Imec and Coventor combine expertise in IC and MEMS design

February 01, 2011 // Julien Happich

Coventor and imec announced a strategic partnership to improve and expand the use of advanced design and manufacturing techniques for the development of CMOS integrated MEMS. The partnership includes strategic alignment on R&D roadmaps and collaboration on advanced research topics. Teams of imec and Coventor will collaborate on expanding imec’s use of Coventor’s software tools suite for MEMS + IC design. They will jointly develop process design kits (PDKs) for imec’s SiGe MEMS-above-IC process.

The kits will target imec’s SiGe MEMS technology that uses a MEMS-last approach, where the MEMS are processed after and on top of the CMOS circuits, enabling a monolithic integration of MEMS devices with the driving and readout electronics on the same die. The SiGe MEMS platform’s flexible and modular approach also allows application-specific tuning and optimization of MEMS layer thicknesses and properties, and the processing of optional functional layers on top of the MEMS devices.

The partnership will leverage Coventor’s background in developing the necessary infrastructure for MEMS design environments. Recently, the company introduced a new product line, MEMS+, aimed at integrating MEMS design with mainstream IC design environments. And imec has an innovative SiGe MEMS process that allows monolithic integration on top of standard CMOS.
Visit imec at www.imec.be

Visit Coventor at www.coventor.com

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