NewSpace Lab

IMB-CNM (CSIC)

The Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM) is the largest institute in Spain dedicated to the research and development of Micro and Nano Technology and microsystems and with unique capacities of silicon technology.

Infrastructure/equipment

Laboratory of radiation detectors for space applications

The Laboratory of Radiation Detectors (LabRad) is dedicated to the characterisation of semiconductor radiation sensors and radiation detector systems. The laboratory is a category 2 radioactive facility authorised by the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) to work with encapsulated radiation sources.

Design and testing of space integrated circuits and systems

Our experience in the field of design includes modelling, simulation and synthesis of circuits, IPs and growth to systems on a chip (from VHDL/Verilog to ASIC / FPGA), support and training of users, purchasing and general management of CAD, CAD development for internal use, development of libraries and design kits for internal and external technologies, Management of Back-end external kits: P&R, delay extraction / post annotation and post layout functionality and failure simulation. The Integrated Circuits and Systems Test Laboratory is managed by the Electronic/Microelectronics Engineering Service and gathers all the equipment needed to test and characterise integrated digital/analog/mixed/RF circuits and systems.

Clean room

Clean room of micro and nano manufacturing of 1500 m2 class 102-104 (photolithography equipment, furnaces, etc.)

Advanced Encapsulation, physical inspection and reliability for space

White room of 40 m2 class 1000 with advanced encapsulation and integration equipment (e.g. wire-bonding and welding equipment).

The physical characterisation laboratory includes: a Gen-5 scanning acoustic microscope (Sonoscan), a thermal cycling / ageing test bench for reliability analysis of devices and power systems. In addition, a climatic chamber is available.

Electrothermal and thermal characterisation of electronic devices

The Laboratory of
Thermal Characterisation covers all aspects related to thermal management, local electrothermal characterisation and reliability and robustness studies addressed in any microelectronic system. It also allows the physical signatures of failure to be determined by analysing hot spots, or functional problems under bias.

Electrical characterisation of power devices

The Laboratory of Electrical Characterisation of Power Devices allows for both static and dynamic electrical evaluation of power devices, whether they are developed in the clean room or of commercial origin.