OREANDA-NEWS. April 05, 2010. This project will establish mass production of systems based on acoustoelectronic and chemisorbent devices, including pressure and deformation sensors, RFID (radio-frequency identification) units, high-frequency band-pass filters, and gas sensors. The total budget for the program is 1.24 billion rubles. RUSNANO will invest 550 million rubles.

The acoustoelectronic devices are prepared from piezoelectrical material on whose surfaces elements of generating systems for acoustic surface waves have been placed. These acoustic system elements are multilayered structures with geometric parameters ranging from five nanometers to 80 nanometers with exactitude of not less than 0.5 nanometers. The main active elements of the chemisorbent sensors are 30-nanometer to 50-nanometer layers of tin oxide (SnO2) that are sensitive to the presence of gas.

Project managers expect most of their earnings to come from the sale of systems to control tension-deformation conditions in construction of buildings and structures; these systems will consume little energy, operate in a broad range of temperatures, and carry low price tags. A significant share of sales will come from systems that ensure safe gas use with longer service life than analogous equipment. Acoustic surface wave RFIDs with high reliability and imperviousness to aggressive external factors and band-pass filters used in high-frequency electronics, particularly in the GPS/GLONASS navigational system, also fall within the assortment of specialized goods the project company will produce.

The first products will be ready for sale in 2012; production facilities will reach design level in 2015. Project initiator Avangard will make production facilities available in St. Petersburg and is expected to continue improving production technology in cooperation with the Kotelnikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of Russian Academy of Sciences and other science centers in Russia.

Experts estimate that the global market for sensors and sensor components in 2008 was around USD 51 billion. Forecasting average annual market growth of five percent, they predict that this market will reach USD 67 billion dollars by 2018. The Russian market for sensors in 2008 was around 30 billion rubles. Anticipated average annual growth in the Russian market is 9.6 percent, which will bring the Russian market to 75 billion rubles in 2018. Worldwide, there has been a tendency to replace active sensors with passive one. From 2004 to 2008 the share of passive sensors grew from 59 percent to 70 percent. Surface acoustic wave sensors are the most rapidly rising segment in this market. During the period, they grew at an average annual rate of 13.5 percent against a background of total sensor growth averaging 3.7 percent per year.