July 18, 2008--Europe's independent nanoelectronics research institute IMEC (Leuven, Belgium), and Qualcomm Incorporated (San Diego, CA), a developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and data communications solutions, announced that Qualcomm is the first fabless integrated circuit (IC) company to participate in IMEC's industrial affiliation program (IIAP) on three-dimensional (3-D) integration as a means to future semiconductor IC design.
IMEC's technology research program focuses on 3-D wafer-level packaging and 3-D stacked ICs to find innovative solutions for the cost-effective use of 3-D interconnects at different levels of the wiring hierarchy.
"Three-dimensional design will allow Qualcomm to offer superior features and performance in our products," said Jim Clifford, senior VP and general manager, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. "We are collaborating with IMEC because their research and technology expertise will help us to accelerate the implementation of 3-D design in our products."
Other partners in IMEC's 3D integration program are Amkor, Infineon, Intel, Micron, NEC, NXP, Panasonic, Qimonda, Samsung, ST Microelectronics, Texas Instruments and TSMC.
For more information, visit www.imec.be.