Spread across a green landscape of soft lawns and groves of shady trees, the IMEC campus in Leuven, Belgium offers a deceptively peaceful facade to an organization that is a hotbed of microelectronics innovation, research, and development. The center, founded in 1984, is one-third of a three-pronged effort by the Flemish government to promote the electronics industry within Belgium. IMEC is the research division of the initiative and receives 30 percent of its annual budget from the government. The other two-thirds of the effort include a foundry, Alcatel Microelectronics (now spun off as an independent company) and a training division in integrated circuit design, Invomec.

The overall annual research budget for the IMEC organization is $90 million and focuses on five main areas of research: design methodology, silicon-process technology, silicon technology and devices integration, microsystems, components and packages, and training.

IMEC is a unique establishment on the global landscape of microelectronics. The blend of research, private enterprise, training, and industry partners is an interesting counterpoint to the Alba Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland (see "Europe 2000: The Alba Centre" September 2000 p. 46). Currently the United States doesn't offer any research facilities with this particular blend of government, industry, and academic elements.

The IMEC campus employees over 900 people, including upwards of 200-plus non-payroll employees such as fellowship recipients and visiting scientists.

Because of its unique position as a research company serving both industry and university constituents, IMEC has created a precedent-setting business model that ranks in importance with the technology that it supports.

The heart of the matter

The city of Leuven, situated in the heart of Belgium, is approximately 25 kilometers east of Brussels. Leuven is the capital of the modern province of Flemish-Brabant and the historical site of an ancient seat of learning.

During the Middle Ages, the town was one of the most important university centers in Northern Europe and the language of the day was Latin. Language is a fascinating thingÐthe art of comparison if you look at it simply. In the early to mid-19th century, political developments following the Napoleonic Wars put a new monarchy in place over the emerging Belgian state - and over a geography that was historically diverse and separate. The Northern region (Flanders) spoke Flemish and the Southern region (Wallonia) spoke French. The union was a challenging one and even today the country is divided geographically and linguistically across the French-Flemish interface. (Although, Brussels continues to be a French speaking island situated within Flanders.)

In recent decades, a new spin-off campus for the University of Leuven was established south of Brussels. Leuven-la-Neuve is a French-speaking campus. Meanwhile, the original campus in Leuven emerged as an exclusively Flemish (and English) speaking campus.

Subsequently, there's a large international population of English-speaking students studying at Leuven and at the adjoining facility at IMEC.Ten percent of IMEC's annual budget goes to university research - primarily centered on universities in Belgium such as RUG (Gent University), VUB (University of Brussels), and K.U. Leuven (University of Leuven).(A note of interest to our readers: Hugo de Man, this year's winner of the EDAC Phil Kaufman award is on the faculty at K.U. Leuven. In addition, Jan Rabaay of UC Berkeley is also a product of IMEC.) Partners in progress

Different areas of research are housed at different academic locations around the region. The K.U. Leuven campus focuses on microwave circuits, net-coupled solar cells, microsystem design, and multimedia and communications architecture and algorithms. Research in optoelectronics, packages, and process technology is housed at the RUG. The UIA (University of Antwerp) specializes in work on organic and light-emitting semiconductors. Electronic materials are the specialty at the LUC (University of Limburg).

On the industry side of the house, the IMEC Industrial Affiliation Program (IIAP) defines research programs particular to an area of interest and then finds industry partnersÐboth domestic and internationalÐto enter into research agreements with the center. Research at the center covers the gamut from process technology to materials, packaging, IP reuse, and system-level design. Generic methodologies that emerge from the research are shared between IMEC and its partners.

Additionally, IMEC allows partners to have access to technical background information that IMEC may have previously compiled in that area of study. As these agreements may result in personnel from rival companies working side by side, company-specific results and proprietary conclusions remain exclusively within the appropriate company. The same is true for any technology that may develop as a result of the partnership.

Currently, IIAPs are working on a diverse set of topics including system-on-a-chip design, MPEG-4 technology, optical lithography, and ultra-clean processing techniques. Ludo Deferm, IMEC's Vice President of Business

Development, believes that the organization offers an opportunity to promote generic, shared methodologies to the electronics industry. According to Deferm, knowledge is IMEC's principle product. It's a product that's difficult to measure and therefore enhances the uniqueness of the IIAP initiative.

Luring small companies into the IIAP is a challenge when it seems to involve taking one scientist or engineer away for a couple of months. However, the long-term benefits may include an overall reduction in R&D costs for the employer of up to 20 percent. Besides, he says, "We're more open with our IP than other companies are." The results are a reduced cost of R&D and a greater efficiency factor as well.

Deferm notes that, similar to many locations in the high-tech industry, the turnover at IMEC on an annual basis is significant. The 20-percent turnover rate is reflected in the average age of the residents at IMEC, currently running at 32 years old. Inviting visiting researchers into the institution provides a natural conduit for fresh talent at IMEC.

Deliberating design

Ivo Bolsens, Director of Design Methodologies for the VLSI Systems Division, says that there is a careful process in place at IMEC for choosing a project and working through that project: "We do a thinking experiment. ÔWhat can you build with the technology that will be available in three to four years?'"

He goes on to add, "The SIA roadmap says 200 to 300 million transistors on a single die is foreseeable. You can easily get a few hundred ARM processors now and do that. But what products will use this device density?"

In addition, Bolsens points out that the consumer market is changing. "Microelectronics have been driven by PCs, but there is an end in sight to this soon. The post-PC era is the future of applications. And, even more importantly, the embedded system will as if it's a mass market for one person."

One of the SOC-related research initiatives at IMEC is the Design for Information and Communication Systems (DESICS), concentrating on object-oriented language and IMEC's own system-level languages. Commenting on emerging design trends today that reflect different language options, Deferm feels that "you have to design for the specs of the design, not for the architecture. Sometimes it's hard to see that picture. People are always moving towards their software. But the language doesn't matter as long as the design is an accurate description."

Bolsens argues that the DESICS proposal reflects the design possibilities opened by considering different language options. "Imagine describing 300 million transistors with VHDL, where one line equals 10 gates. You're talking about a lifetime of work!"

Planning ahead

From the larger vantage, IMEC is operating within the environment of the emerging European Union. Europractice (EP), housed on the Lueven campus, is funded by the European Commission and has 15 member companies which promote all types of programs not strictly limited to technical matters - agricultural and monetary among others. The EP negotiates the license costs of micro-electronics products between universities and CAD companies. Carl Das, EP ICMS Manager says, "Microelectronics are only worthwhile in high volume," thus the EP needs to negotiate for small volume as well. It has negotiated over 25,000 licenses with over 500 universities worldwide. Within IMEC, the EP is focused primarily on integrated circuits - it is not an integral part of IMEC, but operates within the confines of the research body.

Deferm is very clear about why IMEC is important today and well positioned for future leadership in technology. "The way of thinking in universities has to change. Industries change very fast, but universities take twice as long to respond. They're just happy if they can find the right people." Deferm feels the charter has to extend way beyond the human resource issue. It has to reach ahead to predict the future directions of technology and science in order to meet those needs and capitalize on their promise. IMEC is working to meet that charter.

Acknowledgments

ISD Magazine would like to extend special thanks to Katrien Marent, Scientific Editor, and Marianne Van den Broeck, PR and Marcom manager for business development at IMEC, for the time and their help.

Michael Maisen is Senior Editor for ISD Magazine.

To voice an opinion on this or any other article in Integrated System Design, please e-mail your comments to sdean@cmp.com

To voice an opinion on this or any other article in Integrated System Design, please e-mail your comments to sdean@cmp.com.