Research partners (description)

Laboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture des Systemes LAAS

The "Laboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture des Systemes" (LAAS) is a research establishment ("Unité propre de Recherche") operated as part of the French national organisation for scientific research CNRS. It is associated with three university institutions in Toulouse (France): the Paul Sabatier University (UPS), the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) and the Polytechnic National Institute (INP). It totals 450 persons and uses about 11500 square meter facilities. Its centres of interest are focused on automatics, computer sciences and electronics. The principal areas contributions are following:

• Automatics: automatic control, robotics, intelligent machines
• Computer sciences: signal and images processing, software sciences, architecture of computer systems, decision aid, human-machine communication, artificial intelligence
• Electronics: process engineering, opto-electronics, microelectronics, semiconductors and silicon-based materials, microsystems, microtechnologies and nanotechnologies

Two research groups (around 30 persons each), the "Microsystems and Integrated Systems" (MIS) group and the "Technology of Micro and Nanostructures" (TMN) group are included in this project. They were set up in January 1999 and associate two complementary areas of competence, one dealing with microsystems and the other with silicon microtechnologies.

The field of microsystems is at the core of the activities of the MIS group. It aims to develop the methods of microsystems integration and to illustrate the progress made by relying on exemplary achievements in agreement with industrial partners. Research works are conducted in four main areas: modelling, assembly technologies, devices and systems integration.

The objectives assigned to the TMN group are the studies and the technological developments of silicon-based integrated microstructures and microsystems. It is a leading edge technology aiming to the fabrication of micro-objets including sensors, actuators and signal processing through the combination of different technologies (materials science, electronics, mechanical engineering, optical engineering, chemistry and biochemistry,...) and relying on collective production criteria that have paved the way for the amazing success of microelectronics in the past.

These two groups are supported by a potent technological action in the lab technology centre (TEAM) which regroups a skilful technical staff (around 20 persons), 400 square meter clean-room facilities and 500 square meter characterisation laboratories.

The scopes assigned to these groups are broad and very rich: they can only be covered fully by means of a large scale world-wide effort. Therefore, as part of the LAAS-CNRS laboratory, they work in close collaboration with other partners, labs and companies, with a two-fold objective in mind: the advancement of basic knowledge and the participation in demonstration programmes.

The LAAS-CNRS will be represented by Dr Pierre Temple-Boyer which will be in charge of the SEWING project. Each group will be represented by a responsible person : Professor Augustin Martinez for the TMN group and Dr Daniel Esteve for the MIS group.