Innovations in Silicon
such as television sets with ambient illumination, free-form man-machine interfaces, intelligent car interior components, 2.5D lighting devices, and household appliances.
Advanced Patterning Center Among the large number of companies and organisations working with Imec is ASML. Together they are working to tackle the upcoming scaling challenges due to the chip industry’s move towards single digit nanometer dimensions. The two have established an Advanced Patterning Center that will be located on the campus in Leuven and is expected to grow to close to 100 engineers over the next couple of years. To guarantee critical dimension uniformity and overlay control, soon to be measured in fractions of one nanometer, Imec and ASML will collaborate to investigate the practical interaction between all the different steps in the chip patterning process. The Advanced Patterning Center will use actual devices to analyse and optimise process steps as well as materials and device architecture choices, while applying integrated metrology. Imec brings its world leading clean
universities, to establish an ExaScience Life Lab on the Imec campus. “Computational life science research is being limited by the available computing power - Big Data is challenging the computing power that is available to researchers who are looking to next generation high performance computing systems and software tools to remove these limitations,” according to Van den hove.
The new laboratory will combine Intel’s
supercomputing knowledge with the region’s extensive expertise in life sciences and biotechnology. The objective is to create new supercomputer solutions and generate breakthroughs in both the life sciences and biotechnology. According to Van den hove, “High performance computing can lead to new insights and breakthroughs in life sciences and biotechnology. The use of supercomputers is set to become as strategically vital as lab research and the development of medical supercomputers will require close co-operation with specialists in the field. That co-operation is becoming ever more important.”
The ExaScience Life Lab is intended to
boost research in the life sciences and the lab will focus on two fields of application. Firstly, it will examine how supercomputers can accelerate the processing of entire genome sequences. At present such an analysis takes approximately 48 hours, and with the expected explosion of genome data becoming available in the coming years, it is crucial to improve the efficiency of the computing process. A second application area of the ExaScience Life Lab will be to examine the use of computer simulations in the life sciences. Testing hypotheses through computer simulation of both cells and tissues instead of through wet-lab testing will save considerable amounts of time and reduce the costs associated with lab tests.
“Advances in technology will provide us with an unprecedented opportunity to understand diseases better and to create new medicines and solutions.”
TERASEL
Imec is also working with a number of partners to develop and manufacture
large-area, cost-effective, randomly shaped electronics and sensor circuit technologies. The TERASEL project (Thermo-plastically deformable circuits for embedded randomly shaped electronics), forms part of a broader European research project into Information and Communication Technologies. Electronics are conventionally made on flat substrates. The TERASEL project will look to develop a basic technology platform for rigid large-area randomly shaped electronic circuits which means that Imec will be involved in developing a process to embed elastic flat circuits in thermo-plastically deformable polymers. A high pressure, low temperature thermoforming technology to deform the circuit into its random final functional shape will then be developed. TERASEL will also set up a complete multi-competence industrial production chain that will support the industrial processes needed to manufacture randomly shaped circuits. The developed technologies will be applied in a number of functional prototype demonstrators,
room infrastructure (full 300mm pilot line with extension to 450mm) to the project through which it supports a unique partner network of material and equipment suppliers, IDMs, foundries and fabless companies.
ASML will support the Advanced
Patterning Center by making available its most advanced scanners, metrology systems and holistic lithography solutions, and by using the Center’s resources to optimise its offerings for the fab environment. “In order to stay ahead in today’s fast- evolving and equipment-intensive semiconductor business, it is critical that the entire semiconductor eco system has insight and access to state-of-the-art technology,” says Van den hove. “By bringing our collaboration to the next level, we will be able to expand our knowledge base more quickly and drive lithography advancements. In this way the global partner network of both companies will have access to the most advanced patterning processes for sub- 10 nanometer technologies. This is crucial to better address future scaling and infrastructure challenges.” ■
www.cieonline.co.uk
Components in Electronics
November 2013 33
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