IMT BUCHAREST: BRIEF HISTORY
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The National Institute for Research and Development in Microtechnologies –IMT Bucharest was set up by a Decision of the Romanian Government (HG 1318/1996).

The activity domain of the institute (named below just IMT) is reiterated in another Decision of the Romanian Government (No. 998, from 2nd of August, 2006). IMT performs scientific research and technological development in micro and nanotechnologies. The spectrum of activities is very broad, from fundamental to industrial research, also including small-scale production, education etc.

The Institute for Microtechnology (IMT) was set up on July 23, 1993 (by reorganization of the Centre of Microtechnology, founded in 1991) by Governmental Decision No. 360, as unit coordinated by the Ministry of Education and Research. IMT had the headquarters at S.C. Microelectonica S.A. and used a part of the equipments and personnel of that company.

The National Institute for R&D in Microtechnologies (IMT Bucharest) was set up at the end of 1996 (Governmental Decision no. 1318/1996) by merging IMT with the former Institute of Semiconductors Electronics (ICCE), taking over the building, equipments and personnel of ICCE. At the end of March 1997, the direct activity in S.C. Microelectronica S.A. stopped, a part of the personnel coming back to the company. In this starting period of the institute, external contacts were developed and the access to foreign laboratories was facilitated, with a significant success in coordinating the MEMSWAVE European project, later (2002) nominated for the Descartes prize, which is annually awarded to the best research project developed through European collaboration. In the period 2000 – 2003, IMT extended its activity at national level, first by projects in the “micro-nano” field from the revised ORIZONT 2000 programme and later on (starting 2001) by consortia developing projects financed by MATNANTECH programme (New Materials, Micro and Nanotechnologies).

IMT coordinated several networks financed by this programme. The multidisciplinary character of the activity was strengthened and the activities in nanotechnologies and micro-nanotechnologies areas intensified, starting projects in collaboration with industry, including the cooperation with Samsung Company (South Korea).

In the period starting 2004, the investments increased, especially from contracts funding (in 2006 and 2007 significant investments came from budgetary funds). In 2005, the first clean room at international standards was set up and a second clean room was made available in 2006. 12 infrastructure projects were developed at IMT, 4 of them funded by CEEX Programme for Research of excellence / module IV (started in 2006) and 8 projects financed by “Capacities” programme, National Plan II (started in 2007).

In this period, the European cooperation was intensified. Starting February 2004, the European Commissioner for Research Philippe Bousquin declared after a visit at IMT that this institute is a “pioneer of integration in ERA of the Eastern Europe”. In 2005- 2006, IMT was involved in 15 various European projects. Since 2012, IMT was and is involved in 11 FP7 projects and other related FP7 projects (ENIAC, Leonardo, EUREKA, MNT ERANET), not to mention the bilateral cooperation. Remarkable is the financing by the European Commission of the Centre of Excellence for “RF and opto MEMS” in IMT (MIMOMEMS project, financed by REGPOT programme for EU countries).

The research thematic area had an evolution well adapted to the international dynamics of the domain. In the new national and international projects, new research areas and subdivisions were approached, especially for integration of micro-nano-info and micro-nano-bio, but also technologies for alternative energy and for improvement of the living environment. In accordance with the strategy adopted in February 2008, the themes approached in the current projects address integrated/convergent technologies, already covering some part of the strategic directions mentioned at that time.

The failure (just below the threshold) of the project to be financed from structural funds, in March 2008 (POS-CCE-Operation 221) (proposal for the set up of a centre for technologies integration - CINTTECH) disrupted only at the level of a “secondary scenario” the approach of the proposed thematic. Therefore, the recent technological investments and fittings already permit the interdisciplinary approach of convergence themes such as: biosensors with carbon nanotubes and systems for nucleic acids detection, biochips for biological analyses, microgrippers for MEMS, methods for handling and detection of nucleic acids, etc. A second group of recent studies and developments – also according to CINTTECH thematic – is related to new materials and processes based applications (such as: sensors on diamond and silicon carbide substrate, devices in GHz domain on modern wide band gap substrates (GaN, AlN), nanocomposites for fuel cells, soft lithography technologies for micro-nanophotonics, substrates for transparent electronics, alternative materials for photovoltaic cells).

All these topics announce the initiation of development and growth in the domain of proposed convergent technologies, as well as the need to address these technologies in terms of materials-processes-products. In the evolution of scientific and technological research at international level, the orientation is shaping in the direction of exploiting the special properties of some materials processed and structured at the nanoscale. Recent market researches confirm the focus on this scientific area and the level of experience and endowments of the institute allow the passage to this level of interest.

Another characteristic feature of this period is the development of technology transfer and innovation infrastructures with a Centre for Technology Transfer in microengineering (CTT-Baneasa) accredited in 2005 and a Science and Technology Park for micro- and nanotechnologies (MINATECH-RO), launched in June 2006. The park was organized in collaboration with University “Politehnica” of Bucharest (the major part of the activity is however developed in IMT).

At the end of 2007, steps were taken concerning the reaccreditation of the institute, based on the new legislation. The self-evaluation report was validated to a large extent by the evaluation commission. The figures show a substantial overcome of the standards necessary for accreditation. The institute was reaccredited in 2008.