A Ukrainian software company has won a €1.22 million grant from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 innovation and research programme for a product that could save semiconductor firms millions of euros by eliminating faulty chip manufacture.
Polyteda Cloud is receiving the grant towards a two-year project, "Innovative Cloud-Based PV Workflow for Semiconductor Foundries”, as part of a programme designed to make the European microelectronics industry more competitive.
The money will help the company develop and customise a microcircuit checking tool to verify the design of semiconductors before chips are manufactured at the fabrication plant. The tool identifies design errors so they can be fixed before new microchips are committed to production, saving manufacturers millions of euros in losses and time-to-market delays.
Polyteda Cloud was one of only 10 of 250 applicants to receive the funding. The circuit checking product was selected for its innovative nature and the belief that it will revolutionise the market for software tools designing integrated circuits. Polyteda is the first Ukrainian company to receive financing under the highly competitive Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase 2 programme.
The company expects the product will soon be introduced by a minimum of three European semiconductor producers.
Polyteda Cloud, headquartered in Kiev, was founded in 2015 by Polyteda Ukraine LLC for the development of a cloud-based physical verification (PV) toolset and corresponding business model.
The EU’s Horizon 2020 has nearly €80 billion of funding available over seven years (2014 to 2020) for applicants from EU member states and associated countries.