NSF Convergence Accelerator Track I: FUTUR-IC: A Sustainable Microchip Manufacturing Alliance

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

There is an ever-increasing demand for the technological benefits that microchips provide. The FUTUR-IC Global Alliance for Sustainable Microchip Manufacturing creates self-consistent 3D technology, education and workforce solutions to sustain the continued progress of the semiconductor manufacturing and the information systems industry, which is confronted with limits to transistor size, energy efficiency, and to its workforce pipeline readiness. Frontier constraints in the microchip industry are: 1) Technology/Profits: Enhanced microchip functionality for next generation applications such as AI, 6G, LiDAR etc. can no longer depend solely on shrinking the dimensions of a transistor; 2) Education for everyone; 3) Workforce/People: Leadership from a new globally competitive STEM workforce is required. Concurrently engineered solutions are expected to build a common learning curve to power the next 40 years of progress for the semiconductor industry. FUTUR-IC will: 1) Benefit consumers: Enhance life with new products; 2) Foster future innovators and enhance full-spectrum workforce training: Extend education in microchip technologies to recruit and retain a globally competitive workforce that includes everyone 3)Transform the global microchip supply chain: Provide coherent technology evolution for economic development and national security Technology: Dimensional scaling of transistors is approaching atomic dimensions, with cost/energy/bandwidth-density requirements challenging fundamental physics. The emerging near-term sustainable solution is photonics for communication and electronics for computation, and hence FUTUR-IC is investigating (i) innovation in sustainable Electronic-Photonic Package (EPP) with I/O >1 Pb/s, to obtain low materials-consumption, reliable, ultralow power, and low insertion loss coupling, of high bandwidth fiber optics to the microchip package with planar, non-planar, and pluggable optical connection, (ii) Design for UR4 (upgrade, reduce, reuse, recycle, repair) to minimize e-waste; and (iii) PFAS measurement and removal from chip fabrication and packaging processes to secure the supply chain. Microchip workforce needs are led by capacity, and capability for innovation and commercialization of that innovation. FUTUR-IC will create an innovative workforce educated with blended learning content in STEM, semiconductor technology, and sustainability, using instructional design and leading-edge learning science to deliver a curriculum that is effective for perennial reskilling and upskilling for everyone. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.