MICROELECTRONICS DESIGN VISION STATEMENT

Microelectronic Circuit Design Group

School of Electrical Engineering and Electronics

University of Manchester

Overarching Theme: Smart Sensors and Vision Chips

Proposed Research Strands:

(i) Ubiquitous sensing/computing (with particular emphasis on low-power, small size, low-cost, sensor/processor integration, novel computing architectures)

(ii) Novel biomedical applications, including medical diagnosis (lab-on-a-chip or lab-in-a-pill) and prosthesis (especially neuro-interfaces)

(iii) Autonomous integrated sensor implants (remote powered/wireless communication/ self-propelled; smart sensors implanted into industrial processes for remote interrogation)

Significance:

• Sensors are ubiquitous and can be categorised into three main areas – biological, chemical and physical.

• Smart sensors increasingly incorporate microelectronics and microengineering technologies to maximise speed and sensitivity and minimise size, cost and power consumption.

• Applications are many and varied but examples include:

− Lab-on-a-chip (chemical and biological microanalysis using microengineering, microfluidics, particle beam probes, electrokinetic manipulation and biosensors)

− Biomedical (genetics, proteomics, markers of disease and monitoring of treatment)

− Industrial process control and monitoring (non-invasive measurement, tomographic imaging)

− Environmental (atmospheric, landmass and oceanic monitoring; monitoring of pollution and toxic chemicals; gas and odour sensing)

− Particle physics and astronomy (charged particle detectors, sensor arrays for charged particles and electromagnetic radiation)

• Vision chips represent a special type of sensor incorporating a 2-D array of photosensors combined with focal plane image processing

• Vision chip applications include, but are not restricted to:

− Robotics and machine vision

− Industrial process monitoring

− Autonomous guided vehicles

− Surveillance and crime detection

− Medical – e.g. retinal prosthesis

• The outputs of research in this area tend to be application-driven and therefore stand to make a far-reaching impact on academic research and industry. The applications are commonly in areas that are likely to capture the imagination of the general public (e.g. medical, environmental, robots etc.).

• Success or failure can be measured directly in terms of the ability of a sensor or vision chip to meet a given functional specification.

Scale:

• Research in the area of smart sensors and vision chips has an international scope (leading centres include MIT in the USA, IMEC in Belgium, Delft in the Netherlands and numerous other centres in the USA, Japan and Europe).

• The nature of the research tends to favour self-contained projects with specific and quantifiable goals.

• It is also essentially multidisciplinary and is ideally suited to a university research environment.

Timeliness:

• The timescale for achieving objectives will depend on the specific aims of the project, although in most cases objectives should be attainable in 2 – 5 years.

• Research in this field depends critically on the ability to integrate structures such as sensing layers, electrodes, channels or other mechanical features with conventional microelectronic circuitry.

• This in turn requires access to clean rooms and fabrication facilities that can provide the flexibility to combine customised features with devices fabricated using conventional silicon processes such as CMOS.

• Without access to this type of facility there is a risk that the UK will lose the ability to produce innovative products and techniques based on smart sensors and vision chips.

Piotr Dudek

John Hatfield

Peter Hicks

Trevor York

10 November 2004