The APPLAUSE project is coordinated by ICOS Vision Systems N.V. (Belgium), a division of KLA Corporation, and has partners from 11 countries, including 10 large enterprises, 11 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 10 research and technology organisations. “APPLAUSE will focus on advanced optics, photonics and electronics packaging for multimodal sensing systems. High volume manufacturing is supported by a strong contribution from process and process control equipment R&D,” says Pieter Vandewalle, General Manager of ICOS, during the project’s kickoff meeting in Leuven, Belgium on May 21. “The technologies will be piloted in six use cases, each having an industrial end user,” adds Vandewalle.

The six use cases include a substantially smaller 3D integrated ambient light sensor for mobile and wearable applications (ams AG, Austria); a high performance, low-cost, uncooled thermal IR sensor for automotive and surveillance applications (IDEAS, Norway); high speed datacom transceivers with reduced manufacturing costs (DustPhotonics, Israel); a flexible cardiac monitoring patch (Precordior, Finland); miniaturized cardiac implants with advanced monitoring capabilities (Cardiaccs, Norway); and an optical water measurement module with cost-effective packaging of components (Vaisala, FinIand).

As leader in Work Package 5 Fraunhofer IZM will be responsible for packaging and integration in the project. The institute will be involved in the following use cases:
• use case 2: bolometer wafer level hermetical packaging for infrared camera modules
• use case 3: passive aligned precise bonding of laser chips on silicon substrate for passive chip-to-fiber precise alignment for TOSA (Transmitter Optical Sub Assembly) and molding of photonic subsystems
• use case 4: thinned chips embedding in thin RDL layers (chips in Flex) for ultra thin cardiac monitoring sensor.

“This collaborative project builds the competitive edge of component and systems development in Europe. We develop new capabilities and demonstrate their match to the future needs of European industries. This accelerates the manufacturing uptake of the new technologies and shortens time-to-market” per Paula Pennanen, project manager at Spinverse.

The expected project impacts may include an increase in revenue for the project partners, exceeding 300 million euros, by 2025. The new technologies developed in the project have the potential for increased market share with additional access to new market segments for the industrial partners. The strategic, high level objectives of APPLAUSE include (1) developing new tools, methods, and processes for automated mass manufacturing and advanced packaging for the semiconductor, optics and photonics industries, (2) bringing advanced packaging and high volume manufacturing concepts to optics and photonics via six industrial use cases, and (3) increasing the competitiveness and global market share of European semiconductor industry, especially the manufacturing equipment, packaging and assembly industries.

More information:

Moritz Stoerring, ICOS (a division of KLA Corp), APPLAUSE coordinator, info@applause-ecsel.eu

Paula Pennanen, Spinverse, APPLAUSE coordination support paula.pennanen@spinverse.com

Visit the website at www.applause-ecsel.eu

ICOS Vision Systems N.V. (a division of KLA Corporation), Afore Oy, ams AG, Almae Technologies, Besi Austria GmbH, Besi Netherlands BV, DISCO HI-TEC EUROPE GmbH, EV Group E.THALLNER GmbH, JSR Micro NV, Pac Tech - Packaging Technologies GmbH, SEMILAB FELVEZETO FIZIKAI LABORATORIUM RESZVENYTARSASAG, VAISALA Oyj, Würth Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG, Albis Optoelectronics AG, ADVANCED PACKAGING CENTER BV, Cardiaccs AS, DustPhotonics LTD, Oy Everon Ab, Integrated Detector Electronics AS (IDEAS), Nuromedia GmbH, OSYPKA AG, Precordior OY, RoodMicrotec GmbH, Aalto University, CSEM SA, Institute of Electronics and Computer Science (EDI), Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (ENAS), Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems (IMS), Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM), INTERUNIVERSITAIR MICRO-ELECTRONICA CENTRUM (IMEC), STICHING IMEC the Netherlands, University of Turku, University of South-Eastern Norway (USN).

APPLAUSE has received funding from the ECSEL JU under grant agreement No 826588. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme as well as Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Austria, France, Hungary, Latvia, Norway, Switzerland and Israel.

The “Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership” (ECSEL) is a Joint Undertaking established in June 2014 by the European Union Council Regulation No 561/2014. The ECSEL Joint Undertaking - the Public-Private Partnership for Electronic Components and Systems – funds Research, Development and Innovation projects for world-class expertise in these key enabling technologies, essential for Europe's competitive leadership in the era of the digital economy. Through the ECSEL JU, the European industry, SMEs and Research and Technology Organisations are supported and co-financed by 30 ECSEL Participating States and the European Union. A total of approximately 346M€ European and national grants have been awarded to proposals with total eligible costs of about 748M€ arising from the ECSEL JU, making another step forward in the 5B€ programme to be supported by ECSEL JU.

Read more about the ECSEL JU programme.