MiPlaza, part of Philips Innovation Services, has entered into an agreement with Silex Microsystems, a MEMS foundry based in Sweden. According to the companies, the agreement will enable Philips to offer its customers a "seamless transfer" from concept to production of MEMS devices. At the same time, Silex will be able to offer its customer base the opportunity to work with MiPlaza on the concept phases of their MEMS projects.
"This agreement came in response to customer demand, as the fab-less business model becomes a more and more popular approach," explained Edjoe Osinski, Head of MiPlaza Technology Labs. "We perform nano and microsystem prototyping for many of our customers, and they've often asked us about transferring to production, bearing in mind their end-goal of bringing product to market."
"Our agreement with Philips Innovation Servicesis perfectly aligned with our strategy to build a powerful ecosystem, facilitating the commercialization of innovative MEMS and 3D microchip technologies," said Tomas Bauer, Silex VP of Sales and Marketing. "This technology alignment strategy is yet another step towards standardization in the MEMS industry and will provide innovative MEMS and 3D microchip designs a fast route to market and volume production."
Edvard Kalvesten, COO of Silex Microsystems, said, "we have seen great advantages combining the advanced development power of MiPlaza Technology Labs together with Silex best-in-class 6-inch and 8-inch wafer production capability in an environment of aligned standard process modules and platforms. This collaboration is providing customers access to the most advanced technology platforms developed at both companies while at the same time generating the obvious benefits of separating early stage development from volume production in the same manufacturing line."
The companies said that this agreement is not an exclusive arrangement: customers can choose to work with other manufacturers if they wish. Similarly, Silex is free to choose when it is appropriate to refer to MiPlaza, case by case.
"The feedback we've received from our first participating customer has been very positive," says Edjoe. "The agreement offers faster time-to-market and time-to-volume by aligning the technologies of MiPlaza and Silex, ensuring that a transfer to production is as smooth as possible."
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