Safran Sensing Technologies Norway AS (formerly Sensonor AS) is a French-owned Norwegian producer and developer of high precision and light-weight

MEMS MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) is the technology of microscopic devices incorporating both electronic and moving parts. MEMS are made up of components between 1 and 100 micrometres in size (i.e., 0.001 to 0.1 mm), and MEMS devices ...

gyros Gyros, sometimes anglicized as a gyro (; , ), is meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, then sliced and served wrapped or stuffed in pita bread, along with other ingredients such as tomato, onion, fried potatoes, and tzatziki. In Greece, it is ...

and

IMUs Imus (), officially the City of Imus (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and ''de jure'' Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 cens ...

, and also offers foundry services in its wafer fab. The CEO is Valérie Redron. As of 1 October 2021, Sensonor is a fully owned and integrated subsidiary of

Safran Electronics & Defense Safran Electronics & Defense, formerly known as Sagem Défense Sécurité, is a French company specializing in optronics, avionics and electronic systems, as well as software for civil and military applications in the naval, aeronautical and spa ...

. On 21 April 2022, the company changed its name to Safran Sensing Technologies Norway AS. The Swiss company Colibrys changed their name to Safran Sensing Technologies Switzerland SA at the same time.

Business

The main product of Sensonor has long been MEMS manufactured pressure sensors, gyros and inertial measurement systems. The company has focused on MEMS gyros since 2009, and the main product line consists of gyros (STIM2xx product line), and IMU (STIM3xx product line), which both include hermetic versions for space applications. Since 2019, Sensonor has also offered foundry services in its wafer fab.

History

The company was first established in Horten in 1985, founded on knowledge and research from

Akers Electronics Akers may refer to: People *Akers (surname) Places In the United States: *Akers, Missouri, in Shannon County *Akers Pond in New Hampshire * Akers, Louisiana Other uses *Akers' clasp, for removable partial dentures See also *Aker (disambiguation ...

.forskning.no, 10. oktober 2002
Mikroelektronikkens Grand old man
/ref> In the 1990s Sensonor had international success with SA20, a sensor for

airbag An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate in milliseconds during a collision and then deflate afterwards. It consists of an airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. ...

systems. It was based on a piezoresistive beam of

silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...

. Around 35 million sensors were sold worldwide, and the company had an estimated 60–70% of the European market for airbag sensors. However, SA30, their next generation of the crash sensor, was delayed, and failed commercially. This led to a decrease in the

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

s from 170m

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba, Nigeria, Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, ...

in 1997 to 50m NOK in 1999. Thus, the early 2000s were economically difficult years for the business and stock market speculation increased the instabilities. Eventually, Sensonor was purchased in full by the large German

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

company

Infineon Technologies Infineon Semiconductor solutions is the largest microcontroller manufacturer in the world, as well as Germany's largest semiconductor manufacturer. It is also the leading automotive semiconductor manufacturer globally. Infineon had roughly 58,0 ...

. Sensonor was owned by them from June 2003 until February 2009,tu.no, 20. februar 2009
SensoNor igjen på norske hender
/ref> under the name ''Infineon Technologies SensoNor''. In this period, the company was world leading in the TPMS market. In parallel with the development of the SA30 sensor, Sensonor had also been working on a

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and eve ...

sensor, named SP12. It was designed for usage in TPMS applications, i.e. monitoring of the air pressure in car

tire A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...

s. As with earlier products, SP12 was also based on piezoresistive elements implanted in a silicon

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

, but additionally, the silicon

wafer A wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, light biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream, and also used as a garnish on some sweet dishes. They frequently have a waffle surface pattern but may also be patterned with insignia of the foo ...

was encapsulated between two

Pyrex Pyrex (trademarked as ''PYREX'' and ''pyrex'') is a brand introduced by Corning Inc. in 1915, initially for a line of clear, low-thermal-expansion borosilicate glass used for laboratory glassware and kitchenware. It was later expanded in the 1 ...

glass wafers. It was this technology which made the Norwegian company an interesting investment for Infineon. Later, Sensonor developed improved versions, SP30 and SP35. These were sold to producers of TPMS-systems by Infineon. In February 2009, Infineon announced that Sensonor were to be sold to Norwegian private investors, in a move that would "benefit both SensoNor and Infineon". In February 2012, the company filed for bankruptcy, but already in April 2012, new owners purchased the estate and reestablished the company. The company filed positive results and growing sales every year from 2015 to 2020, except 2017. On 1 October 2021, the company was purchased in full by

Products

Sensonor sells three-axis gyros and IMUS (devices with gyro, accelerator and/or inclinometer sensors) in a small package. The gyros belong to the STIM2xx-series, while the IMUS are in the STIM3xx-series. The original product was the STIM202/STIM210 and the STIM300. The STIM318 has improved accelerometer performance, while the STIM277H/377H products are hermetic and optimized for use in Low Earth Orbit.

References

External links

* http://www.sensonor.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sensonor Science and technology in Norway Manufacturing companies of Norway Electronics companies of Norway