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Shanghai building More-than-Moore fab and business incubator

Shanghai building More-than-Moore fab and business incubator

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By eeNews Europe



An indication of that international point of view is the opening of an office in Silicon Valley and collaboration with the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC) at the University of California, Berkeley.

The wafer fab is intended to work on MEMS where it can help startups and others develop processes for products that could then be transferred to high volume manufacturing elsewhere. “But it’s more than just MEMS. It includes III-V, RFSOI, piezo and magnetic materials, III-V-on-silicon,” said Peter Himes who has recently been appointed as general manager of SITRI Silicon Valley. Himes was previously, vice president of marketing at MEMS foundry Silex Microsystems AB (Jarfalla, Sweden).

The SITRI clean room will have equipment for DRIE, wafer bonding, back-side etch and polish, PVD, MOCVD, CMP, maskless lithography for quick prototyping and ultra high vacuum magnetic materials sputtering.

“It’s a major fab but not a production facility,” said Himes adding that SITRI is spending tens of millions of dollars on its construction. Completion of the pilot fab shell is set for summer 2015, and Himes hopes it will be ready to be shown to visitors in September 2015. First production is expected in 2016.

Himes said that SITRI was founded in 2013 with an overall focus on the Internet of Things at every level from system down through platform to component and process. SITRI acts as an engineering services resource, as a business incubator as a coordinator of collaborative research with institutes around Shanghai and as an investor. As well as process development and pilot production SITRI can provide process analysis, circuit analysis and wafer test services, intellectual property and patent services. SITRI also provides technical and marketing reports, and accepts engagements for custom research reports.

While the conventional approach is to support local Chinese startups SITRI’s mandate is global and it can help fabless companies from outside China tap into local manufacturing and make their market entry into China, said Himes. “Hence the office in Silicon Valley as well as one in Taiwan,” Himes told eeNews Europe.

Next: SVTC has gone.


“SVTC has gone,” said Himes referring to the San Jose based SVTC Technologies, which from 2004 to 2012 provided development and commercialization services for MEMS, microfluidics, high-voltage and through-silicon via technologies. “SITRI can provide a similar function.”

Himes added that SITRI has close relations with local high volume foundries such as SMIC, ASMC and Huahong Grace but that process transfers would not be restricted to Chinese foundries.

And SITRI is also in a position to provide and aid venture capital investment, he said. There is a lot of venture capital in China looking to invest in hardware startups in China; Chinese VC firms, strategic investors and international VC firms, said Himes. SITRI can invest itself through the SITRI Seed Fund with a focus on the More-than-Moore and IoT industry including sensors, semiconductor engineering, MEMS, and related fields. Himes said that sometimes that investment would come “in kind” through the provision of engineering services.

SITRI has itself been funded through the government-backed Shanghai Internet of Things (IoT) Fund, which was established in November 2010. Its first fund of 408.5 million yuan (about $65 million) was set up by the Jiading District Government and Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT) and is now fully invested. The Shanghai IoT Fund is currently raising its second fund, of about $100 million.

Himes acknowledged that while the latest cycle of government-supported investment in China has a more international perspective a primary goal is promote semiconductor development and manufacturing in China. “There is an unsatisfied demand for locally produced MEMS,” said Himes.

Next: SITRI teams with BSAC


SITRI has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC) at the University of California, Berkeley under which the two groups will work on materials, processes and technologies for sensors. The agreement includes the joint hosting of a conference in Shanghai

SITRI-BSAC Technology Innovation and Commercialization Conference in Shanghai. Thesession will give greater visibility to the China industry on the latest ininnovative research, and initiate discussion and cooperation at the individualproject level to pursue specific areas of interest.

“Without a path toward commercialization, many of the latest advances in the science of sensors and actuators will never serve the public good. SITRI is an important new development in how these technologies can get to market, and we are pleased to strengthen this collaboration,” said John Huggins, executive director of BSAC, in a statement.

“The electronics market worldwide has shifted to a connected, sensor-based user experience, with a wide range of new technologies needing rapid commercialization,” said Charles Yang, president of SITRI, in the same statement.

Related links and articles:

www.sitrigroup.com

www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu

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