Philips joins IMEC programme

Philips is to participate as a Core Partner in IMEC's sub-45nm research programmes.

Philips is to participate as a Core Partner in IMEC's sub-45nm research programmes.

This will see Philips collaborate with IMEC, one of the world's leading independent semiconductor research organisations, in the development of semiconductor process technologies at geometries of 45nm and beyond.

Research will start on 200mm wafers and gradually transition to 300mm.

In preparation for this partnership, IMEC is building an advanced silicon research facility alongside its existing premises in Leuven (Belgium).

The new facility will house a clean room and is ready for equipment installation Q2 of 2004.

Having already collaborated intensively with IMEC on semiconductor technology research for over four years through the presence of a Philips Research branch at the IMEC premises, Philips has been a key player in the initiation and specification of this new research facility.

The Flemish Government is an active supporter of IMEC's 300mm research programme and has invested Eur 37 million in the facility.

"The agreement represents an important step in keeping Philips at the forefront of the semiconductor industry.

It will bring together some of the world's best research minds and resources, not only in basic semiconductor materials and device physics, but also in tool assessment such as advanced lithography.

This ensures the fastest possible route from process and device research to production capability", said Theo Claasen, Executive Vice President Technology and Strategy, Philips Semiconductors.

"The accession of Philips to our new centralised process research platform for sub-45nm technologies is the pinnacle of the successful alliance between Philips and IMEC that started already in 2000", said Prof Gilbert Declerck, President and CEO of IMEC.

"This partnership proves that IMEC's sub-45nm programmes are a good research base to tackle the huge materials and device challenges ahead of us in the development of nano-scaled technologies".

Escalating efforts and huge amounts of human resources are involved in developing future semiconductor processes.

Partnerships such as this one carry out research and development necessary to ensure the availability of these processes as and when the market needs them.

The close collaboration in IMEC's advanced research facility and Philips' decision to become a core partner in IMEC's 45-nm research program further strengthens the Eindhoven-Leuven corridor as one of the world's centres of excellence for semiconductor process research.

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