At the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium in Munich, SEMI announced recipients of the European SEMI Award for 2016: Rolf Aschenbrenner, deputy director of the Fraunhofer IZM; Eric Beyne, fellow and program director of 3D System Integration at imec; and Gilles Poupon, CEA fellow on advanced packaging and 3D integration at CEA-Leti. Since 1989, the European SEMI Award has been presented for significant contributions to the European semiconductor and related industries. The three winners were nominated and selected by peers within the international semiconductor community in recognition of outstanding contributions in the field of 3D Integration.
“While the industry recognizes that SEMI Members imec, Fraunhofer and CEA-Leti are leaders in packaging technologies, the contributions of Rolf Aschenbrenner, Eric Beyne and Gilles Poupon and their teams are groundbreaking and advanced the semiconductor industry,” says SEMI Europe president Laith Altimime.
Rolf Aschenbrenner received a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering in 1986 and an M.Sc. in physics in 1991 from the University of Giessen. In 1994, he joined the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Micro-integration in Berlin (IZM), where he is presently head of the department for chip interconnection technologies, and deputy director of the institute. Rolf Aschenbrenner’s research work spans from manufacturing process fundamentals to applied manufacturing problems. He has made substantial research contributions in thin and flexible electronic assemblies, end the development and analysis of innovative process technologies for all aspects of system level packaging. He served on various committees, and in 2013 he received the IEEE CPMT David Feldman Award.
Eric Beyne obtained a degree in electrical engineering in 1983 and a Ph.D. in Applied Science in 1990, both from the Catholic University Leuven. Since 1986, he has been employed at imec, where he works on advanced packaging and interconnect technologies. Currently, he is imec Fellow and programme director of imec’s 3D-integration programme. For more than ten years, Eric Beyne has been a pioneer in 3D system integration. He is a strong believer in the building of ecosystems in packaging and 3D, and has catalysed cooperation between IC-makers, designers, and Materials and equipment makers.
Gilles Poupon was educated at the University of Grenoble and the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, where he received an M.Sc. in electrochemistry in 1985. He joined CEA-Leti in Grenoble in 1987. He became manager of the High Density Interconnect and Packaging Laboratory at Leti, where he was involved in the development of flip-chip technology, MEMS packaging and 3D-integration. Currently, he is programme manager on Advanced Packaging at CEA-Leti. Poupon is also a scientific advisor of the Eureka Initiative for Packaging and Integration of Microdevices and Smart Systems, and a member of various other committees involved in packaging and 3-D integration.
The European SEMI Award was established almost three decades ago to recognize individuals and teams who have made a significant contribution to the European semiconductor and related industries. Prior award recipients hailed from these companies: EV Group, Infineon, Semilab, Deutsche Solar, STMicroelectronics, imec, Fraunhofer Institute, and more.