This is the i-EDGE team

The i-EDGE consortium comprises eight partners including two large-industry partners (Microchip Technology Inc. in Nantes and Caldicot), two specialized SMEs (AMO GmbH and SCIPROM Sàrl), three top-level universities (University of Bristol, TU Wien Technische Universität Wien & KTH Royal Institute of Technology) and one research centre (CSEM), coming from six different countries, namely Germany, Sweden, Austria, France, UK and Switzerland.

The commercial exploitation of i-EDGE is strengthened by its industrial partners (AMO, Microchip-FR and Microchip-UK). At the same time, the project´s academic partners (UNIVBRIS, TUWIEN & KTH) and research centre (CSEM) ensure both the highest scientific standard and academic exploitation through training efforts and follow-up research initiatives.

The i-EDGE team is coordinated by AMO and works together with strong support of our Business Interest Group to achieve the project objectives of developing a nanomechanical hardware platform for edge computing and bringing it to Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL5).

AMO GmbH

Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mikro- und Optoelektronik mbH (AMO), a German non-profit high-tech-SME, is a research foundry specialized in applied R&D for nano- and opto-electronics to help bridge the gap between basic research and applications. AMO has extensive experience in the field of carbon-based materials and their application in electrical and electrooptical devices as well as in their thorough electromechanical testing at a wide frequency and temperature range.

In i-EDGE, AMO will contribute critical expertise to develop reliable contact materials for NEM switches based on nanocrystalline graphite (NCG), and transfer of electron beam lithography patterning processes to wafer scale. In addition to its role as project coordinator, AMO will lead the work package WP4 “Process Development & Manufacturing”.
  • Dr.-Ing. Jens Bolten
  • Dipl.-Ing. Bartos Chmielak
  • Dr. Federica Haupt
  • Renata Hodak
  • Prof. Max Lemme
  • Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Mollenhauer
  • Dr. Thorsten Wahlbrink

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) is the largest technical university in Sweden. The Division of Micro and Nanosystems at KTH is one of the leading micro and nano-electromechanical system (MEMS & NEMS) research labs in Europe, with cutting-edge work on 2D-material integration, 3D laser micromachining, and heterogeneous 3D integration technologies for NEMS.

In i-EDGE, KTH will lead the work on the NEM switch integration. Their expertise will be applied to develop a high-density System-on-chip (SoC) integration where NEM switches and sensors are fabricated on one single die. In parallel, KTH will implement a wafer-level vacuum sealing method to protect the NEM devices and improve their performance.
  • Dr. Simon J. Bleiker
  • August Djuphammar
  • Yingying Li
  • Prof. Frank Niklaus

TU Wien Technische Universität Wien

Within TU Wien Technische Universität Wien (TUWIEN), Austria's largest research and educational institution in the field of technology and natural sciences, the Institute of Computer Technology has a long-standing research expertise on computational modelling, communication architectures and algorithm design for Systems on Chip (SoC). This includes SoC infrastructure, in particular Networks on Chip, power management and self-monitoring, as well as Self-Aware SoC and embedded Machine Learning.

In i-EDGE, TUWIEN expertise will be critical for the development of computer-aided design (CAD) tools, firmware and software for NEM-based SoC comprising field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and non-volatile memory (NVM).
  • Ardavan Elahi
  • Prof. Axel Jantsch
  • Philipp Lehninger
  • Prof. Thilo Sauter

Microchip Technology Nantes

Microchip Technology Inc. is a leading provider of smart, connected, and secure embedded control solutions. The company’s solutions serve more than 120,000 customers cross the industrial, automotive, consumer, aerospace and defense, communications, and computing markets.

Microchip Technology Nantes S.A.S in France (Microchip-FR) is a research and development and test site for microcontrollers and mixed signal semiconductor solutions. The Aerospace and Defense Group (ADG France) is managing development and supply chain for High Reliability components targeting the aerospace and defense market, such as extended temperature, rad-tolerant and rad-hard solutions. This dedicated group is responsible to develop more specific aerospace and defense products.

In i-EDGE, Microchip-FR will apply its expertise to develop a harsh environment testing program for the reliability assessment and qualification of the packaged components and demonstrators developed in the project. Microchip-FR will also contribute as a member of the i-EDGE Business Interest Group (BIG) to provide guidance during the definition of the project ́s demonstrator applications as well as early adaptors for i-EDGE devices.
  • Guillaume Bourg-Cazan
  • Simon Dumortier
  • Nicolas Ganry
  • Eric Leduc

Microchip Technology Caldicot

Microchip Technology Caldicot Limited (Microchip-UK) is part of Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of smart, connected and secure embedded control solutions, serving various customers across the industrial, automotive, consumer, aerospace and defence, communications and computing markets. Microchip-UK is a UK based Microchip microelectronics design and manufacturing facility, it is member of Microchip’s global network of electronic component design and manufacturing facilities with 20 sites in Europe.

In i-EDGE, Microchip-UK will be responsible for the interaction with the Business Interest Group (BIG) to explore commercial opportunities for the NEM circuit platform developed in the project. Microchip-UK will also apply its expertise to design and implement packaging process flow for SiP and SoC solutions and to develop high-temperature hermetic packages.
  • Alexander George
  • Daniel Graham
  • William Isaacson
  • Owen Pullin
  • Bran Searle
  • Piers Tremlett

CSEM

The Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology SA (CSEM), founded in 1984, is a R&D centre specialized in microtechnology, nanotechnology, microelectronics, system engineering and photovoltaics. CSEM is a national innovation accelerator – a catalyst for the transfer of technologies and know-how from fundamental research to industry – with a broad range of markets (space, aerospace, automotive, medical, machine tools, …). The “Additive Manufacturing and Component Reliability” sector of CSEM will lead and contribute to the functional and lifetime testing of the NEM switches and circuits in harsh environment, reliability evaluation of the packaged memory and FPGA solutions, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) of the NEM switches.
  • Dr. Ivan Marozau
  • Dr. Olha Sereda
  • Dr. Saba Zabihzadeh

SCIPROM

Founded in 2005, SCIPROM is an SME specialised in the management and communication of large research projects. SCIPROM supports coordinators from the initial project idea to the final report, in project set-up, negotiation, management and communication. Our project managers have a solid scientific background with 5-15 years of research activity, as well as in-depth experience in project management, including training in IP and financial issues.
  • Filippo Gander
  • Dr. Kirsten Leufgen
  • Dr. Clara Roujeau
  • Dominique Stücker
  • Dr. Peter Ulrich

University of Bristol

University of Bristol (UNIVBRIS) is one of the leading universities in the UK, associated with 13 Nobel laureates throughout its history. Within the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, the Microelectronics group led by Dr. Pamunuwa at Bristol carries out research in diverse topics related to the design of next generation processors and electronic systems, with a special emphasis on disruptive technologies. The i-EDGE project is based on key IP developed by Dr. Pamunuwa's group over the last ten years, in devices, materials, circuits, integration methods, and electronic design automation tools for NEM relays. In i-EDGE, UNIVBRIS will contribute on design and fabrication of logic and memory switches, logic gates, memory cells and interface circuits, architectures for NEM relay based processors and software tooling.
  • Liao Guangwei Wireless communication link
  • Dr. Manu Bala Krishnan NEMS fabrication and characterisation
  • Victor Marot Processor architectures, System Design, Tooling
  • Dr. Dinesh Pamunuwa Principal Investigator
  • Qi Tang Fabrication
  • Dr. Roshan Weerasekera System Design, Integration, Packaging
  • Elliott Worsey Device and circuit design, System Design, Tooling

i-EDGE has received funding from the European Union, the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government's Horizon Europe funding guarantee (grant numbers 10061130 and 10063023).

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA), SERI or UKRI. Neither the European Union nor the granting authorities can be held responsible for them.

© 2023 i-EDGE Project
Created by SCIPROM