Biography
Prof. Olivier Bonnaud
Prof. Olivier Bonnaud
University of Rennes 1, France - GIP-CNFM, France - Southeast University, China
Title: Strategy for higher education in electronic circuits to meet the challenges of the growing digital society
Abstract: 

The evolution of electronic circuits and systems has been closely linked to the phenom-enal advances in microelectronics and nanotechnology over the past 60 years. The in-credible increase in the performance of electronic and microelectronic circuits and the improvement of manufacturing processes have paved the way for much denser and more powerful computing and memory structures, as well as for multidisciplinary technolo-gies such as microelectromechanical systems. This evolution has enabled the develop-ment of new products, including connected objects that contain sensors and actuators as well as data processing functions, analog/digital converters and remote transmission functions. They allow remote control of a large number of objects involved in all societal applications such as security, transportation, communications, health, environment, en-ergy, etc. Their development has been growing exponentially since 2005 within the IoT (Internet of Things) family. This technology at the heart of the digital society requires, in addition to long-distance transmissions, a large number of servers and huge data cen-ters. All these functions and equipment are physically manufactured using devices and electronic circuits that must be more efficient in terms of speed, data processing, mem-orization, integration, but also in reducing energy consumption. Indeed, the electrical power consumed by the entire digital chain corresponds to more than 12% of the world's electrical consumption in 2022. This consumption is growing exponentially as the num-ber of connected objects and this evolution seems to reach a dead end during the next decade, leading to a catastrophic situation worldwide. 

Thus, a very important effort must be made in terms of innovation of technologies, circuit architectures, but also the use of natural resources in materials and rare elements. A lot of research work is currently being carried out worldwide in this area. All these innova-tions and increases in performance will require increasing skills in quality and number, in the field of electronics but also with a multidisciplinary extension. The challenges are therefore focused on training at the global level, knowing that the number of technicians, engineers and doctors is becoming insufficient in the field of electronics and microelec-tronics and their applications.

The sector Industrialists are talking about jobs in shortage, as demand is so strong for increasingly complex and rapidly evolving techniques and technologies. To meet these challenges, a number of actions have been identified at the electronics level. At the French level, the French national microelectronics training network, the CNFM, has been involved for several years in these challenges in conjunction with the Comité Stratégique de Filière (Sector Strategic Committee), which the majority of the national electronics industrial community. Knowing that effective innovation actors have up-to-date knowledge and know-how, the solution has been to develop mutualized inter-university technical and technological platforms hosting students and employees of companies on which they acquire the indispensable know-how. The national network provides access to more than 90 platforms located in the 12 national inter-university centers. Mutualization allows the acquisition of tools and equipment which, without being at the level of complexity and precision of those of industrial production, allow the assimilation of the principles of clean room manufacturing technologies, characterization and testing, or design on dedicated workstations. Indeed, circuit design is carried out on industrial CAD tools (Computer-Aided-Design) distributed worldwide, which allow future players to familiarize themselves with the corresponding highly sophisticated environments. To achieve this, the network needs support through public and private funding that can be obtained through national and even European calls for projects. This approach is one of the components of the strategy. After a presentation of the context and the specific needs of electronics and microelec-tronics in order to meet the technological challenges, the strategy developed in France to pool innovative practices and equipment in the field of electronic circuits and systems is described. Examples of achievements of students in initial training bringing the neces-sary know-how will be given knowing that the thematic coverage of the needs is large and that innovation must be permanent. The final objective is to adapt the pedagogy and increase the pool of trained students to meet the needs of future careers of our graduate students and engineers in the digital society to come. 


Keywords 

Microelectronics, digital societal challenges, future electronics skills, know-how training strategy

Biography: 
Olivier Bonnaud, born in 1950 in France, was successively a student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay (France), doctor in microelectronics, and doctor "es-science". In 1984, he became a full professor at the University of Rennes 1 and Supelec ("Grande Ecole") in the field of microelectronics. He then created a research laboratory (Microelectronics Laboratory, currently a department of the Institute of Electronics and Digital Technologies of Rennes - IETR) which he runs until 2012, and several postgraduate and doctoral courses (national and international masters, university degrees, microelectronics modules). He was Director of Doctoral Studies at the University of Rennes 1 for 10 years. He has supervised 43 PhDs, more than half of them in close collaboration with microelectronics companies. He has been a member of more than 300 thesis juries (100 times President), both in France and abroad in the frame of international cooperations. In the context of his research and teaching, he has published or presented more than 570 papers (380 in international journals and proceedings), including 80 invited papers/keynotes at international conferences, and has written or co-authored 7 books. He has chaired or co-chaired 23 international conferences and over 25 national conferences. Founder in 1985 of the "Centre Commun de Microélectronique de l'Ouest (CCMO)", a regional interuniversity microelectronics common center, he was its director until 2010, when he was appointed by the French Minister of Higher Education as executive director of the GIP-CNFM, a Public Interest Group entitled "National Coordination for Education in Microelectronics and Nanotechnologies". Since then, he has coordinated this network of 12 French interuniversity training centers in microelectronics and nanotechnology, which host more than 16,000 students per year for practical training on dedicated microelectronics platforms. During his career, he has been successively President of the French Association of Electronics and Computer Automation (EEA), President of the European Association for Education in Electrical and Information Engineering (EAEEIE), President of the National University Council in Electronics and Electrical Engineering of the French Ministry (in charge of recruiting and promoting professors of the academic community in this field), expert for several research agencies and scientific delegate for the national research and higher education evaluation agencies. As part of his many international cooperations, he was promoted as a foreign international expert of "1000 talents" program by Chinese government in 2013 and awarded by Brazilian Society of Microelectronics (SBMicro) in 2019 for his 25 years of scientific research cooperation. Since 2013, he has been an emeritus professor at the University of Rennes 1 and a permanent visiting professor at the Southeast University in Nanjing, China. He received the Jiangsu Province Friendship Award in 2018 for his more than 15 years of scientific and educational cooperation with Nanjing.