About Us
In late 1999, Dr. KG Ganapathi learned that there was a bourgeoning demand for fingerprint biometrics solutions, but available technologies were failing to stimulate adoption.
At that time, all available products were optical scanners, or small semiconductor scanners tied to silicon wafers. Optical units are large and silicon devices were inherently expensive and lacked the efficiency needed to stimulate industry acceptance and market adoption.
Together with a team from the thin film magnetic head, semiconductor, and display industries, he launched Fidelica to develop a MEMS-based fingerprint sensor that was based on surface micromachining, allowing the inherent device structure to be carried from ceramic wafer prototyping to glass flat panel display fabrication, and eventually to polymer substrates produced by roll-to-roll processing.
In 2002, Fidelica took a novel step in the biometrics and MEMS industry, transferring its fingerprinting technology from a 6" wafer prototype facility to a high volume TFT-LCD flat panel display factory.
By 2004, Fidelica was producing fingerprint sensors on 680mm x 880mm glass panels. At that time, several influences came together that signaled to Fidelica it was appropriate to again shift the substrate material to polymer film.
First, an increasingly privacy and security conscious market bombarded Fidelica with interest in placing its (then glass) fingerprint sensor on the surface of a smart card. Although the sensor was rigid, Fidelica's customers considered the sensor's power and imaging attributes appropriate for smart card integration.
Second, the flex circuit industry had improved their product to the point where manufacturing Fidelica's sensor on a polymer substrate, in high volume, was a commercial reality. And so, beginning in late 2004, Fidelica began developing its current fingerprint sensor, which is uniquely thin, flexible, efficient, and robust.
Today, a team of 30, a third of whom possess PhD's, bring thin-film processing, manufacturing, and systems design experience to convergence with customer applications. More than ever, Dr. Ganapathi and the team at Fidelica are committed not only to the notion of a revolutionary fingerprint sensor, but also to creating and manufacturing advanced biometric smart card systems, and elevating the biometrics industry to an exciting new level.