UK Launches Design and Prototyping Initiative in Silicon Based Integrated MEMS
11 July 06
The Institute for System Level Integration [iSLI] has been awarded £1.12M of funding to assist UK industry with the adoption of cutting edge Micro-Electromechanical Systems [MEMS] technology.
The award, made by Scottish Enterprise, will establish a publicly accessible centre of design excellence providing the commercial sector with access to expertise and knowledge transfer for the rapid development of product prototypes. iSLI has teamed up with its partners of Heriot Watt University and Strathclyde University, and the SemeMEMS open access facility, to ensure that development needs from underlying research, through to near market analysis and design rework can all be provided.
The centre, based in Livingston Scotland, will focus on the field of silicon based MEMS technology, which provides the capability to integrate ‘smart’ electronics into the same device as provides the MEMS functionality. In this way, more complex devices and sub-systems can be developed to provide the customer with clear market differentiation and performance advantage. A key element in this is the significant support of Coventor Inc, who provide the cutting edge toolset that will be used to perform the complex design and analysis tasks needed to develop these new products. These tools combine design capability in the many physical domains important to MEMS (mechanical, fluidic and electrostatic), in electronics and incorporate accurate process models, in a single user platform.
By bringing together the market and development focus of iSLI with the research weight of the academic partners and the fabrication ability of SemeMEMS, the centre aims to provide a smooth transition from research, through development, to product. The partnership of the Centre for Microsystems and Photonics CMP at Strathclyde brings extensive experience in design for foundry manufacture together with a significant test and characterisation facility. The Micro-Engineering group of Heriot Watt complements this with world-class expertise in reliability and lifetime prediction of microsystems. Linking these research capabilities to the customer, through the market facing iSLI, will ensure that technology push and market pull are quickly and successfully married.
Design, particularly in the MEMS space, is not a stand alone activity but is highly dependent upon the targeted manufacturing process. For this reason, the iDesign centre is intimately linked with the recently announced SemeMEMS open access foundry for integrated MEMS; being set up and run by Semefab, Glenrothes. Both activities, iDesign and SemeMEMS, are partnering to provide a “one-stop-shop” prototyping facility as part of the UK Micro and Nanotechnology Network. This centre of excellence will support customers from the very first stage of product exploration right through to qualification and the provision of market testing prototypes at the thousands-off level.
Dr. Mark Begbie, MEMS Group Manager at iSLI said “I believe the partnership we have brought together presents a uniquely powerful value proposition to the technology sector within UK Plc. The centre’s smooth integration of research capability with market focus and commercial foundry will be a real step forward in bridging the exploitation gap that so often hinders new technology uptake. By maintaining a market pull focus we expect to have a real impact on new product development.”
Christian Mahler, Director of Operations for Coventor Europe said “We see great advantages of being involved actively with the ISLI and its partners. The iDesign program will contribute significantly in advancing the commercialisation of MEMS in the UK. It’s the next step towards a rewarding future and an important investment for the industry as a whole.”
About iSLI:
Founded in 1998, the Institute for System Level Integration is the world’s first centre of excellence to concentrate on postgraduate education and research in the methodology and applications of system-on-chip design, system level integration and related technologies.
The Institute is a unique academic collaborative venture of four of the UK’s leading universities: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt, and Strathclyde, and with links to Lancaster University. iSLI draws on the academic expertise of the university departments of computer science, electronic and electrical engineering and informatics.
The objective of the Institute’s activities is to produce highly skilled design engineers and researchers to meet the needs of the rapidly changing global semiconductor industry.
Industrial collaboration critical to the Institute’s success is a key element for all ISLI’s teaching and research. Excellent links with industry ensure that the Institute has access to the latest design tools, state of the art facilities via industrial collaboration, and dedicated information systems.
The Institute is located in the Alba Centre on the Alba Campus in Livingston, Scotland.
More information is available at iSLI
About Heriot Watt University:
Heriot-Watt University is one of the UK’s leading universities for business and industry. With more that 6,000 students on campus in Scotland plus more than 9,500 on external programmes in 140 countries worldwide, its graduates are highly sought by employers.
The University has a flourishing research community with an international reputation for scientific and technological excellence, including the commercialisation of academic research. Major research initiatives are concentrated in niche areas including photonics and new optics-based technologies, business logistics, advanced robotics, nano-science and technology, virtual reality and engineering design.
The MEMS research institute at HWU, MISEC, has 24 RAs and PhDs students and is involved in a 9 millions pounds project in 3D integration of miniaturised components. Amongst its large capability portfolio it offers post-CMOS processing through the UV LIGA process.
More information is available at Heriot-Watt University and MISEC
About Strathclyde University:
Located in Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde was founded as a place of useful learning, to make higher education available to all, and to combine excellence with relevance. Taking account of distance learning, short course and continuing professional development and evening courses, the University provides courses for over 50,000 people each year, making it the UK's largest provider of postgraduate and professional education.
More information is available at University of Strathclyde and University of Strathclyde, Centre of Microsystems and Photonics
About Coventor:
Coventor, Inc. headquartered in Cary, NC provides a comprehensive suite of software tools for the development of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), microfluidics and semiconductor process applications. CoventorWare is an industry standard platform adopted by leading MEMS and microfluidics manufacturers around the globe, and by an extensive network of university partners. Coventor is a privately held company with offices in Cambridge, MA and San Mateo, CA. European headquarters is in Paris, France. Coventor also serves Asia Pacific through regional distributors.
More information is available at Coventor
About Semefab:
Linear IC technologies which are well suited to high volume, competitively priced mixed signal chips of medium scale integration for mass markets such as automotive, PC power supplies, home automation and building security products. Wafer fabrication is carried out in Glenrothes and assembly is subcontracted to the Far East. Product is brought back to Semefab for final testing. In 2005 Semefab supplied around 3 Mio ASICs and a further 30 Mio die in probed wafer form. In addition Semefab also acts as a commercial wafer foundry for companies requiring their own specific processes to be run, including MEMS processes and during 2005 supplied around 20,000 processed wafers in addition to the ASIC and MEMS demand.
The company has ISO 9001-2000 accreditation and has been awarded IPPC status for pollution prevention and control. In terms of specific product approvals, Semefab manufactures products approved by ESA -European Space Agency, U.L. Underwriters laboratory (USA), DSCC –Defence Supply Centre Columbus (USA).
Semefab has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Export in 1995 and for Enterprise in 2000. In 2001 Semefab won the Fife Business of the Year Award for Export Performance. In 2003 Semefab achieved Investors in People status.
More information is available at Semefab
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