9 minute read
EUROPRACTICE 2013
Europractice keeps universities at the cutting edge of research and training
The Europractice programme has offered universities and research institutes affordable access to cutting-edge computer aided design (CAD) tools and microelectronics technologies since 1995. The programme continues to play a crucial role in in innovation and training for both European research and industry, in particular small and medium enterprises, as project manager Dr Romano Hoofman explains
The Europractice project has
supported the European technology ecosystem since October 1995, widening access to cutting-edge system and design tools to help companies and universities maintain their place at the forefront of research and development. The Europractice 2016 initiative continues to play an important role in these terms today, says project manager Dr Romano Hoofman. “One central goal for the project is to provide affordable access to computer-aided design (CAD) and electronic design automation (EDA) tools. Many of these tools are quite expensive, and through Europractice we provide easy and affordable access to these tools for European universities and research institutes,” he outlines. The project has also established links with major foundries, including for instance TSMC and Globalfoundries, so that researchers can consider the practical aspects of
manufacturing an integrated circuit once it has been designed. “We provide access to various technology nodes in the different foundries, ranging from 0.35 micron to 22nm,” he continues. “A third objective is to provide training, both in terms of the design and the technology. The fourth is that through stimulation actions, we also make sure that some universities can participate, or get silicon at reduced cost.”
The wider goal in this work is to help support the European microelectronic industry, a high growth area that is central to the continent’s long-term economic prospects. Sophisticated facilities are essential to preparing tomorrow’s circuit designers and equipping them with the relevant technical skills. “We aim to help train and prepare the designers of the future, who
will then hopefully get high-end work in European semi-conductor companies, fabless companies or design houses, and be the advanced designers who will make new circuits and enable the applications of the future,” says Dr Hoofman.
Many of these tools are quite expensive, and difficult to support particularly in a multi-vendor design flow environment
Affordable access
Improving access to technology and offering support to both academia and the commercial sector is a major part of this wider agenda. Currently more than 600 academic institutions in Europe enjoy access to CAD tools under the terms of the Europractice agreement, giving students and academic staff the opportunity to use cutting-edge technologies. “The model is that the university or research institute pays a membership fee, and that can vary, offering different levels of access to tools,” he
©imec
Two typical examples of multi-project wafer (MPW) designs.
explains. “With the lowest fee, universities get access to only a limited amount of the available software. With the middle price category they can use the full toolset – and then with the top price category, they can also use foundry services.”
Europractice has established agreements with the most popular design tool companies and therefore access to a large number of CAD tools can be provided at a reduced cost. The project also provides a Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) prototyping and packaging services (although the latter at full cost), which Hoofman says offers significant cost benefits to universities and research institutions. “Designing an integrated circuit always involves mask data preparation. The mask cost typically drives the cost of the eventual integrated circuit,” he explains. If a university wants to try out a design but are only interested in certain prototypes, then it’s much more efficient to use a multi-project wafer. “With this approach there are really multiple designs from different customers on one wafer, and then the mask cost is divided between these customers. That’s why it is cheaper to do an MPW than a full mask,” continues Dr Hoofman. “We can also include industrial partners, or partners from outside Europe, but they pay a higher price. We don’t want to exclude them, as the more partners you have, the lower the cost for each of the partners involved.”
This design can then be manufactured and sent back to the university, at which point researchers can test the actual integrated circuit and evaluate its effectiveness. With more than 10 different foundries involved in Europractice, providing a range of technologies, research institutions have several options in terms of fabricating a design. “A university or professor can choose to do their design using a specific technology,” he says. “Then they would look at the Europractice calendar, and if the design is received by the deadline, then it will be put on a mask.”
Along with the standard CMOS ASICs technologies (‘more Moore’*), the project also offers access to prototyping in ‘More than Moore’* technologies. The development of ‘more Moore’ technologies is associated with a trend towards ever smaller technology nodes, yet ‘More than Moore’ technologies are different. “‘More than Moore’ technologies are things such as MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) or silicon photonics,” he says. The most important challenge here is not to make the technology smaller, but rather to add functionality; Europractice offers access to a number of relevant technologies in this area, with Dr Hoofman pointing to Europractice partner MEMSCAP as an example. “MEMSCAP is an American processes foundry, and they offer a lot of MEMS tools technology options related to pressure sensors and accelerometers,” he explains. “They offer three unique standalone, multi-mask MEMS processes in MUMPS(R) MPW; namely PolyMUMPS, SOIMUMPS, and PiezoMUMPS.” However, the most widely used ‘More than Moore’ offering in Europractice is silicon photonics. Silicon photonics is gaining more and more popularity in the industry as well as in the academic world. The latter aspect of demand is not only driven by telecommunications and computing research, but also more and more by sensors and life sciences.
Training
Effective training is of course essential if researchers, academic staff and postgraduate students are to use the offered tools and processes to their full potential. Europractice offers training courses on design flows and methods in advanced technologies, giving students a solid grounding in the use of specific tools. “The students who take such training already have a background in integrated circuit design from their university studies, then with the training we take them more into the specific details of a certain design tool or design method,” he explains. The training programme is being extended and developed on an ongoing basis, helping to equip students with the skills they need to further explore the microelectronics field, both for their own intellectual curiosity and to develop new technologies that meet commercial needs.
A further incentive to develop new circuits was provided by Europractice’s stimulation action, which aimed to encourage further development. The stimulation action covered two categories.
Full Project Title
EUROPRACTICE Training, CAD and prototyping services for European universities and research institutes (EUROPRACTICE2016)
Project Objectives
The main goal of this project is to continue the current successful EUROPRACTICE service and to further extend the service by enhancing Training, CAD tools and technologies for more advanced and niche technologies such as Integrated MEMS (above CMOS MEMS) and photonics, the so-called More-than-Moore technologies. In case niche technologies are developed as part of other EC-funded RTD projects, those EC projects will be invited to discuss making available their advanced niche technology services to academic institutions via EUROPRACTICE when they have reached some level maturity.
Project Funding
Total funding: EUR 3 850 398,75 Project EP2016: 1 July 2016 - 30 June 2018
Project Partners
• (Coordinator) Interuniversitair microelectronica centrum (imec) - Belgium • Science and Technology Facilities
Council (STFC) - United Kingdom • Fraunhofer IIS (Germany)
Contact Details
imec Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven Belgium T: + 32 16 28 38 65 E: romano.hoofman@imec.be W: http://www.europractice.com/ W: http://www.europractice-ic.com/ W: http://www.europractice.stfc.ac.uk/
Dr Romano Hoofman
Dr Romano Hoofman received his M.Sc. in molecular sciences (1995) at the Wageningen University (NL) and his Ph.D in radiation chemistry (2000) from the Univ. of Delft (NL). He joined Philips Research as senior scientist in 2000. When NXP Semiconductors was spun out of Philips, he concentrated his research on technology blocks needed for sensor nodes. The last years in NXP Semiconductors, as R&D Program Manager at the External Relations department he was responsible for the management of cooperative (subsidy) projects within the entire NXP R&D environment. In 2016, he joined the imec.IC-link department as Strategic Development Director. In his current role he manages the Europractice funded project(s) and drives partnerships leading to new innovations within imec.IC-link. “There was a category for universities who had never previously prototyped an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). They had the opportunity to gain a free prototype fabrication of a design run in 0.18µ CMOS,” he continues. “We received 23 designs, and we selected 10 to realise in silicon.”
The second category was for more experienced designers, who had already prototyped an ASIC through Europractice, but not in a technology of 90 nanometres or beyond. Again, 23 designs were received, which were then evaluated by independent reviewers. “Of the designs that have been submitted, in total fifteen have been realised in silicon.” This helps lay the seeds for the continued development of the European microelectronics industry, which Dr Hoofman says has been a major factor in encouraging the EC to maintain funding for Europractice. “Europractice has been running for more than 20 years now, and every time the project has been re-evaluated it’s been approved and extended. It’s one of the longest-running programmes in the EC,” he says.
The programme has evolved significantly over that time, keeping pace with wider developments in industry and supporting research by providing access to cuttingedge tools. New tools will of course emerge in future; with more than 20 CAD vendors in the programme, Dr Hoofman says Europractice is well placed to continue providing universities with affordable access to leading edge design tools.
“There are already a good number of CAD vendors in the Europractice portfolio, and we continuously monitor new developments Artistic impression of a multi-project wafer fabrication flow within Europractice.
in relation to the needs of our customers.” The project also offers industry worldwide access to microelectronic and microsystem design services, yet the priority in future will remain providing academia with access to tools. “We have an advisory committee in Europractice, with a good representation from industry. But our primary purpose is to help universities,” he says.
Access to high-end facilities will remain a core element of Europractice 2016, under which the initiative will gain further funding from the EC for the next two years, while some new elements will also be added in future. “We will add some innovative elements on the photonics part, and we will also extend the stimulation action, which was started in Europractice 2013. We also aim to stimulate activity in universities who have never been involved with integrated circuit design, or never done a tape-out, and in addition design activities in MEMS and silicon photonics will be promoted as well,” outlines Dr Hoofman.
©imec
