output, reduce costs, and create a core technological competitiveness that is difficult for others to replicate. Therefore, it is essential to grasp the key points and be bold in overcoming difficulties, including the control of certain process details.
Fourth, we should focus on cost factors to achieve overall optimization and innovation.
Product reliability is created; taking preventative measures is the most effective approach.
