NEWS EDITOR’S CHOICE
SAMTEC JOINS IRT NANOELEC SILICON PHOTONICS PROGRAM
Samtec Inc. has entered in to the Silicon Photonics Program of the IRT Nanoelec headed by CEA-Leti. The company is joining CNRS, STMicroelectronics, Mentor Graphics and CEA-Leti to develop and industrialise optical communications solutions using Silicon Photonics technology for addressing Data Centres and High Performance Computing applications. The IRT Nanoelec Silicon Photonics Program was launched in
2012. It brings together, all under one roof, the expertise, tools and equipment needed for the development of Silicon Photonics technology and associated solutions for optical communications. Mentor Graphics, STMicroelectronics, CNRS and CEA-Leti were the core members of this consortium. “The participation of the new partner Samtec within the Silicon
Photonics Program is highly valuable as Samtec will bring strong and complementary skills in optical and high-speed electrical packaging to our current consortium,” said Sylvie Menezo, Director of this Program. “The consortium is now gathering research institutes counted among the pioneers in Silicon Photonics and major industrial players over the complete value chain (Silicon foundry, EDA, Packaging). This is a key factor for success to developing innovative and cost-effective solutions.”
www.samtec.com SILANE & SILICONE TECHNOLOGIES R&D LAB
SiVance, LLC has opened a new 11,000sq.ft. research and development (R&D) laboratory, on the company’s R&D and manufacturing campus in Gainesville, Fla., that will enhance its ability to quickly develop and scale new silane and silicone technologies. The new facility is part of a planned series of investments enabling the company to better address customer needs in target markets such as electronic semiconductors, contact lenses, coatings and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The lab will also speed process development for custom manufacturing of speciality silanes, silicones and other chemistries. The new building is outfitted with sophisticated equipment for research, process development and testing. Installations include eight benchtop hoods for small-scale research development and eight large walk-in fume hoods that enable large-scale development activities and the manufacturing of materials for sampling. A dedicated instrument lab houses an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) that allows laboratory staff to detect minute levels of trace elements.
www.millikenchemical.com MICROFLUIDICS
Lab-on-chips (LOC) promise a revolution in healthcare, bringing diagnostics closer to doctor & patient and giving researchers and drug discoverers faster tools. All over the world, research groups are looking for the best ways to develop such compact and reliable LOC systems. Imec and its partners are also on this quest. One of their developments is a silicon-based platform for microfluidic structures with a large design flexibility. While polymers will stay the best choice for less demanding lab-on-chip systems, silicon is the way to go if you want to shrink dimensions of microfluidics components and combine electrical functionality and sensing in the same chip. Today, if you want to have your blood
analysed, you go to see your doctor and they send the sample to a specialised lab. After a few days, you get to know the results and can take action if needed. Experts from the healthcare and electronics sector believe that this work-flow will change when lab on chips will become widely used. In a first phase, lab-on-chip systems
will be available at the doctors office or in the hospital (so-called point of care) as desktop tools in which a cartridge with a blood droplet has to be inserted. The cartridge is disposable and houses the microfluidics and sensors. In the desktop tool, external pumps and heating elements move the fluids in the cartridge and allow the chemical reactions to run at the right temperature. But eventually, it will be possible to shrink this whole system (with pumps and heating elements) into a few cm. According to imec, the secret lies in the use of silicon as base material, even for the microfluidics part of the lab-on-chip.
www2.imec.be
GaN DEVELOPMENT
Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT) is collaborating with Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) to develop technology based on Gallium nitride (GaN), a semiconductor material widely recognised for its speed and efficiency. Under their collaboration, the companies will explore integrating EPC’s eGaN technology with leading IDT solutions. “GaN offers exciting opportunities
to develop higher-performance, differentiated products for our customers,” said Sailesh Chittipeddi, Vice President, Global Operations and Chief technology officer at IDT. The three areas in which the companies
NEW EVALUATION PLATFORM FOR MEMS AND SENSORS
Anglia Components has released a new evaluation platform for MEMS and environmental sensors, created by linking the Cinterion Concept Board by Gemalto to an STMicroelectronics NUCLEO expansion board. Using source code supplied by the distributor, designers can request measurements such as temperature, humidity, pressure, co-ordinates and g-force from the on-board sensors using SMS communication or AT commands. The suite supports customers with the evaluation and design
6 SUMMER 2015 | MICROMATTERS
process by providing the tools and open source software required to facilitate further development using Java as the design environment. The Gemalto Cinterion Concept Board was specifically developed as an incubator to open up the creation of innovative Internet of Things M2M based systems to the huge and very innovative Java development community. The Board provides a simple environment that offers the developer everything that is needed to quickly transform exciting ideas into market ready
M2M applications. The Board includes a Cinterion M2M module offering global 2G and 3G cellular connectivity.
Anglia has harnessed the Concept Board to X-NUCLEO- IKS01A1, a motion MEMS and environmental sensor expansion board from STMicroelectronics. The board is designed around high performance STMicroelectronics accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, humidity, temperature and pressure sensors.
www.anglia.com
are collaborating are: • Communications and computing infrastructure - GaN’s low capacitance and zero QRR coupled with the low inductance of its chip-scale package result in high efficiency at high frequency. This increase in efficiency will combine with IDT’s precise commutation and system expertise to drive up power density and deliver significant competitive advantage to communications and computing infrastructures. •Wireless power – The highly resonant wireless power transfer standard of the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) consortium protocol operates at 6.78MHz, where the high speed, low- loss switching ability of GaN drives efficiency to the levels of wired solutions. Combining the GaN expertise of EPC and precision solutions of IDT will deliver a highly efficient, cost competitive solution that will drive widespread adoption of wireless power. • Radio frequency (RF) – The two companies will explore collaboration to create a portfolio of RF products for the communications infrastructure market. “A growing number of innovative
companies, such as IDT, are integrating proven GaN technology into their solutions as a way to move beyond the limitations of silicon,” said Alex Lidow, CEO and co-founder of EPC. “Our team looks forward to working
alongside IDT engineers to bring the exceptional speed and efficiency of EPC’s GaN technology to IDT customers.”
IDT
www.IDT.com / MICROMATTERS
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