Historically microelectronics is known for its evolution of the minimal 
dimensions on the chip, from 100.000 nanometer in the eighties till 50 
nanometer now. This trend has resulted in the complex microprocessors 
having one billion transistors on a squared centimeter and the low cost 
Gigabit memories of today. At the same time costs of manufacturing 
facilities have increased from a hundred million Euro in 1980 to 10 
billion Euro now. This will result in worldwide only a few advanced CMOS 
factories manufacturing thousands of transistors per second. At the same 
time the applications of microelectronics has evolved from data processing 
and data storage to a manifold of new applications related to health, 
environment, energy and infrastructure. These applications do not require 
the most advanced technology, but rather involve high creativity and a 
multidisciplinary approach, an ideal playground for academic institutions.
In this presentation we shall highlight the unique and strong position of 
the Dutch industry in microelectronics. The Delft Institute of 
Microsystems and Nanoelectronics will be introduced as the largest 
academic research centre in the field in Europe together with its 
activities in international education and valorization. To strengthen 
cooperation between Dutch industry and knowledge institutes a new 
government initiative – Point One – has been established. Finally 
opportunities for Malaysia will be discussed.
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<i>About the speaker...</i><br>
Kees Beenakker was born in Leiden in 1948. After the gymnasium he studied 
chemistry and physics at Leiden university. In 1974 he joined Philips 
Research Laboratories in Eindhoven. There he was involved in various 
research projects related to IC technology. In 1982 he moved to the 
Philips Semiconductor Division in Nijmegen to become head of the corporate 
assembly process and equipment development. In 1987 he resigned at Philips 
and became cofounder of Eurasem, a European hi-rel IC assembly company. In 
1989 Kees Beenakker joined Dimes and is since 1990 full professor at the 
faculty of EEMCS (Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer 
Science) of Delft University of Technology. From From 1999 till 2009 he 
was chairman of the department of Microelectronics and Computer 
Engineering. He is a founder of the Else Kooi Foundation, the SAFE 
conference, the Tsing Hua-TU Delft training centre of microelectronics 
technology in Beijing and the Fudan-TU Delft International school of 
microelectronics in Shanghai. In 1990 he was on behalf of UNIDO advisor to 
MIMOS in Malaysia. Since March 2006 he holds a honorary guest 
professorship at the Tsinghua University in Beijing. In March 2007 he was 
appointed scientific director of DIMES, the Delft institute of 
microsystems and nanoelectronics. Since June 2008 he is elected chaiman of 
the academic council of Point-One, the national initiative on 
nanoelectronics and embedded systems.