Need to work toward sustainable future: imec

At an ISA CXO Conclave, Luc Van den hove, president and CEO, imec, said that we need to work toward a sustainable future. Started in 1984, Leuven, Belgium-based imec performs world leading research in nanoelectronics. He touched upon some research programs currently undertaken by imec.

Green radio is for low-power wireless communications. Technologies would be 1000K energy efficient. He added: "We are also developing low cost, low-power reconfigurable radios. Further, we feel that videos will dominate mobile phones."

Another innovation, E-Nose, can be used for air quality, safety, food and well being. Human++ BAN life sciences, is yet another innovation. Now, the cost of healthcare is said to be exploding. By 2030, over 1 billion people will be over 65+ years. imec is developing body area network. According to imec, wearable wireless sensors can grow to over $400 million by 2014.

imec is working on technologies ranging from bio sensors to lab-on-chip. "We are also working on implantable devices such as microprobes," said Van den hove.

imec is also working on the NVision technology. According to estimates, there will likely be 78.1 million 3D TVs by 2012. Van den hove said, "we are developing holographic visualization."

On energy, he said that renewable energy was growing in importance. "We are working on solar, storage, switching, etc. As an example, we have replaced Ag (silver) with Cu (copper) metallization." Organic solar cells is yet another technology imec's working on.

In power electronics, imec is working on GaN power devices. "We also have a program for boosting chip performance and system functionality," he added. "We are also exploring the third dimension -- DRAM on logic."

CMORE, is said to be more than CMOS, as well as MEMS, sensors, photonics, SiGe based metals/devices. In organic electronics, imec and Holst have developed the first plastic microprocessor, which was introduced in 2011. imec has research programs for full ecosystems as well.

Van den hove noted: "We also celebrate the launch of imec India. We want to develop sustainable nanoelectronic solutions. For example, rural India drives the mobile phone growth. India is also driving e-health."

In Arise Labs, imec has provided the nanoelectronic platform, technology and design expertise, application programming and strong industry network.