Design contest encourages greater MEMS integration

18th March 2016

Nat Bowers

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Jointly sponsored by Cadence Design Systems, Coventor, X-FAB and Reutlingen University, a MEMS Design Contest is being launched at DATE 2016. The objective of this contest is to encourage greater ingenuity with regard to the integration of MEMS devices and mixed-signal CMOS blocks.

The contest seeks companies, entrepreneurs, researchers and students from around the globe. Design teams are encouraged to propose imaginative design concepts that combine MEMS and mixed-signal technologies. The organisers will provide free training workshops to familiarise the participating teams with the design tools, design methodologies and process technologies involved.

A panel of highly experienced industry professionals and respected academics will undertake appraisal of the submissions. Each submission will be judged on the degree of innovation demonstrated in hardware and methodology, the novelty of the application and the value the design provides. Awards for the top three submissions will be presented at Cadence’s annual user conference, CDNLive EMEA 2018, in Munich and the winning team’s solution will be manufactured at X-FAB’s wafer production facilities.

Alexander Duesener, Corporate Vice President, EMEA, Cadence Design Systems, commented: “Supporting innovation and advancement in electronic design is fundamental to what this contest is all about. Creating mixed-signal logic and MEMS designs requires a new process flow and totally new thinking. By enabling the winning design team to turn their concepts into manufactured designs, we highlight the value of MEMS and mixed-signal designs in today’s products.”

“The MEMS Design Contest calls attention to the increasing integration of MEMS and mixed-signal technologies in phones, cars and IoT devices. By offering design teams state-of-the-art Cadence and Coventor tools in combination with X-FAB’s latest MEMS and CMOS design kits, we hope to inspire new applications of our combined solution for efficiently designing, integrating and manufacturing MEMS and mixed-signal CMOS technologies."

“By enabling the winning design team to turn their ideas into manufactured designs, X-FAB is highlighting the value of proven MEMS process technology and design enablement through our design kits. We look forward to seeing innovative designs from around the world and helping bring the best of them to life,” added Joerg Doblaski, Director, Design Support, X-FAB.