Date: 4th Aug 2010
Research on system-in-package solutions
launched by semiconductor companies in Europe
40 semiconductor companies and research institutes from
Nine European countries have together joined to launch a
research project to develop integrated electronic system-in-package
devices. This leads to production of tablets and smartphones
more faster and cheaper way than the present one. It's the
progress towards automation level-2 in electronics manufacturing.
The semiconductor devices are stacked like building blocks
and connected in a different manner than the present way
of doing on a PCB. To give an example, system in Package
devices can pack special 45-nm processor, a high-frequency
90-nm transmit/receive chip, sensors and passive components
such as miniaturized capacitors or special filters
The research project named ESiP project (Efficient Silicon
Multi-Chip System-in-Package Integration) is lead by Infineon
Technologies and the research project will run until April
2013. Early advance in ESiP technology puts Europe in leading
position in the development and manufacture of miniaturized
microelectronics systems.
As per the release, the aim of ESiP is to investigate the
reliability of new production processes and materials required
to build a System in Package (SiP). The project will also
involve developing new methods for error analysis and testing.
The results of the ESiP project will in future be used,
for example, in electric vehicles, medical equipment and
communication technology devices.
Among the German research partners, alongside the companies
Infineon Technologies AG and Siemens AG, are the medium-sized
companies Team Nanotec GmbH, Feinmetall GmbH, Cascade Microtech
Dresden GmbH, InfraTec GmbH, PVA TePla Analytical Systems
GmbH and various institutes attached to the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
The total budget for ESiP amounts to around Euro 35 million
across Europe, with half of the total being financed over
three years by the 40 project partners. Two thirds of the
other half will be provided by the national funding organizations
in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain,
Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway, and a third by the European
Union (European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory Council
ENIAC and the European Regional Development Fund).
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