VTI Technologies
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | MEMS |
| Founded | Vantaa, Finland (1991) |
| Headquarters | Vantaa, Finland |
| Products | Accelerometers, Pressure sensors |
| Revenue | 75.8 million Euro (2010) |
| Employees | 600 (2010) |
| Website | www.vti.fi |
VTI Technologies Oy is a Finnish company that designs and manufactures silicon-based capacitive sensors for the measurement of acceleration, pressure, inclination, shock, vibration and angular rate. All VTI sensors are based on the company’s proprietary 3D MEMS technology. VTI is headquartered in Finland, and owns sales offices in China, Germany, Japan and the USA.
[edit] Products and applications
VTI’s product range includes MEMS accelerometers, inclinometers, angural rate sensor (gyroscopes) and pressure sensing elements. Typical applications are:
- Automotive applications, e.g. Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Hill Start Assistant (HSA), Antilock Braking Systems (ABS), car alarm and navigation system applications. Compliance with automotive quality requirements (TS16949, ISO 14100).
- Medical applications, e.g. pacemakers and implantable defibrillators (ICD)
- Instruments, e.g. aviation, navigation equipment, seismic devices, rotating lasers, trains, earth moving machines, etc.
- Consumer electronics, e.g. pointing and gaming devices, remote controllers, mobile phones, sports applications, and personal navigation equipment.
[edit] Technology
VTI's silicon capacitive sensor is made of single crystal silicon and glass. This design ensures exceptional reliability, unprecedented accuracy and excellent stability over time and temperature. The 3D MEMS technology provides thick, robust sensor structures that are very sensitive to inertial forces and pressure but are insensitive to other environmental variables and causes of failure.
The capacitive detection principle is simple and stable. It is based on the variation of the distance between two surfaces. The capacitance or charge storage capacity of a pair of surfaces depends on their distance and on the overlapping surface area.
VTI's 3D MEMS are capped, i.e. inherently hermetically sealed for reduced packaging requirements. No particles or chemicals can enter the capped sensor, a fact that ensures reliability.
[edit] History
VTI was founded in 1991 as a spin-off from the company Vaisala Oyj, a market leader in meteorology. VTI was founded to industrialize and further develop Vaisala's Microelectromechanical systems technology in automotive applications.
| 1979 | Technology development and knowledge database initiated |
| 1991 | VTI established |
| 1993 | VTI becomes a leading supplier of low-g accelerometers for automotive suspension systems |
| 1994 | VTI pioneers medical applications |
| 1994 | VTI becomes a leading supplier of automotive braking and traction control systems |
| 1995 | BREED Technologies acquires VTI |
| 1998 | A new MEMS Fab in Finland |
| 1999 | VTI becomes a leading global supplier of low-g accelerometer for automotive stability control systems (ESP) |
| 2002 | EQT III private equity fund acquires VTI |
| 2005 | Construction of new facilities to double the premises in Finland |
| 2007 | Introduction of Chip-on-MEMS technology |
| 2009 | Introduction of the world's smallest and least power consuming three-axis acceleration sensor, the CMA3000 |
| 2010 | VTI expands to consumer gyros (CMR3000) and announces development of timing devices |
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