Brooks Instrument, a world leader in advanced flow measurement and control, recently celebrated a grand opening for its new manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, where it produces mass flow controllers (MFCs) used in semiconductor and other critical gas flow control applications.

The 57,000-square-foot plant, which began shipping MFCs in January 2024, is Brooks Instrument’s fourth global production area. The other locations are in the U.S., Hungary, and Korea.

Brooks Instrument is owned by Illinois Tool Works (ITW), one of the world’s leading diversified manufacturers of specialized industrial equipment. ITW has a 42-year history of investment in Penang, with ITW Meritex providing packaging solutions for chips that support semiconductor back-end customers.

The Brooks Instrument grand opening took place at the end of August and included Dato’ Seri SH Wong, President of the Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association (MSIA) and Dato’ Loo Lee Lian, CEO of InvestPenang, along with several other government officials, industry dignitaries, and customers.

Patty Hartzell, Executive Vice President, Test & Measurement and Electronics at ITW, gave the keynote address and paid tribute to the efforts of the team who made the new facility operational in record time.

“I am proud to say it took less than a year from the time we approved the capital expenditure to the day when the first mass flow controllers were produced in the factory,” said Hartzell.

She also recognized the support Brooks Instrument received from several government and industry groups, including InvestPenang, Majlis Bandaraya Seberang Perai (MBSP), the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and MSIA.

The new Penang site includes Brooks Instrument’s largest Class 100 clean room manufacturing area and will allow the company to double its worldwide MFC production capacity. The high-volume facility is mainly producing GF100 series mass flow controllers, which are often viewed as the semiconductor industry standard for reliable and repeatable delivery of process gasses.

The factory also serves as an additional location for manufacturing and parts inventory, complementing the company’s other production facilities while reducing the risk of a supply chain disruption.

About Brooks Instrument
Since 1946, Brooks Instrument has been a leader in precision fluid measurement and control technology. Providing instrumentation for flow, pressure and vapor delivery, the company serves customers in semiconductor and high-tech manufacturing, laboratories and other processes and industries. With manufacturing, sales and service locations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, Brooks Instrument has the world’s largest installed base of mass flow controllers.

For more information, please visit www.BrooksInstrument.com. The company is also on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/company/Brooks-Instrument) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/Brooks407).

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Chip Integration Technology Center (CITC) today announced the appointment of Toni Versluijs as the new chairman of its Supervisory Board. Versluijs will serve as the incoming chairman from September through December. Effective January 1, 2025, he will take over the responsibilities from chairman Roel Fonville who is retiring.

Versluijs has an extensive background of more than 25 years in the semiconductor industry, of which more than 15 years in general and executive management roles. Prior to this appointment, he worked for NXP, where he led the In-Vehicle Networking product line and was NXP Nijmegen site director and statutory director of NXP Netherlands. Most recently, he led the Business Group MOS at Nexperia, served as statutory director for Nexperia in the UK and was part of the company’s global executive leadership team.

He explains his choice for CITC: “I look forward to using my many years of experience in the semiconductor industry to contribute to the success of CITC in Nijmegen. Nijmegen is a location with a long heritage in semiconductor packages that have changed the world. CITC is a unique venture and has a unique position between private parties, the academic world and knowledge institutes.”

CITC is a smaller and different kind of organization than his previous employers, but Versluijs sees the potential: “CITC has attracted quite some talent in recent years, built partnerships and initiated new developments. In short: it has laid the foundation for growth, and it will flourish in the coming years. I am convinced that it has the potential to change the world of semiconductor packaging again.”

The current chairman of the CITC Supervisory Board, Roel Fonville, adds: “The Supervisory Board is very pleased to welcome Toni Versluijs to our midst. His personality and broad experience in the industry and in the Nijmegen region will help the Board to fulfill its role in securing the continued development of the organization.”

About CITC
Chip Integration Technology Center (CITC) is a non-profit, joint innovation center specializing in heterogeneous integration and advanced chip packaging technology. CITC has created an effective ecosystem in which companies, research and educational institutes work on bridging the gap between academics and industry. CITC's contribution to the ecosystem is to provide access to innovation, infrastructure, and education. CITC was founded in 2019 with strategic partners TNO and Delft University of Technology and is supported by local and regional governments.
www.citc.org

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Certified B CorporationTM recertification and 2024 Impact Report accredit commitment to positive impact.

Rolla, MO – July 30, 2024 – Brewer Science, Inc., a global leader in semiconductor innovation, is thrilled to announce its recertification as a Certified B Corporation™. This achievement underscores Brewer Science's steadfast commitment to sustainable business practices and ethical operations.

Certified B Corporations meet high standards of verified social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Brewer Science's recertification reaffirms its dedication to People Using Business as a Force for Good®, aligning with a global movement of companies seeking to balance profit with purpose. Brewer Science received its initial B Corp Certification in 2021. Certified B Corporations are required to renew their certification every three years, by completing a meticulous assessment process conducted by B Lab™, the certifying body of B Corps, which examines over 170 factors while reviewing Brewer Science’s customers and vendors, record of inclusion, community involvement, corporate governance and environmental impact. Key elements such as average employee tenure, charitable giving, energy savings plan, recycling policies, employee volunteer service, and employee upward mobility are also analyzed.

Alongside this milestone, Brewer Science is proud to unveil its 2024 Impact Report, offering a detailed overview of the company's impact across the five key areas identified by B Corp: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers.

The 2024 Impact Report showcases Brewer Science's significant achievements and progress in fostering positive impacts within its sphere of influence. Highlights include:

• Environment Impact
o Reducing carbon footprint for Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG by 80% from baselines (2018) by 2030
o Achieving net zero carbon footprint by 2050

• Customer Impact
o Building a collaborative supply chain
o Participating in industry consortiums, such as SEMI

• Employee Impact
o Improving employee benefits, such as community service leave
o Assessing employee satisfaction through third-party anonymous survey

• Community Impact
o Collaborating with companies, like Askinosie Chocolate, to improve public health
o Supporting STEM education in schools and community organizations

• Governance Impact
o Ensuring equity by being Certified Employee-Owned
o Providing transparency through third-party audits, such as GreenCircle Certified

"Renewing our Certified B Corporation status underscores Brewer Science's ongoing dedication to integrating social and environmental responsibility into our core business strategy," states Terry Brewer, Founder and Executive Chairman of Brewer Science. "Since our initial certification, we've leveraged over three years of experience to amplify our impact across global operations, benefiting our employees, communities, and customers worldwide. We believe in the mission to Use Business as a Force for Good, and we will continue to deliver on our promise to drive positive change and create lasting value for all stakeholders."

Brewer Science's recertification reflects its continuous journey towards driving positive change within the semiconductor industry and beyond. By maintaining B Corp status, the company remains part of a global community of like-minded organizations dedicated to redefining success in business.

To access the 2024 Impact Report and learn more about Brewer Science's sustainability initiatives, please visit www.brewerscience.com/going-green.

About Brewer Science
Brewer Science is a global leader in developing and manufacturing next-generation materials and processes that foster the technology needed for tomorrow. Since 1981, we’ve expanded our technology portfolio within advanced lithography, advanced packaging, smart devices, and printed electronics to enable cutting-edge microdevices and unique quality monitoring systems for water and air applications. We are Certified Employee-Owned and a Certified B Corporation™, using our business as a force for good. Our headquarters are in Rolla, Missouri, with customer support throughout the world. Learn more at: www.brewerscience.com.

About B Lab
B Lab is transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. A leader in economic systems change, the global network creates standards, policies, tools, and programs for business, and we certify companies — known as B Corps — who are leading the way. To date, 8,000 B Corps across 95 countries and 161 industries employ over 750,000 workers, and more than 280,000 companies manage their impact with the B Impact Assessment and the SDG Action Manager. B Lab has created and led efforts to pass over 50 corporate statutes globally that enable stakeholder governance: www.bcorporation.net

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Verific Design Automation today affirmed its position as the leading provider of front-end platforms powering an emerging electronic design automation (EDA) space by collaborating with a group of well-funded artificial intelligence (AI) EDA startups.

These new AI EDA companies use Verific’s unsurpassed language support for fast, accurate large language model (LLM) development, speeding time to market for products that range from functional verification, chip design to code development.

AI EDA providers PrimisAI and Silimate, founded by former chip designers, will be in the Verific booth (#1414) AI showcase at the 61st Design Automation Conference (DAC) June 24-26 at Moscone West in San Francisco.

“This new and exciting market segment is about to change the entire makeup of the EDA industry,” says Rick Carlson, vice president of Verific. “We are about to see a variety of tools, technologies and methodologies destined to change the way chip design and verification is done.”

Introducing the EDA Startups Ushering in the Era of AI EDA
PrimisAI and Silimate will be showcased in the Verific DAC booth and present their unique use of AI technology to eliminate error-prone repetitive tasks for efficient and more productive chip design.

PrimisAI offers a generative AI solution for chip design with advanced language-to-code and language-to-verification capabilities through its interactive AI assistant to address complex hardware challenges across the entire design stack from concept to bitstream/GDSII. RapidGPT, unveiled earlier this year, lets engineers interact with their design and the entire EDA ecosystem with a natural language interface, boosting productivity and accelerating time-to-market. Founded by serial entrepreneur Naveed Sherwani who serves as chairman and CEO, PrimisAI is backed by two early-stage investors.

“Verific’s front-end platform lived up to its well-earned status of industry standard as we implemented it in RapidGPT,” remarks Pierre-Emmanuel Gaillardon, CSO of PrimisAI. “The robustness and quality of the Verific front-end platform ensured we would deliver a tool that would give engineers a seamless and efficient workflow.”

Silimate, backed by Y Combinator, is building the co-pilot for chip designers to help build better chips faster. Silimate finds functional bugs, predicts power, performance and area (PPA) issues, and recommends real and accurate fixes in real time, and is already being used by chip teams building complex IP and SoCs. Co-founders Ann Wu and Akash Levy previously built chips and EDA tools at Apple, Stanford, NVIDIA, and Synopsys.

“Verific consistently produces quality products and offers exceptional quality support,” comments Wu. “Their parsers are fantastic and result in very quick tool bring-up times for our customers.”

Metalware co-founded by Ryan Chow and Andrew Nedea is another Verific front-end platform user. It was started with initial funding from Y Combinator with the mission to accelerate embedded development using AI technology after personally experiencing repeated bottlenecks in embedded software at SpaceX. The Metalware AI EDA tools help designers rapidly write HDL and embedded C/C++ by combining insights from manuals, datasheets and code, offering 10x faster development by automating low-level programming.

“Verific embodies our stated goals to reduce the time it takes to design chips and systems,” affirms Chow. “Verific and its team of experienced EDA engineers have shown repeatedly that its front-end platforms enable a project that would normally take days to be completed in hours.”

Another AI EDA startup in stealth mode is also a new Verific user. Details will be announced shortly.

DAC AI Showcase
Verific will demonstrate its SystemVerilog, Verilog, VHDL and UPF front-end platforms, while PrimisAI and Silimate will be in the Verific DAC Booth #1414 at various times of the day to give 10-minute presentations.

DAC will be held from Monday, June 24, through Wednesday, June 26, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. at Moscone West in San Francisco.

To arrange a demonstration or private meeting, send email to [email protected]

DAC registration is open.

About Verific Design Automation
Verific Design Automation is the leading provider of SystemVerilog, Verilog, VHDL and UPF Parser Platforms that enable project groups to develop advanced electronic design automation (EDA) products quickly and cost effective worldwide. With offices in Alameda, Calif., and Kolkata, India, Verific has shipped more than 60,000 copies of its software used worldwide by the EDA and semiconductor industry since it was founded in 1999.

Engage with Verific at:
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.verific.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/verific-design-automation-inc/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Verific-Design-Automation-100448363329771/

• Read more about Verific’s Front-End Platforms Now Powering AI EDA Startups, Serving as Foundational Technology for a New and Emerging Market

Primarius Technologies will demonstrate its entire portfolio of EDA toolchain and one-stop design enablement solutions that integrate advanced parallelization technologies with industry-proven modeling and simulation engines at the 61st Design Automation Conference (DAC) June 24-26 at Moscone West in San Francisco.

Also announced today: Primarius acquired Magwel N.V., provider of 3D solver- and simulation-based layout analysis and design solutions for digital, analog/mixed-signal, power management, automotive and RF ICs, and launched ESDiTM, a chip-level human body model (HBM) analysis platform and power device design, and PTMTM, a layout verification tool family.

Demonstrations will highlight Primarius’ fast, accurate device modeling and cell library characterization and circuit simulation solutions based on its continuous innovation and R&D expertise, including:

• SDEPTM, the spec-driven extraction platform that builds auto model extraction flows for fast SPICE model extraction, a key engine enabling efficient Design-Technology Co-Optimization (DTCO), and an extended capability on top of the de facto golden-standard SPICE modeling platform, BSIMProPlusTM.
• NanoSpice XTM, the latest high-performance SPICE simulator addressing simulation capacity and accuracy challenges of big post-layout designs at advanced process nodes.
• NanoSpice Pro XTM, the latest FastSPICE simulator with simulation performance and accuracy needs tailored for SRAM, DRAM, Flash and big analog-on-top designs in high-performance computing, mobile, AI and other advanced applications.
• NanoCellTM, the latest standard cell library characterization solution employs advanced distributed parallel architecture technology and cell circuit analysis extraction algorithms embedded with a high-precision SPICE simulator, making it a fast, accurate and easy-to-use alternative to other commercial solutions.
• ESDi, state-of-the art HBM analysis, simulation and verification tool for on-chip ESD protection.

The Primarius Product Portfolio
IC company challenges designing and manufacturing high-end chips have increased sharply. Foundries and IDMs need to provide their design customers with more comprehensive and accurate SPICE models, more reliable and complete PDKs, and more coverage of standard cell library within shorter development cycles. Chip designers also require stronger COT capabilities to work with device engineers to customize process and devices, develop customized SPICE models, and perform re-characterization of cell libraries based on actual applications.

Primarius provides complete EDA toolchain and a one-stop design enablement technical development solutions. Innovations like these can shorten the SPICE model development cycle from several months to a few weeks or even hours for quick iteration addressing the efficiency bottleneck of DTCO. The advanced simulation technologies speed-up challenging circuit simulation by several times, and the latest cell library characterization solution provides the best throughput with near-linear scaling on thousands of x86 or ARM CPU cores on a computer farm or public cloud.

It aims to enable faster turnaround from technology development to advanced chip designs. Solutions include advanced analysis capabilities for high-sigma yield, aging, EM/IR, ESD, signal integrity and more targeting optimum yield and power, performance and area (PPA).

Primarius also provides the 9812 series, an industry-golden low frequency noise testing system used by most industry-leading semiconductor companies worldwide. Its latest release, 9812AC, is the only commercial low-frequency noise system under AC excitation and designed for the most advanced process development and chip designs.

Magwel N.V. Acquisition
Primarius acquired Belgian-based Magwel N.V. driven by broad market demand and technological evolution, integrating its chip-level HBM ESD analysis platform, the power device design and layout verification tool suite and other technologies into the Primarius portfolio.

“Primarius and Magwel share a common goal of enhancing the market competitiveness of overall analog and power semiconductor solutions,” states Dr. Lianfeng Yang, President of Primarius. “Magwel's integration will further advance our strategy to optimize DTCO, enhance our technology portfolio, expand our product coverage and further strengthen and consolidate our market competitiveness.”

Availability and Pricing
Primarius Technologies. Pricing is available upon request.

For more information, visit the Primarius website or send email to [email protected].

Primarius Technologies at 61st DAC
Primarius Technologies will be in DAC booth #1415 Monday, June 24, through Wednesday, June 26, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. at Moscone West in San Francisco.

To arrange a private meeting or demonstration of the Primarius Technologies product portfolio, send email to: [email protected].

DAC registration is open.

About Primarius
Primarius Technologies (688206.SH) is a global electronic design automation (EDA) company providing innovative DTCO-enabled EDA solutions for advanced technology development, and complex full custom designs including analog, mixed-signal and memory circuits. Primarius provides the industry’s de facto golden SPICE modeling solution adopted by most of the leading semiconductor companies for more than a decade, and leading SPICE/FastSPICE technologies proven by leading memory and SoC design companies worldwide. Its design enablement EDA solutions enable a full coverage of fab technology development and fabless COT flow development including device testing systems, SPICE modeling and PDK development solutions, and standard cell library characterization solutions. Built around an innovative SPICE/FastSPICE dual engine, Primarius provides a complete circuit simulation and analysis solution with comprehensive high-sigma yield and signal integrity analysis, aging and EM/IR, ESD simulation and advanced circuit checking capabilities. Primarius also provides a complete full custom design environment with advanced circuit design and optimization, layout automation and physical verification functions, and hierarchy design planning and timing analysis solutions for advanced SoC designs. Visit Primarius Technologies for more information.

• Read more about Primarius to Feature Fast, Accurate Modeling, Characterization, Simulation Solutions at 61st Design Automation Conference

Sunnyvale, USA - Meylan, FRANCE – May 29, 2024 Numem - a leader in high-performance Memory IP Cores and Memory Chip/Chiplet based on its patented NuRAM (MRAM) and SmartMem technologies, and IC’ALPS - a leader in ASIC/SoC design and supply chain management, have pooled their expertise to meet the challenge of developing an ambitious integrated circuit with RISC-V processors, 2MBytes of NuRAM and a DSP/AI Custom Datapath Accelerator. The Custom SoC was developed in an advanced technology node.

This SoC has been designed and implemented to highlight the Numem high-performance, low power Memory subsystem with a RISC V Processor and AI Accelerator for ultra-low power applications. It has been developed through a close collaboration between Numem and IC’ALPS.

The physical implementation of this integrated circuit was made in a secure space (isolated location, network, and servers, encrypted exchanges, etc.) to meet with the stringent protection of sensitive data required by this program.

“We were very pleased with the collaboration and quality of service provided by IC’ALPS which made this on-time tape out possible and first time functional silicon,” said Jack Guedj, CEO of Numem. NuRAM with SmartMem is a high-performance memory subsystem which is 2-3x smaller and boast significant power reduction over SRAM,” he added.
 
Lucille Engels, COO of IC’ALPS indicated: “The challenges were numerous including: architecture, power domains, protection of the sensitive data, run times pushing improvement of EDA flow and the pressure of the tape out deadline.”

Numem and IC’Alps intend to extend their partnership to serve new customers SoC projects – feel free to contact us.

NUMEM/IC'ALPS with ultra-low-power SoC for Sensor and AI

About NUMEM
Numem, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, is the leading provider of Memory Subsystem Chip/Chiplet and IP based on proven foundry MRAM process. Numem’s patented NuRAM technology enables best in class power/performance and reliability with 2.5x smaller area and 85x lower leakage power than traditional SRAM. Numem’s SmartMem subsystem technology significantly improves performance and endurance as well as ease-of-use and reliability for high-volume deployment and enables to reach ultra-high bandwidth.
Visit our website at https://www.numem.com or contact us at [email protected].

About IC’Alps
IC’Alps is your one-stop-shop ASIC partner. Based in France (HQ in Grenoble, two design centers in Grenoble and Toulouse), the company provides customers with a complete offering for Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) and Systems on Chip (SoC) development from circuit specification, mastering design in-house, up to the management of the entire production supply chain. Its areas of expertise include analogic, digital and mixed-signal circuits (sensor/MEMS interfaces, ultra-low power consumption, power management, high-resolution converters, high voltage, signal processing, ARM and RISC-V based multiprocessors architectures, hardware accelerators) on technologies from 0.18 µm down to 5 nm, and from multiple foundries (TSMC, Global Foundries, Tower Semiconductor, X-FAB, STMicroelectronics, etc.). The company is active worldwide in medical, industrial, automotive, IoT, IA, mil-aero and digital identity & security sectors. IC’Alps is ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016, EN 9100:2018 certified, Common Criteria on-demand, IATF16949-ready, member of TSMC Design Center Alliance (DCA), ARM Approved Design Partner and X-FAB’s partner network. More information on www.icalps.com and follow us on https://www.linkedin.com/company/ic-alps

• Read more about NUMEM & IC'ALPS Collaborate to Develop an ultra-low-power SOC for Sensor and AI applications