JSC Mikron

JSC Mikron was established in 1964 for development and commercial production of domestic integrated circuits in Zelenograd, 40 km away from Moscow. Mikron’s production site and laboratory base act as a nucleus round which the Russian Silicon Valley is reborning.

Nowadays JSC Mikron is the parent enterprise of the business division SITRONICS Microelectronics. The principal shareholder of JSC Mikron is Joint-Stock Company SITRONICS (the majority shareholder is JSFC Sistema) possessing 77.081% of shares. The state (Rosimushestvo) has 9.879 of the enterprise’s shares.

In 2009, JSC Mikron, together with the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) and STMicroelectronics – one of the leaders of the world’s semiconductor industry, started implementing a project in creation of a chip production line using 90 nm process technology on 200 mm wafers.

Mikron is the most up-to-date Russian enterprise in terms of technology level and equipment availability, the largest semiconductor product manufacturer in CIS and Eastern Europe. The enterprise produces more than 500 kinds of integrated circuits and semiconductor products. JSC Mikron supplies products virtually to all regions of Russia, CIS, China and South-Eastern Asia. Mikron employs about 1,700 persons, 45% of the employees have higher education, 35 persons have an academic degree.

JSC Mikron implemented and supports a quality management system complying with requirements of ISO 9001:2000. In 2008, Mikron was the first among Russian semiconductor manufacturers to certify production according to the Environmental management system standard ISO 14001.

The company is a member of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA).

The company’s strategic goal is consolidation of its position on the domestic market and positioning in local segments of the global market (including in the field of foundry services). The company intends to overcome the technology lag from global manufactures and create an up-to-date ICs production in Russia, which could provide high quality products for domestic customers of microelectronics, transport applications, smart-cards.

In 2006 JSC Mikron began a project in production upgrade, within the framework of which the 180 nm EEPROM technology of one of the global microelectronic leaders, STMicroelectronics, was transferred and mastered. 42 companies from 10 countries were equipment and materials suppliers and partners in infrastructure creation, such as M+W Zander, Air Liquid, Hager+Elsasser, Applied Materials, ASML and others. At present, using this technology, integrated circuits on 200 nm wafers are manufactured in the clean room (opened in 2007) for transport and smart cards, system access control, memory chips, prototypes of integrated circuits for social and bank cards, biometric passports.

A trilateral agreement was signed in 2010 with the RUSNANO and STMicroelectronics on technology transfer and granting access to rules of designing 90 nm chips. At present, equipment purchase, extension of production areas and training of company’s employees by international partners is performed within the framework of this project. Project implementation will allow extending the functions of Mikron’s existing product line and complement it with new prospective products which are used in digital television, satellite navigation and industrial electronics.

Mikron has a powerful scientific and engineering school. About 15-20% of the company’s annual revenue is spent on research and developments, about 400 persons are involved in this activity. Scientific research is carried out in close integration with global and Russian research organizations – JSC Mikron cooperates on a permanent basis with over 60 branch and academic R&D institutes and design centres.

Mikron has about 400 clients in Russia and 100 abroad. The export share in the sales structure is about 20%, the main directions are China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan.

After implementing the technology of manufacturing 180 nm integrated circuits, about 150 persons completed training at Mikron partner enterprises in USA, Europe and Japan. Within the framework of the project in creation of 90 nm integrated circuits production, Mikron specialists undergo international training in design and technology, infrastructure maintenance.

Each year, over 1,000 specialists pass extension courses, trainings and seminars, improve foreign language knowledge. Mikron was home to two academicians (AS of the USSR and RAS) and four RAS corresponding members.