​In addition to creating an industrial partnership to develop NIL process solutions,the INSPIRE program is designed to demonstrate the technology’s cost-ofownershipbenefits for a wide range of application domains, such as photonics,plasmonics, lighting, photovoltaics, wafer-level optics and bio-technology.

Leti and EVG will jointly support the development of new applications from thefeasibility-study stage to supporting the first manufacturing steps on EVG platformsand transferring integrated process solutions to their industrial partners, thussignificantly lowering the entry barrier for adoption of NIL for manufacturing novelproducts.

In its effort to support high-volume manufacturing applications, EVG recentlylaunched the HERCULES® NIL equipment platform, and the INSPIRE program’sactivities will complement the company’s efforts within the framework of itsNILPhotonicsTM competence center that was launched in December 2014.

“EVG is excited about the value that the partnership with Leti in the INSPIREprogram will provide to industry,” said Markus Wimplinger, corporate technologydevelopment and IP director at EV Group. “After more than a decade of researchand development activities, EVG has propelled NIL technology to a level of maturitythat enables significant advantages for certain applications compared to traditionaloptical lithography.”

After launching its NIL technology-development program more than 10 years ago,Leti oriented the use of this technology mainly for photonics applications. In early2014, the program was integrated in the Silicon Technologies Division to establisha NIL collaborative program.

“Leti and EVG have a long history of collaborating on ways to bring newtechnologies to market at reasonable costs for the benefits of our customers,” saidLaurent Pain, patterning program manager in Leti’s Silicon Technologies Division.“Through INSPIRE, we will develop new ways for them to use this flexible, powerful nano-patterning technology to create new products for a wide range ofapplications.”