CAN CHIPS RESIST HIGH RADIATION? YES THEY CAN

RESEARCHERS IN FOCUS

No new and expensive manufacturing processes, no special materials are required. MAGICS just uses its knowledge and creativity to develop chips that can resist the highest levels of radiation. Prof. Paul Leroux, Campus Chair in Geel and head of the ADVISE research lab, inspired 2 of his PhD students to start up a spin-off in radiation hardened electronic solutions.

In 2004 Prof. Leroux – lecturer at KH Kempen (now KU Leuven Technology Campus Geel) – was contacted by the Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK-CEN) to support its research on the development of electronic circuits that can resist high radiation levels inside the ITER fusion reaction vessel. By 2009 Prof. Leroux’ chips were achieving record radiation tolerance levels. In 2010 he was awarded the FWO-FNRS Prof. Van Geen Research Prize. In the same year Prof. Leroux was invited by the EU-Fusion for Energy Organisation to examine the feasibility of a chip able to read out sensors under high radiation. Robust chips should be designed and produced using a clever architecture, dedicated transistor circuits and a specific lay-out requiring almost as little space as usual chips.

Engineer and entrepreneur

Prof. Leroux engaged two PhD students in the project. Jens Verbeeck, a graduate of Technology Campus Geel and Ying Cao from China. Their research results were soon presented at several international conferences, creating a growing demand to buy the chips.

From left to right: Ying Cao, Prof. Leroux and Jens Verbeeck

Jens and Ying Cao took the opportunity to start up their own company. Referring to the standard of radiation, they named it initially ‘Magyics’, but soon it became ‘MAGICS Instruments’.

With the support of Leuven Research and Development (LRD) and SCK-CEN, the new company took off in 2015. Prof. Leroux is Director and Member of the Board. Jens is Chief Executive Officer and Ying Cao is Chief Technology Officer. Meanwhile, an experienced chip designer and a graduate from Technology Campus Geel joined the team.

Growing business

“Whatever politicians decide about the future of nuclear energy, we will do business”, Prof. Leroux declares. “Stopping the nuclear plants will require complex dismantling procedures asking for sensors and chips to monitor every step. On the other hand, choosing to continue nuclear energy production supposes investment in new sensor and chip technology to control the processes. Moreover, we strongly believe that our research can be of great use in the space and aviation industry.

MAGICS instruments: developing robust and smart chips

At the moment, 8 PhD students of Prof. Leroux are doing research on smart and robust chips for harsh environment applications including the particle accelerators and detectors at CERN in Geneva. Six more PhD students will start in 2017 supported by the Horizon 2020 Innovation Training Network RADSAGA.

Dirk De Roose

Looking for a job or internship? Contact@magics.tech

Looking for a PhD position in chip design? paul.leroux@kuleuven.be