Project description
Making small-scale chip production more profitable
Microelectronics foundries are seeing high demand for small-volume production of non-standard chips as a growing number of small companies have started developing new applications. However, small-scale chip production is not profitable for foundries. As a result, small companies struggle to find chip producers, and the time to market of their new products increases. The EU-funded FLEMANIE project aims to overcome this by establishing a business model supporting fast and flexible small-volume manufacturing of chips that can eventually scale up to higher volumes. Project members plan to expand their collaborator network to test their concept with users and will assess its technical and business viability.
Objective
The manufacturing of microelectronic chips represents one of the most advanced industrial activities, ironically though, it is also one of the most standardized and commoditized industries. Small companies developing new applications need small volumes of non-standard chips, often utilizing special materials, however major foundries require enormous production volumes since the price of each chip is usually very low. Small companies thus struggle to find sources for their chips, fatally increasing the time to market of their new products. Summa Semiconductor Ltd is a Finnish microelectronics foundry specializing in flexible and scalable processing of semiconductor chips, promoting FLEMANIE – Flexible Microchip Manufacturing for New Industries in Europe - as a new production model: ensuring fast and flexible manufacturing of products, no matter the quantity, working with an “asset light model”, ensuring accurate simulation of production processes. This Phase I would grant us the resources to dedicate time and effort on expanding our collaborator network testing the concept with potential users, validating our process module simulation based manufacturing technology with potential users together with assessing the market, technical and business feasibility of our solution. At the current stage, our company can serve a limited number of small companies (based on needs more than geographical location). However, our goal is to develop the simulation based manufacturing technology – possibly thanks to a Phase 2 project - to achieve a significant competitive advantage for both European industries and worldwide.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcomputer hardwarequantum computers
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssemiconductivity
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicsmicroelectronics
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationssimulation software
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
02150 Espoo
Finland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.