Acquisition aids thermal characterisation

Flomerics has acquired MicReD - a Hungarian based company formed in 1997 as a spinoff from Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

Flomerics has acquired MicReD - a Hungarian based company formed in 1997 as a spinoff from Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE).

MicReD's main product is the T3Ster (pronounced "Trister"), which provides fast, repeatable and accurate thermal characterisation of IC devices, including stacked-die and system-in-package devices.

Organisations already using the T3Ster include IBM, Infineon, Intel, Nokia, Philips, Samsung and ST Microelectronics - all of which are also users of the Flotherm thermal analysis software from Flomerics.

This acquisition therefore has strong synergy with Flomerics' core business, and represents a significant step for Flomerics towards providing a complete thermal-design solution for its customers.

The need for Flomerics' thermal analysis software is primarily driven by the increasing miniaturisation and thermal densities of electronic devices.

Exactly the same trends drive the need for the T3Ster.

John Parry, Research Manager for Flomerics, said: "Flomerics and MicReD worked together for several years on the EC-funded Profit research project to develop transient thermal models of chip packages that accurately capture the thermal behaviour of even the most complex IC devices".

"The T3Ster embodies the knowledge and technology gained in this project to automate the measurement procedure and enable thermal models to be generated directly from the measurements".

"These validated models are then used in thermal design software such as Flotherm and Flo/PCB to predict how a device will perform in a particular end-user application".

"What's particularly interesting about MicReD's approach is just how flexible the instrumentation and software are - the equipment can also characterise other temperature-sensitive components such as power LEDs, or mechanical components critical to thermal management such as heat pipes, micro-fluidic coolers and heatsinks (for which reliable design data are often hard to come by), or deduce the thermal resistance values for interface materials and gap fillers".

"Consequently the T3Ster is highly complementary to Flomerics software tools".

David Tatchell, Flomerics' Chief Executive said: "I am delighted to welcome into the group the world-leading expertise that the MicReD team bring".

"The T3Ster has many applications in markets where Flomerics is well established, and we believe that there is great potential to expand the business".

"This is an important step in delivering on our strategy of growing the company by acquisition in a way that complements our organic growth plans".

Marta Rencz, CEO of MicReD, said: "We are very excited to be a part of Flomerics group".

"Flomerics is the acknowledged standard setter in this field and their infrastructure will enable us to maximise the potential of our products".

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