At this week’s International Solid-State Circuit Conference (ISSCC2012), imec and Renesas Electronics Corporation report an innovative SAR (successive-approximation register) ADC (analog to digital converter) with a spectacular improvement in power efficiency and speed, targeting wireless receivers for next-generation high-bandwidth standards such as LTE-advanced and the emerging generation of Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11ac).

Imec and Holst Centre announce a 2.3/2.4GHz transmitter for wireless sensor applications compliant with 4 wireless standards (IEEE802.15.6/4/4g and Bluetooth Low Energy). The transmitter has been fabricated in a 90nm CMOS process, and consumes only 5.4mW from a 1.2V supply (2.7nJ/bit) at 0dBm output. This is 3 to 5 times more power-efficient than the current state-of-the-art Bluetooth-LE solutions.

Imec, Holst Centre and their partners in the EU FP7 project ORICLA have fabricated the world’s first RFID (radio frequency identification) circuit made in low-temperature thin-film technology that allows reader-talks-first communication. The technology behind this prototype is indispensable to create RFID tags that are cheap enough and have enough performance to be used as intelligent item-level tags on the packaging of retail consumer goods.

At next week’s International Solid-State Circuits Conference (February 19-23, 2012, San Francisco, USA), imec and Holst Centre present 14 papers on low power design for wireless communication and wireless sensor networks, and organic electronics. Over the week, imec and Holst Centre will issue several news releases showcasing recent important breakthroughs in these different research domains.

At next week’s SPIE Advanced Lithography conference, imec announces the successful implementation of the world first 300mm fab-compatible Directed Self-Assembly (DSA) process line all-under-one-roof in imec’s 300mm cleanroom fab. The upgrade of an academic lab-scale DSA process flow to a fab-compatible flow was realized in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, AZ Electronic Materials and Tokyo Electron Ltd. Imec’s DSA collaboratio...

At SPIE Photonics West 2012, imec demonstrates a hyperspectral camera solution based on a system-on-chip image sensor with an integrated hyperspectral sensor. Imec’s solution is fast and enables small and cost-efficient camera-solutions. It targets multiple industrial vision applications.

Pepric, a spin-off of imec, successfully concluded a EURO 1.4 million capital round. Pepric develops and commercializes equipment for quantitative molecular detection and imaging to monitor biological processes evolving slowly over time.

Imec and Genalyte announce that they have successfully developed and produced a set of disposable silicon photonics biosensor chips to be used in Genalyte diagnostic and molecular detection equipment. The chips combine imec’s standard silicon photonic waveguide devices with bio-compatible modifications jointly developed by imec and Genalyte. These chips allow for high levels of multiplexed biosensing due to the high integration level of Si phot...

Holst Centre and imec launch a new research program on next-generation flexible OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays. It builds on their proven technology track record and solid base of existing research partners in related fields such as Organic and Oxide Transistors and Flexible OLED Lighting.

At SPIE Photonics West 2012, imec presents its R&D into next generation vision systems, high-end CMOS imagers and silicon photonics. Imec combines its expertise in heterogeneous integration of CMOS chip technology with new functionalities such as image sensors and MEMS, with multimedia application & design expertise, to develop solutions for next-generation high-quality, low-cost vision systems, focusing on the development of the optimal solution...

Imec, Polyera and international chemical group Solvay have achieved a new world-record efficiency of 8.3% for polymer-based single junction organic solar cells in an inverted device stack. These excellent performance results represent a crucial step towards successful commercialization of organic photovoltaic cells.

Imec is working together with Flamac, a division of SIM vzw (Strategisch Initiatief Materialen in Vlaanderen or Strategic Initiative Materials in Flanders) to develop novel semiconductor materials for solar cell applications. Within this collaboration novel materials are screened as an alternative for the standard solar cells made of copper indium gallium and selenium (CIGS).

IMEC together with its silicon photovoltaic industrial affiliation program partners Schott Solar, Total, Photovoltech, GDF-SUEZ, Solland Solar, Kaneka and Dow Corning, have demonstrated an excellent conversion efficiency of 23.3% on interdigitated back-contact (IBC) silicon solar cells.

Imec and its 16 project partners announce that they have launched the European FP7 project X10D, a project aiming at developing tandem organic solar cells with an increased conversion efficiency and lifetime, and a decreased production cost. The ultimate goal of the X10D project is to bring organic photovoltaic technologies towards introduction into the competitive thin-film PV market.

Imec and Holst Centre announce an innovative body patch that integrates an ultra-low power electrocardiogram (ECG) chip and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio. This unique combination fuses power-efficient electronics and standardized communication, opening new perspectives for long-term monitoring in health, wellness and medical applications. The system integrates components from imec and Holst Centre’s Human++ R&D program.

Imec realized an integrated poly-SiGe-based piezoresistive pressure sensor directly fabricated above 0.13 µm copper (Cu) -backend CMOS technology. This represents not only the first integrated poly-SiGe pressure sensor directly fabricated above its readout circuit, but also the first time that a poly-SiGe MEMS device is processed on top of Cu-backend CMOS.

Imec realized a fT/fMAX 245GHz/450GHz SiGe:C heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) device, a key enabler for future high-volume millimeter-wave low-power circuits to be used in automotive radar applications. These HBT devices also pave the way to silicon-based millimeter wave circuits penetrating the so-called THz gap, enabling enhanced imaging systems for security, medical and scientific applications

Imec and Holst Centre present a fully chip-integrated ultralow-power IR-UWB (impulse-radio ultra-wideband) solution for use in the worldwide available 6-10GHz band. The radio delivers high-quality communication for battery-operated mobile and sensing applications. It operates fade-resilient and interference-free.

Imec realized a fT/fMAX 245GHz/450GHz SiGe:C heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) device, a key enabler for future high-volume millimeter-wave low-power circuits to be used in automotive radar applications. These HBT devices also pave the way to silicon-based millimeter wave circuits penetrating the so-called THz gap, enabling enhanced imaging systems for security, medical and scientific applications.

Imec announces that it has successfully qualified a chipset consisting of custom high-quality EUV sensor dies. These are now being integrated in ASML’s NXE:3100 EUV lithography tools in the field, improving the tools’ overlay and critical dimension (CD) tool performance. With this milestone achievement, imec confirms that its CMORE business line is ready to provide its partners with custom specialty chip solutions.