News from IMEC’s technology forum

From the looks of my inbox, it’s been a busy week at IMEC, between the 25th anniversary celebration and technology forum.(Incidentally, Bill Acito of Cadence provided the words behind the IMEC acronym in response to my last post. According to the link he gave me to Wikipedia, IMEC stands for either Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre, or International Medical Equipment Collaborative. I’m guessing the one the IMEC we’re all familiar with is the first.)

Probably the most significant announcement is the passing of the president and CEO batons from Gilbert Declerck, who has held that position for the past 10 years, to Luc Van den hove, who was been with the organization for his entire career in various roles, most recently as Executive V.P. and Chief Operating Officer. Van den hove says he intends to continue building on the foundation established by Declerck during his tenure, and will continue to develop research partnerships to connect technology and industry, expanding activities in application-oriented research.

Also noteworthy for 3D integration followers is the expanded partnership with TSMC. The Taiwanese semiconductor foundry announced plans to expand its R&D efforts, and has decided to base its European R&D efforts at IMEC. That news, combined with the company’s announcement in April that its 300mm fab will be ready to manufacture TSVs by June, leads me to believe that the gears might start turning towards market adoption.

Other announcements from the technology forum were in the area of photovoltaics research with Schott Solar, brain research, and spectrum sensing capabilities for cognitive radios. Details can be found here on IMEC’s website. – F.v.T