Enabling the electronics industry is a current strategic goal for Egypt and in particular for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). As it is one of the mandates of TIEC and in view of the many MSEs requests received, a new TIEC service, called Fabrication Catalyst (FabCat) Service, is proposed to support growth in this industry. The service enables fabrication of electronic chips designed by Egyptian micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and by academic university projects. This program support the fabrication in either CMOS or MEMS technologies.

FabCat’s main offering principles are as follows:

• Beneficiaries: Egyptian MSEs working in VLSI design and Egyptian Governmental Universities having electronics programs.



• Price: Service price is rated per chip dimensions and technology.



• Approach: Service is offered in annual calls (rounds); 2 calls for MSEs and one call for governmental universities.



• Value: Customer uses the fabricated chips to validate and improve design.



• Selection: Selection Committee composed of experts from industry and academia is formed .



• IP Ownership: Applicant owns all IP rights to the submitted design.

Service Beneficiaries

The FabCat program is intended towards industry (MSEs) to increase the value of their products in the market and academia to validate their designs in order to enhance their research through the fabrication of their designs.    

1- MSEs

For MSEs, the fabrication of innovative designs is supported to provide MSEs a better opportunity to showcase their products to the market. The end impact is the growth of the MSE.

The below figure shows the benefits for MSEs.    

FabCat Service for MSEs.

2- Academia

For academic  university projects, the project advisor is encouraged to propose real-world industrial projects for students. This enhances match making between student capacity and industry needs and hence improves employment opportunities in local and MNCs working in the VLSI area.The service also motivates entrepreneurship through encouraging student with relevant designs to consider establishing their own business and applying for incubation programs such as those offered by TIEC. In addition, chances for student recognition through competitions. Such as TIEC’s IbTIECar (VLSI track) are increased. Last but not least, the FabCat service enhances generation of Egyptian research publications and IPs.

The below figure shows the benefits for academia.

FabCat Service Impact for University Projects.

FabCat Service Description

The FabCat service is announced in annual calls (rounds).In each round, TIEC announces the service for funding the fabrication of electronics design using CMOS/MEMS technologies for both Industry and Academia.  
Below, you will find the fabcat service process model..

In each round for industry, TIEC announces the service for funding the fabrication of electronics design uses CMOS/MEMS technologies for both Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) working in the VLSI area. The applicants from industry are asked to submit a proposal which will be evaluated against selection criteria. The winning applicants are announced, and asked to finalize the design, and submit fabrication file(s) to the fabrication organization, namely the foundry. Once the designs are fabricated, the foundry shall send the fabricated chips. The MSE will use the fabricated chip under supervision of TIEC to do the required measurement, and the chip will be finally kept in the innovation showroom in TIEC.

There are no limitations for the design model, while the GDS files should be submitted within one year.

In each round for academia, TIEC announces the service for funding the fabrication of electronics design using CMOS/MEMS technologies for academic university projects. The applicants from academia are asked to submit a proposal which will be evaluated against selection criteria. The winning applicants are announced, and asked to finalize the design, and submit fabrication file(s) which will be validated by TIEC and submitted to the fabrication organization, namely the foundry. Once the designs are fabricated, The foundry send the fabricated chips. The university project will use the fabricated chip under supervision of TIEC to do the required measurement, and the chip will be finally kept in the innovation showroom in TIEC.

Eligibility Criteria:

Industry Applicants:
Any applying company should satisfy the following conditions:

1. 1- It should be in the category of MSE (Micro and Small Enterprises): Number of Employees should be not more than 50 employees.
2. 2- It should be working in the field of Electronic Design and Development.
3. 3- In case of multi-national companies, it should have design and development team residing in Egypt.
4. 4- Only 1 application is permitted for each applicant.

Academia Applicants

1. 1- The Professor supervising the proposed project should submit.
2. 2- The service is available for governmental universities.
3. 3- The service is provided to university projects in faculties of engineering , who belong to the departments of Electronics , Communication, Computer or Mechatronics Engineering.
4. 4- Only 1 application is permitted for each applicant.

FAQs

Why this service is offered?

Many investments in VLSI design are in companies with no fabrication facilities namely fabless design companies. Although these companies only sell their design, silicon fabrication is important to validate the design through measurements which might lead to design changes. The electronics design which is validated on silicon gets high credibility than the design which is only simulated and this is reflected on sales of the design. Most MSEs in Egypt cannot afford the fabrication cost for a prototype which might exceed 200,000 LE for a 3 mm2 chip for technology 65 nm. This prevents companies from expanding their market and hence limits their growth. Moreover, undergraduate students rarely go through the process of tape-out when the design Is being prepared for fabrication. Addressing these issues in the electronics industry in Egypt and responding to requests from start-ups and MSEs working in this industry, TIEC developed the FabCat service to enable fabrication of VLSI chips.

The selection committee is composed of experts from the industry and academia. There are two important issues in managing the committee members: the protection of the intellectual property of the applicant, and resolving conflict of interest between the members and the applicant.

• Selection committee member sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
• The submitted proposal only includes the commercial information about the design that should be available to the public and does not include the implementation details
• Submission of the final GDS file for MSEs will be done directly to the foundry. In case of university project, submission will be first processed by the technical support team to verify and integrate before sending it to the foundry for fabrication

• The proposal is forwarded to members as anonymous submissions
• The selection committee members from the industry shall referee academia submissions (university projects) and vice versa
• The selection commiittee members includes Egyptian members working abroad in the academia and industry



For more details please contact us on fabcat@tiec.gov.eg

KPIs

"Note: There are no applicants from industry in this round."

Winners

i. August 2015

ii. August 2014 ( Academia )

iii. August 2013 ( Academia )

Fabcat helped the following 9 teams in the fabrication process over the industrial level to increase the value of their research areas.

iv. August 2013 ( Industry )

Fabcat helped just one company [ ELManara for Electronics ] in the fabrication process over the industrial level to increase the value of their products in the market share.