Message from the Board

The fiscal year 2008/2009 was both an unusual and dramatic year for CMC Microsystems. Our CFI (Canada Foundation for Innovation) managed programs–System-on-Chip Research Network (SOCRN) and National Microelectronics and Photonics Testing Collaboratory (NMPTC) had drawn to a close, and this was the penultimate year of our current NSERC mandate. This resulted in the need to consult widely in order to produce two major new proposals and present them on time to the funding agencies. The outcomes of these significant efforts were, firstly, the delivery of a proposal, sponsored by Queen’s University, entitled ‘emSYSCAN’ (embedded Systems Canada) in early October 2008 to CFI. This is a national project involving more than 200 researchers from 37 universities. Secondly, in April 2009 ‘Microsystems: Creating Economic Value for Canada’ was delivered to NSERC, representing the continuing proposals for operating and enhancing Canada’s National Design Network (NDN) that today involves research conducted at 45 universities. The combined size of these projects – at more than $90 million, will be enhanced by in-kind contributions to deliver about $170 million in value to Canadian researchers in the period 2010 – 2015. As we go to press we have learned that CFI has awarded full funding to Queen’s for emSYSCAN and that we will host a site visit by an NSERC evaluation committee in late August. We are very confident that the result of these proposals, if fully funded, will be to position Canada at the forefront of microsystems innovation, both industrially and in university research.

In the meantime our normal business continued, and we delivered about 380 designs (127 CMOS, 170 bipolar, 44 MEMS, 15 microfluidics, 27 optoelectronics) involving 370 students and 125 faculty members from 28 universities. About 750 faculty members were registered with us in 2008 of whom 121 were new clients. Our on time delivery during the year was at 81% (with a target of 80%) and about 85% of test reports were delivered. These test reports are very important since they give us a direct indication of the results of the prototype fabrication runs and are essential for quality improvement.  We also delivered 35 integration prototypes and 45 application notes. We prepared and published complete catalogues of the university-based MicroNano Technology fabrication facilities as well as of the capabilities of the four Testing Collaboratory sites to enable researchers to readily discover if their needs could be met through existing facilities in the network. We instituted a program of travel awards and fee support to enable increased use these facilities.  2008 was also the year when we deployed our first ‘Proof of Concept Environment’–a microfluidics oriented system which was delivered to about 10 clients.

Development of the National Design Network continued with the introduction of new CMOS design kits, enhanced test capabilities for electronics, MEMS, optoelectronics and microfluidics devices and various updates and enhancements to the design environment.  For the first time we held our annual symposium, in October, in conjunction with the Executive Forum organized by the Strategic Microelectronics Council of the Information Technology Association of Canada. Together with the first annual Microsystems and Nanoelectronics Research Conference which was held in association with IEEE, the events were very successful with more than 250 participants.

In 2008 we also entered into a number of projects with partners, including the Communications Research Center, INO in Quebec and the National Research Council with the goal of expanding the technologies and capabilities we offer our clients. These projects are an important aspect of our strategy and help to ensure that we are working cooperatively with synergistic organizations in Canada.

There are strategic organizations somewhat similar to CMC in several parts of the world. Periodically we meet with representatives of some of them to share experience, practices and insights about research trends. In the past year, in part motivated by the intent to prepare the two proposals, and possibly leading to joint initiatives, in-depth discussions were held with organizations in Taiwan, Japan, Belgium, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

Because of the timing of our NSERC proposal, we accelerated the pace of the annual survey of our clients. This ensured that we had the most recent data on research outcomes enabled by CMC. Some highlights from this extensive set of data include: 103 national awards, 77 international awards, 2,275 published papers, 72 patents applied for or issued and 285 interactions with Canadian industry valued at $14.9 million. Six companies were started in the year. Despite the economic downturn over 500 students joined Canadian industry. It should be noted that the rate of industrial interaction by CMC clients is at about twice the rate of the overall NSERC funded population.

In terms of applications diversity, the survey showed that about 40% of the research interests of our clients are at the ‘system’ level – including topics such as programmable platforms, networks and applications software. The remaining activities are at the materials, technology, device, circuit and embedded system levels. This broad scope is similar to what we have observed in prior years. We continue to see shifts in the end applications indicated by the researchers. Biomedical areas are growing, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of the population, and are now comparable to Information and Communications Technology.  Significant minorities are focussed on automotive, aerospace, defence (including security), natural resources and the environment.

In the second decade of the 21^st century, microsystems will be a vital transformational technology for Canada in creating economic value.  We are seeking to position Canada to be a major player in all the sectors identified above by enabling excellent multi-disciplinary research and encouraging the fabrication of prototype microsystems which have the potential to be rapidly commercialized. For the last five years we have been developing and positioning the NDN to support this goal. While there has been considerable success, much remains to be done and we look forward to continuing this vital work.

In closing, we would like to thank to all of CMC’s stakeholders—our investors, in particular NSERC, CFI and the numerous companies who provide support to our operations, our board members and committee participants, who willingly volunteer their time and expertise in support of our mission, our employees and, most of all, our research clients. It is a privilege to work together with you in this most dynamic field.

Dr. Ian L. McWalter President and Chief Executive Officer, CMC Microsystems	Dr. Yvon Savaria Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering,  École Polytechnique de Montréal; Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors, CMC Microsystems