Leuven, June 1999….Prof. Gilbert Declerck, the newly-appointed President of IMEC, has announced details of courses to be offered by its recently launched, dedicated training centre for advanced microelectronics.

These courses are currently being developed in collaboration with Dr. Richard Tauber (president of Microelectronics Education Associates)  Dr. Tauber has over 35 years of experience in semiconductor devices and processes and is the co-author of the acclaimed textbook “Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era, Vol 1 - Process technology”.

The first course in a new  “Recent Advances in Device Technology” series will be presented on  September 12 at IMEC’s headquarters in Leuven, Belgium, in conjunction with the ESSDERC 99 conference. The course, which focuses on the CMOS gate and SOI technologies for deep submicron devices, will be taught by world class experts: Dr. Marc Heyns and Dr. Guido Groeseneken of IMEC, Dr. Gerry Lucovsky of NCSU and Dr. Jean-Luc Pelloie of LETI.

A second course offers a four-day programme on “ULSI Processing Techniques”, to be presented in April, 2000.   This course is intended to provide the practical information and hands-on training that participants can apply in their own work environments.

IMEC’s new training centre, which now forms an integral part of its operation, focuses on microelectronics and related areas, including IC design, process technology and packaging.  Courses are being designed to meet the requirements of operators, technicians and engineers (process engineers, IC and system designers).  In addition introductory courses in chip technology are planned for engineers and other professionals operating in related fields.  The courses are available to companies, institutions and universities based in Flanders, in Europe and abroad.

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Notes to editors

ABOUT IMEC

IMEC was founded in 1984 and is today Europe’s leading independent research centre for the development and licensing of state-of-the-art microelectronic technologies.  IMEC is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium and employs about 850 people, of whom 75 % are highly qualified scientists and engineers. Its $88 million revenue is derived from agreements and contracts with government agencies, aerospace and semiconductor industry companies world-wide.

IMEC’s activities  concentrate on: design of integrated information and communication systems (System on Chip, MPEG-4, Broadband wireless modems); silicon process technology (lithography, Cu & low k back end, salicides, clean, dry etch, pilot line); silicon technology and device integration (deep submicron CMOS, BICMOS, NVM, reliability, analysis); microsystems, components and packaging (packaging, optoelectronic components, imagers, smart sensors and integrated microsystems, solar cells); training centre for advanced training in microelectronics (including IC design, process technology and packaging).

For further information please contact:

Marianne Van den Broeck

Head of Public Relations

IMEC, Kapeldreef 75

B- 3001 Leuven, Belgium

http://www.imec.be

Tel +32 16 28 14 91

Fax +32 16 28 16 37

Email: Marianne.vandenbroeck@imec.be