Research Institutes, Centres and Units - Universiti Sains Malaysia

Collaborative Micro-Electronic
Design Excellence Centre (CEDEC)
Collaborative Micro-Electronic Design Excellence Centre, or CEDEC as it is generally
called, is a Ministry of Finance approved Centre of Excellence located at Universiti
Sains Malaysia to coordinate an important area of microchip design and research, in
particular on human capital development. The scarcity of local designers is seen as
one of the main obstacles of substantial investment in value-added activities, which is
design and fabrication of electronic products in Malaysia. Already CEDEC oversees the
enhancement of microelectronic design among seven local universities and presently
working with two silicon foundries (MIMOS and Silterra) for free microchip fabrication
services. Completing the microchip production flow, packaging service is provided free
by SHRDC (Selangor Human Resource Development Centre) through AIC in Kulim.
All these complimentary arrangements have been agreed upon through meeting at
the Ministry of Finance level for the benefit of the nation. Till now the intended role
of CEDEC for national initiatives on value-added activities of electronics have been
mentioned in the IMP3, Economic Report 2007/2008 and recently in the NCER.
Core Activities at CEDEC
Some of the core activities at CEDEC include:-
1.Training and Human Resource Development
2.Design Consultancy Services
3.Testing and Measurement Services
4.Research and Development
Through the usage of industry-standard IC Design sofware, training and seminars are
being continously conducted for undergraduate and postgraduate students, lecturers
and engineers from the industry. CEDEC also provide design services related to three
main focused area: IC, MEMS and Microelectronic system. On the national scenario,
CEDEC is affiliated to the Malaysian IC Design Association (MICDA), association recently
formed for local design houses. CEDEC also have some state-of-the-art characterization
equipments for use in test and measurement of fabricated microchip functionalities.
Research Activities
CEDEC focus on 3 major areas:
Integrated Circuit Design
Research in this area including modeling, designing, fabricating and characterization of
microelectronic device and circuit with improved performance in terms of speed and
power consumption.