Periodic Reporting for period 3 - RETICLES (Research, Entrepreneurship, Training, IP-exchange & Chip pLatform of EUROPRACTICE Services)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2024-10-01 do 2025-09-30
RETICLES has an overarching goal to strengthen design capacity in Europe and to further lower the barriers to accessing advanced semiconductor technologies. RETICLES has achieved this by providing Europe with an open-access platform for designing and fabricating electronic components and systems. Affordable and easier access to a wide range of state-of-the-art, industry-grade fabrication technologies and design tools has been complemented by training, stimulation, and support for users from European industry and academia. As a result, routes to prototyping and commercialization have been provided, and the supply of people with the right digital skills has been secured.
To achieve its overall goal, RETICLES undertook activities driven by five objectives:
1: Establish open access services enabling affordable prototyping in advanced nanoelectronic technologies and fully packaged systems supporting the growth of new digital industries.
2: Strengthen and boost the European design ecosystem involving both Academia and SMEs.
3: Establish advanced training programmes, primarily focusing on electronic components design and system integration technologies, ensuring European industries have access to a skilled workforce.
4: Support research and innovation at the European universities and research centres and stimulate exploitation activities (in particular spin-offs and subsequent commercialisation).
5: Incubate emerging (low TRL) semiconductor technologies from leading European research centres and Digital Innovation Initiatives.
To achieve its overall goal, RETICLES undertook activities driven by five objectives:
1: Establish open access services enabling affordable prototyping in advanced nanoelectronic technologies and fully packaged systems supporting the growth of new digital industries.
2: Strengthen and boost the European design ecosystem involving both Academia and SMEs.
3: Establish advanced training programmes, primarily focusing on electronic components design and system integration technologies, ensuring European industries have access to a skilled workforce.
4: Support research and innovation at the European universities and research centres and stimulate exploitation activities (in particular spin-offs and subsequent commercialisation).
5: Incubate emerging (low TRL) semiconductor technologies from leading European research centres and Digital Innovation Initiatives.
RETICLES builds upon and extends the existing Europractice open access services by adding new technologies and services to the portfolio, attracting new users, and maintaining high satisfaction of existing ones.
During the project (October 2022 – September 2025), 2,435 MPW designs were submitted for fabrication. 77% of them are coming from Europe, with nearly 25% of European users being SMEs.
By project end, the Europractice portfolio includes 102 technologies from 22 foundries and other technology providers, with 19 of them manufacturing in Europe. During RETICLES, four new suppliers have been added – Graphenea, Pragmatic Semiconductor, SINTEF, and UMS – along with several new technologies from existing suppliers.
In the final year, the System and Chiplet Integration offer extended to include three optical chiplets and five interposer offerings from different suppliers, including, ams OSRAM, GlobalFoundries, IHP, and Tyndall National Institute. This was reinforced by the Micro-Transfer Printing (MTP) offer enabling chiplets integration. Finally, Pegasus 3D System was added to the Cadence IC bundle to support 3D integration and chiplet-based designs.
To streamline and facilitate design processes across the ecosystem, we supported design IP exchange. We have enabled 1-to-1 design shares involving specific research communities, such as CERN. We also continued developing the design IP exchange repository. It was migrated from its sandbox environment to production and now includes RISC V IP blocks, contributed through collaboration with the Chips JU project TRISTAN.
Expanding open-hardware access is essential for lowering entry barriers. In Year 3, Europractice offered three more open-source PDKs – GlobalFoundries 180nm, IHP SG13C, and CORNERSTONE SiN VIS – bringing the total number to 11.
The consortium partners also actively motivated users to move their designs to more advanced nodes. Since the start of the RETICLES project, 69 Europractice users have chosen smaller nodes, and 113 users prototyped in advanced technologies at or below 28nm for the first time. GlobalFoundries 22nm FD-SOI was the most popular, with nearly 100 designs submitted in Year 3. 16nm and 7nm FinFET nodes under the TSMC University FinFET Program, introduced in 2023, are gaining traction: 39 universities have completed an NDA, with nearly as many currently in the process of signing it, and the first four European universities successfully prototyped in TSMC N7.
RETICLES delivered a rich portfolio of training on carefully selected topics that were relevant to the current and emerging needs of the European sector. We delivered 96 training courses and technical workshops plus 29 webinars. They were attended by 4,238 delegates, including 261 university lecturers who increased impact by passing on acquired skills to their students.
During the project, 39 academic spin-offs benefited from Europractice services by utilising fabrication services or accessing affordable design tool licenses as part of our Proof of Concept programme.
To support European suppliers and grant Europractice users early access to emerging technologies, we offered technologies from leading European RTOs, including imec, CEA-Leti, Fraunhofer, IHP, SINTEF, Tyndall, and VTT. Sustained growth of this offering is ensured by the fact that consortium partners are very closely connected to European-funded digital innovation initiatives such as PREVAIL, photonixFAB, and the Chips JU pilot lines. First offerings of NanoIC and FAMES pilot lines have already been supported by Europractice.
During the project (October 2022 – September 2025), 2,435 MPW designs were submitted for fabrication. 77% of them are coming from Europe, with nearly 25% of European users being SMEs.
By project end, the Europractice portfolio includes 102 technologies from 22 foundries and other technology providers, with 19 of them manufacturing in Europe. During RETICLES, four new suppliers have been added – Graphenea, Pragmatic Semiconductor, SINTEF, and UMS – along with several new technologies from existing suppliers.
In the final year, the System and Chiplet Integration offer extended to include three optical chiplets and five interposer offerings from different suppliers, including, ams OSRAM, GlobalFoundries, IHP, and Tyndall National Institute. This was reinforced by the Micro-Transfer Printing (MTP) offer enabling chiplets integration. Finally, Pegasus 3D System was added to the Cadence IC bundle to support 3D integration and chiplet-based designs.
To streamline and facilitate design processes across the ecosystem, we supported design IP exchange. We have enabled 1-to-1 design shares involving specific research communities, such as CERN. We also continued developing the design IP exchange repository. It was migrated from its sandbox environment to production and now includes RISC V IP blocks, contributed through collaboration with the Chips JU project TRISTAN.
Expanding open-hardware access is essential for lowering entry barriers. In Year 3, Europractice offered three more open-source PDKs – GlobalFoundries 180nm, IHP SG13C, and CORNERSTONE SiN VIS – bringing the total number to 11.
The consortium partners also actively motivated users to move their designs to more advanced nodes. Since the start of the RETICLES project, 69 Europractice users have chosen smaller nodes, and 113 users prototyped in advanced technologies at or below 28nm for the first time. GlobalFoundries 22nm FD-SOI was the most popular, with nearly 100 designs submitted in Year 3. 16nm and 7nm FinFET nodes under the TSMC University FinFET Program, introduced in 2023, are gaining traction: 39 universities have completed an NDA, with nearly as many currently in the process of signing it, and the first four European universities successfully prototyped in TSMC N7.
RETICLES delivered a rich portfolio of training on carefully selected topics that were relevant to the current and emerging needs of the European sector. We delivered 96 training courses and technical workshops plus 29 webinars. They were attended by 4,238 delegates, including 261 university lecturers who increased impact by passing on acquired skills to their students.
During the project, 39 academic spin-offs benefited from Europractice services by utilising fabrication services or accessing affordable design tool licenses as part of our Proof of Concept programme.
To support European suppliers and grant Europractice users early access to emerging technologies, we offered technologies from leading European RTOs, including imec, CEA-Leti, Fraunhofer, IHP, SINTEF, Tyndall, and VTT. Sustained growth of this offering is ensured by the fact that consortium partners are very closely connected to European-funded digital innovation initiatives such as PREVAIL, photonixFAB, and the Chips JU pilot lines. First offerings of NanoIC and FAMES pilot lines have already been supported by Europractice.
For over 30 years, Europractice has been a cornerstone of the European innovation ecosystem, consistently lowering the entry barrier and providing easy and affordable access to design tools, prototyping, and training. Through the RETICLES project, these foundational services have been further enhanced and expanded, directly benefiting more than 600 academic institutions, as well as European SMEs.
RETICLES enabled the delivery of over 65,000 concurrent licenses of design tool flows to universities and research centers across Europe. Annually, more than 600 prototype designs were fabricated for European academic and industrial users, demonstrating the service’s capacity to support both research and industry. The project also made a significant contribution to skills development: More than 4,200 engineers attended a training event, strengthening the workforce. Importantly, 261 university lecturers received Europractice training, amplifying the impact by transferring knowledge to the next generation of students and researchers. These efforts directly contribute to the creation of new products, new jobs, and the strengthening of Europe’s industrial base.
It is imperative that beyond the lifetime of the RETICLES project, Europractice services continue to be offered within Europe so that universities and research institutes can adopt the latest technology to generate the highly trained engineers demanded by European industry, undertake leading-edge industry-relevant research ultimately leading to innovation and the creation of new spinout SMEs in Europe.
RETICLES enabled the delivery of over 65,000 concurrent licenses of design tool flows to universities and research centers across Europe. Annually, more than 600 prototype designs were fabricated for European academic and industrial users, demonstrating the service’s capacity to support both research and industry. The project also made a significant contribution to skills development: More than 4,200 engineers attended a training event, strengthening the workforce. Importantly, 261 university lecturers received Europractice training, amplifying the impact by transferring knowledge to the next generation of students and researchers. These efforts directly contribute to the creation of new products, new jobs, and the strengthening of Europe’s industrial base.
It is imperative that beyond the lifetime of the RETICLES project, Europractice services continue to be offered within Europe so that universities and research institutes can adopt the latest technology to generate the highly trained engineers demanded by European industry, undertake leading-edge industry-relevant research ultimately leading to innovation and the creation of new spinout SMEs in Europe.