Other Silicon
Valley Sensor Companies
EG&G/IC Sensors
IC Sensors was started by Don Lynam in 1983 and Don was joined shortly thereafter
by Janusz Bryzek. The majority of the funding was from Borg Warner to develop
automotive MAP sensors. Eventually IC Sensors became very active in blood
pressure and for awhile this was their most successful product line. Rick
Schaffzin was hired by the Board of Directors in the late eighties. The company
became the leader in silicon crash sensors for automotive air bags with Breed
as one of their largest customers. The company was sold to EG&G in 1994
and reports to the Reticon Group of EG&G (Ed Snow), a group Rick had
worked for after leaving National Semiconductor. Rick left IC Sensors shortly
after the acquisition and is currently not active in the industry. IC Sensors,
Novasensors and Sensym are all similar sized companies. IC Sensors was acquired
by Measurement Specialities in 2000. Operations are being consolidated and
some transferred to China.
Foxboro, ICT
Formerly IC Transducer, this was the first silicon sensor company to be acquired.
Foxboro acquired the company in 1974 for the purpose of developing technology
to be included in their pressure transmitters. ICT evolved into a captive
supplier to Foxboro even though they maintain a commercial marketing effort.
ICT has been marketed for acquisition on several occasions but the price
has always been higher than any reasonable buyer has been willing to offer.
Foxboro was acquire a couple years ago by Siebe and it is possible the price
may be more reasonable. The company maintains a low profile in the industry.
It is now integrated into Sensym, aka Invensys Sensor Systems.
Integrated Sensor Solutions
A company started by Manny Naik. They enjoy success selling manifold absolute
pressure sensors developed with an ASIC in the automotive aftermarket. The
ASIC was developed from technology at the Honeywell Research Center which
was closed in the 1980's. Their initial sales were to McGuane. Their more
recent efforts have been aimed at isolated pressure sensors for industrial
applications and attempting to find more applications for their ASIC technology.
Their ASIC technology is inferior to the ASIC technology at MCA Technologies.
The basic premise of their ASIC is to provide an elegant solution to a simple
problem. To date they have not been able to offer performance much better
than can be achieved using a standard dual op amp. ISS has no sensor fab
capability. They recently lost the services of one of their most senior employees,
Steve Nasiri. They tend to compete only on price and do not have a price
structure to allow this strategy to be successful in the long run.
ISS was acquired by Texas Instruments in 1999. Most of
the operation has been transferred to Attleboro, MA. Manny Naik has started
a consulting company. The acquisition was very good for both parties. ISS
received a very good valuation, over $50 million, and TI acquired a business
that will generate over a $100 million annual business.
Lucas Novasensors
Started in 1985 by Bryzek, Mallon and Peterson. Curt Peterson had done work
at IBM, South San Jose. Peterson gained industry exposure when his article
on silicon micromachining was published in Scientific American. Prior to
this article the technology was referred to as chemical etching. Novasensors
was funded by Schlumberger. Schlumberger had been a significant potential
customer of IC Sensors where Janusz had been employed prior to the funding
by Schlumberger of Novasensors. Nova hired Roger Grace to promote the company
and promote the individuals of the company. Roger and Janusz had worked together
at Foxboro, ICT. A similar promotional effort for Sensym, when Janusz was
active there, was declined. It was probably a mistake I made by not using
his services. Roger Grace was able to provide Novasensors with media and
press coverage beyond what the company deserved. I suspect some of this success
was coincident with the emergence of Sensors Magazine which did, and still
does, have close ties to Roger and Janusz. Roger Grace, now with Grace Consulting
offers his services in this industry. Roger deserves much of the credit for
the success and notoriety Novasensors received. Janusz was Sensors magazine's
Life Time Achievement recipient a couple years ago thanks to Rogers work
on his behalf. Nova did some original work. The fusion bonding work to allow
very small structures was unique to Nova but for the most part what was done
was duplication or evolution of previous work. Nova consumed more money than
any previous sensor company and provided the lowest return to the investors
of any prior investment. The trio that started the company did not share
a similar fate. Nova was acquired by Lucas after Sensym turned down an offer
from Lucas to purchase Sensym. The acquisition of Sensym set a nice market
price for sensor companies when Nova was acquired. Novasensors was merged
with another Lucas sensor business, Schaevitz and are part of the Lucas Control
Systems Products Group. It appears likely that the Novasensors name will
disappear altogether in lieu of Lucas or the business will be divested. Only
in recent years has the business become marginally profitable. The original
founding trio are no longer active at Lucas. Peterson is active at Stanford
University in MEMS development, Mallon is president and CEO of Measurements
Specialties Inc. Janusz is now active with Maxim Integrated Circuits. Some
good blood pressure and accelerometer capability is resident in the company.
They were also recently awarded a significant contract for silicon valve
development. Lucas was acquired recently by Varity and is part of an overall
business review to determine which companies are in businesses they wish
to continue to support.
Maxim Integrated Circuits
Maxim's involvement is too new to have much to comment about, it was announced
in January, 1997. It is to be managed by Janusz Bryzek, employ Steve (Saeed)
Nasiri and have the funding and support of Maxim. An effort to include MCA
Technologies also appears likely. The sensor business, excluding ASIC's used
by sensors, has been dropped by Maxim. Janusz and Steve have started another
company to specialize in MEMS products for fiber optic switching applications,
Transparent Optical Inc.
Microflow Analytical
Founded by Curtis Ray. The company was acquire a couple years ago by a medical
company in Texas. They have developed some interesting valve technology using
titanium-nickel (TiNi) thin films. They continue mainly as a research and
development operation with no significant manufacturing capability.
Microscape
A company just getting started, although they have been active for a couple
years. Their capability is more technology oriented, and in particular new
surface micromachining technology oriented. They employ several scientist
type persons with prior university and sensor development sensor experience.
Microsensor Technology Inc
Originally started by some Stanford students who have departed many years ago.
The company has a small silicon micromachining operation and supports their
own requirements for their gas chromatography instruments. They have very
good technology to support this application. This company has a huge potential
for growth with the proper technical support. The business is managed and
partially owned by Bill Higdon, a very dynamic individual.
Sensym
Today Sensym operates successfully in the BTR environment. The company owes
much of their continued success to their marketing relationship with Sensortechnics,
GmbH. The company has an excellent fab facility but lacks any technical expertise
to do anything but maintain existing products. The company will continue
to be a cash cow for BTR.
Sentir subsidiary
of Merit Medical
A business started and funded by Manny Fernandez and Fred Lampoplis. Manny
was founder and principal of IC Transducer and worked for Don Lynam at both
Foxboro ICT and IC Sensors. Manny has developed a nice, little, diffused semiconductor
piezoresistive manufacturing operation capable of supporting small volumes
for medical applications. Their devices are used by Merit Medical for blood
pressure, angioplasty pressure and intrauterine pressure measurement. Gene
Burke, an industry veteran of some thirty years in various capacities, is currently
Sentir's marketing manager and maintains close ties to Art Zias.
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