The Institute of Electron Technology (IET) is a research centre established in 1966 on the basis of the Electronics Department and the Magnetic Department of the Institute of Fundamental Technical Problems and the Semiconductor Technology Department of the Institute of Physics within the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1970 the Institute became an industrial research centre supervised by the Ministry of Industry (presently Ministry of National Economy). The Institute of Electron Technology is a major Polish electronics research centre with a primary focus on semiconductor technology. The mission of the Institute is to develop and commercialise technologies in the field of semiconductor devices and microelectronics. The Institute of Electron Technology plays significant role on the national and international level; it contributes to the progress in semiconductor electronics in Poland and develops international co-operation in new advanced areas. In addition, the Institute of Electron Technology undertakes educational activities in the above mentioned fields and consults state owned industry and private enterprises. The Institute trains highly qualified engineering personnel and is involved in the adaptation of European standards to the Polish electronics industry. In the year 2001 the Institute employed over 250 staff, making both research and small volume manufacturing. The most important research interest of the Department of Integrated Circuits' and Systems' Design is development of methods and tools for design of digital and mixed ICs and systems. Since1997 the department focuses its activities mainly on the development of VHDL models of intellectual property elements (IPs). As a result several processor cores were developed. The most important are:
Several further cores are under development. All processor cores
were verified by prototyping in EUROPRACTICE silicon foundries.
The Department has at its disposal modern CAD tools such as: Synopsys,
Cadence, Hspice, Xilinx and Menthor Graphics.
The department has been participating in European projects since
1992. These projects include: Advanced Joint European Project
for Microelectronics Design Methodologies (TEMPUS - JEP 0077),
EEMCN (PECO 7668), SYTIC (CP 96 0170), VILAB (INCO 97 7133), e-COLLEG
(IST 1999-11746).
Key people to be involved in the project:
Andrzej Kobus,
Andrzej Kobus is a professor since 1979; in the Institute - since
1956. He served as a Deputy Director for Microelectronics (1979-1983),
Head of System Design Laboratory (1984 - 1990), Head of Support
Centre for Microelectronics Application (1996 - 2000). His fields
of scientific interest include: semiconductor electronics, microelectronics
- integrated circuits and systems, microelectronic technology
transfer (in particular to SMEs). He is Member of the Scientific
Council of the Institute of Electron Technology, the Institute
of Electronic Materials Technology and the School of Science of
the Cardinal Wyszynski University in Warsaw.