Misplaced Pages

Sand 9

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Sand 9
Company typePrivate
FoundedCambridge, Massachusetts (2007 (2007))
FounderPritiraj Mohanty, Matt Crowley
HeadquartersCambridge, Massachusetts
Key people
  • Pritiraj Mohanty (co-founder)
  • Matt Crowley (co-founder)
  • Vincent Graziani (CEO, president)
Websitewww.sand9.com

Sand 9 is a fabless Micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sand 9 developed a piezoelectric MEMS resonator to serve as an alternative for quartz timing devices in applications such as smart phones, low-power wireless devices, and communications infrastructure equipment.

Sand 9 was co-founded by Pritiraj Mohanty and Matt Crowley in 2007. Vincent Graziani is the CEO.

History

Pritiraj Mohanty, a Boston University physicist, and Matt Crowley, former director of Boston University's technology development fund, co-founded Sand 9 in 2007. The company aimed to produce timing products with a better price-to-performance ratio than quartz in core markets.

Sand 9 introduced their first two products, TM061 and TM361, on September 3, 2013. TM061 and TM361 are precision MEMS timing products for the Internet of Things and mobile devices. On November 18, 2013, the TM651 was introduced for communications infrastructure, industrial and military applications. According to EE Times, a trade publication, the TM651 is the first high-precision temperature compensated MEMS oscillator (TCMO) to meet the noise and stability demands of communication, industrial and military applications. TM061 started sampling to lead customers in November and the TM361 in December 2013.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES, a semiconductor foundry, is Sand 9's foundry partner. GLOBALFOUNDRIES produces approximately one thousand 200 mm wafers per month.

Funding

Flybridge Capital led Sand 9's series A funding round in 2008. Their Series B funding raised $12 million and was reported in May 2010. In June 2012, Sand 9 raised $23 million in its series C funding round, led by Intel with participation from Vulcan capital and Analog Devices. Ericsson contributed $3 million in September 2012.

Piezoelectric Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)

Sand 9 developed its piezoelectric MEMS resonator technology as an alternative to quartz timing devices. Sand 9 uses aluminum nitride, a thin film that is deposited using standard semiconductor/MEMS fabrication technology, for the piezoelectric layer. The silicon MEMS products are smaller than comparable quartz devices and currently operate at fundamental frequencies up to 125 MHz. Silicon-based MEMS products can simplify system design, reduce part counts, simplify the supply chain, and improve manufacturing yields when compared to quartz. Sand 9 MEMS products can be co-packaged and overmolded with standard semiconductor ICs to eliminate the need for external timing.

References

  1. ^ R. Colin Johnson (2014-03-09). "Sand 9 MEMS Cracks Cellphone Market". EE Times. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  2. "MEMS Revenue to Climb a Healthy 8 Percent This Year". IHS Technology. June 2, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  3. Barb Darrow (August 5, 2012). "Top 10 Phat Startups of 2012". Gigaom. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  4. ^ Paul Werbaneth (2013-12-17). "Catching up with Sand 9 at the MEMS Executive Congress 2013". 3D In Cities. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  5. Kyle Alspach (March 9, 2013). "Sand 9 plans Q4 commercial launch, $150M in revenue by 2017". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  6. John Williamson (July 5, 2011). "An Overview of MEMS Based Timing Devices". MEMS Journal. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  7. John Cook (2012-06-19). "Paul Allen and Intel Capital bankroll Sand 9 to reduce dropped calls on cell phones". GeekWire. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  8. ^ Kyle Alspach (2012-11-26). "Sand 9 aims to disrupt $4B timing market in 2013, with better mobile devices a goal". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  9. ^ Steve Taranovich (2013-11-25). "Sand9: The stealth MEMS timing startup". EDN Network. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  10. ^ Tony Massimini (2013-11-20). "Sand9 Rolling Out MEMS Timing Solutions". Semico. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  11. "Sand 9 launches new MEMS timing products". Solid State Technology. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  12. R. Colin Johnson (2013-11-26). "Sand 9 TM651 Is First High-Precision MEMS Oscillator". EE Times. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  13. Graham Pitcher (March 9, 2013). "MEMS developer looks to oust quartz crystals from range of applications". New Electronics. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  14. Erin Kutz (2010-06-24). "Massachusetts Startups Pull in $186M in May; Life Sciences Companies Take the Top Five Deals". Xconomy. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  15. "Intel Capital leads Sand 9 funding round, joins Board". Solid State Technology. 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  16. "Piezoelectric MEMS Oscillators: Comparison to Quartz Crystals and Capacitive MEMS Solutions". MEMS Journal. May 7, 2012. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
Category: