Alongside electric powertrains, self-driving vehicles are seen as the solution to the transport and environmental issues of the future. A key technology in that solution is RADAR, which together with video cameras or LIDAR sensors can monitor the vehicle's surroundings even when visibility is extremely poor.The ARAMID funding project (the acronym comes from the German for "RADAR for autonomous driving for everyone") is being financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Its objective is to prepare the next stage in functionality and economic viability for the wide use of RADAR sensors in automotive vehicles.The other funding project partners alongside Bosch Sensortec Dresden are the Dresden branches of Globalfoundries, Semitec, Fraunhofer IKTS, and Fraunhofer IIS/EAS.Bosch Sensortec Dresden is developing a robust RADAR test chip for mainstream ADAS applications together with Robert Bosch GmbH Reutlingen.The funding project fosters the creation of a regional cluster for application and manufacturing excellence, which will further strengthen the significance of the state of Saxony as an important technology hub.
The main aim of the European Ecosystem for Green Electronic (EECONE) project is to reduce e-waste on a European scale. EECONE's vision is to develop and embed the constraints linked to managing the end-of-life of electronic products from the very beginning – in the development or process design. EECONE is paving the way as a first step toward a zero-waste electronic industry. The "6R concept will fully guide EECONE" (Reduce, Reliability, Repair, Reuse, Refurbish, Recycle).
The environmental impact arising from e-waste can thus be reduced by working in three principal areas:
Driven by the fast development of electric vehicle and autonomous driving, the needs for on-vehicle computation power, performance complexity, safety, reliability and smartness have been greatly increased. To maintain the Europe's leadership for future automotive industry, it is vital to develop automotive supercomputing ECUs consisting of most advanced IC components (based on chiplet technology), discrete chips, and heterogeneous system integration technologies, wherein digital twin chip on board, based on highly efficient compact models, will be implemented.
To cope with the paradigm shift of from cloud to edge, we will bring superior computing resources closer to the in-situ data of the vehicle, to achieve real-time / safety for deterministic and highly reliable automation and optimized process control, to have better data security / privacy through reducing the attack surface, to gain energy efficiency and reduction in the environmental footprint. This project consists of mainly three technology pillars: developing advanced connectivity by optical, electrical and thermal interfaces at the ECU; novel component packaging technology and advanced heterogeneous integration to realize the superior ECU system; digital twin chips enabling accurate/reliable compact models for performance and reliability prediction.
This project e2lead will be jointly defined and executed by a leading industry and R&D consortium from Germany and Netherlands, wherein Bosch will be the overall project coordinator.
The EU has approved the first project of common European interest (IPCEI) for research and innovation in microelectronics. This project launched by France, Germany, Italy and the UK, is one of the key initiatives to maintain the European position in microelectronics. The results of research and development will be used for generating positive effects on the European economy and society. Within the framework of the project, Bosch will set up and expand the facilities in Dresden and Reutlingen and increase knowledge in smart power electronics and smart sensors in Europe.
The IPCEI ME (Important Project of Common European Interest in Microelectronics) project was a European initiative aimed at fostering the development and production of advanced microelectronics technologies. The project aimed to strengthen Europe's position in the global microelectronics market by supporting the research, development, and production of key technologies such as advanced semiconductor materials, design and manufacturing processes, and packaging technologies. The project involved collaboration between industry, research institutions, and governments to drive innovation and competitiveness in the microelectronics sector. Through this initiative, Europe sought to secure its technological sovereignty and create a sustainable and resilient microelectronics ecosystem.
Bosch played a significant role in the IPCEI ME project. Bosch was actively involved in the research and development of smart power and smart sensor technologies. Additionally, the IPCEI ME project provided Bosch with the opportunity to build its semiconductor fabrication plant (fab) in Dresden, further solidifying its commitment to advancing microelectronics technologies and contributing to Europe's technological sovereignty in this critical industry. By leveraging its technological capabilities and industry knowledge, Bosch contributed to the overall goal of strengthening Europe's position in the global microelectronics market and creating a sustainable and competitive microelectronics ecosystem.
In today’s consumer electronics like mobile phones and wearable devices, power consumption is a key performance indicator. That is why the industry strives for new approaches to further improve the power consumption of the sensors they build.The LOTUS project is financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the objective is to investigate on low-voltage circuit designs for ultra-low-power sensors. Founding project partners are Bosch Sensortec Dresden, Racyics GmbH and TU Dresden. Bosch Sensortec is elaborating on digital circuit power consumption optimization by new digital circuit approaches.
The aim of CeCaS is to enable connected vehicles with a high level of automation. To this end, the software functions in the vehicle are controlled centrally in order to master the growing complexity. With platform-orientated development and hardware/software code design, a flexible solution can be created from the basic function to the user. In addition, the architecture will move from a domain-based hierarchy to a zonal and redundant high-availability architecture. This will be achieved through the use of "convolutional neural networks".
New, heterogeneous computer structures are being researched that offer high performance with low energy consumption. These are made robust against faults through adapted construction and connection technology, as well as suitable cooling methods.
Mannheim-FlexKI aims to break the hardware dependency of current development processes for AI applications and to define an open reference approach for the deployment (software distribution) of AI applications. To this end, two development paths are being pursued: the flexible deployment of AI applications on high-performance, commercial AI platforms and a coordinated approach for application-optimised processor and software development for a new, customised and energy-efficient AI platform.
Both paths enable the rapid migration of AI applications to other AI platforms if certain hardware components are not available due to protectionism or supply bottlenecks. This allows previously tight manufacturer dependencies to be broken.
METIS (MicroElectronics Training Industry and Skills) evaluates key trends in microelectronics regarding required education and skills, defining the next generation of microelectronics education. The 4-year project is EU funded and has 20 project partners.Bosch contributes by identifying occupational profiles, needs and gaps and therefore helping to establish a European Microelectronics Observatory to monitor key trends affecting the microelectronics industry.Training semiconductor skills is important to achieve a high number of qualified employees in the semiconductor manufacturing sector. Although traditional face-to-face teaching is beneficial for a good communication between teacher and learners, online courses (live or pre-recorded) enable a wider spreading, even among different countries, to achieve a higher number of learners. METIS refers to the European pact of skills and provides an exchange platform for semiconductor courses. It also reinforces the network of European partners for future technologies.> This video explains the fundamentals of lithography, demonstrating the the lithography process in the training lab as well as in the wafer fab.
The PowerizeD project is focusing on improving the way energy is generated and transmitted through the use of digitised and intelligent electronic power - strongly contributing to the decarbonization of European society and the protection of our climate.
As of today, all electronics systems are developed following design for reliability that requires time consuming reliability test. In PowerizeD we want to challenge the status quo and propose a new release process based on credible virtual pre-qualification. This might be possible only through collaboration along the entire supply chain, with the support from research institutes who can develop a new test strategy of bring beyond state-of-the-art simulation techniques, such as compact digital twin to the industry application.
In PowerizeD, Use case 5 we will develop an inverter for fuel cell application in electric drives to pave the way toward efficient mobility with zero local emissions. We propose smart digital solutions to shorten development time and tools for new data-driven business models:
Scale4Edge is a joint project funded by the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research), which aims to significantly reduce the currently relatively long development times and high development costs of application-specific edge components (platform concept).
The approach pursued in the project is based on providing a commercial ecosystem for a scalable and flexibly expandable edge computing platform after the end of the project. The ecosystem will be created by a large number of SMEs in cooperation with industry and research institutes. Each SME contributes its expertise and markets the result as part of its own product portfolio after the end of the project.
The Semiconductor-X project aims to strengthen the resilience and security of semiconductor supply chains by addressing vulnerabilities and potential disruptions in the manufacturing process. It emphasizes digitalization and secure data sharing among companies through the development of digital twins of the supply and value chains. A key aspect of the project is the implementation of privacy-preserving technologies (PPT), such as homomorphic encryption, to protect sensitive information during data exchange. Collaboration between industry partners and research institutions is crucial, with a focus on establishing industry-wide standards for secure data exchange. The project is dedicated to bolstering the European semiconductor industry and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection.
The project "Trustworthy Electronics: Tech-for-Trust" T4T aims to provide the domestic industry with tools for access to secure supply chains and trustworthy electronics.
The main objective of the project is to enable a secure supply chain through distributed manufacturing (split manufacturing). In contrast to existing concepts, a new approach is being developed in which the distributed production of silicon components is combined in the assembly and connection technology. This is to take place both on a wafer-to-wafer basis and in the form of chiplets. The corresponding manufacturing technologies and a comprehensive design process are being developed for this purpose. Furthermore, the possibility of inserting a quantum-safe cryptographic key into a wafer composite during wafer production will be created, thereby achieving a high level of counterfeit protection.
The use of ultra-modern processes in assembly and connection technology is intended to create the basis for a platform for the secure distributed production of wafer-based components, with the final consolidation of functions taking place in Germany. This will give German industry control over the protection of products against manipulation and IP theft, even in times of globally distributed production.
TRANSFORM develops a complete and competitive power electroncis value chain based on SiC semiconductors extending from wafers to inverters/converters, to be showcased in 5 applications. Model based system engineering and lifetime models based on digital twins will be developed to enable understanding of complex interactions, shorten development cycles and improve traceability along the value chain.
Europe is well positioned in the power electronics (PE) domain with global players such as STMicroelectronics, Bosch and Infineon as well as innovation leaders like Soitec, Danfoss and Semikron. However R&D on SiC based PE is necessary for European sovereignty in the field of power electronics. This is an essential technology for many important societal challenges (health, digitalization, climate, energy, mobility, agriculture…) in Europe.
TRANSFORM consortium brings together key European players among the complete SiC value chain: from materials and substrates to inverters and converters for 5 uses cases in automotive, industry, renewables and agriculture applications. Our consortium of 33 partners from 7 EU countries including universities and technology institutes as well as OEMs on the advisory board offers the essential competencies and platform for targeted achievements.
The KDT-JU-funded TRISTAN project aims to expand and develop RISC-V architecture in Europe to compete with existing commercial alternatives. This open specification eliminates the need to learn and create unique ecosystems for each processor architecture, increasing productivity, security and transparency. TRISTAN’s approach will be holistic, covering electronic design automation tools and the full software stack.
TRISTAN’S overarching aim is to expand, mature and industrialize the European RISC-V ecosystem to compete with existing commercial alternatives. Building blocks developed in TRISTAN will be demonstrated in the business domains of Automotive, Industrial, Aerospace, Mobile, Wearables and Health.