The IeMRC announces funding for new projects

Citation

(2010), "The IeMRC announces funding for new projects", Circuit World, Vol. 36 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2010.21736dab.007

The IeMRC announces funding for new projects

Article Type: Industry news From: Circuit World, Volume 36, Issue 4

The Innovative Electronics Manufacturing Research Centre (IeMRC) has launched its second five-year programme of support for UK electronics research with the award of funding for 12 new projects at universities across the country. With a value of £5.2 m, these projects are aimed at addressing key strategic technology issues identified as being important to the long-term health of UK electronics manufacturing and will build on the success of its first five years of support.

Established towards the end of 2004, the IeMRC was the UK’s 15th Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre and its objective is to provide excellence and critical mass in electronics manufacturing research. To that end, it has already supported 25 research projects involving 24 universities and 97 different industrial partners. After a successful international review of its work, the IeMRC was awarded an additional £9.2 m to cover a second five-year period of activity beginning in March 2010. Throughout the second half of 2009, the IeMRC revisited its support strategy and, using inputs from a wide range of expert sources including its own industrial steering group, it issued two strategically focussed calls for proposals. These competitive calls were for large “flagship” projects, which involve several universities and multiple industrial partners, and also for more conventionally sized projects that typically run for up to three years and which are focussed at a single university. Following a strong response to these calls, the submitted proposals were subjected to an international, multistage review process, with those scoring highest against a number of key selection criteria being awarded funding.

Two flagship projects were selected for support during this second period and they are on carbon-based electronics and smart microsystems. The roll-to-roll vacuum processed carbon-based electronics project is being led by Dr Hazel Assender and Professor Patrick Grant at the University of Oxford, with Professor Long Lin from the University of Leeds, Professor Martin Taylor from Bangor University and Professor Steve Yeates from the University of Manchester all providing additional key inputs. The project also includes ten industrial collaborators. The Smart Microsystems project is largely based in Scotland, with leadership from Professor Anthony Walton at the University of Edinburgh and additional inputs from Professor Marc Desmulliez and his team at Heriot-Watt University. This project includes 11 industrial collaborators.

In addition to supporting two large flagship projects, the IeMRC will also be funding a wide range of additional projects addressing key themes that match its portfolio needs in areas deemed to be important for the UK electronics industry. Examples of these range from a project at Strathclyde University on the electrochemically assisted integration of organic semiconductors on CMOS and MEMS, to a project at the University of Bath on the costing of avionics for through life availability. Other examples of the projects supported include work on tin whiskers, the development of high performance, low-cost power modules and the study of new processes for fabricating 3D microwave and millimetre wave system on substrate assemblies.

The projects selected in the first two calls are now getting underway and the IeMRC will announce further proposal calls aimed at completing its research portfolio in the coming months. The next five years will see the IeMRC’s research continue to support the UK science base by generating the new knowledge that will underpin future electronics manufacturing and, through this approach, it will help to deliver new products, processes, innovative industry practices and skilled people to sustain and grow high-value electronics manufacturing in the UK.

Further details about the IeMRC its work and research portfolio can be found at: www.iemrc.org