IMEC is among the largest independent R&D institutes worldwide, with an international staff of over 3500 people of 70 different nationalities. IMEC performs scientific research which runs 3 to 10 years ahead of industrial needs. The most important scientific activities are concentrated on the development of technologies for: (1) Advanced CMOS devices; (2) Smart System and Energy; (3) Life sciences. IMEC’s R&D strategy is based on three pillars: Firstly, IMEC cooperates closely with world-leading companies and research centers all over the world in a cost-sharing model. Secondly, IMEC performs education and training of experts in the field of microelectronics through its microelectronics training center and through Master and Ph.D. theses (about 250 Ph.D. students and visiting scientists). Finally, IMEC has a strong network of university connections to employ the available competence as optimally as possible, on research and development as well as on training. IMEC has created 27 spin-off companies in its 30 years of existence. The Large Area Electronics activities at Imec started in 1998 and has grown in a wide spectrum of activities on flexible displays, image sensors, photovoltaics and electronic circuits on plastic foil. Specifically, to the topic of circuitry development, IMEC started building first basic RFID components using organic semiconductors and TFT processes in 2003. In this organic technology, IMEC demonstrated the world-first organic RFID rectifier in 2005. A year later, Scientific American recognized this Nature article as a major breakthrough in smart RFID technologies. In the following years, Imec kept pursuing this track to enable our first high-frequency organic RFID transponder chip. Later on, this seminal design evolved in a larger portfolio of RFID components with diverse specifications and functionalities, including analog-to-digital converters and sensor interfaces.
Main tasks attributed in the A-PATCH project:
IMEC will elaborate the circuit designs for the wireless TOLAE multi-sensor platform. In the project, new IC blocks will be designed for sensor readout interfaces, data acquisition and formatting for RFID communication.
