CEA-Leti: Laboratoire d'électronique des technologies de l'information

Laboratoire d'électronique des technologies de l'information (CEA-Leti)
Non-profit research institute
Founded 1967
Headquarters Grenoble, France
Key people
Marie-Noëlle Semeria, director

CEA-Leti, a Grenoble, France-based research institute for electronics and information technologies, is one of the world’s largest organizations for applied research in microelectronics and nanotechnology.

Overview

A subsidiary of the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) France’s nuclear and renewable energy commission, Leti was established in 1967 in Grenoble, a university town in the French Alps that has now become an internationally recognized scientific hub. Today, the CEA-Leti is granted over 286 patents a year and handles a portfolio of more than 2,200 patented inventions.

The institute employs 1,700 people, while training more than 162 graduate students (38% foreigners), 36 PostDoc and hosting 200 collaborators from its research and industrial partners. It has extensive facilities for micro- and nanotechnology research, including 200mm and 300mm fabrication lines, 11,000m² of cleanroom space, and laboratories and equipment that provide first-class nanoscale characterization, chemistry and biology, photonics, design and upstream research capabilities.

Mission

Leti’s mission is to create and transfer to industry novel technologies, capable of improving the quality of life of individuals worldwide. Leti does this by helping companies to bridge the gap between basic research and manufacturing, creating new spin-off companies and drawing on its extensive know-how to help its industrial partners to excel. In all its activities, Leti maintains a focus on usefulness and manufacturability.

Milestones

Primary areas of activity and applications

CEA-Leti’s technologies provide innovation and competitive advantage for its partners across a wide range of industrial sectors including aerospace, automotive, communications, health care, housing and information technology.

Partnerships

Leti researchers work closely with industrial partners from around the world in focused strategic partnerships to accelerate the development and commercialization of new technology. Leti also is engaged with numerous cooperative research initiatives, including:

Leti’s European partnerships are aimed at strengthening Europe’s competitive position in key technological areas and developing new technologies. Examples include:

Spinoffs

Since its early days, Leti has encouraged the transfer of technology to private industry through an ambitious spinoff program that supports the formation of new companies. Thus far, 37 companies have been formed as Leti spinoffs, resulting in the creation of more than 2,500 jobs.

One of the most successful of these new companies is the Soitec Group, a Bernin, France-based developer of silicon-on-insulator and other related semiconductor substrate technologies, which spun off from Leti in 1992. Soitec, which is listed on the Euronext Paris exchange, reported sales of €$209 million during the fiscal year ended in March 2010.

Other Leti spinoffs include:

References

External links