The continuous growth in integrated circuit (IC) and electronic design activities in Singapore has resulted in very good student enrolments in our final year electronics option as well as the IC Design Specialist Manpower Programme (SMP) and NTU-TUM MSc Course in IC Design. Besides playing a leading role in IC design manpower training for the nation’s expanding electronics and IC design industries, the division has also done extremely well in research.
On 12th January, the division signed an agreement with Advanced RFIC (aRfic) Pte Ltd to set up the $9 million new research laboratory, Advanced RFIC@NTU. The collaboration aims to advance research and development in RFIC technology. The new research laboratory contains state-of-the-art equipment, including a world-class 300 mm probe system that makes modelling, measurement and characterization of nano-RF devices as well as integrated circuits and systems possible. 30 postgraduate scholarships have also been set aside to expand the research activities in RFIC design.
On 4th September, NTU has established the Institute for Sustainable Nanoelectronics (ISNE), a new initiative led by the division. The ISNE aims at designing and developing the next generation of embedded IC chips which consume significantly less energy with low production costs. The ISNE has received a seed funding of $4 million to kick off its research activities. The ISNE strategy will be led by Professor Krishna Palem of Rice University, who is also the Canon Visiting Professor of NTU. To officially launch the ISNE, an inaugural workshop was planned on 29th October with many international renowned nano-electronics researchers shared their latest research with NTU researchers. NTU aims to build the ISNE into an international centre of excellence in five years. Our colleagues have participated actively in 6 projects to be funded by the ISNE.
On 7th September, another new research laboratory led by the division, the $10 million Electromagnetic Effects Research Laboratory (EMERL) set up jointly with DSO National Laboratories, was officially opened by the Defence Minister, Mr Teo Chee Hean. The Semi-Anechoic Chamber and the Reverberation Chamber in the EMERL allow advanced Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) measurement for any electronic system up to 40 GHz. With the worldwide trends of imposing EMC regulations on practically all electronic devices, the setting up of EMERL is timely for the division to play a key role to spearhead advanced EMC research, to ensure that electronic devices and systems are well designed with low electromagnetic emission, as well as high electromagnetic immunity.
Our colleagues have also done very well in securing research funding from both public and private sectors, such as Panasonic Semiconductor, Chartered Semiconductor, SINO-American Silicon Products, ST Microelectronics, A*STAR, DSTA and DSO National Laboratories. The total funding secured is close to $4 million, covering research areas in VLSI, RFIC, Reliability and EMC, which are in line with our division’s long-term research capability in System-on-Chip (SoC). A CRP research proposal from our colleagues has also been shortlisted by NRF despite keen competition at the international-level.
