General rules

• The Design Contest will be organised every half year.
  Submission deadlines will be announced on the STIMESI website: www.stimesi.org.
   
• Only STIMESI course attendees can join the STIMESI Design Contest and candidates must be member of a university or research center from any of the 27 EU countries and Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Israel, Croatia, Switzerland or Turkey.
   
• Any participant on any (previous) STIMESI course can join
    ... any (next or future) Design Contest in
    ... any category (novel or advanced) using
    ... any (MEMSSOI, MUMPs, INTEGRAMplus, MultiMEMS, RF-SiP/MCM-D) technology.
   
• A participant can join mutiple times the Design Contest and submit multiple designs,
  but can win the contest only once.
   
• The winner has the freedom to use/exercise the discount
  • in case of the novel category:
    • - within a fixed period (Validity period: 6 months)
        (detailed upon delivery of the discount cheque)
    • - only for Europractice supported MEMS software license
  • in case of the advanced category:
    • - within a fixed period (Validity period: 6 months,
        but start of MPW can be outside this period)
       (detailed upon delivery of the discount cheque)
    • - only for MPW's of STIMESI partners
        (MEMSSOI, MUMPs, INTEGRAMplus, RF-SiP/MCM-D)
         * (SensoNor Multimems MPW services will be discontinued from july 2009)
       

Specific rules

    Requirements for the novel category

• Contestants should write a paper with a design proposal. The paper should explain the concept, include first order calculations to prove the feasibility and illustrate the functioning of the device. The possible fabrication by one of the MPW technologies offered by the STIMESI partners must be clearly shown.

• Contestants should send in a full design, ready for Tape-Out for one of the MPW technologies offered by the STIMESI partners. The design should follow the requirements like specified in the design handbook of the selected technology. Besides the layout files −which should be DRC checked if needed by the design handbook− the participant should deliver a short overview of the device, including modelling and simulation results.

How to apply

Send in your design or paper to stimesi@imec.be.
Don't forget to fill in the MEMS Design Contest Submission Form , sign it and return it to IMEC by fax to : +32 16 28 15 84 or by regular mail to IMEC - Division INVOMEC attn. Stimesi Design Contest, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.

Judging criteria

• Design originality
• Illustrating the potential of the chosen technology
• Potential use for educational purpose
• Quality of work

Judges

The design submissions will be evaluated by six judges:

• 3 external judges
• 3 internal judges chosen from the STIMESI partners
  (minimum one partner who is involved/from the company in the referenced technology)