Behind the scenes of a little-known European “jewel” – L’Express

“Man created technology in his own image.” This could be the title of the fresco seen at Imec, depicting two hands – one human, one robotic – desperately trying to reach each other. A subtle reference to Michelangelo’s work, which depicts Adam and God pointing their index fingers at each other, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. It is a reminder, in essence, that the main mission of the Institute of Microelectronics and Components (Imec), located in Leuven, Belgium, is based on a certain amount of belief. Belief not in the biblical Genesis, but in “Moore’s Law.”

In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors on an electronic chip – commonly called semiconductors – would double every eighteen months to support our technological needs, from telecom antennas to our satellites, including artificial intelligence and connected objects. A prediction that was adjusted to two years in 1975. To this day, despite a few setbacks, its principle still holds. From 1,000 transistors, some chips have grown to more than 100 billion, measuring the diameter of a DNA helix, or about 3 nanometers. Our current smartphones carry more computing power than it took NASA to land a spaceship on the Moon during the Apollo missions.

Founded 40 years ago, Imec has taken on an increasingly important role in this effort towards the infinitely small engraving of chips. Its research, from which its “roadmap” is derived, sets the tone for the industry. Its latest update takes it to 2039. “In the past, people thought it would be impossible to go below dimensions in the order of a micrometer. But we are soon in the era of the Angstrom,” says Luc Van den Hove, director of Imec. In about fifteen years, transistors on chips should measure 0.2 nanometers – 2 angstroms – the equivalent of a water molecule. This is thanks to ever more precise engraving machines, of course, but also architectures that allow transistors to be stacked and heat to be evacuated efficiently, as well as new materials to replace silicon, the basis of “wafers”, the circular wafers on which chips are engraved. Some 5,500 people devote their days to all this work in Leuven, which, not coincidentally, is also a world-renowned university campus. The place, a beautifully wooded park on the outskirts of the city, is full of talent in nanotechnology and computer science. Luc van den hove himself sometimes crosses the forest to teach engineering.

At the heart of the “jewel”

But students are obviously not the only ones interested in Imec and its Moore’s Law. “All the companies involved in semiconductors come to test their procedures here,” informs the director of the center, Luc Van den Hove, from the Imec Tower, a tall glass structure overlooking the area. Helped by its proximity to the Dutch ASML – born the same year -, the leader in the design of chip manufacturing machines located in neighboring North Brabant, Imec has developed a benchmark “clean room” in the field where all the cutting-edge tools are located. Including, of course, ASML’s immense extreme ultraviolet lithography etching devices. A rarity that attracts the greatest superpowers. Foundries Asian companies like TSMC or Samsung and designers as prestigious, in the United States, as Nvidia and Apple, regularly rush to the Imec to handle them, as in a kitchen or a garage. A “neutral” place, open 24 hours a day. Indispensable. The immense costs at each stage of manufacturing a chip – each sector from design to production via packaging requires billions of dollars of investment – make uncertainty unthinkable. “Professionals come here to make sure that their strategy is the right one, or if so, to modify it”, underlines a guide. With the key, great savings.

Small white figures, masked from head to toe, move around the “cleanroom” with the allure and caution of astronauts. Built on four levels, it is designed to withstand vibrations. Even heavy traffic on the road next to the Imec could disrupt the machines present there, which are particularly fragile due to their degree of precision. But the “jewel” of the Imec, we are told, has “dust” as its main enemy in the world of the microscopic. Air circulates constantly in the room in order to evacuate the slightest foreign particle towards filters, present in particular on the floor. Each of the elements of the room from the chairs to the notebooks and pens used is specially designed to avoid dirt, residue and other smudges. Even with these precautions, meticulous cleaning is carried out twice a day. The temperature, constant, is 21.5 °C, and its humidity level is 40%. No more, no less.

“A supercomputer in every car”

Aware of its strategic nature, the European Union recently provided Imec with a subsidy of 2.5 billion euros thanks to the Chips Act, adopted in mid-2023. The envelope represents two and a half times its annual budget, mainly funded by the semiconductor sector itself. “This public support allows us to invest in the longer term,” sighs Luc Van den Hove. Thinking about the chips of tomorrow. They will surely not be produced on the continent. The fact remains that European companies must be in contact with the best. For the needs of innovative start-ups, on the one hand, but especially for the powerful industries already in place. This is the case for the automobile industry.

“Tomorrow, we will have to integrate a supercomputer into every car,” says Luc Van den Hove. He fears that major brands, from Renault to BMW, will follow Nokia’s path. In other words, that like the telephone manufacturer two decades ago, they will be overtaken by new competitors with better technologies and better chips. Health, medicine and pharmaceuticals… other key European industries are also demanding computing power. Demand is exploding everywhere. What would happen if we pressed the “pause” button on Moore’s Law? Many have announced – including Nvidia’s “rockstar” boss Jensen Huang – its inevitable end, due to the laws of physics. However, at Imec, no one is considering this possibility. Science will win. “Even if the challenges are enormous, they are not insurmountable,” assures Van den Hove. Unlike the paintings in the Sistine Chapel, in the Imec fresco, the two index fingers actually end up touching. Thanks to an electric current.