LEUVEN, BELGIUM - The Europe-wide research initiative Intelligent Reliability 4.0 (iRel40) aims to improve the reliability of electronic systems and microelectronic components. Coordinated by Infineon Technologies AG, 75 science and industry partners from 13 countries are pooling their forces to achieve this goal.

Even higher reliability is the future of GaN, SiC and other electronic components and systems. MinDCet is doing its part to ensure reduced failure rates over the value chain with its fellow 74 well-established participants from across the EU.

The large scale collaboration of key players in the electronics industry is essential to improving hardware reliability, where the open information exchange is the basis for such a complex topic. As a partner of this project, we look forward to the improvements across the value chain that this consortium can unearth and bring.

“Enhancing electronics performance through miniaturization and integrating more and more functions is progressing steadily. Performance and complexity are increasing, as the costs per function go down,” says Dr. Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. “Powerful electronics form the basis for forward-looking technologies such as electro-mobility, autonomous driving, renewable energies and energy-efficient connected solutions. However, they will only be successful if users can depend on reliable functionality, quality and lifetime. Reliability is a key differentiating factor in international competition.”

In iREL40, MinDCet is responsible for developing a high-reliability IC design methodology in the IMEC monolithic GaN IC technology. Initially, monolithic GaN analog and digital building blocks will be developed, prototyped and physically validated for process variation, temperature variation and high-temperature accelerated ageing effects.

The outcome of this design of experiments is used to develop a state-of-the-art, next generation monolithic GaN laser driver IC for high-demanding short and long range LIDAR systems for the automotive market. Our project contribution solidifies MinDCet as one of the world pioneers in reliable GaN IC design for demanding applications.

More information on this exciting project can be found on the iRel40 webpage : https://www.irel40.eu/

For the project press release posted by Infineon: iRel40 Press Release 

The European Union is funding iRel40 within the scope of the ECSEL (Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership) program. This project is also co-funded by Flanders Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Innoviris (Brussels-Capital Region) in Belgium. The project will run for three years and is scheduled to end in April 2023.