1st press release of the project published

(To see the release as .pdf please click here)

EuroPAT-MASIP project secures ECSEL funding to bring semiconductor packaging back to Europe

In today’s world, extensive usage of electronic components is at the core of industrial products, ranging from the automotive all the way to the entertainment and defense industries. The specific needs and requirements from the industries have always been one of the strongest technology drivers for advanced electronics packaging. A persistent target is to find new solutions for increased performance, improved form factors and reduced costs. Even though research and development activities in electronics are still in major part done in Europe, the semiconductor packaging related part of the electronics value chain is strongly dominated by countries in Asia.

“EuroPAT-MASIP will consolidate and extend the European leadership in semiconductor processing know-how, by developing and fostering packaging related technological and manufacturing building blocks, serving various emerging industrial sectors”, tells Steffen Kröhnert, R&D director of Nanium and the Coordinator of the project. “The emerging needs triggered e.g. by automotive sector trends and IoT provide an opportunity to pull back the specific highest added value parts of the electronics value chain back to Europe. The momentum to grasp this opportunity is now, thus it is absolutely great to have ECSEL support for it”, says Kröhnert.

The project develops packages for six pilot products: WLAN front-end IC, silicon photomultiplier, automotive inertial sensor and a camera, 60 GHz radar sensor and a car tyre sensor. In addition, the project develops a wide portfolio of technological building blocks for integration concepts. These include modelling and simulation, 3D MtM and SiP, packaging technologies, materials as well as test strategy and methods. The new equipment include e.g. plasma dicing technology. “The project has the mission to build a key competitive edge to the electronics technology development; We develop new capabilities and demonstrate their match to the future needs of European industries. This accelerates the manufacturing uptake of the new technologies and shorten time-to-market” tells Johanna Anteroinen, project Manager at Spinverse.

The three-year project’s total budget is about 30 M€, with roughly half of it from ECSEL and national funding. Partners from nine European countries cover the semiconductor packaging, assembly and test value chain all the way from foundry, packaging, component tests to system tests till the end user.  www.europat-masip.eu.

About ECSEL JU

The “Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership” (ECSEL) is a Joint Undertaking established in June 2014 by the European Union Council Regulation No 561/2014. It is  a  public-private partnership  that  will  engage,  from 2014  to  2020,  up  to  1.17  B€  funding  from  the  European  Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, combining it with a commensurate amount of  national/ regional  funding  and  participants’  own  contributions  to  leverage  about  5 B€  Research  and  Innovation  investments  in  nanoelectronics,  embedded  and  cyber-physical  systems,  and  system   integration   technologies. The   R&D   actors   are   represented by the associations AENEAS, ARTEMISIA and EPoSS. The ECSEL Joint Undertaking approved funding for 13 new projects totaling to 725 M€ R&D&I effort, receiving financial support from the EU and participating National authorities. The projects are to reinforce smart, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth for Europe, significantly contributing to European competitiveness and job creation. Read more about the ECSEL JU programme.

Project partners:

NANIUM S.A, BESI Austria GmbH, BESI Netherlands BV, EV Group (EVG), Murata Electronics Oy, Pac Tech -Packaging Technologies GmbH, SEMILAB FELVEZETO FIZIKAI LABORATORIUM RESZVENYTARSASAG, Valeo Vision Systems (Connaught Electronics Limited), 3DiS Technologies, RoodMicrotec, Sencio, Afore Oy, Micro Analog Systems Oy, Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Advanced Vacuum, Packaging SiP, NXP Semiconductors N.V. , Ketek GmbH, Spinverse, Nokian Tyres, InnoSenT, Berliner Nanotest und Design GmbH, AMIC Angewandte Micro-Messtechnik GmbH, Silicon Radar, TexEDA Design GmbH, Elmos Semiconductor AG


More information:

Steffen Kröhnert, Nanium, steffen.kroehnert[at]nanium.com

Satu Ek, Spinverse, satu.ek[at]spinverse.com

Work package workshop in Frankfurt

The EuroPAT-MASIP consortium had a workshop 12.7.2017 in Frankfurt, Germany for work package tasks regarding the project’s key functional and performance requirements as well as the test strategy for the application pilots.

Birgit Brämer, work package leader from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft ENAS, presented the status of the task “Key functional and performance requirements”. The task is included in the work package that focuses on integration concepts, design, modelling and simulation. The objective of the task is specify what technology and manufacturing requirements are needed for the application pilots. These requirements and guidelines will provide input for the following work packages to come.

Reinhard Pusch, COO from RoodMicrotec, presented the status of the task “Test strategy for the application pilots”. RoodMicrotec is in charge of this task and it will develop test strategies for the application pilots in collaboration with the application pilot partners. The task is included in the work package “Metrology, Characterization, Test Strategy, Reliability and Failure Analysis”, which Pusch presented as well.

The workshop also discussed the coordination of the project work as well as the partner contributions. André Cardoso, Nanium’s R&D Integrator, held discussions on the collaborations between work packages and application pilot timings.

EuroPAT-MASIP at ECSEL SYMPOSIUM 2017

Project coordinator Steffen Kröhnert (NANIUM) was presenting EuroPAT-MASIP at Malta event in June.

ECSEL Symposium gathered a wide range of European and global stakeholders in the Electronics Components and Systems field in Malta on 13/14 June 2017 in the the first Symposium, organised by the Joint Undertaking “Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership” (ECSEL JU).

 

The ECSEL Symposium provided the space for ECSEL funded projects to present their progress and results. The event run over two days: Day 1 focuses on ECSEL JU projects’ results and achievements in key areas (e.g. Smart Health, Production, and Mobility and Semiconductor technologies) while Day 2 is dedicated to a more strategic exchange featuring high-profile key note speeches and panel discussions. This event was organised under the auspices of the 2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

 

 

EuroPAT-MASIP project kicked off in Berlin

The EuroPAT-MASIP project kicked off in Berlin in 12-13th April 2017 with the full consortium present. The first day focused on the project scope, practicalities and work package presentations by the work package leaders. The second day focused on specifics of the work packages and planning the work. The event was hosted by Fraunhofer IZM.

 


The project will continue for 36 months and aims to reinforce the European semiconductor manufacturing position through focusing in the semiconductor and MEMS packaging ecosystem.