Imec presents Lifetime of Innovation Award to ASML President and CTO Martin van den Brink

Today at FutureSummits 2019, imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technology, announced that Martin van den Brink, President & Chief Technology Officer of ASML, receives the Imec Lifetime of Innovation Award 2019. With this, imec acknowledges the personal contribution of van den Brink in the realization of ever more powerful microchips. He is a key figure in the success story of ASML, which has enabled the mass production of the most advanced microchips with the development of innovative lithography systems. The award ceremony will take place on May 14 in Antwerp, during the Imec Technology Forum Belgium – one of the three conferences that are part of imecs FutureSummits.

“Martin van den Brink has practically become synonymous with ASML, that over the past 35 years has grown into the absolute world-leader in the development of lithography equipment for the chip industry,” said Luc Van den hove, President and CEO at imec. “Through his technical talent and perseverance, and as a major pioneer of technical innovation, he has contributed significantly to this success story.”

That Martin van den Brink receives this year’s Imec Lifetime of Innovation Award, is almost symbolic. Luc Van den hove: “ASML has worked for more than 20 years on the development of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, aiming at the 7nm technology node and smaller. The road was full of challenges, but thanks to the long-term vision and the “never-give-up” mentality of van den Brink, the first chips with EUV-printed structures will go into production this year. In addition, ASML is celebrating its 35th anniversary, just like imec. We started together, we have had intense collaboration for years, and we have become successful together.”

Martin van den Brink, engineer and physicist, was an early employee when ASML was launched in 1984, and held various positions within the company. In 1995, he became Vice President Technology, and in 1999 he was appointed Executive Vice President Marketing & Technology and a member of the Board of Directors. In 2013 he became President & CTO of ASML. Martin van den Brink has received various awards, such as the IEEE Cledo Brunetti Award in 2014 (for his contributions to nanotechnology) and the IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal in 2015 (for his exceptional contributions to the microelectronics industry).

The annual Imec Lifetime of Innovation Award has been awarded since 2015 to people who left an important mark on the chip industry. Earlier, Dr. Morris Chang (TSMC), Dr. Gordon Moore (founder of Intel), Dr. Kinam Kim (Samsung) and Dr. Irwin Jacobs (Qualcomm) received the award.

Luc Van den hove: “They are all pioneers in the field of, respectively, the foundry model, more powerful compute and memory chips, and mobile communication. And for each of these domains, Martin van den Brink’s lithography roadmap was an unmistakable ’enabler’.”