CATRENE – A SUCCESSFUL EUREKA CLUSTER NEARS COMPLETION
Paris, 2 March, 2017 - The CATRENE Final Report, released in November 2016, provided the opportunity to reflect on its contributions to the European digital economy. Overall, 51 projects were funded under this programme with a total effort of close to 9000 person-years across 20 countries. Small and medium size enterprises were largely integrated in projects, which guaranteed a rapid transfer from R&D to innovation and small scale production. While 17 projects are still underway, CATRENE can already claim a strong impact on the European society and economy. More than 1700 publications and presentations assured the broad range dissemination of R&D results inside the academic and commercial environment. Over 200 patents have already been filed, helping European industry to keep and even improve a strong position in the highly competitive world of micro-and nanoelectronics and key applications.
CATRENE PROJECT NEWP@SS WINS 2015 INNOVATION AWARD NewP@ss wins the 2015 CATRENE innovation award and provides solutions to meet the new technical challenges associated to the future generation of e-Passport.
Berlin, 1 December, 2015 - Delivering advanced secure platforms suitable for the forthcoming 3rd and 4th generation of e-Passport, the project NewP@ss has received the 2015 CATRENE Innovation Award. This award was presented on 1 December at the European Nanoelectronics Forum in Berlin.
The next generations of e-Passport are currently under discussion at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). They could be usable as approved travel document at European and International level, and also be used for hosting dedicated e-services applications for both government and private organizations (boarding ticket support, airline services …). These faster and more secure new features will ease citizen life especially when travelling abroad but also anytime the citizen will need to access to public or private digital e-Services.
As regard speed, these advanced secure passport platforms developed through the project embed state of the art Near Field Communication capabilities 16 times faster than the generation of passport currently on the field. The world fastest electronic passport and corresponding reading equipment have been demonstrated in the context of the project. This velocity will ease traveller’s experience during automated border crossing operations.
Concerning security, the NewP@ss platform has reached the highest level of security required for border control operations. Secure microcontrollers have been developed providing advanced computing power and memory space required for highest performance in high security applications. With the increase in frauds, a focus was particularly made on security and privacy aspects with the development of new cryptography protocols (as SAC or EACv2.1).
During the project, over 14 demonstrators and 4 complex use cases demonstrators have been defined in a co-working mode to illustrate Border control and eTraveler journey use cases. As a consequence, 3G ePassport developed in the project are now available and will be distributed on the market from this year and 4G from 2018 and beyond. Very High Bit Rate (VHBR) contactless communication protocol technology will be improved in the coming years and will be implemented in smartphone and tablets. All the cryptographic protocols will be reused and improved in other electronic documents such as eID or ePermit resident.
Finally, NewP@ss partners shared their results through academic journals and international conferences and contribute to security standards such as LDSv2 providing new datagroups for storing eVisas, eTravel Stamps or Boarding Pass.
The CATRENE NewP@ss project ended the 31st June 2015. More information on the project is available at www.catrene.org.
MORE INFORMATION ON THE CATRENE INNOVATION AWARD:
With a history that dates back to 2004, the CATRENE Innovation Award is bestowed each year during the European Nanoelectronics Forum.
To win the award, the project must be recently ended or running in the CATRENE programme, demonstrate a high level of innovation, market impact, exploitation potential and overall benefits for Europe.
The winner of the award is selected by a group of technical experts.
ABOUT CATRENE
The CATRENE Cluster and its predecessor programmes have been supporting cooperative industrial R&D&I projects in the domain of Nanoelectronics since 1987. With more than 320 partner organisations from 20 European countries, CATRENE projects deliver nanoelectronic solutions that respond to the needs of society at large, improving the economic prosperity of Europe and reinforcing the ability of its industry to be at the forefront of the global competition.
THE 8TH CATRENE CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS IS NOW OPEN CATRENE, the EUREKA Cluster for European co-operative R&D in micro and nanoelectronics (∑! 4140), has published the schedule of its 8th Call for project proposals.
Paris, 18 December, 2014 -
Deadline for Project Outlines 13 February 2015
Deadline for Full Project proposal 03 June 2015
Call 8 will gather a strong group of projects that cover the scope of the CATRENE White Book, which can be found on the CATRENE website.
In order to maximise the impact of the programme, the evaluation process will be conducted in collaboration with National Authorities.
The labelling session is scheduled for July 2015. Projects are expected to start late 2015.
For all details and exact dates related to the CATRENE CALL 8, including guidelines for preparation, please visit http://www.catrene.org
CATRENE PROJECT EM4EM WINS 2014 INNOVATION AWARD EM4EM wins the 2014 CATRENE Innovation Award and provides solutions to meet new technical challenges for future vehicles with electric drives.
Paris, 2 December, 2014 - Resolving electromagnetic compatibility and reliability issues required for future developments in the automotive and semiconductor industries, the project EM4EM (ElectroMagnetic reliability of electronic Systems for Electro Mobility) has received the 2014 CATRENE Innovation Award. This award was presented on 26 November at the European Nanoelectronics Forum in Cannes.
As electric mobility becomes of increasing importance for today’s society, automotive manufacturers must address significant technical challenges when it comes to the reduction electromagnetic interference in electric vehicles.
The potential for interference to affect sensor systems, control systems and communication systems is up to one hundred times greater in electric vehicles than in vehicles with combustion engines. To date, expensive, complex screening and filtering measures, which increase the overall weight of electric vehicles, have been used in order to guarantee electromagnetic compatibility. The negative impact of this increase in weight results in the range of electric vehicles being reduced.
The objective of the EM4EM consortium is to cut out this interference as much as possible while extending its impact to the development of electronics that are better able to withstand electromagnetic interference.
With a strong interdisciplinary consortium led by Audi and including automotive manufacturers, suppliers, semi-conductor manufacturers from three European countries, as well as universities, the EM4EM project has already produced impressive results.
EM4EM deliverables (including tried and tested models, measurement methods and procedures as well as simulation tools) will benefit a large number of European businesses by reducing time-to-market and costs of EMR-optimised components and systems for electric vehicles. The demonstrators along the value chain, for example, will help third parties integrate these results quickly into new products.
By 2020, it is expected that there will be a market for 13 million electric vehicles. The semiconductor market for hybrid-electric and battery-electric vehicles, with annual growth rates of 25%, is expected to increase to $5.5 billion in 2020, reaching about 15% of the overall automotive semiconductor market.
The work completed in the CATRENE EM4EM project is a pre-condition for the next generation of electric vehicles, allowing European companies in the automotive industry to secure and expand while preserving or even increasing employment in Europe.
The CATRENE EM4EM project is scheduled to end in the first quarter of 2015. More information on the project is available at www.catrene.org.
MORE INFORMATION ON THE CATRENE INNOVATION AWARD:
With a history that dates back to 2004, the CATRENE Innovation Award is bestowed each year during the European Nanoelectronics Forum.
To win the award, the project must be recently ended or running in the CATRENE programme, demonstrate a high level of innovation, market impact, exploitation potential and overall benefits for Europe.
The winner of the award is selected by a group of technical experts.
STRIKING TECHNOLOGIES FOR POWER - THOR ENABLES SIC TO ENTER THE MARKET Innovative technology developed by the co-labelled CATRENE-EURIPIDES² THOR project enables a steep increase of Silicon Carbide devices in the market. More compact power conversion solutions will be introduced in a variety of application areas and in particular automotive, aeronautics and healthcare.
Paris, 16 May, 2014 - The THOR Project, coordinated by Philips Healthcare, has delivered solutions for packaging, cooling and electromagnetic compatibility. This helps industry to transform the Silicon Carbide (SiC) market from a device to a power modules business. This transformation will lead to a jump in growth of the SiC device market from 26% to 39% within the next year according to Yole Développement.
In modern power converters, most of the volume is occupied by cooling components and electrical filters. SiC based power devices reduce both the requirements on cooling and filtering. THOR has exploited this aspect by developing high temperature packaging, compact cooling systems and smaller filters. Compact power conversion systems with a very high power density have been demonstrated in three application areas: aeronautics, automotive and healthcare.
These compact and highly efficient converters are essential for addressing the environmental challenges in terms of CO2 emission and over reliance on fossil fuels. Power converters will significantly reduce the weight of cabling in a single aircraft thus diminishing fuel consumption with an additional 30% being saved by storing transient energy during braking. In the medical area, more compact systems at a lower cost helps to address the health challenges in the ageing society.
Key to the success of the THOR project was its coverage of the full supply chain from semiconductor device level to power system integrator in combination with three application areas to leverage the economy of scale. The commercial advantage is a stronger competitive situation for the different industrial partners, because recent advancements in power electronics technology provided by the academic partners have been integrated into advanced applications. This ranges from SiC and SoI technology to full compact power converters integrated in large systems.
Such broad coverage was made possible by the unique support of two large European support programmes: CATRENE and EURIPIDES². The information sharing and cross-fertilization within the THOR consortium was excellent; more than 70 reports with results have been internally exchanged and new, long-lasting, collaborations have been established. Furthermore, the key players within THOR guaranteed efficient cooperation with other related European projects.
THOR also shared its newly generated knowledge amongst the academic and industrial public. More than 30 papers have been written, 25 presentations were given and 12 patent applications have been submitted. A book on EMC of large systems and installations has also been published in Dutch and is currently being translated.
The first products based on THOR technology are already available on the market. In September 2012, STMicroelectronics released their SiC diodes for photovoltaic converters. They will extend their range this year to additional applications and SiC Mosfets will follow soon. Soitec and NXP have a new silicon-on-insulator process in place facilitating the design of high temperature drivers and the integration of low-voltage and high-voltage integration at lower cost.
For electric vehicles, Valeo has demonstrated a compact air-cooled high-voltage DC/DC-converter with efficiency 93% and 95% over a very broad output power range. The vapour chamber and heat sink have been designed such that the cooling capabilities of the converter are independent of the mounting orientation, thus offering large flexibility to car designers.
Labinal Power Systems, Airbus Group Innovations, Thales Microelectronics and CIRTEM have demonstrated a compact power converter, which covers a very large temperature range such that it can be located at both aeronautic engines and in brakes on airplanes (very high temperatures).
Philips Healthcare and the Dutch SME Prodrive demonstrated the capabilities of full digital control for power electronics. Among others, a compact high voltage power supply was shown with an ideal topology for introducing SiC components. Pilot tests in hospitals are already ongoing. Further, a feedback system was developed, which can correct up to 10 dB variations in amplifier gain.
THE 7TH CATRENE CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS NOW OPEN
Paris, 7 February, 2014 - CATRENE, the EUREKA Cluster for European co-operative R&D in micro and nanoelectronics (∑! 4140), has published the schedule of its 7th Call for project proposals.
Deadline for Project outlines: 04 April 2014
Deadline for Full Project proposal: 04 September 2014
Call 7 will gather a strong group of projects that aim to make smart cities even smarter; as well as more comfortable; efficient; and green.
In order to maximise the chances for funding, the evaluation process will be conducted in collaboration with National Authorities.
Labelling sessions are scheduled for October and November 2014. Projects are expected to start from 01 January 2015 onwards.
For all details and exact dates related to the CATRENE CALL 7, including guidelines for preparation, please visit http://www.catrene.org/
AENEAS AND CATRENE WELCOME CALL FROM EC FOR URGENT AND BOLD ACTIONS The AENEAS and CATRENE Board Members welcome the call from the European Commission for “urgent and bold actions” to secure the competitiveness of Europe in the field of micro- and nanoelectronics.
“Today no societal challenge can be successfully met without electronics.”
European Strategy for Micro- and Nanoelectronic Components and Systems by the European Commission
Paris, 30 May, 2013 - The European nanoelectronics community acknowledges the new strategy, released by the European Commission last week and presented by Vice President Neelie Kroes yesterday, on micro- and nanoelectronic components and systems as an important first step.
The document reads: The importance of the area and the challenges faced by the stakeholders in the EU require urgent and bold actions in order to leave no weak link in Europe’s innovation and value chains… Europe cannot afford to lose the capacity to design and manufacture micro- and nanoelectronics. This would put large parts of the value chains of major industrial sectors at risk and deprive Europe of essential technologies needed to address its societal challenges.
Three EU-level focuses are outlined in the strategy:
attracting and channelling investments in support of a European roadmap for industrial leadership in micro- and nanoelectronics ;
combining and focusing support by Member States, the EU and the private sector;
taking measures to strengthen competitiveness and assure a global level playing field, to support business development and SMEs, and to address the skills gap.
The AENEAS and CATRENE Board Members are pleased to note that this strategy builds upon the KETs (Key Enabling Technologies) initiative and reinforces the main objectives of the Position Paper entitled Innovation for the future of Europe: Nanoelectronics beyond 2020.
“The ICT companies and research institutes represented in AENEAS and CATRENE are pleased with the follow up that the European Commission has given in this strategy to the Position Paper released last November. We are convinced that, with the support of the European Commission and the Member States, we can successfully address the ICT related societal agenda for energy, health, safety… The execution of this strategy will strengthen Europe’s technological future by allowing us, for example, to build advanced manufacturing lines enabling differentiating technologies and products and to create high level jobs,” affirmed Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon Technologies and President of AENEAS.
Enrico Villa, Chairman of CATRENE, added “A good momentum has been created with the release of both the Position Paper and the EC’s strategy. Europe’s role in the world supply of products based on nanoelectronic technologies will benefit from a European Electronics Industrial Strategic Roadmap which overarches National initiatives, Eureka and Horizon 2020.”
The AENEAS and CATRENE Board Members will actively pursue the elaboration of the Roadmap (expected release date by end of 2013) conform to the European Commission’s strategy.
CONTINUATION OF CATRENE UNTIL 2015 Public Authorities give a "GO" for the continuation of CATRENE until 2015 and the green light to begin working on an application for a new EUREKA programme beyond 2015.
Brussels, 29 May, 2013 - Work will begin today in a common meeting between Industry and Public Authorities on how to implement the recommendations made in the Final CATRENE Assessment report. This report led to a “GO” from the Public Authorities for the continuation of the Cluster programme until 2015 and a green light to start preparing, immediately, the application for a new EUREKA programme on nanoelectronics beyond 2015.
The mid-term assessment of the CATRENE Programme was launched in October 2012 by Public Authorities, driven by France, Germany and the Netherlands with the support of other involved countries.
The objectives were to look back on the results achieved so far (economic and societal impact, outstanding research results and breakthrough) and to look forward on opportunities to shape a future Eureka instrument for micro- and nanoelectronics.
In April of this year, the final assessment report was handed over and discussed in a common meeting in Stockholm on April 26, 2013. The report was approved by Public Authorities without amendment. All parties valued the excellent work undertaken by the assessment team.
In view of the “GO”, both, Public Authorities and the CATRENE Board, mandated a working group to address the recommendations that could be implemented in the short-term and to begin, immediately, identifying the long-term prospects for a new Eureka Cluster beyond 2015 adapted to meet new societal/industrial challenges in a changing global landscape.
“The recommendations made in the Final Assessment Report provide us the tools needed in order to move forward. They point to areas where the CATRENE programme is strong and areas where it needs to be improved. We are ready for this challenge and eager to start working with the Public Authorities on the future. We will aim to make the process as open and transparent as possible keeping our partners informed along the way,” stated Enrico Villa, Chairman of CATRENE.
A first joint report by the working groups on how to implement the recommendations resulting from the Assessment will be prepared by November 2013.
CATRENE CALL 6 OPENS TODAY CATRENE, the EUREKA Cluster for European co-operative R&D in micro and nanoelectronics (∑! 4140), opens its 6th Call for project proposals.
Paris, 4 February, 2013 - The call will be open from 04 February 2013 until 02 April 2013. The labelling of projects, which will commence after the evaluation and selection process, is scheduled in October and December 2013. Projects are expected to start from 01 January 2014 onwards.
For all details and exact dates related to the CATRENE CALL 6, including guidelines for preparation, please visit http://www.catrene.org/
With 33 projects resulting from the five previous calls, involving more than 320 participating organisations from 19 European countries, CATRENE is an important European programme in nanoelectronics supported by industry and national governments.
EUROPEAN NANOELECTRONICS INDUSTRY PROPOSES TO INVEST 100 B€ FOR INNOVATION The AENEAS and CATRENE organisations announced today the publication of a new positioning document ‘Innovation for the future of Europe: Nanoelectronics beyond 2020’.
Paris, 28 November, 2012 - Highlighting the need for Europe to substantially increase its research and innovation efforts in nanoelectronics in order to maintain its worldwide competitiveness, the document outlines a proposal by companies and institutes within Europe’s nanoelectronics ecosystem to invest 100 billion € up to the year 2020 on an ambitious research and innovation programme, planned and implemented in close cooperation with the European Union and the Member States.
“Nanoelectronics is not only strategically important to Europe in its own right, it is also a key enabling technology to help solve all of the societal challenges identified in the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme,” said Enrico Villa, Chairman of CATRENE. “This important new positioning paper, which has been put together and endorsed by all the major actors in the European nanoelectronics ecosystem, including large industrial companies, SMEs, research organisations and academic institutes, is intended to open up discussions on how Europe-wide research and innovation in nanoelectronics can be coordinated to maximise its applicability and economic value.”
Europe’s semiconductor industry and research institutes remain at the heart of Europe’s knowledge-based economy, contributing an estimated 30 billion € to Europe’s annual revenues. Its semiconductor companies have dominant global positions in key application areas, such as transport and security, as well as in equipment and materials for worldwide semiconductor manufacturing. Nanoelectronics is not only opening up new opportunities to exploit Europe’s strengths in equipment and materials for worldwide digital microchip production, it also offers opportunities to expand European semiconductor manufacturing on 150mm, 200mm and 300mm wafers to produce the highly specialised nano-scale devices required to interface digital chips to real-world application environments. Creating these new devices will be critical to maintaining Europe’s world-leading position in industry segments such as automotive, aerospace, medical, industrial, and telecommunications.
Urgent strategy actions recommended in the positioning paper to secure the future of Europe’s nanoelectronics ecosystem include extension of the European Union’s dedicated budgets for Key Enabling Technologies to reflect their common dependence on nanoelectronics; simplified notification and enlarged eligibility for public funding in nanoelectronics, and greater focus on European Union funding for regional initiatives to support the proposed programme.
“Despite today’s climate of austerity, investing in technologies that will sustain Europe throughout the 21st century and solve important societal challenges such as energy efficiency, security and the aging population, makes economic sense,” explained Mr Villa. “We firmly believe that with the right investment and Europe-wide programme coordination, the European nanoelectronics ecosystem can increase Europe’s worldwide revenues by over 200 billion € per year and create an additional 250,000 direct and induced jobs in Europe.”
‘Innovation for the future of Europe: Nanoelectronics beyond 2020’ is available for download on the AENEAS and CATRENE websites.
CATRENE 2012 INNOVATION AWARD CATRENE presented its 2012 INNOVATION AWARD to
the project CT301 EXEPT (EXtreme uv lithography Entry Point Technology development)
for its crucial role in the building and securing European leadership in EUV lithography
through the development of state of the art technologies, tools and infrastructure.
Munich, 20 November, 2012 -
As front-runners in this field, the EXEPT project partners built on the instrumental results achieved by the MEDEA+ EAGLE project, which developed a pre-production tool for the 32 nm technology node. To write at the 22 nm level, EXEPT reviewed the system layout and various components, and developed the additional functionality required for this more demanding target. In June 2012, the final milestone "First light from the integrated system and start 22nm platform qualification” was realized.
The CATRENE EXEPT project focused on industrial (high-volume) EUV lithography at 22 nm node with an acceptable cost ownership level starting in 2013. It is expected that its introduction for high-volume semiconductor production will open a range of new business opportunities for the European equipment industry.
The overall results accomplished by the EXEPT project have the potential of generating thousands of high quality jobs in Europe and of delivering cost reductions for the end-user. They have also made future developments down to the 16 nm and 11 nm level realistic targets.
The EXEPT project consortium included 16 partners from 5 European countries including major companies in the semiconductor equipment industry, leading research institutes and a mask shop for a total of 1043 person years in research efforts. SMEs also participated in the work efforts bringing innovative modules to complete the system.
ASML, currently the only supplier in the world of EUV lithography tools, successfully coordinated the project which came to an end in June 2012.
The 2012 CATRENE Innovation Award was presented to the EXEPT project partners on 20 November during the European Nanoelectronics Forum in Munich.
Upon this occasion, the ENIAC Joint Undertaking also presented its Innovation Award to two projects, IMPROVE and LENS. For more information on these projects please visit www.eniac.eu.
MORE INFORMATION ON THE CATRENE INNOVATION AWARD:
In continuity with the Jean-Pierre Noblanc Awards presented by the MEDEA+ programme starting in 2004 to projects with a high level of innovation, the first Innovation Award was bestowed during the 2010 European Nanoelectronics Forum in Madrid to the MEDEA+ project, 2A502 TSC (Trusted Secure Computing).
In 2011, the award recipient was the MEDEA+ project, 2A207 TritonZ (Tri-Dimensional technologies over networks with 2D +Z).
With several projects from Call 1 of CATRENE having successfully ended in 2012, the CT 301 EXEPT consortium is the first CATRENE project to receive an Innovation Award.
The criteria for the MEDEA+/CATRENE Innovation Award include project objectives, management, level of innovation, exploitation potential, market impact and overall benefits for Europe.
CHANGE IN CATRENE MANAGEMENT The CATRENE Office has announced the retirement of Otto Laaff from his role as Director of Communications after some 11 years.
Paris, 27 July, 2012 - “We thank Otto for his outstanding service to the CATRENE Office. His knowledge of the programme and his commitment to the European nanoelectronics industry have been major assets for our organisation over the years. Otto not only managed our communication activities but also played a substantial role in the overall operation of both the CATRENE programme and its predecessor MEDEA+,” stated Enrico Villa, Chairman of CATRENE.
Mr. Laaff’s contributions led to the establishment of the esteemed European Nanoelectronics Forum and more generally, to ensuring the successful continuation of the CATRENE programme for a competitive European ICT industry. As part of a partnership between CATRENE and the R&D Association AENEAS, Mr. Laaff was also responsible for the overseeing of all communication regarding AENEAS*.
Since the retirement of Mr. Laaff as Director of Communications end of June, Ms. Christine Plissonneau, a member of the CATRENE Office who began working with Mr. Laaff in 2007, has been appointed to lead AENEAS and CATRENE Communication activities.
*AENEAS is an association representing R&D actors in the field of nanoelectronics and working in close collaboration with both CATRENE and the ENIAC JU.
SUCCESSFUL CATRENE ANNOUNCES NEW CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS CATRENE is announcing its 4th call for submission of project proposals. The call will be open from 18 January 2011 and will close on 03 March 2011.
Paris, 11 January, 2011 - An assessment on MEDEA+ phase 2 and CATRENE carried out by independent experts on behalf of European National Public Authorities is testifying that the clusters goals are in line with both Europe’s strategic needs and the general development of the globalised nanoelectronics world. The achievements gained during 2005 - 2010 show an impressive range of results and the projects are in line with the ITRS roadmap and with state-of-the-art research activities.
CATRENE, the co-operative pan-European R&D programme aiming at a technological leadership of a competitive European ICT industry (EUREKA 4140) is announcing its 4th call for submission of project proposals. The call will be open from 18 January 2011 and will close on 03 March 2011. After the evaluation and selection process, there are mid and end of 2011 dates for labelling of projects. It can be assumed that the projects will start from 1st January 2012 onwards. Related information and guidelines for preparation are accessible on http://www.catrene.org/
With already 26 projects resulting from the three calls, involving almost 300 participating organisations from 18 European countries and almost 7000 person-years of researchers, CATRENE is the leading European programme in nanoelectronics supported by industry and national governments.
CATRENE DUE TO ENHANCE PROJECT PORTFOLIO CATRENE, has announced its third call for project proposals from 1st February to 1st June 2010.
Paris, 3 February, 2010 - CATRENE, the industry-driven Cluster for Application and Technology Research in Europe on NanoElectronics (EUREKA 4140) has announced its third call for project proposals from 1st February to 1st June 2010. Participation in the Project Outline phase is mandatory until 18th March for participation in the subsequent Full Proposal phase. After the evaluation and selection process, the final decision can be expected on 30th June 2010 with project labelling. It can be assumed that the projects will start from January 2011.
Related information and guidelines for preparation are accessible during this time on http://www.catrene.org/
Considering the pace of the technical and business evolution in the nanoelectronics domain, it was anticipated from the beginning that annual call for proposals would be launched within the first phase of the programme (2008-2011).
With already 21 active projects resulting from the first and second call, involving 300 participating organisations from 16 European countries and almost 7000 person-years of researchers, CATRENE is the leading European programme in nanoelectronics supported by industry and governments.
Paris, 4 December, 2009 - Low CO² emission world act is in strong demand of energy saving in all applications fields in the planet. To cope with this growing demand "More electrical migration" of all applications controlling energy is expected as well as limited use of ecologic resources. This puts a considerable pressure on all industries to innovate on levels of systems, device, technology and manufacturing. Power electronics is a major important element in the global efficiency of the control of energy in automotive, transport, energy. All those factors are calling for rapid advancement in power semiconductor devices, modules and storage technologies
The THOR project aims at developing highly efficient, integrated and reliable power electronics technologies for automotive, aeronautics and healthcare applications (Magnetic Resonance Imaging systems). Key part of this project is the development of high power switches (transistors and diodes) based on innovative silicon process, silicon on insulator or wide band gap materials (Silicon Carbide – SiC or Gallium Nitride – GaN) targeting the voltage from 200V to 3000V. The project covers the development of new technologies for discrete power components (IGBT’s, JFET, Diodes, based on wide band gap semiconductors), power cores, storage elements (super-capacitors). Last but not least develop innovative and affordable packaging for high temperature, thermal and EMC management solutions.
More and more the enabling technologies are driven by the applications using them. This is a prerequisite for successful market entry of innovation which is the main focus of EUREKA Clusters. One of the consequences is that the innovation projects and need more seamless exploration of the technology portfolio of various clusters. The flexible structure of the clusters within the Eureka framework makes it possible. In this case a "Co- labelling" by CATRENE and EURIPIDES was the adequate answer including agreement on one unified monitoring process. This gives maximum freedom to the project consortium and makes it possible to bring the necessary competences to reviewing and monitoring the project together. In addition it gives the participating countries the possibility to make a choice in the funding decision.
COMMON PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY ESIA AND SEMI, AND SUPPORTED BY CATRENE European nanoelectronics research cluster CATRENE said it shares the EC position that micro- nanoelectronics are of “systemic relevance” for Europe and announced “full support of the necessary strategies.”
Paris, 30 September, 2009 - Please be informed that CATRENE, the EUREKA Cluster programme for Applications and Technologies Research in European NanoElectronics, appreciates the European Commission’s recognition that micro – and nanoelectronics are of ‘systemic relevance’ for Europe.
“CATRENE will fully support the rapid implementation of necessary strategies in the area of R&D and innovation,” said Enrico Villa, Chairman of CATRENE.
For your information, we have attached the common Press Release issued by ESIA and SEMI.
CATRENE RELEASING « 2009 EUROPEAN EDA ROADMAP » The 2009 European EDA Roadmap, released today, is a substantial update of the 2005 edition of the MEDEA+ EDA Roadmap.
Paris, 10 March, 2009 - The whole European EDA excellence and expertise from industry, SMEs, institutes and academia organised by Europe’s most prominent cluster for cooperative R&D in nanoelectronics have contributed to the new programme.
Enrico Villa, CATRENE Chairman commented: “The global strategic European objective of this new Roadmap is to engineer design solutions more rapidly, originating from system users specifications in a top down design flow within various silicon application platforms of choice and to develop early parametrisable and reusable system IPs for the next generation of products.”
The semiconductor industry has been growing at an unprecedented rate since the early 1960s. It capitalised on the outstanding properties of silicon and its stable oxide, which allowed the advent of the CMOS process, the leading process for the whole semiconductor industry. For more than two decades, a two digit average growth per year in semiconductor sales imposes formidable challenges in terms of huge investments needed for volume manufacturing, complex designs and new research in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) at system level to ensure short time to market and competitiveness.
The new Roadmap focuses on demonstrating a complete top-down design flow, starting at specifications, then System Level Design linking designers to formal customer’s specifications, parametrisable IP creation, standards and Design for Manufacturability (DfM) supported by new TCAD (Technology CAD) developments. Furthermore, the Roadmap includes basic digital functions like multiprocessor cores, value-added functionalities such as analogue, radio frequency, embedded memories and micro mechanical functions, with more design reusability, a major objective of the new programme. It addresses specific needs, at particular points in time, and with a specific time frame of 2008 to 2013.
The Roadmap is available for downloading on http://www.catrene.org/ section Communication, subsection Publications.
Paris, 22 January, 2009 - CATRENE, the recently approved EUREKA cluster programme (∑! 4140), is launching a new call for project proposals. Europe’s high tech industry, small and medium sized enterprises as well as research institutes and academia are invited to submit as a first step project outlines from 2nd March to 30th April 2009, subsequently full proposals have to be delivered. Following the project evaluation and selection process, final decisions and labelling of projects are foreseen at the end of September 2009. It can be assumed that chosen projects will start as of 1st January 2010.
Information and guidelines for the preparation of project proposals are accessible on the CATRENE web pages at www.CATRENE.org (section Project Calls), where the CATRENE White Book, which forms the working basis for cluster projects, can also be downloaded.
With 12 active projects resulting from the first call in 2008, involving 4000 researchers of 140 partner organisations from 13 countries, CATRENE is the leading European programme in nanoelectronics supported by industry and governments.
INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION POLICY IS NEEDED TO KEEP EUROPE IN THE LEAD IN THE GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY RACE
Paris, 3 December, 2008 - The European Nanoelectronics Forum 2008, was held in Paris on December 2 and 3, and successfully gathered more than 300 key players from the field. It was a common event organized by MEDEA+ / CATRENE, the EUREKA cluster programmes, ENIAC, the European Technology Platform on Nanoelectronics and AENEAS, the Association of R&D actors in nanoelectronics.
During the Forum, a clear message was sent out on the importance of creating a European industrial innovation policy to maintain Europe’s knowledge leadership in advanced micro- and nanoelectronics, and also of forming strong alliances for its implementation.
“The time to act is now. To remain at the top when it comes to innovation, the European Semiconductor Industry must cope with a changed landscape. Europe’s economy will become increasingly knowledge-based. In order to fulfil the objectives of the Lisbon strategy and sustain our European core values, we must keep the command of semiconductor technology, which underpins the developments of the Information Society. The European Semiconductor Industry has already proven its capabilities and is leading the market in several fields such as wireless components and automotive electronics. We must keep this momentum and increase it in several other fields, keeping our vision alive even in these difficult times.” said Alain Dutheil, President of AENEAS.
The Semiconductor Industry is in fact crucial for European economic growth and prosperity as it directly enables approximately 10% of the global GDP. Yet, traditional technology leaders such as Europe, the USA and Japan, are faced with the rise of emerging competitors that are successfully attracting international business with financially advantageous operating conditions. And this is not the only challenge. Closer to home, the European economic environment is proving to be less and less adapted to globalised worldwide markets. The European Semiconductor Industry can only be competitive if it competes in the same local economic and policy environment as the other semiconductor regions in the world.
Large European industrial alliances have been formed to address European competitiveness in the sector. For nearly twenty years, programmes such as JESSI, MEDEA and MEDEA+, and today the new programmes CATRENE and the ENIAC Joint Undertaking have made significant contributions to establishing and maintaining European leadership in nanoelectronics R&D ranging from smart card and image sensing technologies to automotive electronics. They embrace all key actors in the value chain – including applications, technology, materials and equipment suppliers – as well as involving industrial companies of all sizes, universities and other research institutions and Public Authorities.
Today, however, they are all raising the same concerns for the future of this crucial sector for Europe.
The Chairman of CATRENE, Enrico Villa, stated that “The common vision of the industry is to reinforce the global competitive position of the European electronic food chain by leveraging its competitive advantages and its local industrial infrastructure”, but he also remindedthat“competitiveness in today’s changing landscape requires adaptation. Europe’s Semiconductor companies and all the associated players are working on this by reassessing their strategies, by forming new alliances for research and by developing new market opportunities linked to social needs with a high technology potential”.
It is important that a common European industrial innovation policy for the entire Semiconductor value chain be established, not only with the collaboration of R&D actors but also with the full support of the European Commission and National States.
As stipulated in the recent “ESIA 2008 Competitiveness Report”, such a policy should redefine technology and business strategies for the Semiconductor industry and include four important pillars: an enlarged effort on R&D and an increase in R&D funding; a renewal in semiconductor manufacturing; the creation of new market opportunities; and a focus on attracting a highly skilled work-force and encouraging more students to complete technological studies. By inciting a clear vision, the semiconductor industry can create new markets and concentrate on maintaining advanced knowledge leadership.
The MEDEA+ programme has proven to be an ideal frame for the integration of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into the industrial landscape. Drawing on the major successes of the MEDEA+ programme, Enrico Villa, Chairman of MEDEA+ and CATRENE, highlighted: "Partner groups in MEDEA+ are quite balanced: one third are large companies, one third universities and institutes and one third are SMEs. The majority of the corresponding 200 SMEs are involved in two or more projects. On average, around 100 SMEs per year have dedicated engineering resources to MEDEA+ projects, with each SME providing between 3 and 5 person-years per year and this throughout the whole 8 years of the MEDEA+ programme. With 51% participation and 45% contribution of involved SME resources, the French SMEs are the champions in this partner group". The Chairman went on to highlight that SMEs are attracted to three work-areas in particular: lithography with 16% of all SME person-years spent, electronic design automation with 21% and next generation CMOS process technology with 29%. He concluded: "During the past two decades, structural changes in the economy have created essential opportunities for SMEs. They are dynamic, flexible and quickly adapt to new situations, employing the advantages of niche markets and frequently aiming at being involved in or even producing specialised products. Most of their innovation power is based on IPs and patents that can be securely exploited within the frame of MEDEA+ projects. We welcome and encourage SMEs to further enhance their engagement in the new CATRENE programme".
SMEs, defined as having fewer than 250 employees and an annual turnover not exceeding 50 M€, are forming a major part of Europe’s economy. Around 23 million SMEs in the European Union are providing some 75 million jobs and represent 99% of all enterprises. SMEs, being the key part of Europe’s industry, are an efficient source for job creation and innovation, and as such are largely contributing to economical welfare and social cohesion.
MEDEA+, the biggest cluster programme in EUREKA, has successfully focused European advanced co-operative Research and Development in micro- and nanoelectronics to ensure Europe’s technological and industrial competitiveness on a world-wide basis. The programme has concentrated on enabling technologies for the Information Society and has significantly contributed in making Europe a leader in System Innovation on Silicon. The programme will conclude at the end of 2008 and will be succeeded by CATRENE, the Cluster for Application and Technology Research in Europe on NanoElectronics
CATRENE MANAGEMENT TEAM COMPLETED CATRENE, the new EUREKA cluster for Application and Technology Research on NanoElectronics announced today that Werner Mohr has been appointed Vice- Chairman for the cluster programme, effective immediately.
Paris, 16 June, 2008 - Werner Mohr, born October 8, 1947 in Prien am Chiemsee, Germany, graduated with a Ph.D. in physics at Munich Technical University. In 1979, he entered the Semiconductor division of Siemens AG and started his career as engineer for process and product engineering, later as head of manufacturing engineering. In 1997, he was appointed Vice President of the Frontends in Munich, Regensburg and Villach/Austria, and of the Mask House in Munich.
With the foundation of Infineon Technologies AG in 1999, Werner Mohr assumed the position of Senior Vice President of Corporate Frontends and was, as such, member in a number of affiliated Supervisory Boards and Boards of Directors outside of Germany. Since 2002, he was nominated member of the SEMI European Advisory Board, and recently member of the SEMI Russian Advisory Committee.
At the end of May 2008, Werner Mohr retired from his active positions in Infineon Technologies. His excellence and his international experience ensure that he will be an essential pillar in the CATRENE organisation and in supporting the European Semiconductor and Electronic Industry.
CATRENE ANNOUNCING FIRST CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS CATRENE, the recently approved EUREKA Cluster for Application and Technology Research on NanoElectronics (∑! 4140) is extending an invitation to Europe’s high tech industry, small and medium sized enterprises as well as research institutes and academia to participate in its first call for project proposals.
Paris, 26 February, 2008 - This first call will open from February 29, 2008 and close on April 23, 2008. Based on a diligent evaluation and project selection process, project labelling is foreseen as of or planned for September 30, 2008.
CATRENE projects are complying with the ambition of Europe’s industry to deliver nano-/microelectronics solutions that respond to the needs of society at large, improving the economic prosperity in Europe and reinforcing the ability of its industry to be at the forefront of the global competition. “In the foreseeable future, the role of electronics and information systems will further increase, as the European society is faced with structural problems such as an ageing population, exploding health care cost, transportation bottlenecks, rising energy costs and the need to increase productivity”, stated Enrico Villa, Chairman of CATRENE, and concluded: ”these societal challenges are major opportunities for Europe’s industry to be the first to address new lead markets”.
CATRENE builds on the success of previous EUREKA programmes (JESSI, MEDEA, and MEDEA+) in fostering the continued development of a dynamic European eco-system with the critical mass necessary to compete at a global level in high technology industries.
Information and guidelines for the preparation of project proposals are accessible on the CATRENE web pages: www.CATRENE.org section Project Calls, where the CATRENE White Book, which forms the working basis for cluster projects, can also be downloaded.
CATRENE APPOINTS NEW MANAGEMENT CATRENE, the recently approved EUREKA Cluster for Application and Technology Research on NanoElectronics, today announced two new members of management:
Paris, 21 February, 2008 - Starting from February 01, Enrico Villa has been appointed CATRENE Chairman, succeeding Jozef Cornu, who had accepted a CEO position in a major international company for imaging systems and IT solutions.
Enrico Villa, born 1941 in Vimercate, Italy, graduated in Electrical Engineering and Business Administration at Milano University. He started his professional career as market analyst, joining thereafter SGS Fairchild, later SGS Thomson, in several key technical and market positions. In 1987, Mr. Villa was appointed Vice President for External Technological Coordination and General Manager of SGS Thomson Microelettronica, the Italian subsidiary of the then newly merged STMicroelectronics. In January 2000, he was promoted Corporate Vice President for the Europe region and took on the mission to reinforce ST’s leading position in sales in Europe. In 2005, he became Executive Vice President in ST’s Corporate Executive Committee. End of 2007, Mr. Villa retired from STMicroelectronics.
Over and above his varied functions in ST, E. Villa has been active in several industry associations: in ECCA, the Italian Association for Electrical and Electronic Companies, or as European Chairman of the Joint Steering Committee of the World Semiconductor Council.
At the same time Jacques Dulongpont has taken over the responsibility as new CATRENE Office Director. Dulongpont, born in 1951, graduated from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA Lyon - France) and from the Institut de Formations Sociales pour Ingénieurs (IEFSI Lille France). In 1977, he started in Thomson CSF Telecommunications (now Thales) as designer for analogue and digital chips and joined Alcatel Mobile Communications in 1988 to build-up a chip design center for development of GSM chip sets. From 1993 onwards, he was assigned to lead the signal processing activities of Alcatel Mobile Communications for wireless modems and audio applications in addition.
With the transition of Alcatel’s chip design activities to STMicroelectronics in 2002, he joined with his team the cellular business unit of STMicroelectronics and was responsible for the design center in Paris.
In 2005 he was promoted to manage on three STMicroelectronics locations architecture-teams for defining applications of multimedia platforms based on the Nomadik chip.
The high profile of the new management, their international experience, knowledge and expertise will ensure that CATRENE will enjoy the same high appreciation as its predecessors JESSI, MEDEA and MEDEA+.
MEDEA+ formally will run until year end 2008 and is managed by the CATRENE management team.
MEDEA+ ENTERS ITS CLOSING YEAR WITH FLYING COLOURS Success paves the way for new European R&D Champion, CATRENE
Budapest, 27 November, 2007 - At the MEDEA+ Annual Forum, held in Budapest on November 26/27, an impressing success story on major achievements in micro- and nanoelectronic innovations was delivered. In the rapidly changing global industrial landscape, Europe’s high-tech industry is exposed to ever-increasing technological, economical and societal challenges but has a clear vision on how to exploit new market opportunities.
Out of the 77 labeled MEDEA+ projects, representing about 20 000 person-years, some 48 projects have already been successfully completed and another 9 projects will finish at year end, while another 20 projects will continue in 2008 or even beyond.
Currently, 465 partner organizations from 22 countries are involved in project consortia and the trans-national nature of MEDEA+ is illustrated by the fact that, on average, partners for a project come from five different countries.
"MEDEA+ is perfectly in line with the planning," commented Jozef Cornu, MEDEA+ Chairman. "It has delivered important results in applications ranging from wireless communications to smart cards and automotive electronics, helping European industry to maintain leading positions in these strategic global industries. These results are a tribute to efficient culture and infrastructure of cooperation developed by MEDEA+ and the preceding MEDEA and JESSI programmes."
To maintain the momentum of the programme, MEDEA+ stakeholders jointly decided in May to launch another call for project proposals. This call resulted in 24 project outlines, clearly demonstrating industry’s continued commitment to substantial investment in Research and Development (R&D). The project evaluation process will finish with the project labeling at the end of 2007. This may top-up required resources of the programme by another 10%. With a programme duration of eight years, MEDEA+ will elapse at the end of 2008.
Chairman Cornu also highlighted the new EUREKA strategic initiative, called CATRENE, "Cluster for Application and Technology Research in Europe on NanoElectronics", launched October 25, 2007. This cluster-programme embodies the ambition of Europe and European companies to deliver nano- and microelectronics solutions that enable "Lighthouse Projects". Lighthouse projects address large and global socioeconomic needs such as transportation, healthcare, security, energy, environment, entertainment and communications. They also reflect a clear vision of the technical challenges and of the expected benefits and economic returns and are at the heart of public needs.
The principal added value of the lighthouse projects will be the ability to create a critical mass in terms of R&D scope, effort, participation and support from public authorities around well-understood societal and technical challenges. Experience has shown that the lighthouse philosophy is the way European leadership positions can be built. From those global lighthouse projects, nanoelectronic applications will be defined with the technologies needed to enable them. "For example, direct communication between objects - the internet of things -", said Jozef Cornu, "will become a reality as more and more objects in our environment become intelligent and generate ever more data."
CATRENE, which will build on the highly successful European MEDEA+ nanoelectronics programme, will start in January 2008, with the first call for project proposals expected in the first half of 2008.
"We are concentrating on lead markets, where nanoelectronics will make the difference, and CATRENE is the Research and Development program that will make those technology and application developments happen", concluded Jozef Cornu.
Taking advantage of experience gained, the same team will manage the overlap between the end of MEDEA+ and the ramp-up of the CATRENE programme to ensure full continuity in research and continued efficiency.
CATRENE PROGRAMME TO SUCCEED MEDEA+ AS EUROPEAN NANOELECTRONICS R&D CHAMPION
Paris, 26 October, 2007 - MEDEA+, the EUREKA pan-European Programme for advanced co-operative Research and Development in Microelectronics, today announced details of the new EUREKA programme called CATRENE (Cluster for Application and Technology Research in Europe on NanoElectronics) that will take Application and Technology Research in Europe on NanoElectronics) that will take up the challenge of increasing Europe’s strength in micro- and nanoelectronics after the highly successful MEDEA+ programme reaches its conclusion in 2008. A public/private partnership aimed at ensuring the continued development of European expertise in semiconductor technology and applications, CATRENE will build on the success of MEDEA+ and the previous EUREKA programmes JESSI and MEDEA in fostering the continued development of a dynamic European ecosystem with the critical mass necessary to compete at a global level in high technology industries as these move into the era of nanoelectronics.
Since its inception in 2001, MEDEA+ has made significant contributions to establishing and maintaining European leadership in fields ranging from smart card and image sensing technologies to automotive electronics. European IC companies have successfully developed three basic CMOS process generations in a time schedule in line with or even ahead of the global ITRS roadmap. Three European semiconductor companies are ranked amongst the world wide top ten and Europe’s semiconductor industry has 10% of the world wide market. European champions with a strong global market position as wafer processing equipment suppliers, lithography tool and infrastructure suppliers as well as substrate and material suppliers have been added to the industrial landscape.
Like MEDEA+, CATRENE embraces all key actors in the value chain – including applications, technology, materials and equipment suppliers – as well as involving industrial companies of all sizes, universities and other research institutions, supported by Public Authorities. In this way CATRENE will benefit from the strong infrastructure for cross-border cooperation that has been developed by MEDEA+ and its predecessors.
An important feature of CATRENE is the concept of Lighthouse Projects, which address major socioeconomic needs such as transportation, healthcare, security, energy and entertainment through focussed R&D programmes. In the foreseeable future, the role of electronics and information systems will further increase as European society is faced with structural problems such as ageing of the population, exploding healthcare cost, transportation bottlenecks, rising energy costs and the need to increase productivity to be competitive on a worldwide basis. These societal challenges are also major opportunities for European industry and are designed to help European companies to address these new lead markets and to become worldwide market leaders. The “umbrella” lighthouse projects will serve as a focus for specific technology and applications development projects that address these challenges.
“For more than a decade, the EUREKA JESSI, MEDEA and MEDEA+ programmes have made it possible for Europe’s industry to reinforce its position in semiconductor process technology, manufacturing and applications, and to become a key supplier to markets such as telecommunications, consumer electronics and automotive electronics”, said Jozef Cornu, Chairman of MEDEA+ and designated Chairman of CATRENE. “Nanoelectronics will offer enormous opportunities to those who are the first to master and bring to market new technologies and applications and we believe that CATRENE will play a vital role in helping Europe’s microelectronics industry to go from strength to strength.”
While the JESSI, MEDEA and MEDEA+ programmes were divided into technology and applications sub-programmes, CATRENE recognises the increasing convergence of technology and applications. It will therefore focus on large identified application markets, deriving from these the roadmap of required technologies. Key technology goals include maintaining and increasing Europe’s strength in IP (Intellectual Property) across the entire electronics supply chain and its leadership in lithography and Siliconon-Insulator materials; ensuring that European companies are among the world leaders in the advanced semiconductor technologies that allow entire systems to be integrated in a single package; and strengthening European expertise in applying a deep knowledge of semiconductor process technology to efficient design for new electronics applications.
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2 March, 2017: CATRENE – A Successful EUREKA Cluster nears completion
Werner Mohr, born October 8, 1947 in Prien am Chiemsee, Germany, graduated with a Ph.D. in physics at Munich Technical University. In 1979, he entered the Semiconductor division of Siemens AG and started his career as engineer for process and product engineering, later as head of manufacturing engineering. In 1997, he was appointed Vice President of the Frontends in Munich, Regensburg and Villach/Austria, and of the Mask House in Munich.
Starting from February 01, Enrico Villa has been appointed CATRENE Chairman, succeeding Jozef Cornu, who had accepted a CEO position in a major international company for imaging systems and IT solutions.
At the same time Jacques Dulongpont has taken over the responsibility as new CATRENE Office Director. Dulongpont, born in 1951, graduated from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA Lyon - France) and from the Institut de Formations Sociales pour Ingénieurs (IEFSI Lille France). In 1977, he started in Thomson CSF Telecommunications (now Thales) as designer for analogue and digital chips and joined Alcatel Mobile Communications in 1988 to build-up a chip design center for development of GSM chip sets. From 1993 onwards, he was assigned to lead the signal processing activities of Alcatel Mobile Communications for wireless modems and audio applications in addition.
