Advanced integrated circuits key innovation drivers on a wide range of markets
Chips play a central role in bringing differentiating features to products on a wide array of markets. When it comes to consumer electronics, automotive systems, medical devices, and other tech-intensive products, there may not be an off-the-shelf integrated circuit that can deliver the innovative capabilities required to gain a real advantage. Unique in Europe, the CEA is a hub for semiconductor research and development that offers advanced IC services to help companies of all types and sizes become first movers on competitive markets.
Advanced industrial pre-qualification tools and methods for ready-to-manufacture integrated circuit designs
The CEA has a catalog of innovative hardware architectures and circuit concepts ready to be customized to meet the specific needs of companies in a wide range of tech-intensive industries. CEA experts leverage world-class cleanrooms and proven IC design, scaleup, and technology transfer processes to ensure that its partners' chip projects progress efficiently from the initial idea to a ready-to-manufacture IC.
The integrated circuit experts you need, all in one place
With decades of experience developing technologies for a variety of markets, the CEA brings a keen understanding of the ins and outs of product innovation and knows what it takes to develop groundbreaking hardware architectures to maturity. CEA IC experts can deliver systems-on-chip, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and chiplet-based systems, for example, rapidly recommending the most reliable, secure, and energy-efficient solution for a given application.
“Our goal is to provide customized, high-performance IC solutions that give our partners the differentiating features they need to stay ahead on their markets," said Michael Tchagaspanian, EVP Strategic Partnerships, CEA-Leti.
Advanced design exploration tools
Partners can leverage the CEA's extensive assets, which span radiofrequency front-end components, low-noise sensor readouts, imagers, power management systems, drivers for actuators, and digital or AI-enabled smart systems. CEA's advanced design exploration tools are utilized to determine the optimal system architecture through HW-SW co-design. State-of-the-art design flows are employed in the chip design process. The prototype can then be manufactured in CEA-Leti's R&D cleanroom before being sent to a commercial cleanroom for volume manufacturing. In some cases, CEA cleanrooms may also be used for additional value-added features.
Complete IC verification and testing capabilities
Prototypes then undergo rigorous wafer-level testing before the packaged circuit is tested further in custom-developed environments representative of the intended use case. This iterative testing process ensures that the circuit designed will deliver robust performance in real-world conditions. The final step is transferring the circuit designed to the partner's preferred commercial fab for the production of corner lots and manufacturing batches. The CEA's testing capabilities are deployed one last time for preliminary sorting and yield analysis to ensure the chip is ready for a seamless transfer to the partner's commercial fab for volume manufacturing.