The Sustainable Ecosystem for Chip Design and Promotion of Young Talents

advICo is an SME acting as a research and design service provider in Europe, Israel, USA and Canada. Typical ASIC developments are in the areas of Fiber optic communications, wireless communications, RADAR, LIDAR and other sensor systems, power electronics, and radiationhard circuits for satellites.

IMST GmbH is a chip- and system-design house as well as a devel opment center for communication systems and radio modules. At IMST, 180 employees develop ICs and systems with the corresponding antenna technology for applications in the automotive, industry 4.0 and aerospace sectors.

Rohde & Schwarz is a technology leader in the field of electronic equipment for radio frequency measurement technology. In the mixed-signal ASIC design center in Duisburg, 40 employees develop high-frequency ASICs in SiGe BiCMOS technologies for exclusive use in the R&S product range.

The AnSem division of Cyient GmbH is a leading provider of ASIC Design Services for analog, RF, mixed-signal and digital chips, specializing in ultra-low-power designs for wired and wireless connectivity.

The Infineon AG branch in Duisburg employs over 100 people, of which most are working on chip-designs for automotive applications. The subsidiary also provides regional sales and support services for customers and is active in recruiting new talents.

With approx. 250 employees, Fraunhofer IMS develops mixed-signal ICs in foundry technologies and post-CMOS processes based on its in-house clean rooms. It specializes on RISC-V processors for embedded-AI, LIDAR and IR sensors with applications in industrial, automotive and medical applications.

With more than 300 employees, mostly in R&D, Elmos is a turn-key ASIC manufacturer for automotive mixed-signal chips including analog and digital design, test development, hardware and software co-design.

At FH Dortmund, research is carried out on mixed-signal designs for on-chip power management, optical sensor readout and efficient digital embedded AI hardware. It is the first university to join the ATLAS CERN collaboration with radiation-hard circuit designs for the ATLAS and CMS experiments.

The Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences is particularly involved in the design of digital CMOS circuits and on FPGA boards. In the network CHIPS.NRW, the HS Düsseldorf intends to intensify the education of students in the fi eld of chip design.

The Fraunhofer FHR is the largest research institute for radar technology in Europe. It develops key enabling technologies for applications like imaging, material characterization or security, based on high-frequency ICs for up to 300GHz. Fraunhofer FHR is working on increasing the visibility of the fi eld for new talents.