Contents

FOREWORD 3
Mark Prisk MP, Minister of State
for Business and Enterprise, BIS

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT 5
Dr. David Burrows, Chairman, NMI

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S STATEMENT 9

Dr. Derek Boyd, CEO, NMI

ANNUAL REVIEW

NATIONAL MICROELECTRONICS 11
National INSTITUTE OVERVIEW

Microelectronics INFLUENCING, SHAPING AND

ALIGNING THE INNOVATION SYSTEM
12

Institute REPRESENTING THE INDUSTRY 13

Yearbook 2010-2011 SUPPORTING SKILLS 13
DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION & TRAINING
National Microelectronics Institute
IMPROVING THE SUPPLY CHAIN 14
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 Foreword
Mark Prisk MP
Minister of State for Business and Enterprise, BIS
The Microelectronics industry is a perfect example of
a sector that can be one of the catalysts of our
economic recovery. The UK electronics sector employs
around 200,000 people in around 10,000 businesses
– from global players to entrepreneurial start-ups,
however its impact on our economy extends even
wider.
It underpins technology innovation in other sectors,
particularly automotive, aerospace and defence and
can provide solutions to social challenges in health,
transport, energy management and the environment.
Of course, the industry, like many others, has not been
immune from the recession and has suffered at the
hands of declining demand. However, over recent years
the sector has proved itself to be adaptable, resilient
and innovative, moving to specialise in high-value, high-
tech production, while more low-value manufacturing
has moved offshore. Today the UK remains world-
leading in terms of cutting-edge technology.
As a Government, our task now is to achieve sustainable
growth and establish a progressive business environ-
ment. To do this we must correct the imbalances in the
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
economy - for instance; between North and South,
public and private, manufacturing and finance and
imports and exports. And we must do this when there
are severe constraints on the public purse.
Microelectronics is a modern, forward-looking
industry that has the potential to support growth
throughout our economy. We will do our utmost to
support the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of
the industry.
We have already made a significant amount of
headway creating a better environment for growth. We
have started cutting red tape by introducing a new 'one
in, one out' rule and created a Reducing Regulation
Cabinet sub-Committee to enforce the rule. We have
also cut Corporation Tax and the small profits rate and
produced a five-year road map to have the lowest rate
of corporate tax of any major western economy.
The Microelectronics Industry
embodies much of what we want
to emulate as we move out of
recession and look to create a
modern, sustainable economy. I
am confident that going forward it
will be fundamental to our
economic recovery.
We have also announced an increase in funding for the
Enterprise Finance Guarantee and the creation of a
new Growth Capital Fund. A Regional Growth Fund in
2010-11 and 2012-13 to help areas adjust to reduced
public spending.
The 10 per cent rate of capital gains tax for entre-
preneurial business activities will be extended from
the first £2 million to the first £5 million of qualifying
gains made over a lifetime.
We also recognise the importance of continuing to
fund research & development where it promises to
significantly benefit our international competitiveness.
3

In the UK we have an electronics sector to be proud of.
That is largely thanks to the highly skilled employees
that work in the field. We need to nurture that talent
and ensure the next generation can come through and
reach its full potential.
As a Government, we are working to ensure that we
have the high levels of public and private investment in
sophisticated skills, knowledge, technology and
innovation that we need to compete in the global
economy. This is a brilliantly inventive country, full of
enterprise and aspiration - we can, and must, get
better at harnessing that. And we must ensure
companies and individuals are better equipped for a
global economy.
Our aim is to set a skills strategy that works for
learners and employers as a whole. We want to
4 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
encourage industry to form closer ties to Higher and
Further Education Institutions to raise the issue of
their high-level skills needs and discuss ways in way
this can be met. To help tackle the shortage of STEM
skills we will encourage more students to take up
STEM subjects and look to improve their experiences
and expand opportunities. We are also supporting
apprenticeships, with funding for an extra 50,000
available this year.
The Microelectronics Industry embodies much of
what we want to emulate as we move out of recession
and look to create a modern, sustainable economy. I
am confident that going forward it will be fundamental
to our economic recovery.
Mark Prisk MP
Minister of State for Business and Enterprise, BIS
 Chairman’s Statement
Dr David F Burrows
NMI Chairman
I'm delighted once again in this, my second year as
Chairman, to introduce NMI's Annual Review. I don't
think I could have picked a more eventful, challenging or
rewarding period to be working at the heart of the UK's
semiconductor industry. The 'credit crunch' and
subsequent recovery have presented us with both the
deepest trough and one of the highest peaks our
industry has seen since NMI was formed in 1996.
As I prepare to hand over the reins to my successor, I
wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the two
developments for which I'd like to think my time as
Chairman will be best remembered amid all this
instability.
The first of these, the establishment of the UKESF (UK
Electronics Skills Foundation), happened earlier this
year and was prompted by the recognition of just how
much our industry has changed. Back when I started in
this business, the industry was made up of a smaller
number of very large companies. Nowadays, our
industry is characterised by larger numbers of smaller
successful businesses, but with similar skills needs.
Remember the days of the good old Milkround when all
the big players would tour round the universities
recruiting the cream of the crop? Well, those days are
long gone and today's SMEs have been finding it
difficult to engage with a multiplicity of universities to
source and nurture the talent they need to succeed.
NMI began searching for a solution that would work just
as well for the industry we have today as the Milkround
did then. We came up with the germ of an idea: NMI
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
could act as arbiter, encouraging students to enter the
profession by finding out what companies were looking
for, identifying potential candidates for them, getting
them sponsored through university and offering
'summer' employment.
The UKESF was born and following a major push this
year is now fully established and funded with a number
of universities and companies already signed up.
Offering a kind of apprenticeship, the UKESF will forge
links between industry and prospective students that
would otherwise have been hard to establish. It's a great
example not just of the NMI itself acting as a catalyst,
which is how we see our role, but of the whole
membership working together as it should. First the
Board raises key issues. Next we brainstorm ideas. Out
of this comes a mission statement, which NMI's staff
goes on to implement. And do so very successfully.
The other development that I'd like to draw particular
attention to dates from my first year as Chairman. For
years, NMI has had a Manufacturing Advisory Board.
This reflected the organisation's origins, as well as the
early composition of its membership which was almost
entirely made up of fabs.
As our industry has evolved, NMI has endeavoured to
build a community to match, so that by the middle of
2009 more than 50 of our members were directly
involved in world class design activity. That July we
created a dedicated Design Advisory Board to oversee
NMI's development of strategy and implementation
plans for the semiconductor design community.
Representing the complete spectrum of our design-
related membership, from IDMs, fablite and fabless
manufacturers to IP and design service providers, the
NMI's Design Advisory Board (NDAB) is currently
looking at the demographics of our industry and how
we can make ourselves more competitive as a region
through, among other things, collaboration and
funding.
Today’s membership, incidentally, stands at well over
200 (212 at time of print), and we’re looking to
enhance the community still further through the
inclusion of more product system companies.
Those then, in my mind, have been NMI's key public-
facing achievements under my helm, but I also see part
5
of the Chairman's role as involving looking inwards,
under the hood. I won't bore you with the details here,
but following the introduction of a few carefully
considered structural changes, you can rest assured the
engine is purring like a cat.
The most obvious expression of that will always be the
programmes, events and support that the NMI team
provides for its members. You all know how hard these
incredibly committed individuals work and on not just
one but several major initiatives every year. I think
they're phenomenal and I cannot praise or thank them
enough. Together, they've made my job easier than it
might otherwise have been.
Although I've already mentioned it in passing, I can't
sign off my final Chairman's Statement without further
comment on the extraordinary turnaround we've
witnessed in our industry's fortunes. We all know what
6 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
a difficult year 2009 was from an industry point of view
and it pained everyone to see quite so many order
books slashed in half. The bounce back too was
exceptional. One day, it seemed, companies were being
forced to lay people off. The next, they were scrabbling
to get them back on board.
The point surely is though that these events were
neither extraordinary nor exceptional. Ours is
acknowledged to be a highly cyclical industry and we've
seen boom follow bust follow boom time and time
again. Something must be done by Government,
industry and other interested parties to smooth these
peaks and troughs and to provide a less scary-looking
career path for those looking to join us. That may be the
challenge for our next Chairman!
Dr David F Burrows
NMI Chairman
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 Chief Executive’s Statement
Dr. Derek Boyd
CEO, NMI
Whoever said the semiconductor industry was
showing signs of maturity and stable growth rates?
After plumbing the depths of the recession in 2009,
2010 delivered a dramatic reversal in our industry's
fortunes. So, after almost everyone cutting everything
to the bone in 2009, most of industry is now
recovering, inventory levels have been replenished and
we're seeing new demand. So much so that, with a
predicted year-to-year revenue increase of over 30%,
2010 looks like being our best growth year since
2000. Reassuringly, today's fundamentals would
suggest that a return to the bust we saw in 2001 isn't
waiting for us just around the corner. NMI has been
supporting the industry through this transformation in
all kinds of different ways.
I see 2010 as a year of change not only for the
semiconductor market, but for the UK as a whole with
a change of Government, and for NMI with an
extension of its focus.
Having made good progress in working with the
previous administration, there was a sense of anxiety
that comes with change, particularly at a time of
significant cuts in Public spending. From my exposure
to thinking and policy-making so far, the intention to
cut budgets is clear, but so is the realisation that
economic growth must be business-led and I sense a
real determination from the new Government to
achieve that. I've no doubt it will be difficult, but we've
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
got a strong message that this industry can provide
growth and I'm confident that we can work with the
new Ministers to develop relevant and practical
investments and policy measures.
It's absolutely vital that we create a real sense of
Community with strong endorsement from industry
and I openly ask for your help in achieving that. If you
haven't already backed our Call to Action, please do so
at www.nmi.org.uk or contact me directly.
I also want to mention our extension of scope and to
give an example of how this is working. In 2009, the
Government produced a Low Carbon Industrial
Strategy for the UK. This made mention of electronics,
but only in the context of data centre energy efficiency.
I was amazed that the Government didn't realise the
massive role that electronics plays across the full
spectrum of energy consuming products, from mobile
devices to trains, planes and automobiles. NMI
launched its Electronics Enabling the Low Carbon
Economy network with the aims of:
● supporting greater innovation across the
electronics supply chain into end-markets
● focusing on target-markets that require Low
Carbon solutions
● making a more explicit statement about the real
contribution of electronics in this area.
There's a long way to go with this but we've already
enjoyed a number of notable successes, including now
working with the UK Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills to develop a National Strategy for
Power Electronics. The Innovation Team at The Carbon
Trust have been great supporters of this network and I
want to publicly thank them for buying into this and
taking such a strong and active interest.
2010 also marked a major milestone in NMI's
continuing journey to support skills development,
education and training. The culmination of more than
one year's work, we launched UKESF (the UK
Electronics Skills Foundation) in January with the
principal aim of increasing and sustaining the supply of
industry-ready graduate engineers and boosting career
take-up in the sector. If industry's commitment to the
university scholarship element of the programme is
9
anything to go by, both UKESF and our industry's skills
base have a very promising future ahead.
Another of this year's major initiatives, but one which
has already realised its potential, is the Future World
Symposium. Billed as the UK electronics industry's
event of the year and featuring a compelling line up of
speakers, FWS-2010 was a two day conference and
showcase of international appeal where thought
leaders and industrialists engaged the world of digital
technology, innovation and opportunity. NMI's most
ambitious event to-date, it represented a substantial
investment in terms of resources and time. Again,
going by the feedback it was all worthwhile.
It's always gratifying to see hard work rewarded, so we
were delighted when Sophie Ericson, our Marketing
Administrator, received her BA with Honours in
Business with Marketing. Congratulations Sophie,
we'll be putting your recently acknowledged skills to
good use.
2010 has also been a big year for me personally as I
was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Glasgow
10
University. This was great recognition, not only for me,
but for the work we do at NMI. We've been thrilled to
play our part in connecting one of Europe's leading
research activities, the Device Modelling Group in
Glasgow, with several key companies in the UK, which
has now lead to the launch of a spin-out company.
Innovation in action - you can't beat it!
Finally, I'd like to say a personal thank you to all the
people who invest their own time in helping NMI
achieve its mission of supporting industry. If we can
harness that enthusiasm and continue to build this
community, then I'm sure we can achieve great things.
One individual who knows all about enthusiasm and
achievement is our outgoing Chairman, Dr David
Burrows. It has been a pleasure to work with David over
the last two years and to share the rollercoaster of a
ride. NMI thanks you for your stabilising influence, as
well as your leadership and drive.
Dr Derek Boyd
CEO, National Microelectronics Institute
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
 NMI Annual Review

National Microelectronics Institute Overview

MISSION
To lead the development of a world-class sustainable UK-based
microelectronics Systems Design, Device and Manufacturing community
providing a compelling value-proposition for our members

The National Microelectronics Institute (NMI) is the
trade association representing the semiconductor
industry in the UK and Ireland. Its aim is to help build
and support a strong semiconductor community by
acting as a catalyst and facilitator for commercial and
technological development.
A not-for-profit organisation funded by its members,
the NMI has a membership that spans the supply chain
and includes fabless semiconductor manufacturers,
IDMs, foundries, design services, IP providers, tool pro-
viders, equipment suppliers, research and academic
institutions as well as business associates with a stake-
holder interest in the industry.
NMI's work includes:
● encouraging innovation, communication and
collaboration through networking, funding,
brokering and sign-posting activities
● representing the microelectronics sector to
government, policy makers and regulators
● supporting skills development, education and
training
● helping to improve operational efficiency through
benchmarking and best practice initiatives
● providing an industry specific information flow.
NMI's strategic aims are to:
● establish NMI as an indispensable and vital
organisation, first and foremost to industry but
also to the various stakeholders, including
Government and academia
● develop our services to ensure that the industry
sees a compelling rationale in membership
● strengthen our relationship with relevant public
bodies and assist 'Government' to the extent
that:
● microelectronics and its infrastructure is
regarded as a priority area for the UK and
policies are developed that make a real
difference
● NMI is positioned as a critical linkage to the
industry.
● develop a wider membership pool and look at
engaging targeted new members in key system
application areas.

For more information, visit www.nmi.org.uk

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 11

 Influencing, shaping and aligning the innovation system
When you work at the cutting edge of anything, never
mind an entire industry sector, you have to expect
change and lots of it. Whether you choose to regard
this as an occupational hazard or a perk of the job is
up to you. NMI thrives on it.
You've already read about our growing membership
and the Board's desire to welcome more system
companies, adding value to existing members. Rather
than attempting a one size fits all solution, NMI is
developing and adapting content for each audience.
So, while our original 'technical' networks have evolved
to include applications themes, they've also stayed true
to their expert, technical roots - and will continue to do
so. 2010's well-received programme of events
included:
● Cutting Corners Costs Quality (Quality and
Reliability)
● Internet Everywhere which included presentations
from Vodafone on Technology challenges in using
new wireless spectrum and Mobile VCE on Green
radio: sustainable wireless networks
(Analogue/Mixed-Signal/RF)
● Lifting the Lid on Product Design (System-Level
Design/Packaging)
● Automotive Electronics (Low Carbon) of which
more in a moment
● Embedded Software in Consumer Electronics
(Embedded)
● Application Aware: Challenging DfM Conventions
(Design for Manufacture).
We also ran a series of Verification Roadmapping
workshops around the country to discuss verification
challenges and encourage greater collaboration
between industry and universities; something that
simply wouldn't happen without NMI's involvement.
This portfolio of networks continues to perform well,
providing a forum for information sharing and
knowledge exchange. Next year, we're hoping to make
them even more productive by encouraging
collaboration on specific projects and opportunities
that NMI, with its unique overview of the industry, is
best placed to identify.
Networks keep the innovation engine running, but it's
world-class events that provide the turbocharge. Back
12
in 2007, NMI staged what was then its most
adventurous event to-date. Our International
Semiconductor Conference featured leading lights in
CMOS Variability and attracted a senior level audience.
True to our word, we followed this up with the equally,
if not more impressive, ICCV09. Both were highly
'technical' events.
In stark contrast, 2010's flagship event focused on the
applications and markets relevant to activity in the UK.
NMI's Future World Symposium, held at Lord's Cricket
Ground in September, was a resounding success and
featured a star-studded line-up of speakers from
Microsoft, ST Ericsson, O2, Imagination Technologies
and ARM among others. FWS-2010 provided a
showcase for the latest technology in areas ranging
from mobile, wireless and communications to personal
computing, transport and energy efficiency. As well as
demonstrating the UK's involvement in these areas -
and getting that all-important political message out - it
offered members an opportunity to exhibit.
Encouragingly, this latest venture also broadened
NMI's appeal, attracting interest from mainstream
titles and trade journals beyond our usual scope.
One topic that's very much in the public eye is the low
carbon economy. Once again, NMI is in the vanguard
of developments. With a view to exploring the
significant potential offered by the automotive
electronics supply chain, we ran an Automotive
Electronics event in June in partnership with SMMT,
the automotive industry trade body. This was the
second event in our Electronics Enabling the Low
Carbon Economy network and was one of the very few
occasions when we've seen the semiconductor industry
come together with Tier 1 and leading OEMs, including
TATA Motors and Jaguar Landrover.
The Automotive Electronics event is a good example
not just of the way in which the networks are evolving,
but also of how we're collaborating more with other
sectors and organisations to leverage the resources we
have. NMI continues to work with GSA (Global Semi-
conductor Alliance), DCKTN (Digital Communications
Knowledge Transfer Network), Mobile VCE, Cambridge
Wireless, TWI and The Carbon Trust, and to support
the DVClub.
For an overview of NMI's networks, see page 18.
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
 Representing the industry
NMI works diligently to ensure that Government is
aware of the sector's needs and priorities so that
supportive policies can be put in place.
2010 has been a year of massive change. So far we've
been looking at this from a business angle and at what
it has meant for the UK semiconductor industry. There
has been no less upheaval on the political stage.
As 2009/10's Yearbook went to print we were looking
forward to a Ministerial Briefing with Lord Mandelson.
May's General Election put a different complexion on
things but NMI's Board was keen to see this as an
opportunity rather than a challenge and to build on the
momentum we had already established.
We therefore wrote to Dr Vince Cable, Secretary of State
for Business, Innovation and Skills, on behalf of our
members, re-affirming the importance of smart
electronics systems (SES) to the UK economy and
requesting a meeting to discuss how best to maximise
the potential that undoubtedly exists.
Many industry and business leaders have already
backed our Call to Action and we'd invite you to do the
same by pledging your support. You'll find a copy of the
Open Letter sent to Dr Vince Cable, together with
information on what you can do to help, on our website
at www.nmi.org.uk.
SES have a key role to play in tackling today's key
societal challenges, such as an ageing population and
reducing CO2 emissions, so NMI was delighted to hear
the European Commission refer to nano- and
microelectronics as "indispensable" to Europe's future.
Having worked closely with UK government agencies for
several years to educate and promote the importance
of semiconductor technologies at both national and
regional levels, we are pleased to add our voice to the
Supporting skills development, education & training
The UK microelectronics industry is facing the dual
dilemma of an ageing workforce and a sharp decline
in the numbers of UK students accepting places on
electronic engineering degree courses.
NMI is determined to attract, prepare and retain
talent for the industry so that it can maintain and grow
its global leadership position.
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
Commission's call for a "European vision for the
industrial deployment of such technologies in the EU".
Capitalising on the opportunities highlighted by the
European Commission will require problems in the
skills pipeline and R&D investment to be addressed but,
as you know, these have long been NMI's mantra.
Turning for a moment from the bigger, long-term picture
to individual snapshots, NMI represented the industry
to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) through the
Inspection programme of all manufacturing plants in
2009. HSE recently published its report and we'll be
working closely with each of the manufacturing sites to
consider how the industry as a whole responds to this.
During 2009-10, the Government also announced that
it would be extending the Climate Change Programme
from 2012 to 2017.
This sparked a whole new wave of activity for NMI in
understanding the make up of the future agreement
and negotiating the new targets on behalf of our
members. We are still working on this but expect to
have everything concluded by the end of the year.
NMI continues to work with devolved administrations
and regional development agencies (RDAs). Members
may remember reading about our work with the South
West RDA (SWRDA) and regional partners on the
concept of a 'Silicon Centre of Excellence'. NMI is
pleased to report that our early endeavours have now
borne fruit. The SouthWest Microelectronics Innovation
Network (iNET) was launched on 1 July 2010. Its
purpose: to improve the performance and capability of
the south west's microelectronics centre. Once again,
NMI provided the vital catalyst.
Looking to the future, we're keen to work closely with
local economic partnerships (LEPs), the successors to
RDAs, to ensure none of this momentum is lost.
This time last year we had an ambitious vision in mind,
but not enough seed funding to make it happen. What
a difference a year makes!
By January we had secured the necessary additional
funding for UKESF (the UK Electronics Skills
Foundation) from private and public sector sources.
Since then, with the support of the industry, university
13
and public body partners, we have invested a huge
amount of time and effort in getting the programme
off to a flying start.
Working with existing initiatives and key players,
UKESF touches every stage from school all the way
through to employment, making it an holistic initiative
that tackles a critical extent of the skills pipeline and
not just individual segments of it.
First, it raises awareness in schools of the electronics
industry and its value to society and the economy.
Through a network of Champions for Engagement,
UKESF supports employer engagement with schools
via established national programmes that promote
science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
Next, it attracts school students to degrees and careers
in electronic engineering. Working in partnership with
Headstart, its university partners and the Science and
Technology Facilities Council, UKESF will deliver
residential summer schools for talented 17 year-olds to
give them a taste of degree study in Electronic
Engineering and introduce them to careers in the
sector. UKESF also facilitates relationships between
companies and university students. Through its
Scholarship Scheme, it matches high calibre
undergraduate students at leading UK universities with
companies for sponsorship and practical experience of
the industry through mentoring and work placements.
Finally, it secures employment for graduates. Through
its Graduate Placement Scheme, UKESF will help place
its graduating scholars with employers through its
network of companies where sponsors themselves are
unable to offer employment.
Much of this is now a reality, which it needed to be if
UKESF is to meet the challenging targets it has set
itself. By 2015 UKESF will have increased awareness of
Improving the supply chain
Back in July 2009 we announced NMI's merger with
SSSF (Scottish Semiconductor Supplier Forum). A
little over a year later, we've delivered significant
benefits for new and existing members alike.
To promote suppliers' interests we organised a number
of day-long table top exhibitions at member sites. The
beauty of this approach is that it offers unrivalled
market penetration since the 30 to 40 exhibitors who
attend get to meet everyone they want within an
organisation, from the VP down. At the other end of the
spectrum, we continue to have a presence at major
trade shows and to invite members to share a stand
with ourselves and SDI (Scottish Development
International). This offers SMEs, in particular, access to
14
the electronics sector and its career opportunities
among thousands of school and university students,
helped prepare over 400 top quality undergraduate
students for a professional career in electronics,
supported over 150 electronics employers in engaging
with schools and universities, and increased the
number of its university partners.
As this Yearbook goes to print, the first round of
students are applying for over 30 UKESF scholarships
with nine different companies and we're already
looking forward to the first summer school next July. If
you'd like to help ensure a prosperous future for the
electronics industry, and you work in industry,
academia or the public sector but haven't yet engaged
with UKESF, there are a number of ways to get
involved. Why not become a Champion for Engagement
or sponsor a summer school or a student through
university. You can find out more at www.ukesf.org.
Most of this section is devoted to UKESF because it's
such a major achievement on behalf of the industry,
but it's not the whole story. NMI also has direct input
to the Electronics Sector Strategy Group. During the
year, we played our part in helping the electronics
industry win over £4.5 million of funding from the
Sector Compact (Government funding for Level 2 and
Level 3 skills). We also helped SEMTA (Sector Skills
Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing
Technologies) to broaden its knowledge of the skills
needs of the whole electronics sector by connecting
them with areas of the industry they haven't
traditionally been engaged with, namely design and IT
intensive organisations.
Everything seems to be taking shape and there's now
good reason to be more optimistic about our industry's
future.
a host of potential customers at an affordable price.
This year we attended Semicon Europa in Dresden and
Semicon West in San Francisco where one member
signed a very lucrative deal.
For the first time, we also produced a comprehensive
directory, profiling each supplier and mapping their
specific capabilities. Supported by a dedicated section
on our website, the NMI Suppliers Directory 2010 has
been sent to all our manufacturing contacts within
engineering and publishing.
That's a promising start for the Suppliers Group. To
keep it on track and provide future direction we've
appointed a Suppliers Steering Board. We're also
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
continuing to consult with members on how best to
add value to business.
Just because we've added a new dimension to our
organisation doesn't mean that there's any let up in our
other commitments. Far from it. NMI's business
enabling networks and Best Practice Forums continue
to drive improved levels of productivity, lower costs and
higher quality.
Looking at a couple of these in more detail, our Plant
Managers group is now acting as a valuable touchstone
for our current and intended activity. It also provided the
inspiration for our forthcoming Manufacturing
Excellence Conference. The first in hopefully a long line
of such events, the inaugural conference will provide an
opportunity for the talented individuals who are directly
responsible for delivering excellence to present on the
subject and enjoy some well-deserved recognition.
We've adopted a similar approach with our Equipment
Engineering meetings, where we're now inviting tool
owners at each host plant to discuss current issues
and successes. This is throwing up practical, expert
level material that's generating lots of new splinter
groups and knowledge sharing.
Providing information
Ask any member to list their top five benefits of
joining NMI and they're sure to mention the
information we provide.
No one knows more about the microelectronics
industry in the UK. But it's not just the quantity of
that information that counts; it's also the quality and
its frequency. NMI doesn't under or over communicate
- we aim to get it just right all of the time.
Following a review of the way we keep members
informed, we now produce a regular and structured
programme of communications, including: a Monthly
Bulletin, which features headline news, together with
an update from NMI; our quarterly GlobalView which
provides a world-wide business round-up and is
presented in an easily digestible, quick to view
format; and the annual Yearbook you're reading now.
If you haven't already sampled our GlobalView, why
not download the latest one today and see how useful
it is.
Traditional media is one thing. What about other
'social' communication channels open to us? Needless
to say, NMI is keeping up with the pace and where we
see a relevant opportunity to use Twitter we will.
NMInet was launched two years ago and continues to
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
We've also identified a new sub-group. NMI got the IT
community talking to each other for the first time and
it seems there's been a lot of re-inventing of the same
wheel as far as IT systems are concerned in wafer fabs.
It's a familiar story and one that NMI is used to re-
writing, so you can look forward to more on this over
the coming year.
Learning from others' experiences and enabling
members to identify areas of potential under and over
performance is the impetus behind NMI's
benchmarking activity. During 2009-10 we produced a
Human Resources Benchmarking Report based on
headcount and shift pattern, salary and company
benefits data from 10 member sites. We also
completed a timely productivity study looking at hiring
new staff, non-value-added tasks and the IT systems
mentioned above.
NMI responded to more ad hoc requests than ever
before this year, ranging from help sourcing parts and
people to solving tool problems. Together, they
provided a barometer of just how busy industry is.
Admittedly more operational than strategic in nature,
this is a service that our members value highly and
NMI is delighted to assist.
evolve, now under its own momentum. The
semiconductor industry's equivalent of Facebook, it
now has a loyal following as well as regular
contributors, including Chris Edwards's entertaining
Low Power design blog. NMInet is a mine of useful, up-
to-date information and it's free, so if you haven't
signed up yet, find out what you're missing.
Regular communication aside, NMI also researches
and produces a raft of ad hoc, up-to-the-minute
reference material on and for our industry.
During 2009-10 we commissioned a leading expert
from Cardiff University to produce a report on
SMARTGrid as part our involvement with iNET in the
South West of England. The report provides an
overview of SMARTGrid technology and highlights the
many opportunities for SMEs to get involved.
Following on from June's well-attended two-day
Electronics Enabling the Low Carbon Economy event
at the University of Warwick, we're producing a
report based on a survey of Automotive Electronics.
We don't have a developed supply chain for the
automotive industry here in the UK, but there's
clearly a real desire to strengthen the one we do
have. Linked to this,
15
The Carbon Trust has commissioned Sagentia,
supported by NMI, to produce a Strategic Review of
the carbon savings potential of power electronics. It's
sure to make interesting reading! And still on the
subject of power electronics, NMI is currently working
with a leading professor to gather more information on
the sector and understand the key areas of interest
and expertise.
During the course of the year, we also completed the
two benchmarking studies already mentioned (the
NMI Study of Manufacturing Practices 2010
published in April and the NMI Human Resources
Why join?
NMI is the premier trade association focused on the
development of the micro/nano electronics industry
in the UK and Ireland.
There are many tangible and intangible benefits to NMI
membership, such as having a dedicated organisation
championing your sector ensuring that you can be
seen and heard. But, there is so much more.
We find that those organisations which actively
participate derive the greatest value from their
membership, including:
● membership and attendance of all NMI
operated Innovation and Excellence Networks
(no additional fees)
● attendance at all the Business Networks (no
additional fees)
● access to qualifying Best Practice Forums
● preferential rates at NMI-operated conferences
● preferential rates for advertising, sponsorship
and exhibiting
16
Benchmark Report 2010 published in June), not to
mention our new Suppliers Directory.
These various publications and reports have a
number of different purposes and audiences. As well
as being of immense value to our individual
members and their respective operations, they
provide the Government and other interested
organisations with the only definitive account of the
UK semiconductor industry available. This is just one
of the ways in which NMI is making a tangible
difference to the health and lifeblood of our industry.
And there's more to come…
● discounts at partner events
● access to the Members Area of our website -
includes materials from networks, surveys and
reports
● representation to Government, legislators and
policy makers
● access to education and training activities
● global publicity and marketing opportunities
● access to NMI's extensive knowledge resources
● access to NMI's Legal Advice Helpline
● access to NMI's brokering and signposting
services
● NMI's regular Bulletins and GlobalViews
● administration of emissions monitoring to
enable your company to benefit from the
Climate Change Levy Rebate.
Look who else is in our Members' Directory. You'll be in
very good company.
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
 Key Facts: Design Innovation Networks

Innovation and excellence are key characteristics of the UK industry which contribute
significantly to its world class status and sustainability. To help the industry in the UK stay
connected and up to date with developments, NMI operates a portfolio of nine design related
networks. Currently these networks comprise of:

Innovation Design Design to manufacture

Electronics Enabling System Level Design Design for Manufacture

the Low Carbon Economy

Analogue, Mixed Signal Quality and Reliability

and RF Design

Embedded Systems IC connectivity and Packaging

and Software

Design Verification Fabless Operations

What’s in a network? also deal with non-technological challenges too such as

Knowledge dissemination and exchange are crucial for
the lifeblood of industry – knowledge transfer drives
the processes of innovation and helps industry keep up
with best practice and next practice.
A network is made up of people, events and other
activities such as surveys, reports, specialist
interest groups, collaborative projects and more.
The subject matter of the network is dependent on the
participants and tends to be technical, applications or
management focussed at the heart. Networks may
training and skills provision in order to ensure
sustainability.
Who is in a network?
Core stakeholders are electronics industry
professionals such as design and product
engineers, engineering managers, production
related staff and academia. This core group is
supported by a wider pool of productivity tool
providers, business associates, consultants and
even government representatives.

18 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

When does network activity take place? Network events are free to attend for members and
The staple delivery mechanism of network activity invited guests with many of the associated activities
is network events. Each network has either one or also inclusive in the membership contribution.
two of these per year.

Other network activities are dependent on the

specific network and interests of its’ participants.
NMI has assigned each network with a network
manager who is responsible for all associated
activities and the future roadmap.

The networks schedule is publicised on the NMI website

and promoted via the monthly networks bulletin or
specific network notices sent to registered parties.

How much does it cost to participate? How do I find out more?

NMI design networks are highly accessible and are More information is available on our website at:
part of the membership service. www.nmi.org.uk/design-innovation

Join what has been dubbed

“Facebook for electronics” –
it’s easy and completely free.

NMInet is an online, open global

forum for the electronics industry
and features news, blogs, events,
specialist interest groups and so

www.nminet.org much more.

Get globally connected – Join Today!

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 19

 Enabling the Digital Economy:
The Third Wave of Wireless

The UK has played a leading role over the past 25 years in creating and establishing what has become
arguably the world's most globalised industry, an industry which continues to experience rapid and radical
evolution. From humble beginnings today the UK is home to major operators such as Vodafone and BT, it
hosts telecoms R&D from Japan, Korea, China and the USA, and is home to enabling companies such as
ARM, CSR, Ubiquisys, picoChip, ICERA and others, as well providing world leading academic research to the
global industry1. Recent and ongoing developments promise the potential to transform industries and
public services; such change however will not be without challenge, a challenge which is not simply
technological, but also cultural and organisational.
Countries worldwide are seeking economic growth whilst reducing public spending. In this environment,
wireless offers the prospect of new capabilities, efficiencies and business models which can enable the long-
awaited 'digital economy' in areas as diverse as enterprise, healthcare, transport and energy. Governments
have a central role in this, not financially, but in perpetuating or helping to remove the barriers to change;
the opportunity for government is to work with industry to remove the barriers to new ways of delivering
public services and new opportunities for industry growth.

Introduction What however lies beyond, as these global markets for

The consumerisation of wireless technology was
triggered only 25 years ago, with the advent of
cellphones. The promise of a mass market triggered
huge and sustained investment, drove down costs and
opened global markets. Today 80% of the global
population have a cellphone, more than 5bn
subscribers worldwide. In Europe most countries
have 100% penetration rates; in India and China,
penetration rates are 50% and 63% respectively.
mobile voice and Internet begin to saturate ? Where
will wireless go next and what will be its impact ?
Evolution of an Industry
It is sobering to consider how recently the fundamental
principles of wireless were first discovered, at the end
of the 19th century. Practical use of the technology
began in the early 20th century for naval and air
communications, with commercial radio and television
broadcasting taking off as a result of military
developments during the first and second world wars
respectively. Yet, 40 years later, as recently as 1985,
almost every telephone on the planet was still
connected to the network by a wire. Change since then
has been rapid; and the pace of change in wireless
continues to increase.

The First Wave of Change: Mobile Voice Communications

Figure 1: Growth of the Global Cellphone Market, 2000-
2009 (Source: ITU)
Telecoms has long been acknowledged by World Bank
studies as a key driver of economic development;
more recent work has confirmed the important role
within this of both cellphones and Internet access [1,
2]. With the arrival of mobile Internet, we can expect
to see further global acceleration in economic
development.
In the 1980s the latent consumer demand to talk to
others wherever they may be began to be addressed,
by means of various national cellular radio systems.
The early success of these analogue networks
triggered development of digital systems - regional
solutions - PDC in Japan, TDMA and CDMA systems in
North America and the 'Groupe Spéciale Mobile'
(GSM) system in Europe.
By the mid-1990s the first wave of consumer wireless,
digital voice telephony, was finding rapid take-up in
Europe and was being recognized in the developing
world - although at that time costs were still too high
for mass deployment in those regions. As time passed,

20 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

GSM was increasingly adopted outside of Europe,
eventually even in the USA, reflecting its eventual
change of acronym to 'Global System for Mobile'. The
resulting economies of scale accelerated its
affordability and adoption in all parts of the world,
delivering a basic telephony service in countries that as
recently as 2000 had possessed a minimal
communications infrastructure. GSM became an
enabling tool for economic development [1].
The Second Wave: Mobile Information Access
3G research in Europe began in the mid-1980s.
Standards for European 3G, then called UMTS, were
developed alongside the deployment and growth of
GSM in the 1990s. At this time, of course, the Internet
was emerging from the military labs and entering the
public consciousness. Early 3G research had
envisaged the role of data communications to the
cellphone, but the pace of commercialization of the
Internet created new possibilities. Mobile messaging
(email) had been seen as the first widespread
application, but suddenly the potential market was
much larger, both in terms of applications and of
geography, as Internet usage was going global.
Initial European 3G services at launch in 2003 were
conservative in terms of data rates, and mobile Internet
was slow to develop, pending upgrades associated with
High Speed Packet Access, HSPA. Availability of HSPA
dongles in 2007 triggered take-up of mobile
broadband, initially driven by PCs, especially in their
(more portable) Netbook form factor.
The advent of 3G smartphones with large colour
displays and touchscreens further stimulated take-up
of mobile Internet. These suddenly enabled download
of new applications, enabling phones to perform
many useful new things at the whim of the user. The
so-called 'Apps Stores' were actually not new - Palm
had introduced them, via the PC, for its personal
digital assistant products years previously; Nokia had
supported its early Symbian smartphone products
similarly. However, hidden by complex and hard-to-use
menus, Apps Stores were invisible to most consumers
and their potential untapped until the advent of the
improved user interface.
A second stimulus to mobile Internet was the move
away from the 'Walled Garden' philosophy. Mobile
operators had originally anticipated the opportunity to
offer their customers a limited range of proprietary
services, a 'walled garden' of chargeable services,
rather than giving open access to competing offerings;
they had not anticipated that they would (quickly) have
to go 'open'. The concept of open Internet was implicitly
promoted as part of WiMAX, a technology driven by
Intel as part of entry into the wireless market. Intel had
conceived an open ecosystem of wireless-enabled
products - e-Readers, e-Cameras, etc, not just
cellphones - available via high street stores, not just via
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
mobile operators. Whilst as a mobile technology
WiMAX is being supplanted by TD-LTE as a successor of
3G, the wider product ecosystem ideas have endured.
Today in developed markets, mobile broadband, built
upon the open Internet model, has become an
important revenue stream for mobile operators,
providing income growth to complement falling voice
revenues. Across the globe major traffic growth is
reported, with recent industry forecasts for the growth
of mobile broadband traffic over next 5 years ranging
from 30-40x [3].
In developing markets, mobile Internet access is
potentially hugely important. For many users the
mobile phone will be the first, and quite probably only,
device they use to access the Internet. As such, its
contribution to education, healthcare and economic
development in rural areas promises to be highly
significant.
The Third Wave: Personalisation - and
the potential for Industry Transformation
Wireless has followed the development trajectory of
wireline telecoms - telephony, followed by data. Today
wireless is an integral part of telecoms; the early
divide between wireline and wireless has largely
disappeared. Most telcos today provide both forms of
service whenever they can. However, a wireless device
offers unique features which fundamentally
differentiate it from a wired phone or a wired Internet
terminal. A mobile device is owned by an individual
user; as such, the device, and the services it supports,
can be personalized, adapted and optimized to the
needs of the individual user. The importance of this,
in terms of advertising potential, was recognized early
by Google and was the driving force behind its
development of the Android operating system, as the
company sought to translate its highly successful
Internet advertising model into the personal, mobile,
space.
The growing compute power of the mobile device -
phones with 1GHz CPUs are already here - means the
phone can increasingly harness and mine data, to
infer contextual information about the user, from his
behaviours, from the content flowing through his
device and from its time-varying location. This means,
for example, that:
● through access to my electronic diary and learnt
device usage behaviours, it can infer my current
'role' - am I in business or family mode, for
example
● through knowledge of my calls, texts and email
patterns, it can build a model of my social
network
● through mining the information content of those
calls, texts and emails, it can learn my interests
and priorities
21
By combining such knowledge with realtime location it
can provide new types of unprompted assistance
services - eg knowing my next appointment (from my
diary), the current time, my current location and by
inferring my usual travel behaviours, it can provide
timely yet unprompted travel directions.
At their simplest, such services are a small step from
today's Apps - however, getting the usability right (ie not
the 'Microsoft Office Paperclip') and providing
acceptable privacy guarantees, will be necessary for
such intelligent passive services to gain mass market
acceptance. Functionalities such as identity, presence,
automated discovery of devices, infrastructure &
services, and micropayment mechanisms are also
required, and increasingly available, along with new
forms of trust, privacy & permissions (simple to use,
but informed, consent).
Looking beyond this next stage, we see users
increasingly possessing multiple wireless-enabled
devices. Examples of recent such devices, which are
already appearing, are given later. These devices may
be enabled by Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G or LTE, reflecting
their application, range and data rate requirements.
We also anticipate users interacting with increasing
amounts of wireless-enabled public, and personal,
infrastructure, thereby enabling yet more powerful
functionalities and services. In the home we expect to
see increasingly use of femtocells, probably supporting
WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as 3G and/or LTE.
Significantly, we may also see user services which
integrate content, capabilities and information
belonging to multiple service providers, not just
telcos, through the use of open and closed APIs. Such
providers may be broadcasters, Internet players,
banks, hotels, transport, education, energy, health or
other private or public service and/or information
providers; new providers will emerge. At this point,
service evolution and the impact on other industries
starts to become significant.
Transforming Industry, the
Environment & Public Services
Just as mobile phones have transformed person-to-
person communications in business, and as the
Internet has enabled new IT infrastructures, so
combining these wirelessly with realtime personal
context - the third wave - offers the potential for a
significant further evolution to enable the digital
economy.
The shape that such evolution will take and the
opportunities offered by intelligent, wireless-enabled,
contextualized services are many and varied, as
illustrated by the examples below. Most significant is
that wireless offers solutions to some of the big
challenges facing our society and economy today.
22
Enabling Enterprise
For some years, RIM built its business as a leading
supplier to the white collar enterprise market of
secure email communications to field staff.
Responding to recent changes with its own
touchscreen devices and apps store, RIM is today
seeking to widen its capabilities. The capabilities
offered by the new and emerging technologies mean
both new competition and new opportunities.
Enterprises today need be fluid and agile, creating ad-
hoc teams to address new opportunities, and the
ability to respond rapidly to sales opportunities; yet
many businesses still lack the ability to rapidly identify
the right people to staff such temporary teams and
the tools to manage them. Much knowledge within a
company still resides as tacit knowledge within the
heads of their employees; finding who knows whom
and what is often, even today, done via the 'informal
network' rather than via an (often out-of-date)
company database. This is where the combination of
contextual, social network and behavioural
information flowing through a user's devices could
deliver new capabilities to the enterprise.
Corporate privacy is essential for acceptance of such
services, along with respect for the security of
information rightfully owned by the employee himself
and for any information provided by the mobile
operator - the need exists to harness and intelligently
use such information, owned by different actors, in a
demonstrably secure manner. For some low security
applications, a single centralized server could be
adequate, whilst for more sensitive scenarios
processing on an individual user's device could be
more appropriate, utilising blind-matching query-
response interactions with secure databases owned by
the corporate organization and/or the mobile
operator. Architectures appropriate for the small or
medium enterprise may be different from those for a
large corporate client, as could business models, but
in both cases data security should match the
commercial needs associated with the contextual-,
social- and content-based information enabling the
service.2 Looking beyond initial applications, such
services could change both business processes and,
even, business models.
Public Services in a Connected World
In many ways public services resemble the model
adopted in the past by telecom operators, where a new
infrastructure was designed, created and deployed for
each new service - the 'stovepipe' model. This severely
constrained interworking and evolution of services, as
well as limiting the potential for economies of scale.
The geographical devolution of responsibility for public
services to Local Authorities and Regional Development
Agencies has, similarly, historically resulted in the
emergence of different regional approaches and
solutions. Seeking to fulfill their remit of fostering
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
growth of local companies, RDAs have encouraged
development of new, non-standardised, solutions,
resulting often in good technology, but solutions which
cease to work outside the local area.3
Recognising this problem, government has also
sought national solutions, in the area of healthcare,
for example, only to be faced with large scale, over-
budget, IT projects. The emergence of the wireless
Internet perhaps offers a new approach, creating
opportunities to use standardised communications
infrastructures to support a multiplicity of
applications. Such solutions may however emerge
bottom-up rather than top-down, just as in-car
navigation services emerged initially via TomTom
satnav products available in the high street, rather
than as services provided by the Highways Agency, or
even the mobile phone operators.
Enabling Healthcare
Figure 2 WiFi Body Scale by Withings [4]
(Source: Withings)
Healthcare or, more precisely, wellness, is an area where
such developments are already underway,4 where early
manifestations of the 'Internet of Things' can be found,
in the form of products such as the Withings Body
Scale [4], the FitBit [5] and the Nike+ products [6]. The
Body Scale is a WiFi-enabled device that automatically
measures and uploads weight and body mass index to
allow personalized tracking on the web.
Figure 3: The Fitbit Sleep & Exercise Monitor [5]
(Source: Fitbit)
The Fitbit is a small body-worn device which tracks
sleep quality and exercise, syncing wirelessly via
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
Bluetooth when within range, automatically uploading
data to provide web-based monitoring. As well as
linking with their own websites, both products link into
Google Health. Nike+ began with an in-shoe sensor,
wirelessly linked to an iPod, to monitor, store and
upload parameters such as running (or walking) pace,
distance covered and calories burned; the product
range today also includes a wireless heart monitor
and web-based, largely motivational, services.
Such products are presently marketed to people who
are already motivated to monitor their own health.
However, the trend from initially just monitoring
exercise (for fitness geeks, who are already fit), to also
embrace sleep and, more recently, weight, is
significant. In the future, as such products widen in
capability and become more invisible in use, and as
Governments, technology providers and health
insurers work more closely together, wider monitoring
and illness prevention has great potential to reduce
treatment costs and improve health.
More advanced home-based patient-monitoring
products exist, mainly targeted at hospital authorities,
care homes and general practitioners. These include,
as an example, the HealthHub from Docobo, which
supports measurement of various vital signs,
including blood oxygen level (SpO2) and ECG. The
HealthHub is essentially a home monitoring solution
for long terms conditions, such as chronic heart
disease (CHD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD) and diabetes, which uploads data to a
healthcare provider, enabling active remote
monitoring and advice, to support self-management.
Figure 4 The Docobo HealthHub (Source: Docobo)
New and complex products and services, such as
Docobo's, face usage barriers arising from issues of
medical approval and standardization; clearly there is
a need to minimise risks of diagnostic error and mis-
treatment. They also face cultural barriers of
acceptance, as they imply changes in ways of working
within the health service, which some could interpret
as a devaluing of their skills. Wellness and remote
healthcare is however an area where the social and
23
health benefits and cost savings are so high that
finding ways to manage such barriers should be a
priority. The need is not so much for public investment
as for the removal of barriers to acceptance and use.
The role of wireless in today's early products and
applications has focused on ease-of-use (hence
acceptance and usage), reliable upload and monitoring,
and, for patients undergoing home-based care, effective
two way communications. Looking to the next steps,
incorporating sensing capabilities into everyday mobile
phones, directly or through wirelessly connected
sensors incorporated into personal items of daily life,
should accelerate acceptance and take-up.
Beyond this, adding personal, time-varying, contextual
information into the mix, gathered automatically via
the users phone and other environment-based
sensors, has potential to move automated health
monitoring from being today's conscious choice of the
active few to being a passive usage pattern,
acceptable and used by the many. Just as two
decades ago, people realised the value of being able
to communicate whilst on the move, so, in an era
when people are increasingly realising the limitations
of medical treatment, if personal health management
can be made simple it will be widely used.
Enabling Transport
Major issues in road transport relate to reducing
congestion and CO2 emissions; wireless
communications have a key role in both. As in
healthcare, the potential is huge but the important
questions relate to routes to deployment.
Reducing congestion implies a need for comprehensive
realtime data and intelligent decision making. Today's
increasing availability of GPS-enabled mobile phones
provides (i) a self-provided, in-car, sensing mechanism,
(ii) a means to communicate the sensed information to
a central server and (iii) a way for the driver to receive
advice. A one year pilot involving 10,000 drivers,
undertaken by UC Berkeley, in partnership with Nokia,
Navteq and the California Department of Transport-
ation, successfully demonstrated the feasibility and
effectiveness of such crowd-sourced sensing and
traffic management [8].
Importantly, through data anonymisation and other
procedures, it implemented protection of driver
privacy [9]. Less sophisticated and less secure
solutions are of course already in place, in the form of
Live Traffic View on Google Maps. Such developments
again indicate the trend to self-provision. However, this
does not mean that there is no role for government.
Rather, as with healthcare, engagement to work with
the telecoms and transport industries to remove
barriers and encourage a nationwide, rather than the
historically regional approach, could accelerate
solutions.
24
Replacing Transport
Less congestion and improved fuel efficiency are areas
where wireless connectivity can contribute to CO2
reduction by enabling intelligent management of
vehicles and transportation systems; however, the
much larger potential gain lies in the opportunity to
replace physical transport of goods and people by the
much less energy intensive transport of information
bits. Advances in high quality video conferencing have
contributed to this trend, further encouraged by
constraints on business travel from the economic
downturn and by volcanoes impeding air travel in 2010.
3D displays for mobile phones, as well as stereoscopic
cameras, are now close to market, if not yet quite
commercially viable, whilst life-size holographic
displays are also developing. All of these will accelerate
this trend in the next few years. Such trends point to
significant increases in the volumes of data traffic and,
as much of this goes wireless, ceteris paribus, this
would drive up energy consumption of mobile networks
(though it would still be much less than physical
transport). The recent industry drive to reduce the
energy consumption of wireless networks by 2-3 orders
of magnitude, so-called Green Radio, has emerged in
part to address and facilitate this opportunity [10].
Enabling Smart Energy
The challenge of reducing CO2 emissions is
sometimes confused with the move from oil to electric
vehicles; the electricity required to power the vehicles
still of course has a CO2 cost. Nonetheless, after a
hesitant start, electric vehicles appear to be imminent
and, unless we see a sudden shift to Hydrogen fuel, we
will need infrastructure for battery charging, billing
and energy management, in which realtime wireless
communications will be important.
Figure 5: Electric Cars will Require Demand
Management of their Battery Charging
(Source: Oxford Brookes University - BMW's
academic partner for the MINI E project)
Smart energy implies many things - in the context of
electric cars a key need will be to manage demand
peaks in charging5, as many people arrive home from
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
work, for example. Wireless can help this situation
in various ways. Firstly, by monitoring and comm-
unicating vehicle location and battery status, the
anticipated temporal and geographical charging
needs can be synthesized. Combining this with
personal contextual data (eg when is a known driver of
the car next planning to travel?) can provide an
additional level of input to demand planning.
Aggregating such information provides some ways to
anticipate demand and manage supply. Nonetheless,
demand-based pricing will, in all probability, also be
needed. Personal data is of course also needed to bill
for the electricity, as vehicles will be charged away
from home. In all cases, as with earlier examples,
security of personally identifiable data is required.
Protecting the Environment, and People
Contextual data on a mobile phone need not be limited
to information about the user; as well as location, with
the inclusion of a bio/chemical- sensor chip, it could
include aspects of his physical environment.
Collection, aggregation and real-time analysis of such
data across a city, county or country, could deliver
highly accurate, timely and localized measurement
and monitoring of chemical and biological pollution,
providing sensitive and early alerts to environmental
threats, and inform their early and proactive
management. Such a distributed, crowd-sourced,
sensing network could be vastly cheaper than
traditional discrete monitoring infrastructures, as well
as being more comprehensive.
Tailored bio/chemical-sensors
could detect specific bacteria or
resultant chemicals in the breath,
as a person uses their phone,
permitting personal health
screening and early detection of
illness. Ideally such sensors should
possess an easy update
mechanism, to allow, for example,
the download of a specific virus
sensor when a new strain of
disease is identified.
Moving from the aggregate to the personal, tailored
bio/chemical-sensors could detect specific bacteria or
resultant chemicals in the breath, as a person uses
their phone, permitting personal health screening and
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
early detection of illness. Ideally such sensors should
possess an easy update mechanism, to allow, for
example, the download of a specific virus sensor when
a new strain of disease is identified. This is still a long
way in the future; however, sensor update in the high
street shop or in the doctor's surgery could be
envisaged, and could provide a powerful new tool in
pandemic disease management.
Perversely perhaps, today's
Internet users appear largely
willing to trade personal privacy
in return for perceived added
value. Despite widely-publicised
concerns over Facebook's
privacy policies over the past
year, its user base has continued
to grow; similarly, Google
appears to have weathered
some major privacy issues around
its launch of Google Buzz.
The global market potential of such phone-based
sensors, given the size of the cellphone user base, is
clearly huge. The technical requirement for such a
capability is low cost, high volume, bio/chemical
sensors-on-silicon. Given the UK's strengths in the life
sciences and semiconductor industries, this is a field
the UK could pioneer. Of course, enabling technology
is one thing - issues around commercialization and
societal acceptance are another. These are areas where
industrial and government collaboration is needed.
Realising Change - People, Industries and Nations
The earlier examples provide 'tasters' of future ways
in which wireless may impact industry and society.
Many technology enablers already exist, are close or
can be envisaged; however realising change involves
issues beyond technology, three facets of which we
now consider.
Societal Acceptance - Protecting Personal Privacy
The first facet relates to the protection of personally
identifiable information. Emerging capabilities of per-
sonalised communications hinge around knowledge of
sensitive personal information and behaviour. For many
in the industry these issues, as noted earlier, have been
paramount as such contextually informed services are
bring developed. Perversely perhaps, today's Internet
25
users appear largely willing to trade personal privacy in
return for perceived added value. Despite widely-
publicised concerns over Facebook's privacy policies
over the past year, its user base has continued to grow;
similarly, Google appears to have weathered some
major privacy issues around its launch of Google Buzz.

Privacy is culturally influenced, differing between

countries and cultures, and across social strata [9].
These differences will be important when considering
how the third wave of wireless will play out globally in
consumer and industry transformation. Whilst many
users may be prepared to compromise security in
return for a service, some will not. For this reason,
public services which require mass adoption – eg
health, transport, social care – must not only protect
personally identifiable information but also gain the
trust of their users to this effect. Walter Tuttlebee, OBE serves as Chief Executive of
Mobile VCE, the Virtual Centre of Excellence in
Creating Industry Bridges Mobile & Personal Communications, which
The second facet relates to the fact that mindsets and undertakes strategic industry-led research for its
assumptions differ enormously between industries. As member companies, global industry players from
an example, today content is delivered to mobile around the world, including Alcatel-Lucent, BBC,
phones that traditionally appeared on televisions. This BT, Fujitsu, Huawei Technologies, NEC, Nokia
did not come about quickly or easily; in the early days Siemens Networks, Orange (France Telecom),
there was suspicion about eating into each other's Samsung, Thales, Toshiba, Turner & Vodafone.
markets, a lack of trust simply due to lack of
relationships and poor appreciation of what was
possible and/or inevitable. In this example the rapid
growth of public Internet usage was also a factor which
At this point in time the economic challenges facing
pushed the broadcast industry to develop its
the UK are such that such major change is recognized
understanding of telecoms, at both business and
as inevitable. Potentially, if embraced in the right way,
technical levels, whilst related initiatives in Asia
this situation could allow more rapid evolution in our
provided motivation for dialogues. Today the exchange
industries and public services than would normally be
of personnel between industries is much deeper than
possible, providing an opportunity for the UK to
a decade ago. But all this took time.
pioneer once again. What is needed to achieve this ?
In addition to the issues previously noted, dialogue
As we consider the opportunities to transform and
between industry and government is needed - to
create new growth for the enterprise, healthcare,
identify specific tangible opportunities, to clarify the
transport and energy industries, so we need to create
obstacles to transition and the ways in which they may
opportunities to bridge the cultures, encourage
be removed or circumvented.
interchange and deepen mutual understanding.
Relationships already exist to address immediate
Conclusions
market opportunities, but initiatives are needed on
multiple levels, particularly when considering future
The telecoms industry has been transformed by
capabilities that are as yet not fully appreciated
wireless over the past 25 years, a transformation in
within some operational units of the telecoms
which the UK has played a leading role. The UK's
industry.6
significant role in the GSM initiative, including the role
of government, has been well documented [11]. Early
National Implications
UK analogue cellular pioneers have grown up into
Nations around the world speak about creating a new
global telecom operators. Its leading academic
digital economy. Some have funded significant
research and culture of innovation continue to play an
research initiatives to this end. In the UK these include
important role in attracting inward investors and in
the 'Digital Economy' hubs, established by the
creating new companies, some of whom have grown
Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council,
into suppliers of key enabling technologies. These
and collaborative industrial research, co-funded by the
strengths are complemented by excellence in
Technology Strategy Board. Few nations have as yet
semiconductors and life sciences. This rich
however begun serious industry transition, perhaps in
combination of strengths position the UK well to
part because the social and cultural changes involved
harness this next wave of wireless to transition our
are challenging.

26 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

public services and, en route, build new industrial
opportunities. The challenge is not just technology;
the stakeholders in the UK, in industry, academia and
government, need to work more closely if we are
succeed in exploiting our world-class capability to
reach its full potential.

Walter Tuttlebee
Chief Executive, Mobile VCE

References

[1] Special Report: Telecoms in Emerging Markets, "Mobile

Marvels", The Economist, 24th September 2009

[2] "The Next Billion Geeks: How the Mobile Internet will
transform the BRICI Countries", The Economist, 2nd
September 2010
[3] "Mobile Broadband Growth: Reports from HSPA Operators
Worldwide", 2nd July 2010, www.gsacom.com
[4] www.withings.com
[5] www.fitbit.com
[6] www.nikeplus.com
[7] BG Evans & K Baughan, "Visions of 4G", Electronics &
Engineering Journal, December 2000
[8] www.traffic.berkeley.edu
[9] "Privacy Issues & Solutions for Enterprise Mobile Social
Networking", Mobile VCE International Workshop, London,
11th May 2010
[10] S Fletcher, D Lister, T O'Farrell, J Thomson & W Tuttlebee, Photomasks for all your lithography needs
"Saving the Planet - The Rationale, Realities and Research
of Green Radio", The Journal of the Institute of
Telecommunications Professionals, pp8-20, Volume 4,
part 3, 2010 With over 40 years of photomask
[11] S Temple, "Inside the Mobile Revolution: A Political History
of GSM", 2nd edition, January 2010, manufacturing experience in Scotland and California,
www.stephentemple.co.uk
we understand that it is about more than technology –
Notes
it’s about quality and service and getting the correct
1 For example, Mobile VCE's research, undertaken by some of
the UK leading research Universities, is defined and led by its
mask for the job just when you need it.
global industry members
Alcatel-Lucent, BBC, BT, Fujitsu, Huawei, NEC, Nokia Siemens
Networks, Orange, Samsung, Thales, Toshiba, Turner
Broadcasting and Vodafone.
2 The basic feasibility of such services - in terms of harnessing
such information and architecting secure mechanisms - has
been demonstrated within Mobile VCE's 'Instant Knowledge'
research, a programme supported by the Technology Strategy
Board
3 The classic example in transportation is the apocryphal
intelligent car, requiring six different boxes to support different
information and communications systems as it drives through
cities from Lands End to John O'Groats
4 The concept of multiple interconnected wireless-enabled
personal devices and servers, and supporting mechanisms,
formed part of Mobile VCE's 'Vision 2010', developed by its
industry members' Vision Group during 1999 [7] and was
developed as the 'Personal Distributed Environment' within its
Core 2 research programme, which ran from 1999-2003.
5 This is the equivalent of the demand surge arising as millions
of people simultaneously switch on their kettles to make a cup
of tea in the advertising break during a popular prime time
television programme
6 Mobile VCE is initiating cross-industry workshops to help
build such understanding, with initial events in the transport,
energy and health sectors which will hopefully lead to joint +44(0)1592 772557
research and commercial collaborations. enquiries@cgi.co.uk www.cgi.co.uk

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 27

 Made in the UK and Here to Stay!
It has been a challenging time for UK fabs, but our
members have found a number of different ways to
cope. Here they share their experiences with NMI,
explain how they rode out the recession and proffer
their outlook for the future.
Allan James, Joint Managing Director, Semefab
Glenrothes-based Semefab manufactures micro-
electronics and MEMS. Founded in 1986, it offers a
wide mix of discrete semiconductor, integrated circuit
and sensor technology platforms and boasts a broad
customer base stretching all the way from
multinationals and SMEs to start-ups on three
continents. Despite this obvious diversity, Semefab felt
the impact of the downturn pretty much right across
the board. "We didn't make anyone redundant, says
Allan James, Joint Managing Director, but "the higher
wage earners all took a 10% pay cut and we focused
our efforts on direct cost reduction and efficiency
improvements." Not the best time to be building a
third fab at the Glenrothes site, but as Allan explains,
Semefab's hand was forced. The company had been
awarded a significant grant from DTI towards capital
equipment with one of the conditions being that
Semefab would match the funding by contributing to
the associated infrastructure and cleanroom facilities.
"Fortunately, our main shareholder was able to
commit the necessary funding, so the new fab is due
to come on stream at the end of this year."
28
NXP Semiconductor, based in Manchester, took the
more traditional route through recession to recovery.
"Like many companies," explains Paul Meredith, Site
and Operations Manager at the Hazel Grove plant, "we
were forced to take crash measures to balance things
out." NXP shed nearly one fifth of its workforce, many
of whom went voluntarily. And then, in true
semiconductor cyclical industry style, had to recruit
back up again, quickly. The stats say it all: NXP went
from its lowest point in terms of volume in January
2009 to a record output in July 2010, which has kept
on increasing month on month ever since.
Paul Meredith, Site and Operations
Manager, NXP Semiconductor
Over at International Rectifier in Newport the trend is
very much the same, although the high and low points
are less exaggerated. Throughout FY10, which for IR
runs from July '09 to June '10, there has been a steady
growth in revenue back up to the levels seen prior to
the downturn. And like NXP, they've had to recruit and
train significant numbers of staff. Fortunately for IR,
South Wales is a good source of labour, so they've had
no difficulty getting access to and attracting the
requisite manufacturing skills. But as Allan Rankin, IR's
GM and VP, explains it's a different story when it comes
to technically qualified engineers. "With the UK and
Western Europe as a whole facing a reduced number of
potential candidates, we're having to look further afield
for the skills we need." Hopefully, UKESF (the UK
Electronics Skills Foundation) launched by NMI in
January will make a difference to this in the future!
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
Caswell-based Oclaro too, which provides innovative
optical and laser components and solutions for a
broad range of diverse markets, has been recruiting
engineers and graduates. Their situation though is
quite different as Steve Reilly, VP Operations and
General Manager, explains. "After going through some
major downsizing in 2007, rivals Bookham and
Avanex joined forces to create Oclaro in early 2009.
Since then we've been enjoying a period of real,
sustained growth." Attracted by its increased financial
stability following the merger, larger companies have
been quick to approach Oclaro to partner on projects.
Steve Reilly, VP Operations and General Manager, Oclaro
Looking to the future, this means that as well as
growing capacity for its existing product range, there's
the very real potential for Oclaro to diversify into other
markets, such as disc drives, motion sensors for
games applications, even cosmetic surgery.
"After going through some major
downsizing in 2007, rivals Bookham
and Avanex joined forces to
create Oclaro in early 2009. Since
then we've been enjoying a
period of real, sustained growth."
Semefab, interestingly, is driving its business in the
opposite direction. "Historically, Semefab has been too
much of an 'all things to all people' company," says
Allan James. "Now we want our name to be associated
with specifics, such as Energy Harvesting and Medical
Sensors, ASICs associated with these products and
the renewable and green energy sectors." Allan
expects to see Semefab's China business forge ahead
in the coming months and years: "People often ask
how can you do business with low cost economies.
The answer is small die at high yield, small margins
and massive volume. Semefab will sell more than 120
million die to China in 2010."
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
"Historically, Semefab has been too
much of an 'all things to all people'
company... Now we want our
name to be associated with
specifics, such as Energy
Harvesting and Medical Sensors,
ASICs associated with these
products and the renewable and
green energy sectors."
For NXP, the future is all about increasing capacity.
Right now, every wafer that comes into the fab has a
home. "We're on allocation to customers," says Paul. "If
we had another 20% capacity, we could sell it." Capital
has already been approved to improve capacity here in
the UK. The company is also looking to expand
capacity at its foundry in Singapore and to extend
capacity elsewhere in Asia by using a sub-contracted
assembly house to meet the anticipated demand.
For International Rectifier, it's less about increasing
the volume of existing products and more about
maintaining a constant stream of new, advanced
products. IR is unusual in the UK in that its new
product development is centred on Newport. "The
important challenge for us is to introduce advanced
products to market quickly and with high margins,"
says Allan Rankin. "Newport has to have an online
conveyor belt of new products."
So everyone's got their sights set firmly on where they
want to go. What, if anything, might stand in their
way? There seem to be two schools of thought: one
empirical; the other intangible.
For Allan Rankin, the biggest hurdles are those
presented by the UK's declining talent pool and the
same challenges that are facing all UK manufacturing
in terms of cost base - energy tariffs, materials costs
and labour. "New technology is key to Newport," but as
Allan adds succinctly "it can't come at a premium cost".
Steve Reilly is focused on a different set of figures.
Oclaro is striving to achieve world class cycle times.
Right now, equipment performance isn't up to scratch,
so they'll soon be investing in replacement kit.
Semefab's Allan James is more interested in what he
can't put his finger on - like the possibility of a follow-
on dip in business, the potential impact of public
sector finance and banking sector excesses and the
29
questionable outlook for the US economy. "In the face
of all this uncertainty," says Allan "Semefab needs to
remain cautious in its plans and careful not to
overextend itself."
Allan's note of caution strikes a chord with NXP's Paul
Meredith who acknowledges that though "confidence
is growing, noises are also being made about market
softening in 2011". So, is all this increased capacity
justified? Will the demand be there? Well, as Paul says,
"given the speed with which market conditions can
change, it's always difficult to make decisions about
expansion. That said, it's a fact about our industry that
you always believe the good news. You make your
judgement and you go for it." Paul's confidence is
supported by solid market forecasts. Europe's
growing automotive electronics sector, for example, is
a big fan of NXP, but not of change.
It's good to know what you can rely on in this industry.
And who you can look to for support. Take NMI.
NXP, Oclaro and IR all value NMI's networking
opportunities, which enable members to discuss
common issues outwith the more competitive aspects
of business. "NMI works well at a grass roots level," says
Allan Rankin "with groups coming together to discuss
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best practice and lower costs." The other side to this is
table top exhibitions. Oclaro recently hosted one such
event, organised by NMI, at its Caswell site. "This helped
our guys to meet lots of suppliers and lead to several
solutions being developed," says Steve Reilly.
Then there's all the benchmarking activity. Oclaro, we
know, has more than a passing interest in cycle times.
NMI also provides data on yields, current spend and
salaries etc, all of which is useful to Oclaro since, as
Steve says, "it's difficult to get relevant benchmarking
data when there isn't a huge photonic lab presence in
the UK."
Of course, NMI doesn't just operate at the grass roots
level. At the other end of the spectrum, it represents
our entire industry to Government, whether that's by
lobbying to ensure we don't lose vital infrastructure or
looking after members' interests in the HSE cancer
audit of UK wafer fabs.
Last but certainly not least comes the wealth of
industry information that NMI provides.
Allan James hits it on the nail: “More than anything we
see NMI as a pool of knowledge resource to which we
can turn for specialist advice and contacts.” Get in
touch at www.nmi.org.uk
Moortec - the perfect partner to provide high performance
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
 Smart Homes and their
Role in Future Power Systems

Introduction is a tendency towards adoption of heat pumps for

As a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions space heating and electric vehicles for transport.
and imports of fossil fuel, the European Union has Therefore, even if the total energy demand
now imposed a target for renewable energy generation. reduces, electricity demand is likely to increase as
This target implies that 20% of all energy should be shown in Figure 2 [1].
derived from renewable sources by 2020 ( the UK share
of the target is set at 15%). The wealth of innovative
electrical power technologies in the UK offer
immediate opportunities to achieve these targets as
emphasised in the Low Carbon Transition Plan [1].
The plan estimates that in order to achieve the UK
target, we would need at least 20 GW of renewable
power generation by 2020.

Increased generation from renewables reduces the

production of greenhouse gases and increases
security of supply (the generation being non-
dependent on imported fossil fuel). There are however
many technical challenges to be faced in the
operation of a power system with such high levels of
renewable generation which is required to maintain
economic and affordable supply to consumers.
2.
Changes Anticipated in the Power System
Modern electric power systems are supplied by
large central generators that feed power into a high
voltage interconnected transmission network. The
power, often transmitted over long distances, is
then passed down through a series of distribution
transformers to final circuits for delivery to
customers (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Typical power system components [2]
Due to the measures being taken to transform the
power system to low or zero carbon, it is already
undergoing and expected to continue to undergo
many changes. Some of them include:
1. Growth in demand for electricity
Many scenarios of future energy systems suggest
that more of the energy for heating and
transportation could come from electricity as there
Figure 2: Expected growth in electricity
demand in 2050 [1]
Increased penetration of inflexible and
intermittent generation sources
According to the UK Low Carbon Transition
Plan [1] by 2020 forty percent of UK electricity
will come from low carbon sources such as
renewables, nuclear and fossil fuel fired
generation fitted with Carbon Capture and
Storage (CCS) technology.
Intermittent energy sources such as wind and
solar will displace energy produced by
conventional plant, however the extent of the
generating capacity they will displace is an
open question. At any given time the total
generation output is maintained at the total
power consumed. This includes all the loads
(domestic, industrial and commercial)
connected to the power system plus the losses
in the power networks. In order to maintain the
security of the power system, central
generation plants supply ancillary services such
as load following, frequency regulation, and
reserve. If conventional generation is displaced
by that from intermittent sources and as there
is no contribution to frequency regulation and
reserve from the inflexible power plant then it
becomes necessary to maintain part-loaded
conventional plant operating on the system.

32 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

3. Distributed generation
From around 1990, local generation was connected
at all voltage levels of the distribution network.
The connection of these generators has become
known as Distributed Generation (DG).
As distribution circuits were designed to supply
loads with power flows from the higher to the
lower voltage circuits, the connection of DG led
to a number of challenges. Conventional
distribution networks are passive with few
measurements and very limited active control.
However in order to harness the potential
provided by the DG for efficient and secure
operation of the power system, the distribution
networks need to be more active [3].
The above changes require power system operation
and control to be smarter, more visible and
controllable in all parts of the power system.
Recently, the name SmartGrids [4, 5] has become
commonly used to describe the future power
network that will make extensive use of the latest
information and communication technologies to
support a flexible, secure and cost-effective de-
carbonised electrical power system.
Demand Side Management and Visibility
It is expected that smart meter roll out will bring a
number of benefits to the consumers, suppliers
and market operators. Some of them include
1. Providing demand management through
reductions of peak demand, shifting of peaks,
direct control and switching of loads
With the high penetration of intermittent energy
sources and with the anticipated growth in load,
it becomes essential that the demand is flexible
so that it can be either shifted or reduced. Smart
meter roll out enables consumers to be more
aware of the nature of their consumption
patterns. As an example of measures for
adapting energy consumption of consumers to
the needs of the power system, utilities are
planning to educate consumers on the
consequences of energy use at peaks times and
planning to provide incentives for less energy
consumption at certain times of the day.

Smart Metering

The UK government has a policy to roll-out smart

metering to all residential gas and electricity
customers by the end 2020. This should be done in
a cost-effective way, "which optimises the benefits
to consumers, energy suppliers, network operators
and other energy market participants and delivers
environmental and other policy goals".

The Government's response to the consultation on

electricity and gas metering was issued in December
2009. The consultation proposed a set of high level
functionality requirements for electricity and gas
meters (only the first four apply to gas meters):

● Two way communication between the meter

and energy supplier or designated market
organization. This should allow the upload and
download of data, transfer of data at defined
periods, provide remote configuration, and
allow changes to software and firmware.
● Provide real time information to in-home
display and other devices in the Home Area
Network (HAN) to link to the meter system.
● Support a range of time of use tariff with multiple
registers within the meter for billing purposes.
● Provide load management capability to deliver
demand side management.
● Provide remote disable/enable of supply.
● Provide capacity to communicate with a
measurement device within a microgenerator
and ability to measure net export.
Figure 3: Increase in power demand due to EV
charging (Reva 'G-Wiz' PEV was considered) [6]
Figure 3 shows the increase in peak demand if a
small electric car, in this case a Reva 'G-Wiz', is
connected to the Grid just after the driver comes
home (the charging figures and duration is based
on an EU Study [6]). Clearly if every consumer was
to start charging their cars at the peak period, the
local transformers may become overloaded and
the national load would increase, creating a threat

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 33

 to the security of the power system. One solution
could be to impose a higher tariff during peak
hours. In this way if consumers are encouraged or
incentivised to charge their cars after 10 pm, then
the spare capacity after mid night would be filled
without increasing the peak.
increase in distributed generation and
microgeneration, the detailed real time
consumption data will provide better informed
investment decisions for the user. A further benefit
is power outage detection through remote
interrogation of meter energisation status.

The main components that will facilitate demand
management include displays such as simple high-
low price and energy use indicators and more
comprehensive in-home displays (energy use, cost,
time). These allow changing consumer behaviour
through feedback of accurate information of
energy consumption with flexible tariffs schemes
thus allowing efficient use of energy.
2. Automatically managing the demand
Demand management could be realised through
fully automated intelligent energy management
systems that integrate the smart appliances,
automatic controllers such as programmable
thermostats, electric vehicle charging, and
microgeneration. Smart appliances could be
equipped with technology enabling them to react
to changing price signals or any other commands
received from the distribution system.
Future LV Distribution Networks
The future low voltage networks will consist of loads,
a large number of microsources and storage. In
addition to electrical loads, heat loads are also often
connected (see Figure 5). With a large number of
controllable sources in the LV distribution network,
the only way to control them is to cluster them and
use an agent-based approach. Agents will receive
commands and information from neighbouring
agents and distribution network controllers. Based
on this information and commands , Agents will
send control signals to all the controllable loads
within its cluster.

The increase in the peak demand shown in Figure

3 could be avoided, if the car charging unit is
connected to the smart meter through a home
area network (HAN) and the user can select an
automatic charging mode depending on their
requirement. For example as shown in Figure 4,
Figure 5: Component of a future LV network [8]
Ford is proposing three charging options.
In the system shown in Figure 5, in order to execute
control signals received from the Agent, each
microsource and energy storage will need a power
electronic interface. These interfaces will include DC
to DC converters and voltage source Pulse Width
Modulation (PWM) converters which mainly employ
Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs). Such an
interface for a Photo Voltaic (PV) system is shown
in Figure 6, where the single phase voltage source
inverter and the DC-DC converter used for
Figure 4: Charging options proposed by Ford [7] Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) are
connected to the Agent through the smart meter.
3. Measurements in real time
Smart meters that are currently being connected
to domestic premises have the potential to provide
much greater visibility of network power flows and
voltages. This is particularly relevant on Low
Voltage (LV) networks where the number of
measurements is presently very limited. The
frequency with which smart meters will transfer
data to the concentrator (data collector) is still
unclear. If real time measurements are available, it
will be possible to provide voltage profile data
which can detect whether these levels are being
maintained at the user side. With the anticipated Figure 6: Block diagram of a microsource based
on PV [1]

34 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

Home Area Networks (Hans)
A HAN is an integrated system, which takes
advantage of a range of techniques such as
computers, network communication as well as
synthesized wiring to connect all indoor subsystems
that attach smart meter, home appliances and
household electrical devices as a whole (see Figure
7). They enable the centralised management of
household appliances and services, and provide
internal information exchange within the house and
the outside world.
As home appliances are from different vendors, the
HAN should support multiple local area protocols
and communication media. Commonly used
protocols for home area network include IEEE
802.15.4-based protocols, such as ZigBee and
6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low Power Wireless Personal
Area Networks), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) protocol, IEEE
P1901 (Draft published in 2010) protocol for power
line carrier.
Figure 7: Components in a HAN
Conclusions
The face of Power generation, supply and usage are
about to enter a new age in the Era of the "Smart
and connected Home". The drive to reduce carbon
emissions will place massive demands on today's
mature Power Systems, however the UK is in a
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
strong position to enable these targets through a
new generation of "Smart" Carbon Saving Electronics
technology.
Changes in the power system due to anticipated
growth in demand, increased penetration of
inflexible and intermittent generation sources and
the connection of generation at all voltage levels
introduce operational challenges and stability
problems. Therefore integrating the control of LV
networks and HANs to power system control
becomes important to achieve a cost effective and
stable operation of the future power system.
Clearly Agent based control of LV networks and
Smart homes/HANs will require advanced and
innovative solutions. These will include new
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
solutions for information exchange and processing,
new control algorithms for local and remote control,
low loss power electronic interfaces and new forms of
microsources and energy storage.
In order to realise these revolutionary changes it is
clear that there is a need to support a Network of
Industries which can offer all elements of the
delivery including novel products, knowledge
transfer, networking, and standards /regulations.
Janaka Ekanayake and Nick Jenkins
References:
1. The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan, Accessed on
September 2010 at http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/
white%20papers/uk%20low%20carbon%20transition%20
plan%20wp09/1_20090724153238_e_@@_lowcarbontran
sitionplan.pdf
2. Janaka Ekanayake, Kithsiri Liyanage, Jianzhong Wu,
Akihiko Yokoyama, Nicholas Jenkins, "Smart Grid:
Technology and Applications", Wiley, 2011
3. N Jenkins, J.B. Ekanayake, G. Strbac, "Distributed
Generation", 2010, IET, ISBN 978-0-86341-958-4.
4. European Technology Platform - SmartGrids - Strategic
Deployment Document for Europe's Electricity Networks of
the Future, January 2010 (draft) and September 2008.
5. Smarter Grids: The Opportunity, Department of Energy
and Climate Change, UK, December 2009, Accessed in
September 2010 at http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/
cms/what_we_do/uk_supply/network/smart_grid/
smart_grid.aspx
6. Mobile energy resources in grids of electricity, Deliverable
D2.1, 2010, Internal report of EU project MERGE.
7. Ford's Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Access on
September 2010 at http:// media.ford.com/images/
10031/PHEV_Fact_Sheet.pdf
8. P. Binduhewa, "Microsource interface for a microgrid", PhD
thesis, 2010, University of Manchester.
35
 Bucking The Trend… And How!
That was one hell of a downturn, right? Some of you
would disagree. NMI spoke to three of a new breed
of suppliers who rode out the recession better than
most to see what we could learn.
The secret of their success? Well, flexibility is key. Take
Livingston-based memsstar (Pt 35) which supplies
remanufactured etch and deposition equipment for
MEMS and semiconductor technologies. Prior to
establishing the company in 2003, memsstar (Pt 35)'s
Director and General Manager, Bruce Dickson, used to
work for a large American company that was beset by
bureaucracy and inflexibility. They had a very pres-
criptive way of doing business which meant that it was
either their way or the highway. memsstar (Pt 35)
couldn't be more different. They specialise in remanu-
facturing tools, extending their life by another 10 years
or more. But they'll also supply just parts and not the
whole thing, maybe add a process module or supply
fully qualified labour - in fact anything the customer
wants. This has earned memsstar (Pt 35) a 'can-do'
reputation.
Greenock-based Stepper Technology has followed a
similar path of adapting to the climate rather than
sitting tight with fingers crossed. Back in the day when
price wasn't an issue, customers used to buy their
photolithography steppers from high end vendors
because along with the equipment, they got service,
warranties and parts. Stepper Technology offers an
alternative to OEMs: expertly refurbished equipment,
supported by the same complete package, but at a
more cost-effective price. This is a proposition that
clearly appeals to companies who have had their purse
strings tightened. "We operate in the secondhand
market, but also offer warranty, service, applications,
parts and so on," explains Tom Smith, Managing
Director of Stepper Technology. "As quickly as OEMs
have been forced to let engineers go, withdrawing their
local support, we've been busily recruiting them. Only
instead of flying everyone out business class and
putting them up in fancy hotels, we fly EasyJet and rent
apartments." Customers get the same great level of
service they're used to, but for less.
Semi Scenic, which provides complete system
refurbishment at its cleanroom and associated
facilities in East Kilbride, together with a full range of
customer support services, offers the same
combination of high quality and realistic prices. The
only third party supplier to be integrated with an OEM
36
(Lam Research), the organisation's business model is
actually geared towards increasing market share
during a downturn. "We provide consistent quality at a
competitive cost," says Don Nicolson, Managing
Director of Semi Scenic. By managing to ride out the
recession when others couldn't, Semi Scenic emerged
in pole position. The company's turnover for Q1 of
2009/10 was equal to two thirds of its turnover for the
whole of the previous year.
Don Nicolson, Semi Scenic
While Semi Scenic was using the recession to increase
its market share, Stepper Technology was expanding
its operations, not in the UK admittedly, but in Taiwan.
While other companies were announcing closures,
Stepper Technology proudly unveiled its first offshore
sales, repair and refurbishment facility, in Hsinchu
City. "All the business seemed to be going to Asia,"
explains Tom "so we went there too, to set up an
operation. Taiwan is like Silicon Valley was 20 years
ago. There are more customers on the Hsinchu
Science Park than in the whole of Europe and we're
within walking distance of all of them." In hindsight,
the decision to open a factory in Taiwan may seem like
a bit of a no-brainer but it was a ballsy thing to do at
the time. Potential investors couldn't be convinced to
part with their money in a recession, so Tom had to
use all his capital and funds to finance the venture, but
it's clearly paying off. Established in March 2009, the
Taiwan operation is already washing its face and the
future looks promising. "Taiwan is on a roller coaster
just now with no signs of stopping." Back home, the
UK situation is different but still positive. "All the
orders from last year that had been delayed have now
come through, so for us the recession has been like a
speed bump on the journey and no more."
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
For now then, everyone's order books are full but what
of the next 12 months? What do our panel of suppliers
see as the major challenges going forward?
For Semi Scenic, it's increasing capacity. Having
added about 30% to their headcount in the last six to
nine months and expanded their facility as recently as
February, Semi Scenic is already looking for additional
capacity. So Don and his team will be exploring the
various options, again - re-locate, add a
complementary site closeby or further extend the
existing premises. To make the most of some of the
other opportunities that are arising, Semi Scenic will
also be considering how to build their global presence.
On the refurbishment side, there is the prospect of
moving to a different business model which will put an
onus on Semi Scenic to add procurement and supply
chain functions. That's another driver for more space
and people, but as Don points out this will "open up
further opportunities for profitability".
For memsstar (Pt 35), the focus is going to be on
further developing its skills base and business model.
The company has a core team of 27, with the same
again on contracts. Having now exhausted the finite
supply of OEM people, they're now looking to recruit
and train up ex-fab employees to fill remanufacturing
and qual roles. As for memsstar (Pt 35)'s evolving
business model, Bruce explains: "memsstar (Pt 35) is
independent. Capitalising on our links with Novellus
Systems, we have a mutually beneficial operating
model that supports business growth and allows
independent operations to benefit our customers.
Along with our proprietary memsstar® tools, this is
now shaping up into a major tools, parts and service
model for the company."
According to our findings then, there's not one way to
prosper during a recession but many, and a variety of
different challenges that still lie up ahead. One thing
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
that all three of these suppliers agree on though are
the merits of NMI membership.
Networking seems to be top of the list, especially
given the nature of our business. As memsstar (Pt
35)'s Bruce Dickson explains, "the semiconductor
industries in America and Asia tend to very
transactional, whereas the European model is much
more relationship-based." NMI's attendance at trade
shows supports that and by sharing a stand with
them, both memsstar (Pt 35) and Stepper Technology
have benefited. "Exhibiting at an event like Semicon
Europa is the best way to network," adds Stepper
Technology's Tom Smith "but like many SMEs we
couldn't have afforded to do this on our own." For Semi
Scenic, the benefits of networking can be found closer
to home. A member of SSSF before it merged with
NMI, Don Nicolson points out that SSSF didn't have
any customer members, only suppliers, so the new,
wider community is much more productive.
Being part of NMI also "enhances your credibility,
gives you collective power and gets you access to
places it's difficult to get into," says Bruce Dickson.
And it's not just about being seen, but being heard.
Don Nicolson finds that whereas before it was difficult
to get any assistance due to a lack of a focus in the
industry, NMI membership has made it easier to drive
decisions on key issues from local and central
government.
And then there's the information sharing. NMI
membership "enables us to tap into other companies
to discover how they tackled a particular problem or
which consultants they used," says Don. Stepper
Technology is a great case in point. Tom Smith will
shortly be leading a talk, organised by NMI, all about
their Taiwan facility. Together, they're aiming to help
other members set up similar operations and share in
the success.
37
 Open Source Software:
Opportunity, Risk and Myth
Over the past decade and a half there has been a
steady increase in the value of software related
elements of microelectronics products and the
solutions that are derived from the operation of
such software. At the Future World Symposium
2010 a panel representing open source providers,
developers and users discussed "the disruptive
effect of open source" and opened the debate by
correcting a widely held myth: Open Source is not
a business model - it is in fact a development model
or a development philosophy.
Open source licensing has also moved on over this
time with some notable high-profile cases forcing
changes to licensing agreements.
With these aspects in mind, we invited Rustam Roy,
a Senior Associate in Manches LLP's Technology
practice who has extensive experience in open
source software policy and licensing, to give us a
view on what the engineering community needs to
be clear about when considering using the open
source development model.
Open Source Software - Risks and Benefits
The use of Open Source Software (OSS) presents
issues which are very different from those
associated with the use of proprietary software.
Engineering managers and in-house lawyers need
to tailor their due diligence to these issues, in order
not to be faced with significant, unexpected costs
half-way through a development project, or,
arguably worse, find out that the business is unable
to exploit a product commercially at the end of the
development cycle, due to licence conditions in
respect of incorporated software, which had not
been scoped out sufficiently.
The importance of source
code and the nature of OSS
Source code allows access to the parts of a
software program which have the highest monetary
value, which is why the majority of commercialised
software (i.e. software which is licensed for money)
is licensed on the basis that its source code is
available to the licensee only on a restricted basis,
e.g. by way of escrow agreements.
38
Free access to source code is the most basic
condition which determines whether software is
really OSS. The Free Software Foundation, which is
the institution behind the GNU project (discussed
below) uses the "Four Freedoms" criteria to decide
whether software is "free" in the open source sense.
The Four Freedoms
1. The freedom to run the program, for any
purpose.
2. The freedom to study how the program works,
and change it to make it do what you wish.
Access to the source code is a precondition for
this.
3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can
help your neighbour.
4. The freedom to improve the program, and
release your improvements (and modified
versions in general) to the public, so that the
whole community benefits. Access to the
source code is a precondition for this.
OSS Licence Types
At a very high level, there are two types of OSS
licences:
● Unilateral/Permissive Licences, which give
access to the source code without any material
attached conditions; and
● Conditional Licences, which give access to the
source code on the basis of certain material
conditions, such as requiring onward licensing
of any work based on the licensed OSS, on the
terms and conditions of the original licence.
The most widely used OSS licence is the GNU (a
recursive acronym of "GNU's Not Unix") General
Public Licence (GPL), the third version of which was
released in June 2007 by the Free Software
Foundation. The importance of the GPL licence lies in
its widespread use (60% or more free software
development projects use GPL) which is a result of its
close links with the Linux project as well as the
obligation in the GPL to license derived works
(programmes created on the basis of the original
licensed work) on the same terms and conditions,
thereby propagating the use of the licence (it is often
called a "viral licence" due to this mechanism).
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
Key Issues
This section touches on the key issues related to
the use of OSS licences and looks at the way the
GPL v.3 licence deals with these issues.
Licence or Contract?
In order to assist the informal access to OSS, it is
often available to users without the need to formally
agree to the terms of a contractual licence (for
example, OSS can often be downloaded without
having to accept a click-wrap agreement). Technically,
this is a bare copyright licence, which is basically
nothing more than permissions in respect of certain
acts (e.g. modification of source code and
distribution) which would otherwise be breaches of
copyright.
Bare licences are not intended to be contracts and
the practical relevance of this is that under a
contractual licence, a licensor has the benefit of
contractual remedies for breach (e.g. damages)
which are not available to the licensor under a bare
licence. If the terms of a bare licence are breached,
the licensor can at most terminate the licence.
Arguing the existence of a bare licence under
English law can be complicated, because it can
become a unilateral contract very quickly. If it is a
contract, common law principles and statutory
provisions relating to contract interpretation (e.g.
contra proferentem and the Unfair Contract Terms
Act 1977) will apply under English law. If the
agreement is not a contract, terms in the licence
excluding warranties and conditions (which are
contract terms) appear to make little sense under
English law. Both parties therefore need to consider
whether they can and want to rely on the bare
licence mechanism.
Under English law, it is likely that the extensive nature
of the mutual promises and obligations contained in
the GPL licence will result in a bilateral contract.
Sections 16 and 17 of the GPL v3 deal with the
exclusion of warranties and limitation of losses. In
relation to a licensed work to which English law
applies, licensor and licensee, should consider the
potential impact of the Unfair Contract Terms Act
1977, which applies in relation to exclusion and
limitation clauses, before using the GPL v3 (or, for
that matter, any other OSS licence).
Rights-free zone?
It is a myth that OSS licences exist outside the
realms of intellectual property rights. OSS licences
are in fact specialised copyright licences and even
where copyright is not expressly referred to within
the licence terms, the permitted acts are usually
those which, without the licence, would constitute a
breach of copyright.
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
The link between agreement mechanism and
copyright is made very clear in sections 8 and 9 of
the GPL v3, which expressly state:
● Section 8: "You may not propagate or modify a
covered work except as expressly provided
under this License. Any attempt otherwise to
propagate or modify it is void, and will
automatically terminate your rights under this
License…"
● Section 9: "You are not required to accept this
License in order to receive or run a copy of the
Program. However nothing other than this
License grants you permission to propagate or
modify any covered work. These actions
infringe copyright if you do not accept this
License".
The combined effect of the two sections is that a
licensee may use a GPL-licensed program without
accepting the licence terms, but any modification
of the program requires acceptance of the licence
to avoid being in breach of copyright and such
breach will terminate the licence automatically.
Patent Conflict
When the OSS movement began in the 1980s
software patents were not common. In recent
years, there has been a growing conflict between
OSS and software patents, in cases where patent
owners (e.g. commercial software developers such
as Microsoft) allege that certain OSS infringes its
patent claims. This causes a great deal of
uncertainty amongst users of related OSS (e.g.
OSS derived from the allegedly infringing OSS). To
complicate matters, some companies seek to enter
into patent cooperation agreements, whereby they
agree not to take action (for breach of patent
rights) against the users of the other company's
licensed products. The most famous of these
agreements is the 2006 agreement between Novell
and Microsoft. In this instance, Novell licensees
benefited from Microsoft's promise not to enforce
its patents against them, but users of non-Novell
OSS which contained similar code (e.g. the Linux
kernel which is common to Novell as well as many
other types of OSS) did not. This is discriminatory
and a breach of the principles of OSS and Novell
has been widely criticised in the OSS community
for "selling out".
Section 11 of the GPL v3 is a direct response to the
Novell-Microsoft agreement and deals with that
scenario by requiring:
1. that a licensor who uses the GPL v3 and who
owns or controls patent claims which would be
infringed by the terms of the GPL licence,
automatically grants a patent licence to the
licensee;
39
2. that "patent licence" includes the benefit of a
patent cooperation agreement such as the
Novel-Microsoft deal; and
3. any patent licence granted to a licensee in
relation to a work covered by the GPL v3, is
automatically extended to all recipients of that
covered work under the GPL v3.
Any OSS licensor who uses GPL v3 to licence a
patent (or who is the beneficiary of a patent treaty
such as the Novell-Microsoft agreement) will find
that the benefit of the patent licence (or the
agreement) are automatically passed on to all GPL
v3 licences of that particular software. The GPL is
used in many software development projects and
patent owners, if they want their software to be
used in these projects (it raises their profile and
enables them to market and licence proprietary
software to some of these projects) they will need
to carefully consider whether it is appropriate to
use the GPL.
from the licensed program. It would not include
completely independent software which is
distributed as a combined package with the
licensed program .
OSS Use
Despite the potential pitfalls of OSS use, there is
also the potential for substantial cost savings if
OSS is deployed effectively and in the appropriate
circumstances. The lack of formal support
structure from the licensor (unless a separate
agreement has been entered into) suggests that
OSS should not be considered for use by novices to
OSS purely for cost savings. OSS usage needs to be
evaluated by considering (i) the support and
maintenance structure for each particular piece of
software and (ii) the long term costs of OSS use. It
is important to understand the effect of any OSS
licence terms that apply, in particular where more
than one type of OSS licence applies.

Commercial Exploitation For optimum business risk management, it is

important that appropriate due-diligence is
Most software developers seek to commercially conducted before any use of OSS in projects or
exploit their work. Since the source code to OSS is related to assets of commercial value.
freely available, OSS developers often charge for
"Added Value Services", such as support and
maintenance, tool-kits (which can be sold as
proprietary software) and warranty fees. Apart from
commercially exploiting the OSS on its own, many
developers or distributors combine OSS with
proprietary software. In such circumstances, the
licensor needs to be aware of any provisions in the
OSS licence which seek to apply the terms of the
licence to the proprietary work as well.

The GPL v3 does not contain any restriction against

charging a fee for the program itself, but since the
source code must be made available free of charge,
the commercial potential to charge for the program
is limited. Section 4 expressly states "You may
charge any price or no price for each copy that you
Rustam Roy
convey, and you may offer support or warranty
protection for a fee."
1 Of approximately 60+ licences officially certified
by the Open Source Initiative as meeting its
The GPL v3 only applies to "covered works" which
criteria.
includes the licensed program itself as well as any
2 The GPL v2 is not as straightforward and
work based on the program. It is likely that this
distinguishes between derivative work and
would include any new copyrightable work created
collective work

40 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

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 eFutures - maximising the impact
of UK electronics research
The UK has an excellent track-record in delivering
internationally leading research and commercial
success in electronics, employing many world class
scientists and engineers. But seismic changes brought
about by continuing technological innovation coupled
with uncertainties in the economic climate, urgently
need industry and academia to unite. By acting
together, challenges can be met head-on, securing the
future of the UK electronics industry for many years to
come; this is why eFutures is needed.
Six of the country’s leading academics have been
brought together to launch eFutures - a new hub for
excellence in electronics research which aims to tackle
the challenges of the next ten years by uniting the UK
research community, bringing industry and research
together to realise the full potential of electronics
research within the UK.
Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC), eFutures aims to be a
single voice for the UK electronics research community,
to engage the best of university research with industry
and to communicate its successes, as well as its
needs, to government and through the media to the
public. The network will define the scope of UK
electronics research, addressing future challenges and
will be the ideal vehicle to promote new innovative
partnerships and opportunities.
The core academics leading the network are: Professor
Anthony O’Neill (Newcastle University), Professor Asen
Asenov (Glasgow University), Professor Andrew Brown
(Southampton University), Professor Steve Furber
(Manchester University), Professor Steve Hall (Liverpool
University) and Professor Roger Woods (Queen’s
University Belfast) who are guided by a Steering Group
comprising key staff from two major industrial
electronics companies, ARM Holdings (ARM) and
Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) together with
representatives from the Electronics Knowledge Centre,
part of the ESP KTN, the National Microelectronics
Institute, the Technology Strategy Board and the EPSRC.
Breaking down barriers between the university and
commercial sectors is vital. The “Who’s Who” directory
is a core feature of the eFutures website
(http://www.efutures.ac.uk). The directory will be
searchable by both keyword and geographical location
allowing potential industrial collaborators to be
connected quickly and easily with the country’s best
42
research expertise. The website has a media section,
providing easy access to press releases, research
highlights and exploitation. There is a student section,
aimed at inspiring future generations of highly skilled
electronic engineers by promoting the importance of
electronics to prospective undergraduates. Graduate
career aspirations can be encouraged further by
browsing the ICASE and industrial vacancies on offer
and links to social media sites provide further
opportunities to generate interest in the subject.
Around a hundred engineers from both academia and
industry took part in the very successful inaugural
eFutures Academic Community Meeting held in
October 2010 which launched the network and gave
participants a chance to discuss the future direction of
eFutures. A series of community wide meetings as well
as smaller focussed meetings will be held, which will
be open to the academic and industrial communities.
In this way we aim to build a broader interface through
which meaningful collaborations can be built.
The greater connectivity offered by eFutures will result
in better knowledge transfer, which will benefit the UK
electronics commercial sector. It means that they can
see experts in fields of direct relevance to their
business. These academic experts can help to resolve
problems in manufacturing, improve process yield,
offer support in terms of failure analysis and
characterisation. The academic experts will be able to
offer new design strategies such as the use of GALS
interconnect in complex SoCs, the integration of bio-
sensors in medical electronics, advanced tools for
high-level synthesis and reconfigurable computing, etc.
It will give smaller companies in particular a better
sight of the rapidly changing landscape which they
must operate in and adapt to if they are to prosper in
the 21st century. The better connectivity will also serve
to facilitate the transition of young engineers trained in
cutting edge technology and design, into industry.
Long term, the aim is to make the eFutures self-
sustaining. It will be an evolving entity, which will
modulate its activities in the light of changing
circumstances in the industrial and academic worlds.
Over the next 3 years there is a real opportunity to
embed eFutures as it will allow time for effective
networking together with seeing the first fruits of this
activity in terms of successful projects between the
university and industrial sectors and with support from
the funding agencies.
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
 Biographies

Professor Anthony O’Neill Professor Steve Furber is the

is Siemens Professor at
Newcastle University, having
joined in 1986 from Plessey
Research (Caswell) Ltd. In
1994 he was Visiting Scientist
at MIT and pioneered their
work on strained Si MOS-
FETs. In 2002 he became a
Royal Society Industry Fellow
with Atmel Corp and worked
with them to implement
strained silicon in a UK
commercial process. He was visiting professor at EPFL
(Switzerland) in 2009.He took a leading role in
establishing an earlier network of UK universities
engaged in silicon technology research (Si Futures) and
is a director of NMI.
ICL Professor of Com-puter
Engineering in the School of
Computer Science at the
University of Manchester.
During the 1980s he was at
Acorn Computers Ltd, and
was a principal designer of
the BBC Microcomputer and
the ARM 32?bit RISC micro-
processor. At Manchester he
leads the Advanced Processor
Technologies group with
interests in low-power chip design and modelling large-
scale systems of spiking neurons. Steve is a Fellow of
the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the
BCS, the IET and the IEEE. He was awarded a CBE in
2008.

Professor Andrew Brown Professor Roger Woods BSc,

holds an established chair in PhD, CEng, FIET, SMIEEE
Electronics at Southampton, leads the Programmable
and was the head of Elect- Systems Laboratory at
ronic System Design Group Queen’s University, is CEO of
in the School of Electronics CapnaDSP Ltd. and is
and Computer Science for internationally recognised for
twelve years until 2007. He the design and implement-
has been a member of ation of complex DSP
academic staff in the Depart- systems. He has worked
ment since 1980, spending extensively with industry,
time at IBM Hursley Park as developing a number of
Hursley Park as an IBM commercial chips in the
Visiting Scientist, at Siemens NeuPerlach (Munich) as process. He was chair of one
a Visiting Professor, Multiple Access Communications of the IET’s Technical and Professional Networks and is
Ltd as part of the Senior Academics in Industry on the advisory board to the IEEE Signal Processing
scheme, and at NTNU Trondheim as a Gjesteprofessor Society Technical Committee on the Design and
(Guest professor), and at the Computer Laboratory, Implementation of Signal Processing Systems. He has
University of Cambridge. acted as expert on STEM for the Northern Ireland
Assembly, is on the editorial board of a number of
He has published around a hundred and thirty papers journals and has given plenary talks at major
and edited a book in the field of design automation as international conferences (Eusipco2009, ICNNSP2008
applied to VLSI. He is a Fellow of the IET, a Chartered and WCSP 2009).
Engineer, a Senior Member of the IEEE, a Fellow of the
BCS and a registered European Engineer. Professor Asen Asenov
joined the Department of
He has set up two University spinouts, Horus Systems Electronics and Electrical
(in 1985) and latterly LME Design Automation (in Engineering at the University
2000), a spinout modelled on the Government vision of Glasgow in 1991, and
of “third leg” technology transfer. He spent a served as a Head of Depart-
sabbatical at LME working on cryptographic ment in 1999?2003. He has
synthesis, followed by a two year Royal Society ten years of industrial
Industrial Fellowship. He was the PI on the Design experience as a head of the
Vision network grant, along with Steve Furber and Process and Device Mod-
Roger Woods in 2006-7. elling Group in Institute of

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 43

Microelectronics, Sofia, developing one of the first
integrated process and device CMOS simulators
IMPEDANCE. As a leader of the Glasgow Device
Modelling Group (28 members, £6.5M active funding)
he directs the development of 2D and 3D quantum
mechanical, Monte Carlo and classical device simulators
and their application in the design of advanced and
novel CMOS devices. He has pioneered the simulations
of statistical variability in nano-CMOS devices including
random dopants, interface roughness and line edge
roughness and has over 480 publications and more than
140 invited talks in the above areas. Asenov is a fellow of
the Royal Academy of Scotland, a member of the IEEE
Electron Device Society Technology Computer-Aided
Design Committee and a co-author of ENIAC SRA. He is
General Chair for SNW2008 TPC co-chair of
ESSDERC2008 co-director of the SINANO/PULLNANO
Device Modelling Summer School, and a member of the
programme committees for IEDM, ESSDERC,IWCE,
SNW, HCIS and DATE.
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Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 1AD
T: +44 (0) 1707 259996 / 259998
E: solutions@lynbond2000.com
W: www.lynbond2000.com
44
Professor Stephen Hall (FIET, CEng, SMIEEE) has
interests spanning materials characterisation, device
physics and innovative device design and gate level
circuits. He has over 200 conference and journal
papers in the area of silicon technology, devices and
circuits. These include novel measurements and
contributions to the understanding of MOS related
interfaces and materials quality. He has successfully
designed and built novel MOS and bipolar devices in
silicon for over 20 years.
More recently, his work encompasses hi-k dielectrics,
novel devices and gate level circuits relating to micro-
power and biologically inspired concepts. He was
Technical Programme Chair of ESSDERC 2008, and
currently sits on the Steering Committee of
ESSDERC/ESSCIRC and INFOS, for which he was vice-
Chair in 2009 and is a member of the Steering
Committee from 2009. He was Head of Department
from 2001 to 2009.
A comprehensive
range of cleanroom
disposable/reuseable
and ESD products.
qualities. Coveralls, coats, bouffant caps,
masks, gloves (disposable and textile)....
National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011
 SWINDON SILICON SYSTEMS LTD

A New Approach to ASIC Design
How SWINDON Silicon Systems has developed a
partnership process for the best mutual outcome.
SWINDON Silicon Systems (SWINDON) is a market
leader in the design and supply of high performance
custom analogue and mixed signal ASIC solutions.
At SWINDON we are able to offer a partnership route
to all our customers that starts with an agreed fixed
development cost and unit price along with a project
plan that enables our customers to accurately budget
from project inception to the supply of production
ASICs. Our design philosophy is innovative, efficient
and pragmatic with a combined experience of over
350 design man years.

As the UK’s leading specialist supplier, SWINDON This technical know how, coupled with our market
offers unparalleled commercial and technical know leading quality and supply chain solutions; including a
how which enables our customers to be leaders within high volume in house test facility ensures highly
their chosen sphere. technical solutions delivered on time, every time.

Utilising SWINDON’s high quality, system enhancing

solutions ensures that the competition is beaten both Tel: 01793 649400
on price and performance. Email: sssl@sssl.co.uk

Your partner in ASICs

Headquarters & Design Centre

SWINDON Silicon Systems Limited
Radnor Street
Swindon
SN1 3PR
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)1793 649400
F: +44 (0)1793 616215
E: sssl@sssl.co.uk
A Tomkins Company

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 45

 APPLICOS

Applicos is designing and manufacturing advanced

Analog and Mixed-Signal products. We are active in the
Mixed Signal (test) market since 1993. Our products
and services are used by the semiconductor industry
as well as the equipment manufacturing industry. Also
we design special products for those who need an
above average performance.

The focus of Applicos is on high performance

hardware. Our Arbitrary Waveform Generators and
Digitizers are renowned for their excellent dynamic
performance combined with a very high DC accuracy.
We also have ultra precision voltage sourcing and
measuring products for DC applications.

We also have Power Conversion and High Voltage

products that can extend the possibilities when it
comes to measuring high energy electronics like
Hybrid vehicle control systems.

At Applicos we think in terms of design blocks more as

modules or platforms. This allows us to use our
knowledge base in a flexible way in order to create the
right solution for you.

Our off the shelf products include PXI modules and

ATX modules (a dedicated low noise rack system). This
allows you to choose the best resources for your test
challenge.

One of our strengths is Data Converter Testing. We

have dedicated instruments for this, avoiding all the
rack and stack instruments that are usually needed to
test a data converter in the lab. Our instruments can
also extend the capabilities of existing ATE systems.

Applicos has successfully integrated their designs into

many industrial test and automation set-ups. We are a
clear alternative to other hardware suppliers by
combining solid, specialized expertise in Analog and
Mixed-Signal technology with a small and flexible
organization structure.

If you feel you can benefit from better Analog or Mixed

Signal products or you need a custom solution, please
contact Applicos and we will explore together with you
what we can do for you.

Tel: +31 578 696769

Web: www.applicos.com

46 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

 when
PUBLITEK

Effective marketing communications adds brand

value, gives confidence to your customers and
helps you find new ones. The challenge for
marketing
marketers in the electronics industry is how to communications
make communications effective. Are trade budgets
publications dead? How do you get on the first shrink
Google page when someone searches for your you need
products? What’s the impact of social media in
business-to-business communications? How can we to create a more
measure ROI? Publitek delivers answers to all these
questions and more. And, because we work
exclusively in electronics, our answers are relevant
powerful
voice
to your marketing communications issues. Please
get in touch to find out more.

Tel: +44(0)1225 470000

Email: info@publitek.com T: +44 (0) 1225 470000 l E: info@publitek.com

RELTECH LTD

The Reltech Independent Test Laboratory (ITL) is

accredited to ISO17025:2005 and provides many
leading Fabless Semiconductor Companies with a
turn-key, fast, efficient and cost effective means of
performing reliability, qualification, and
environmental testing on their products.

Using our advanced systems we offer full a range of

JEDEC compliant tests including High Temperature
Operating Life (HTOL), Temperature Humidity Bias
(THB), HAST, and Temperature Cycling. We perform
the design and manufacture of bespoke hardware
required to perform these activities and provide
product qualification planning and life test strategy
development.

Tel: +44 (0)1453 541200

Email: sales@reltech.co.uk

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 47

 SIVENTURE

SiVenture - a micro-electronics success story

The SiVenture laboratory, located in Maidenhead,

Berkshire, contains all the necessary equipment to
support chip deprocessing, circuit edit and failure
analysis, including full chemical facilities, reactive
ion etching, focused ion beam and scanning
electron microscope. In addition there are probing
facilities to test the results of FIB edits.

Working for a variety of clients, SiVenture provides

a high quality, quick turn round, service designed
to help clients minimise down time, and maximise
yield and throughput.

SiVenture prides itself on its long experience with

circuit analysis and edit, and on its ability to be
available as and when necessary for its clients.

Tel: +44(0)1628 651366

Email: info@SiVenture.com

2010 has been a year of growth for Oclaro’s

UK Wafer Fabrication facility which is based
at Caswell, Northants.

The InP telecoms business has seen a

significant expansion which has required
additional shifts to be added and engineers
to be hired. Coupled with this we have
transferred the former laser diode fab of
Spectraphysics from Tucson, Arizona to the
Caswell site. We are now running an even
balance of InP and GaAs wafer volumes
servicing sectors as diverse as skincare,
printing and long haul telecom transmission.
The Science park occupancy has also grown
albeit it at a lower level than 2009 and is now
contributing positively to the running costs of
the site. Oclaro looks forward to the year
ahead with optimism as we strive to become
a $1bn company by 2012.

If you wish to find out more details please visit

www.caswellpark.co.uk

48 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

 NMI Board of Directors

Dr. David Burrows Dr. Derek Boyd

Chairman, NMI CEO, National
Vice President of Product Microelectronics Institute
Management & Execution,
Aptina Imaging

Stuart Langdon Professor Anthony Patrick McNamee

European Facilities O'Neill Vice President of
Director, International Operations,
Newcastle University
Rectifier Powervation Ltd

Dr. Hossein Ian Philips Ivor Evans Paul Meredith

Yassaie Principal Staff Engineer VP of Product Site & Operations
ARM Engineering, Manager
Chief Executive Officer,
CSR NXP
Imagination Technologies

Mark Glover
Head of SBRI
Technology Strategy
Board

David Wollen Vince Osgood Jan Reid

Associate Director, Manager, Enabling
Economic Impact, Technologies
EPSRC Scottish Enterprise

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 49

 NMI Design Advisory Board

The NMI Design Advisory Board (NDAB) oversees the development and implementation of strategy
specifically for the design community. It functions as a source of insight, knowledge, expertise and ideas
providing guidance and quality assurance for the initiatives of NMI.

Steve Neill, Vice President, Ian Phillips Dr. David Burrows

Bristol Design Centre; Principal Staff Engineer, ARM Chairman, Vice President of
Technical Director, Infineon Product Management &
Technologies (UK) Ltd Execution, Aptina Imaging

Geoff Barrett, Associate Gary Duncan Ian Macbeth Neil Amos, Senior Director
Technical Director, Broadcom VP Engineering, Co-founder and CEO, Technology, Fujitsu
Broadband Communications Dialog Semiconductor eoSemi Microelectronics Europe
Group

Pete Hughes Iqbal Sharif, Trident Digital Keith Kidd Dermot Barry
Vice President Silicon Systems (UK) Ltd Engineering Director, VP Consumer Silicon,
Engineering & Operations, Renesas Technology Europe S3
Icera

Graham Curren Dr. John McLean Roger Shepherd Peter Frith

CEO, Sondrel STFC-RAL ST Ericsson CTO, Wolfson
Microelectronics

50 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

 NMI Members’ Directory

AAF International Ltd Areva T&D Cambridge Consultants Dialog Semiconductor

Bassington Lane St Leonards Avenue Science Park Delta 200
Cramlington Stafford Milton Road Welton Road
Northumberland ST17 4LX Cambridge CB4 0DW Delta Business Park
NE23 8AF T: 01785 786202 T: 01223 420024 Swindon
T: 016707566188 W: www.areva-td.com W: www.CambridgeConsultants.com Wiltshire
W: www.aafintl.com SN5 7XB
ARM Cambridge Semiconductor T: 01793 757700
ABB 110 Fulbourn Road St Andrews House W: www.diasemi.com
Lb2 Bimos Facility Cambridge St Andrews Rd
Fabrikstrasse 3 CB1 9NJ Cambridge Diodes Zetex Semiconductors Ltd
CH-5600Lenzburg T: 1223 400400 CB4 1DL Zetex Technology Park
Switzerland W: www.arm.com T: 01223 446450 Stockfield Rd
T: 0041 58 586 14 45 W: www.camsemi.com Chadderton
W: www.abb.com Art of Silicon Ltd. Oldham
University Gate East Cascoda Ltd Lancashire
Adixen Prk Row Southampton Science Park OL9 9LL
8 Bain Square Bristol BS1 5UB 2 Venture Road T: 0161 622 4400
Kirkton Campus T: 0792 9288812 Chilworth W: www.diodes.com
Livingston W: www.artofsilicon.com Southampton
EH54 7DQ SO16 7NP DisplayLink UK Limited
T: 01506 418000 ASE Europe Inc T: 02380 762423 Mount Pleasant House
W: www.adixen.co.uk De Keyserlei 58 W: www.cascoda.com Mount Pleasant Cambridge
2018 Antwerpen CB3 0RN
Akya Holdings Belgium CEMMNT T: 01223 443920
Belmont T: 32 3 221 62 62 CEMMNT Hub Ltd W: www.displaylink.com
Oxen Lane W: www.aseglobal.com SEIC
Cliffe Sir Dennis Rooke Building Dockweiler
Selby ATEEDA Holywell Park Dutton Road Redwither Business Park
N. Yorks CBC House Loughborough Wrexham Industrial Estate
YO8 6NS 24 Canning Street Leicestershire Wrexham
T: 0113 8151149 Edinburgh LE11 3TU Clwyd
W: www.akya.co.uk EH3 8EG T: 01509 635279 LL13 9UL
T: 0131 272 2754 W: www.cemmnt.co.uk T: 01978 660330
Alder Software W: www.ateeda.com W: www.dockweiler.com/?lang_id=1
Floor 2 Clearspeed
Balleza House Atmel 130 Aztec West Doulos
Birdhill Maxwell Building Park Avenue, Church Hatch
County Tipperary Scottish Enterprise Bristol BS32 4UB 22 Market Place
Ireland Technology Park T: 01454 629623 Ringwood
T: 0353 87 6456222 East Kilbride W: www.clearspeed.com Hampshire
W: www.aldersoftware.com G75 0QR BH24 1AW
T: 01355 803000 Cognidox T: 01425 471223
Almond Engineering W: www.atmel.com St John’s Innovation Centre W: www.doulos.com
3a Fleming Road Cowley Road
Livingston Austriamicrosystems UK Cambridge CB4 0WS DSP Valley
West Lothian 1 West Park Road T: 01223 91 1080 Gaston Geenslaan 9
EH54 7BN Bramhall W: www.cognidox.com B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
T: 01506 410880 Stockport T: 0032 16 24 14 40
W: www.almond.co.uk SK7 3JX Compugraphics International Ltd W: www.dspvalley.com
T: 0161 439 2215 Eastfield Industrial Estate
Analog Devices W: www.austriamicrosystems.com Glenrothes Dukosi Ltd
Raheen Industrial Estate Fife KY7 4NT Bush House
Limerick BAE Systems T: 01592 772557 Edinburgh Technopole
Ireland Stirling Square W: www.cgi.co.uk Edinburgh
T: 0353-61-302263 Carlton Gardens EH26 0BB
W: www.analog.com London SW1Y 5AD CSR T: 0131 445 8637
T: 01252 37 3232 Churchill House W: www.dukosi.com
AnCuig W: www.baesystems.com Cambridge Business Park
James Watt Building Milton Road Dynex Semiconductor Limited
Scottish Enterprise Technology Park Bourns Cambridge Doddington Road
East Kilbride Manton Lane CB4 0WH Lincoln
G75 0QD Bedford T: 01223 692000 LN6 3LF
T: 01355 581 020 MK41 7BJ W: www.csr.com T: 01522 500 500
W: www.ancuig.com T: 01234 223 001 W: www.dynexsemi.com
W: www.bourns.com Cyan Technology
Applicos Buckingway Business Park E2V Technologies
Veldkampseweg 1 Broadcom UK Ltd Swavsey 106 Waterhouse Lane
8181LN Heerde 320 Bristol Business Park Cambridge Chelmsford
The Netherlands Coldharbour Lane CB24 4UQ Essex
T: 0031 578 696769 BristolBS16 1EJ T: 01954 234400 CM1 2QU
W: www.applicos.com T: 0117 906 2700 W: www.cyantechnology.com T: 01245 493493
W: www.broadcom.com W: www.e2v.com
Aptina Imaging Delta
Century Court Busch Semicon Tredomen Business and Tech Centre Ebara Precision Machinery Europe
Millenium Way 22 Langlands Place, Tredomen Business Park 2/4 Adam Square
Bracknell Kelvin South Business Park, Ystrad Mynach Brucefield Industrial Estate
Berkshire East Kilbride, Hengoed Livingston
RG12 2XJ Glasgow, Mid Glamorgan EH54 9DE
T: 01344 750750 Lanarkshire CF82 7FN T: 01506 460232
W: www.aptina.com G75 0YF T: 01443 8663 23 W: www.ebara-europe.com
T: 01355 570201 W: www.madebydelta.com
AR-2 Ltd W: www.busch.co.uk EDA Solutions Limited
5 Queen Dft Solutions Limited Unit A5
Dunoon Cadence Design Systems 34 Woodhall Way Segensworth Business Centre
Argyll Bagshot Road Fareham Segensworth Road
PA23 8AP Bracknell Hampshire Fareham
T: 01475 778344 Berkshire RG12 0PH PO15 6BW PO15 5RQ
W: www.ar-2.com T: 01344 360333 T: 07515 288155 T: 01489 564253
W: www.cadence.com W: www.dft-solutions.co.uk W: www.eda-solutions.com

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 51

 NMI Members’ Directory

Edex Systems Ltd ExceptionPCB Glasgow Caledonian University Imagination Technologies

Unit 33, Parkhall Business Village Alexandra Way School of Engineering and Computing Imagination House
Parkhall Road Ashchurch Buchanan House Home Park Estate
Weston Coyney Tewkesbury Cowcaddens Road Kings Langley
T: 01782 597518 Gloucestershire Glasgow G4 0BA Herts WD4 8LZ
W: www.edexsystems.com GL20 8NB T: 0141 331 3000 T: 01923 260511
T: 01684 292448 W: www.gcal.ac.uk W: www.imgtec.com
EKC Technology W: www.exceptionpcb.com
19 Law Place Global Project Services Imbera Electronics
Nerston Industrial Estate Feabhas Suite S11 Ruukintie 2
East Kilbride 5 Lowesden Works Duart House FI-02330
Glasgow Lambourn Woodlands Finch Way Espoo, Finland
Lanarkshire Hungerford Strathclyde Business Park T: 01633 897886
G74 4QL Berkshire Bellshill ML4 3RP W: www.imberacorp.com
T: 013552 44652 RG17 7RY T: 01698 744460
W: www.ekctech.com T: 01488 730 50 W: www.gegroup.com Imperial College
W: www.feabhas.com Institute of Biomedical Engineering
Electronics Link Asia GLOphotonics Imperial College
Highfield Court, FEI UK Limited Bath Ventures South Kensington Campus
Tollgate Cambridge Business Park Wessex House 2.33 London SW7 2AZ
Chandlers Ford Cowley Road University of Bath T: 020 7589 5111
Eastleigh Cambridge Bath BA2 7AY W: www.imperial.ac.uk
Hampshire CB4 0HF T: 01225 388639
SO53 3TY T: 01223 468 555 W: www.bath.ac.uk/bathventures Infineon Technologies
T: 0207 900 2045 W: www.uk.feicompany.com glophotonics Infineon House
W: www.link-asia.com Great Western Court
FirstEDA Ltd Hach Ultra Analytics Hunts Ground Road
Elonics Limited Mercia House Pacific Way Stoke Gifford
Alba Centre South Bar Salford Bristol BS34 8HP
Livingston Banbury Manchester T: 0117 9528700
West Lothian Oxon M50 1DL W: www.infineon.com
EH54 7EG OX16 9AB T: 0161 872 1487
T: 01506 402360 T: 01295 201250 W: www.hach-lange.co.uk Ingenious Quality Limited
W: www.elonics.com W: www.firsteda.com 2 Cherry Close
HG Solutions & Software UK Hook
Eltek Semiconductors ltd First Silicon 10 Oak Fern Grove Hampshire
Nelson Road Industrial Estate Windleigh Glasgow RG27 9RL
Dartmouth Cruagh T: 0141 416 1615 T: 01256 767897
Devon TQ6 9LA Dublin 16 W: www.hgsls.com W: www.ingenious-quality.com
T: 01803 834455 T: 03531 254 4244
W: www.eltek-semi.com W: www.firstsilicon.com Highbury Ltd Innovision Research & Technology
1 Highbury Road, Innovision Research and Technology Plc
Embecosm Fluidic Limited Hitchin 33 Sheep Street
Palamos House #104 4/8 Lochend St Herts SG4 9RW Cirencester
66/67 High Street Motherwell T: 01462 436894 Gloucestershire
Lymington SO41 9AL ML1 1RX W: www.highburyltd.com GL7 1RQ
T: 01590610184 T: 01698 327372 T: 01285 888 200
W: www.embecosm.com W: www.fluidic-ltd.co.uk Highland Scientific W: www.innovision-group.com
Unit 20, Bedford Business Centre
Ember Europe Limited Fourteen Technology Limited Mile Road Institute for System Level
Unit 300, Cambridge Science Park 67A Christchurch Road Bedford MK42 9TW Integration
Milton Road East Sheen T: 01234 216636 Heriot-Watt University Research Park
Cambridge London W: www.highland-scientific.com Research Avenue North
CB4 0XL SW14 7AN Edinburgh
T: 01223 423322 T: 08707 669350 IBM Microelectronics EH14 4AP
W: www.ember.com W: Website Under Construction PO Box 41, North Harbour T: 0131 510 0670
Portsmouth W: www.sli-institute.ac.uk
Ensilica Limited Freescale Semiconductor Hampshire, PO6 3AU
The Barn House Colvilles Road T: 0239 256 1000 Intel Corporation UK Ltd
Waterloo Road Kelvin Industrial Estate W: www.ibm.com/uk/en Swindon
Wokingham East Kilbride Pipers Way
Berkshire G75 0TG IC Resources Swindon
RG40 3BY T: 01355 355000 Capital House Wiltshire SN3 1RJ
T: 0118 321 7310 W: www.freescale.com 67-69 St John’s Road T: 01793 403000
W: www.ensilica.com Isleworth, Middlesex W: www.intel.com
Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe T: 020 8400 2444
Enterprise Q Ltd Network House W: www.ic-resources.co.uk International Rectifier Newport
Fairhills Industrial Park Norreys Drive Limited
Tallow Way Maidenhead ICEMOS Technology The Observatory
Irlam, Manchester Berkshire 5 Hannahstown Hill Castlefield Road
T: 0161 777 4888 SL6 4FJ Belfast BT17 0LT Reigate
W: www.enterprise-q.co.uk T: 01628 50 46 00 Northern Ireland Surrey RH2 0SG
W: www.fujitsu.com/emea/ser- T: 44-28-90574700 T: 01737 227200
eoSemi vices/microelectronics W: www.icemostech.com/ice W: www.irf.com
Advanced Manufacturing Park
Technology Centre Garfield Microelectronics ICERA Inc Ion Beam Services
Brunel Way Selsley Road 2520 The Quadrant Unit 36B Inchmuir Road
Catcliffe North Woodchester Aztec West Whitehill Ind. Est, Bathgate
Rotherham Stroud Bristol BS32 4AQ West Lothian EH482EP
S60 5WG Gloucestershire T: 01454 284800 T: 01506 633 537
T: 01270 898 091 GL5 5NN W: www.icerasemi.com W: www.ion-beam-services.com
W: www.eosemi.com T: 01453 872922
W: www.gfmicro.com ICP Search IQE Europe
EPSRC 1st Floor Beech House
Polaris House Gemfire Europe Limited One Jubilee Street Cypress Drive
North Star Avenue Starlaw Park Brighton, Sussex St. Mellons
Swindon Starlaw Road BN1 1GE Cardiff
SN2 1ET Livingston T: 01273 872 260 Wales CF3 0LW
T: 01793 444000 EH54 8SF W: www.icpsearch.com T: 0292 083 9400
W: www.epsrc.ac.uk T: 01506 426000 W: www.iqep.com
W: www.gemfire.co.uk

52 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

 NMI Members’ Directory

Jaltek Design Services Maser Engineering Moortec Limited NXP Semiconductor

Unit 13 UK Branch Office Tamerton Road Millbrook Technology Campus
Dencora Way Redcroft Associates Roborough Southampton
Sundon Park Hambridge Lane Plymouth SO15 0DJ
Luton Lechlade Devon T: 02380 702701
Bedfordshire Glos GL7 3ED PL6 7BQ W: www.nxp.com
LU3 3HP T: 01367 252-265 T: 01752 693800
T: 01582 578170 W: www.maser.nl W: www.moortec.com Oclaro
W: www.jaltek.com Caswell
Matrics Limited Multi-Lab QuartzTec Limited Towcester
Keltech Consulting Bentley House 5 Langlands Place Northamptonshire
14 Kelvin Drive Selsley Road Kelvin South Business Park NN12 8EQ
Glasgow North Woodchester East Kilbride T: 01327 350 581
G20 8QG Stroud G75 0YF W: www.oclaro.com
T: 07979 851614 Gloucestershire T: 01355 244456
W: www.keltechconsulting.com GL5 5NN W: www.multi-lab.co.uk Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum UK Ltd
T: 01453 872922 Unit 2 Silverglade Business Park
Lancaster University W: www.gfmicro.com MVTS Technologies Leatherhead Road Chessington
Faculty of Applied Sciences Waterside KT9 2QL
Lancaster University Megatech Ltd Frog Lane T: 01372 737 300
Lancaster Littleton Drive Mapledurwell W: www.oerlikon.com/
LA1 4YR Huntington Basingstoke leyboldvacuum/uk
T: 01524 593018 Cannock RG25 2JR
W: www.lancs.ac.uk Staffordshire T: 01256 383450 OM Group Ultra Pure Chemicals
WS12 4TS W: www.mvts.com Amber Business Centre
Lauterbach T: 01543 500 044 Ridding, Alfreton,
Basepoint Enterprise Centre W: www.megatechlimited.co.uk NanoGaN Derbyshire DE55 4DA
Stroudley Road University of Bath T: 01773 844200
Basingstoke Mentor Graphics Department of Electronic and Electrical W: www.omgi.com
T: 01256 333690 Rivergate Engineering
W: www.lauterbach.com/frames.html Newbury Business Park Bath BA2 7AY Optocap Limited
Newbury T: 01225 383776 5 Bain Square
Lfoundry Berkshire W: www.bath.ac.uk Livingston
Lfoundry RG14 2QB EH54 7DQ
Jenaer Straße 1 T: 01635 811411 Nanoscope Services Ltd T: 01506 403 550
84034 Landshut W: www.mentor.com No.30 Station Road Workshops. W: www.optocap.com
T: +49 (871) 6840 Kingswood.
W: www.lfoundry.com Merit Merrell Technology BRISTOL Oxford Brookes University
3 Silverton Court BS15 4PJ Department of Computer
Logos logistics ltd Northumberland Business Park T: 0117 957 6225 Science and Electronics
Office 1 Cramlington W: www.nanoscopeservices.com Oxford Brookes University
Evans Business Centre Northumberland Wheatley Campus
53-58 South Avenue NE23 7RY Nanotech Semiconductor Oxford OX33 1HX
Blantyre Industrial Estate T: 0 191 250 4330 2 West Point Court T: 0 1865 741111
Blantyre W: www.meritpe.co.uk Great Park Road W: www.brookes.ac.uk
G72 0XB Bradley Stoke
T: 0845 838 7540 Metryx Bristol Oxford Digital
W: www.logoslogistics.co.uk Manor Park BS32 4PY 1 Farley Lane
Nailsea Wall Lane T: 01454 462200 The Ridings
Loughborough Surface Analysis Ltd Nailsea W: www.nanosemi.co.uk Stonesfield
Pegasus House Bristol Oxfordshire
Prince William Road BS48 4DD Natco Services Ltd OX29 8HB
Loughborough T: 0 127 585 9988 Unit B WGY Buildings T: 0845 450 5664
Leicestershire W: www.metryx.net Burnhouse Industrial Estate W: www.oxford-digital.com
LE11 5GU Whitburn
T: 0 1509 260779 Mfg Vision Limited West Lothian Panasonic PSDCE
W: www.lsaltd.co.uk Friarstown House EH47 0LQ 1 Friary
Crecora T: 01501 749336 Temple Quay
Lynbond 2000 Co. Limerick W: www.natco-services.co.uk Bristol
St. Davids House Ireland BS1 6EA
8 Blenhiem Ct T: 0353 61309745 National Semiconductor UK Ltd T: 0117 344 5155
Brownfields W: www.mfgvision.com Larkfield Industrial Estate W: psdce.panasonic.eu
Welwyn Garden City Greenock
T: 01707 259996 Microlease Finance Limited PA16 OEQ Parabilis Technology
W: http://www.lynbond2000.com Tudor Road T: 01475 633733 Unit 2
Harrow W: www.nsc.com Gregory Road
M & W UK Middlesex Kirkton Campus
Methuen South HA3 5SS Neosera Systems Livingston
Bath Road T: 020 8427 8822 NovaUCD EH54 8SF
Chippenham W: Not Available Belfield Innovation Park T: 014506 424025
Wiltshire University College Dublin W: www.parabilis.com
SN14 0GT Mirics Semiconductor Ltd Belfield
T: 01249 455150 Oakmere Dublin 4 Parallel Systems
W: www.mwgroup.net Barley Way Ireland Continental House
Ancells Business Park T: 0353-1-7162477 Oakridge
Magma Design Automation Ltd Fleet W: www.neosera.com West End
250 South Oak Way GU51 2UT Woking
Green Park T: 0 1252 612888 Nor-Cal UK Limited Surrey GU24 9PJ
Reading RG2 6UG W: www.mirics.com Units 5 and 6 Home Farm Ind Estate T: 01483 485 210
T: 01189131500 Minety W: www.parallel-systems.co.uk
W: www.magma-da.com MKS Instruments UK Ltd Malmesbury
2 Cowley Way SN16 9PL Pebblebay Consulting
Manches LLP Weston Road T: 01666 861221 168 Parade
9400 Garsington Road Crewe W: www.norcaluk.com Leamington Spa
Oxford Business Park Cheshire CV32 4AE
Oxford OX4 2HN CW1 6AE NTEK Consultants T: 01926 421 700
T: 01865 722106 T: 01270 253400 51 Blackcroft Road Mount Vernon W: www.pebblebay.com
W: www.manches.com W: www.mksinst.com/Intl/uk1.aspx Glasgow
practices/intellectualproperty G32 0QZ
T: 0141-778-3619
W: no website

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 53

 NMI Members’ Directory

Phasix ESD Pure Wafer Ltd Rood Technology Semi Scenic UK Ltd
Unit 14 Woodlea Park Millbrook Drive Dokter van Deenweg 58 Newton Building
Medstead Central Business Park 8025 BC Rankin Avenue
Alton Swansea Zwolle/ The Netherlands Scottish Enterprise Tech Park, East
Hampshire SA7 OAB T: 0031 38 421-5216 Kilbride
GU34 5AZ T: 01792 311200 W: www.roodmicrotec.com G75 0QF
T: 01420 565634 W: www.purewafer.com T: 01355 222166
W: www.phasix.co.uk Saul Research W: www.semiscenic.net
QinetiQ 51 Windsor Close
Philips Lighting Cody Technology Park Towcester Semitool
Wellhall Road Ively Road Northamptonshire 509 Coldhams La
Hamilton Farnborough NN12 6JB Cambridge
South Lanarkshire Hampshire T: 01327 353720 Cambridgeshire
ML3 9BZ GU14 0LX W: www.saulresearch.co.uk CB1 3JS
T: 01698 282111 T: 08700 100 942 T: 01223 505000
W: www.lighting.philips.co.uk W: www.qinetiq.com Savantech Limited W: www.semitool.com
Alba Innovation Centre
Photronics Inc Raytheon Systems Ltd The Alba Campus Serma Technologies
One Technology Drive Queensway Industrial Estate Livingston 121 High Street
Bridgend Glenrothes West Lothian Marlborough
South Wales Fife KY7 5PY EH54 7GA Wiltshire
CF31 3LU T: 01592 754311 T: 01506 592 273 SN8 1LZ
T: 01656-662-171 W: www.raytheon.co.uk W: www.savantech.co.uk T: 01672 518152
W: www.photronics.com W: www.serma-technologies.com/gb
Reliability Consultancy Limited Scot Lift Systems Ltd
PicoChip 9 Alder Close 16 Hamilton Drive West Shane Consultants
Riverside Buildings Romsey Duddingston Unit 2, Millars Brook
108 Walcot Street Hants SO51 5SJ Edinburgh EH15 1NR Molly Millars Lane
Bath T: 01794 311105 T: 0845 388 3476 Wokingham
BA1 5BG W: www.rcl-reliability.com W: www.scotliftsystems.co.uk Berkshire
T: 01225 469 744 RG41 2AD
W: www.picochip.com Reltech Limited Scotech Ltd T: 0118 977 5397
Cam Mills Nethermill Properties W: www.sclcad.com
Pi-Tech Systems Ltd Lower Cam Langbank
5A The Hamlet Dursley Renfrewshire Shin-Etsu Handotai Europe Ltd
Chettisham, Ely Gloucestershire PA14 6YG Wilson Road,
Cambs GL11 5PW T: 01475 540689 Toll Roundabout
CB6 1SB T: 01453 548 881 W: www.scotech.ltd.uk Eliburn, Livingston,
T: 07590 893639 W: www.reltech.co.uk West Lothian
W: www.pitechconsultancy.com Scottish Enterprise EH54 7DA
Renesas Electronics Europe Ltd Atrium Court T: 01506 415555
Plasma Therm Europe Ltd Dukes Meadow 50 Waterloo Street W: www.sehe.com
Unit 3 Millboard Road Glasgow
Damastown Green Bourne End G2 6HQ Silansys Semiconductor
Damastown Industrial Estate Buckinghamshire T: 0141 204 1111 Adelaide Chambers
Dublin 15 SL8 5FH W: www.scottish-enterprise.com Peter Street
T: 0353 872 698039 T: 01628 585 100 Dublin 8
W: www.plasmatherm.com W: eu.renesas.com Scottish Microelectronics Centre Ireland
The King’s Buildings T: 01483 0840
Plessey Semiconductor Retronix Semiconductor West Mains Road W: www.silansys.com
Tamerton Road North Caldeen Road Edinburgh
Roborough Coatbridge EH9 3JF Silicon & Software Systems
Plymouth Scotland T: 0131 650 7474 Whelan House
Devon United Kingdom W: www.scotmicrocentre.co.uk South County Business Park
PL6 7BQ ML5 4EF Leopardstown
T: 01752 693000 T: 01236 433345 Seagate Technology Ireland Dublin 18
W: www.plesseysemi.com W: www.retronix.com 1 Disc Drive T: 0353 1291 1000
Springtown Industrial Estate W: www.s3group.com
Point35 Microstructures Ltd RF Global Solutions LTD Derry BT48 0BF
Starlaw Park, 21 Langlands Place Northern Ireland Silicon Basis Ltd.
Starlaw Road, Kelvin South Business Park T: 028 7127 4000 University Gate East
Livingston, East Kilbride W: www.seagate.com Park Row
EH54 8SF G750YF Bristol BS1 5UB
T: 01506 409160 T: 01355 236392 Selex Galileo T: 07976 922720
W: www.pt35.com W: www.rfglobalsolutions.co.uk Sigma House W: www.siliconbasis.com
Christopher Martin Road
Powervation Ltd RF Micro Devices RFMD Basildon Silicon South West
Block 1, International Science Centre formerly Filtronics Essex SS14 3EL Carpenter House Innovation Centre
National Technology Park Heighington Lane Business Park T: 0 1268 522822 1st Floor, Broad Quay
Castletroy Newton Aycliffe W: www.selexgalileo.com Bath BA1 1UD
Limerick Durham DL5 6JW T: 0 1225 388682
Ireland T: 01325 301111 Sel-Tek Ltd W: www.siliconsouthwest.co.uk
T: 0353 61 506608 W: www.rfmd.com P.O. Box 19046,
W: www.powervation.com Motherwell Simple Technical Solutions ltd
RF Support Ltd ML1 9AJ Unit6 Block 6
Presto Engineering Europe 55 Carron Place Lanarkshire Myregormie Place
SA Kelvin Industrial Estate T: 01698 262569 Kirkcaldy
155-157 Cours Berriat East Kilbride W: www.sel-tek.co.uk KY1 3NA
38028 Grenoble, Cedex1 Glasgow G75 0YL T: 01592 593300
France T: 01355 227 228 Semefab W: www.sts.gb.net
T: +33 – 4-7670-9339 W: www.rfsupport.com Newark Road South,
W: www.presto-eng.com Eastfield Industrial Estate, SiVenture
Rochester Electronics Glenrothes Unit 6 Cardwallis Park
Publitek Phoenix House KY7 4NS Clivemont Road
18 Brock St 2 Phoenix Park T: 01592 630630 Maidenhead
Bath Eaton Socon, St. Neots W: www.semefab.co.uk Berkshire
BA1 2LW Cambridgeshire SL6 7BU
T: 01225 470000 PE19 8EP T: 01628 651366
W: www.publitek.com T: 01480 408400 W: www.siventure.com/
W: www.rocelec.com en/siv_labservices.html

54 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

 NMI Members’ Directory

Smartest GmbH Teradyne University of Bolton Wolfson Microelectronics

Alte Landstrasse 23-25 The Western Centre Deane Road 26 Westfield Road
Ottobrunn Western Road Bolton Edinburgh
D-85521 Bracknell BL3 5AB EH11 2QB
Germany Berkshire T: 01204 900 600 T: 0131 272 7000
T: 049 089-45 15 05 15 RG12 1RW W: www.bolton.ac.uk W: www.wolfsonmicro.com
W: www.smartest.de T: 01344 426899
W: www.teradyne.com University of Bristol Wordentec Ltd
Sondrel Ltd Department of Computer Science Lake Ind Est
18 Theale Lakes Business Park Test and Verification Solutions Merchant Ventures Building Shebbear
Moulden Way SET Squared Business Park Woodland Road Devon EX21 5SP
Sulhamstead Acceleration Centre Bristol T: 01409 281 853
Berkshire University Gate BS8 1UB W: www.wordentec.com
RG7 4GB East Park Row T: 0117 95 45264
T: 0118 983 8550 Bristol W: www.brist.ac.uk Xintronix
W: www.sondrel.com BS1 5UB University Gate East
T: 0117 9031100 University of Glasgow Park Row
SPP Process Technology Systems W: www.tandvsolns.co.uk Dept Electronics and Electrical Bristol
UK Limited Engineering BS1 5UB
Ringland Way Tetreon Technologies Ltd Glasgow T: 0117 349 2897
Newport Thermco Division G12 8LT W: www.xintronix.co.uk
NP18 2TA Units 2a & 2b T: 0141 330 5218
T: 0633 414 000 Spring Gardens W: www.gla.ac.uk XMOS Semiconductor
W: www.spp-pts.com London Road Venturers House
Washington University of Newcastle King Street
SPS Limited West Sussex Merz Court Bristol
Aghmhor Annex RH20 3BS Newcastle BS1 4PB
Whitmuir T: 01903 891700 Newcastle upon Tyne T: 0117 927 6004
Selkirk W: www.tetreon.com NE1 7RU W: www.xmos.com
TD7 4PZ T: 0191222 6000
T: 01750 725712 Tokyo Electron Europe Ltd W: www.ncl.ac.uk
W: www.sps-europe.com Pioneer
Crawley Business Quarter University of Nottingham
Stepper Technology Ltd Fleming Way Faculty of Engineering
Unit 1 Block1 Earnhill Road Crawley University Park
Larkfield Ind Est West Sussex Nottingham
Greenock RH10 9QL NG7 2RD
Inverclyde T: 01293 655800 T: 0115 951 5600
PA16 0EQ W: www.tel.com W: www.nottingham.ac.uk/eee
T: 01475 635410
W: www.steppertechnology.com Toumaz Technology Ltd University of Southampton
Building 3 Department of Electronics & Computer
STFC Rutherford Appleton 115 Milton Park Science
Laboratory Abingdon University of Southampton
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Oxfordshire Highfield
Harwell Science and Innovation OX14 4RZ Southampton
Campus T: 01235 438950 SO17 1BJ
Didcot W: www.toumaz.com T: 023 8059 6000
Oxfordshire W: www.ecs.soton.ac.uk
OX11 0QX TTE Systems
T: 01235 445 000 106 New Walk University of the West of England,
W: www.scitech.ac.uk Leicester Bristol UWE
LE1 7EA Frenchay Campus
STMicroelectronics R&D Limited T: 0116 223 1684 Coldharbour Lane
1000 Aztec West W: www.tte-systems.com Bristol
Almondsbury BS16 1QY
BRISTOL Tyndall National Institute T: 0117 965 6261
BS32 4SQ University College W: www.uwe.ac.uk
T: 01454 616 616 Lee Maltings
W: www.st.com Prospect Row University of Warwick
Cork School of Engineering
Swansea University Ireland Coventry
School of Engineering T: 021 4904177 CV4 7AL
Power Electronics Design Centre W: www.tyndall.ie T: 024 7652 3523
Swansea W: www.warwick.ac.uk
SA2 8PP U4 Global Solutions Limited
T: 01792 205678 Enterprise House Vance Precision Technologies Ltd
W: www.swansea.ac.uk Ocean Village Jamestown Business Park,
Southampton Levenbank Street,
Swindon Silicon Systems Limited SO14 3XB Jamestown,
Radnor Street T: 02380 760909 Alexandria,
Swindon W: www.u4global.com G83 8BZ
Wiltshire T: 01389 755010
SN1 3PR Unisem W: www.vance-technologies.com
T: 01793 649400 Parkway
W: www.sssl.co.uk Pen-y-Fan Industrial Estate Varian Limited
Croespenmaen 28 Manor Road
Synopsys Northern Europe Limited Crumlin Walton on Thames
100 Brook Drive Gwent Surrey
Green Park South Wales KT12 2QF
Reading NP11 3XT T: 01932 898000
Berkshire T: 01495 244 111 W: www.varianinc.com
RG2 6UJ W: www.unisemgroup.com
T: 0118 931 3822 Virtual Enterprise Solutions Ltd
W: www.synopsys.com University of Bath St Johns Innovation Centre
Faculty of Engineering and Design Cowley Road
Claverton Down Cambridge
BA2 7AY CB4 0WS
T: 01225 386526 T: 01223 696969
W: www.bath.ac.uk W: www.ves-consulting.com

National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011 55

 Index of Advertisers

Applicos 46 Oclaro 48
ASE (US) Inc 8
austriamicrosystems AG 41 Publitek Ltd 47

Compugraphics International Ltd 27 Reltech Ltd 47

Eltek SemiConductor Ltd Outside Back Cover Science & Technology

Inside Front Cover
Facilities Council
Highland Scientific 31
SELEX Galileo 2
SiVenture 48
Imagination Technologies 7
Smartest GmbH 56
Infineon Technologies Inside Back Cover
Swindon Silicon Systems 45
Lynbond 2000 Ltd 44
TTsilicon Ltd 2
Maser Engineering BV 31
Moortec Semiconductor 30 Unisem 17

56 National Microelectronics Institute Yearbook 2010-2011

Highly Integrated and Performance Optimized
The Infineon TriCoreTM-based AUDO Family

THE INFINEON TriCore TM-BASED AUDO FAMILY is the first unified, single-core, 32-bit microcontroller
architecture optimized for embedded real-time applications. Compatibility, scalability, and
maximum reuse within the family result in a broad portfolio of TriCoreTM-based products and features,
addressing advanced performance in automotive powertrain and safety applications.

Program Memory i/f Floation Point Unit Data Memory i/f Designed to handle higher algorithm
32kB RAM TriCoreTM 124kB RAM
16kB CACHE TC1.3.1
180MHz
4kB CACHE complexity, AUDO family is the
1.5V/3.3V/(5V)
perfect solution for advanced engine
EBU BCU
Ext. Supply
management with its focus on lower
Program Memory OCDS L1 Debug
4MB Program Flash
Bridge
DMA
16 Channels
Interface emission and higher efficiency.
16kB EEPROM
MLI0
8kB Overlay RAM
16kB Boot ROM
For example, the AUDO NG series
MLI1

ASC0
16kB Program RAM Interrupts
MemCheck
microcontrollers reduce fuel consump-
tion by around 15 percent over previous
Bus Interface

ASC1
Interrupts

PCP2 STM 5V/3.3V

FlexRay0
Core
90/180MHz
Ext. ADC Supply
models.
SCU
Analog Input Assignment
(hardwired/configurable)

(2 Channels) ADC0

32kB Code Memory ADC1

Ports
GPTA0
In addition to engine management, the
PLL fEPAY ADC2
GPTA1 SBCU
PLL fCPU SSC0 AUDO family is used in transmission
LTCA2 FADC
SSC1 applications, hybrid, active and passive
3.3V

Ext. MultiCAN
Ext. FADC Supply
safety, as well as driver assistant
Request (4 nodes, MSC0 MSC1
Unit 128 MO)
AUDO Family System Architecture systems.

[ www.infineon.com/tricore ]