Annual Report 2010 Aspire Invent Achieve
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ANNUAL REPORT 2010 ASPIRE INVENT ACHIEVE ANNUAL REPORT TaBLe of contents 05 imec at a GLance 06 Imec highlights 10 Luc Van den hove: Helping you create solutions – for a sustainable future TaBLe of contents 13 imec r&D - sHaPinG 64 wHat imec tHe future can Do for you 14 Strategy 67 Joint research and development 16 Technology for future chips and systems 73 Services and development platforms 30 Energy 79 People and campus 40 Electronics for healthcare and life sciences 46 Sustainable wireless communication 52 Imaging and future 3D visualization 58 Sensor systems for industrial applications 84 2010 Annual accounts 86 Organization 87 Addresses ANNUAL REPORT 2010 / 03 04 / ANNUAL REPORT 2010 imec aT a gLaNCe Imec is a world-leading R&D lab for nano-electronics. In our research labs, imec scientists and engineers collaborate with experts from our partners – top companies, research institutes and universities in ICT, healthcare, communi cation and energy. The goal: creating the solutions and buil ding blocks for a better life in a sustainable environment – through innovations in nano electronics. Imec is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and has offices in the Netherlands, China, Japan, Taiwan and the US. Its staff of 1,895 include more than 500 industrial residents and guest researchers. ANNUAL REPORT 2010 / 05 HiGHLiGHTS ImeC 01 imec’s staff 02 Key contribution to ieDm & ISSCC End of 2010, 1,895 people worked at imec. These included 336 residents – visiting Imec was the most important contributor to the 2010 IEDM conference, presenting researchers from partner companies and institutes – and 208 PhD researchers. a total of 18 papers. IEDM is the world’s main forum for reporting breakthroughs in technology, design, manufacturing, physics and the modeling of semiconductors Imec’s employees represent 66 nationalities. The average age of our staff is 37 and other electronic devices. The imec contributions showed promising advances in years. scaling logic, DRAM, and non-volatile memory. 131 imec researchers worked at Holst Centre end of 2010. Holst Centre is an Imec also made an important contribution to the 2010 and 2011 ISSCC conferences. open-innovation initiative of imec and TNO, founded in 2005 with support from ISSCC is the premier forum for presenting advances in solid-state circuits and the Dutch government. systems-on-a-chip. At ISSCC 2010, we presented 10 papers in the domains of wireless communication, organic electronics, and electronics for a more efficient healthcare. We also contributed to tutorials and workshops. 06 / ANNUAL REPORT 2010 HIGHLIGHTS IMEC 03 articLes, awarDs, Patents, sPinoffs 04 new exascience Lab oPens In 2010, imec published 1,763 articles and conference contributions. 26 prizes Imec, Intel Corporation, and 5 Flemish universities opened the ExaScience Lab. The were awarded to imec’s researchers for their research papers, posters, or articles. lab will develop software to run the future exascale computers, which will have 1 to 10 million cores and deliver 1,000 times the performance of today’s fastest In 2010, 143 imec patents were awarded. A further 139 patents were submitted. supercomputers. This will require breakthroughs in power reduction and reliability. Imec collaborates with over 600 companies and 175 universities worldwide. Since imec’s start in 1984, it helped start 35 spinoff companies. Exascale computing will constitute a paradigm-shift in our ability to simulate very complex systems, such as the earth’s climate. Therefore, the Flanders ExaScience Lab will focus on scientific applications of exascale computing. An example is the simulation and prediction of space weather, i.e. the electromagnetic activity around the earth’s atmosphere. The ExaScience Lab is part of Intel’s European research network – Intel Labs Europe. ANNUAL REPORT 2010 / 07 HiGHLiGHTS ImeC 05 revenue anD Grants 06 imec taiwan starts r&D activities 2010, imec’s revenue was 285 million euro. In 2010, Imec Taiwan – established two years ago – kickstarted its R&D activities under the name Imec Taiwan Innovation Centre (ITIC). The grant from the Flemish government amounted to 42.8 million euro. And Holst Centre received a grant from 6 million euro from the Dutch government. ITIC’s goal is to run applied research projects with industry and academia. The new R&D centre will focus on a variety of innovative applications in bioelectronics, MEMS and green electronics that are enabled through 3D system-package co- design and system-level evaluation. ITIC will intensify the collaboration between imec and the Taiwanese industry and academia. Its business plan forecasts a research staff of over 40 people in 3 years' time. ITIC is co-funded by the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs as a Multinational Innovative R&D Centre. 08 / ANNUAL REPORT 2010 HIGHLIGHTS IMEC 07 imec reaDy for 450mm wafers 08 imec cHina inauGurateD In 2010, imec opened the extension of its state-of-the-art cleanroom at its campus In 2010, imec China was established in the Zhangjiang High-tech Park in Shanghai. in Leuven, Belgium. With the extra space, imec’s total cleanroom facilities now approach 10,000m². Imec China will facilitate the collaboration between imec and Chinese semiconductor and system companies, and with universities and research institutes. Its main activities The new section of the cleanroom is built so that it can house the tools that will will be in technology transfer, licensing, joint development, and training. process 450mm wafers. That makes imec the first European site that is ready for 450mm. Imec China kicked off with the signing of a joint development project on advanced chip process technology with the semiconductor company Huali. Depending on In parallel with building the cleanroom, imec also started equipping new lab space fu tu re collaboration agreements, imec China will attract more researchers to collabo- to extend imec’s advanced research on silicon and organic solar cells and on rate with local companies on joint development projects. biomedical electronics. These labs take up another 1,600m², including lab space for the NERF (Neuroelectronics Research Flanders) initiative. ANNUAL REPORT 2010 / 09 Luc van Den Hove president and Chief executive offi cer INTERVIEW with Luc Van den hove IMEC HeLpINg yoU CreaTe SoLUTIoNS – for a sustainabLe future ne of the main drivers of our ing on challenges that are years ahead chronic diseases, for affordable health- your visions, the markets you operate research has always been of mainstream R&D. Challenges that care solutions in developing countries, in, and about the products and services O to help you, our partners. have to do with keeping our future sus- for safer and better mobility, solving that you would want to develop. To provide you with the solutions and tainable, looking for solutions for sus- the huge traffic congestions and un- expertise you need to build excellent tainable healthcare, energy consump- sustainable urbanization. I’m convinced Together, we can tackle the technologi- solutions and products. tion, or communication. that a major part of these answers will cal challenges to make that vision come come from technology. Technology for true. This way, we focus our research To make this possible, through the years, One way to make such breakthrough a sustainable world will drive innovation on your needs and the needs of your we have deepened our knowledge and leaps is to actively exploit connections and secure our future. customers. extended the domains in which we can and leverages between our expertise provide meaningful solutions. Starting domains. Because real innovation often This annual report highlights our key Excellence, Passion, Integrity, Connect- out with shared innovation, mainly in happens at the borderline between achievements of 2010, in the various edness – these are our core values. CMOS scaling, we now also have suc- two disciplines. In this report, you’ll find domains that we work on. And to keep Values that guide our work at imec, the cessful collaborations with companies many examples of these connections. up the tradition of previous reports, we way we do research and development. and research institutes active in the We’ve been able, for example, to im- also include interviews with some of But also values that guide our commit- domains of energy, healthcare, wire- prove solar cells with techniques that our staff. They talk about their domain ment to you, our partners and stake- less communication, or visualization we developed in IC processing. And of expertise, the progress made in imec, holders. systems. we’re working on revolutionary visuali- and their outlook for 2011 and beyond. zation systems based on our microfab- These people haven’t achieved their re- I am confident in our ability to shape 2011 and beyond, we want to continue rication expertise. sults alone. They represent our teams, the future and to make the most of the on the same path: offering valuable making progress only through working many opportunities and challenges that solutions through shared innovation, Imec has the ambition to be a pioneer together, with passion and commit- lie ahead. I look forward to making 2011 deepening our expertise, and extending in sustainable innovation, in innova- ment. a rewarding, innovative year and I invite the scope of our research. tion for a green economy. An economy you to join us. aimed at tackling the grand challenges We couldn’t have accomplished what In addition, we want to make a leap into the world is facing. Providing answers we have without the help of our part- the future. Working on new ideas, top- for an aging society, for the increas- ners. Through the discussions and ics that are still very exploratory, work- ing number of people suffering from meetings that we have, we learn about ANNUAL report 2010 / 11 12 / ANNUAL report 2010 imec r&D – SHapINg THe fUTUre Imec’s R&D is based on finding solutions – This report gives an overview of the six with nanoelectronics – for the challenges faced research domains that imec is working on: by society in the coming decennium.