Imec, San Francisco, a nanoelectronics research center, has opened Imec Florida, a new entity focusing on photonics and high-speed electronics IC design based in Osceola. Imec Florida signed a collaboration agreement with the University of Central Florida, Osceola County, and the International Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research (ICAMR). The Consortium is setting up fab facilities for the development and production of highly innovative III-V-on-silicon solutions for a broad range of applications including sensors, high-speed electronics and photonics.
Imec Florida will be established as a design center facilitating the collaboration between Imec headquarters, based in Leuven, Belgium, and U.S.-based semiconductor and system companies, universities, and research institutes. Imec Florida’s initial focus will be the R&D of high speed electronics and photonics solutions, starting with an offering of IC design research for a broad set of semiconductor-based solutions such as THz and LIDAR sensors, imagers, and a broad range of sensors. It will also provide IC design needs that will be driving the ICAMR manufacturing research. Through Imec Florida, design, prototyping, and low-volume production services will provide the US market low-cost access to advanced foundry services, helping entrepreneurs to design innovative products and get them to market.
Funding will come from Osceola County and the University of Central Florida. The new center will attract top talent through future strategic partnerships, with the aim to employ about ten scientists and engineers by the end of the year, growing to 100 researchers in the next five years. Heading up the facility as General Manager will be Imec’s Vice President Bert Gyselinckx, who previously served as general manager at Imec in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and helped to co-invent many technologies deployed by innovative semiconductor and consumer electronics companies.
