For decades, microelectronics technology has promoted the development of sensor technology. Therefore, the whole industry must establish the sense of innovation, vigorously strengthen the development of new sensors, improve the cost performance ratio of products, accelerate the transformation of scientific research achievements, accelerate the industrialization of new sensors, and rapidly increase the market share of domestic sensors.

At present, the sensor industry in China is small in scale and narrow in scope of application. Therefore, it is urgent for us to change our concept and transform the research and development of sensors from the research and development of single physical type sensors to the research and development of highly integrated new sensors. The development and application of new sensors has become the core and key of modern systems, and it will become a new economic growth point of the information industry in the 21st century. There are nearly 6000 varieties and specifications.

As early as the 1960s, China began to set foot in the sensor manufacturing industry. In 1972, China established the first research and production unit of piezoresistive sensors; In 1974, a practical piezoresistive pressure sensor was successfully developed; In 1978, the solid piezoresistive accelerometer was born; In 1982, the research on silicon micromechanical system (MEMS) processing technology and SOI (silicon on insulator) technology was the first in China.

In the 1990s, absolute pressure sensor, micro pressure sensor, ventilator pressure sensor, polysilicon pressure sensor, low-cost TO-8 packaged pressure sensor, etc. of silicon micromachining technology came out and realized production.

Over the past 30 years since the reform and opening up, China's sensor technology and industry have made great progress, mainly in the following aspects: the establishment of national key laboratories for sensor technology, national key laboratories for micrometers/nanometers, national engineering center for sensor technology and other research and development bases; Research projects such as MEMS and MOEMS (micro optical electromechanical system) have been included in the national high-tech development priorities; In the "Ninth Five Year Plan" national key scientific and technological research projects, sensor technology research has made achievements in 51 varieties and 86 specifications of new products, and the sensor and sensor industry has been initially established; In 2007, the total output of the sensor industry reached 2.093 billion, with nearly 6000 varieties and specifications, and has been applied to various sectors of the national economy and national defense construction.

At the end of the 1980s, China listed sensors as the focus of national high-tech development. After the "eighth five year plan", "ninth five year plan" and "tenth five year plan" tackling key problems and industrialization construction, more than 2000 enterprises and institutions have been engaged in the development, production and application of sensors in China. Due to the limitation of economic development level and production and R&D funds, the overall technical level of China's sensor industry is relatively backward, with small scale and application fields. Today, enterprises from Germany, Japan, the United States, Russia and other old industrial countries are still active in the international market. In these countries, sensors have a wide range of applications. Many manufacturers have achieved large-scale production. Some enterprises have an annual production capacity of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions. In contrast, the application scope of sensors in China is relatively narrow, and more applications still remain in basic applications such as industrial measurement and control.

Microelectronics drives the development of sensors

For decades, microelectronics technology has promoted the development of sensor technology. In the next 10 to 20 years, the traditional silicon technology will enter a mature period (expected to be in 2014 to 2017). In terms of overall development, the traditional silicon technology market will not reach saturation (i.e. reach the limit of chip feature size) and decline until 2047 (i.e. the 100th anniversary of the invention of the transistor). However, the current microelectronics technology will still follow the two basic laws of "equal scaling principle" and "Moore's law". In approaching the limit of traditional silicon technology, it will continue to expand the cross disciplinary horizontal application of silicon (such as MEMS) and more advanced applications (quantum and molecular devices). The two major development directions of microelectronic technology are the main development directions of sensor technology at present and in the next 20 years.