The “Pilot Line for Micro-Transfer-Printing of Functional Components on Wafer Level” project (MICROPRINCE) is focused on creation of a pilot line for heterogeneous integration of smart systems by micro-transfer-printing (µTP) in a semiconductor foundry manufacturing environment. Functional components like processed III/V devices, optical filters, and special sensors will be transfer printed to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology and pilot line. Based on several EU and national research activities demonstrating successfully the feasibility of µTP technology in a scientific and laboratory environment, the MICROPRINCE consortium has the goal to setup the first worldwide open access foundry pilot line for heterogeneous integration by µTP and to demonstrate its capability on five defined target application scenarios. For this purpose, the consortium consisting of 13 partners from four different countries combine their expertise along the value chain from materials and equipment, technology and semiconductor processing, integrated circuit and system design, test and application. The partners are industrial companies incl. SME’s, accompanied by leading research institutes with a clear focus on production and application in Europe. The working principle of the micro-transfer-printing technology is to use a micro-structured elastomer stamp to transfer microscale functional components from their native substrates onto non-native substrates. The lateral dimensions of the functional components can range from a few microns to a few hundreds of microns with thicknesses of only a few microns. The native substrate contains the functional components to be printed and is flexible in size and material. The MICROPRINCE pilot line is acting as a regional and nationwide competence cluster for a novel technology with European dimensions for heterogeneous system integration and supports the ECS industry to reach leadership in key applications.

Sophisticated electronic technologies are increasingly used in mission- and safety-critical systems where electromagnetic interference (EMI) can result in substantial risks to people and the environment. Currently, EMI engineering follows a rule-based approach, which is unable to cope with complex modern situations. With this rules-based approach, during the design stage, guidelines are prescribed, which result in the application of a set of mitigation techniques, which are verified in the finished product against standards. This rule-based approach is costly, but with no guarantee of the required performance. This is particularly so for sensitive medical applications or the full-autonomous systems that are becoming ever-more common in our society. What we need is a risk-based approach, which is what PETER, the Pan-European Training, Research & Education Network on Electromagnetic Risk Management, will provide. PETER will train 15 young engineers in topics related to the development of high-tech systems that maintain reliability and safety over their full life-cycle, despite complex EMI, such as in hospitals or transport systems. This will be achieved using best practices and state-of-the-art EM engineering, reliability engineering, functional safety, risk management and system engineering, to create the risk-based EMC approach. The multidisciplinary, multinational doctoral training program will provide the researchers with experience and allow them to develop and in time lead their own area of research. PETER is closely aligned with the high-priority areas of the EU, addressing many Horizon 2020 thematics, e.g., Industrial Leadership (Advanced manufacturing and processing), Societal Challenges (Smart, green and integrated transport; Secure, clean and efficient energy) and Excellent Science. But the most important output of PETER will be 15 highly qualified people who have been trained to tackle many of the problems now being faced by European industry.