Collaboration aims to establish more efficient approaches to MEMS development
1 min read
A partnership has been formed to improve and expand the use of advanced design and manufacturing techniques for the development of cmos integrated MEMS. Conventor, supplier of design technology for microelectromechanical systems has joined forces with research centre, imec and will collaborate on R&D roadmaps and advanced research topics.
The partnership aims at developing solutions to make MEMS more accessible to both MEMS and IC designers, starting with process design kits to improve the efficiency of MEMS-IC co-design. The kit will target imec's SiGe MEMs technology that uses a 'MEMS last' approach, where the MEMS are processed after – and on top of – the cmos circuits. According to imec, this enables a monolithic integration of MEMS devices with the driving and readout electronics on the same die. The platform is designed to be flexible and modular, allowing application specific tuning and optimisation of MEMS layer thicknesses and properties – and the processing of optional functional layers on top of the MEMS devices.
Rudi Cartuyvels, vice president, Process Technology at imec, said: "More and more product developers from a wide range of industries look to integrate MEMS because of their powerful capabilities. Imec is well positioned to address this market through its CMORE initiative which seeks to expand the scaling of cmos micro and nano devices by adding functions other than logic and memory to chips. By partnering with Coventor, we gain access to years of production experience and technology for MEMS design, and a breadth of expertise in developing a larger ecosystem for MEMS developers."
