The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced a Notice of Intent (NOI) to solicit research and development (R&D) activities that will help establish and accelerate domestic capacity for advanced semiconductor packaging.
The CHIPS for America program plans to allocate up to $1.6 billion to fund innovation across five R&D areas, as described in the vision for the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP). Through potential cooperative agreements, CHIPS for America aims to provide multiple awards of around $150 million in each research area, leveraging private sector investments from industry and academia.
CHIPS for America includes the CHIPS Program Office, which handles manufacturing incentives, and the CHIPS R&D Office. Both offices are under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at the Department of Commerce.
The R&D focus areas targeted by this round of funding are:
Equipment, tools, processes, and process integration.
Power delivery and thermal management.
Connector technology, including photonics and radio frequency (RF).
Chiplets ecosystem.
and co-design/electronic design automation (EDA).
“The U.S. will have multiple advanced packaging options across the country and push the envelope in new packaging technologies,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. “This announcement is just the most recent example of our commitment to investing in cutting edge R&D that is critical to creating quality jobs in the U.S. and making our country a leader in advanced semiconductor manufacturing.”
The demand for advanced packaging capacity and R&D has never been higher, nor has its importance to semiconductor technology advancements. Emerging AI-driven applications are pushing the limits of current technologies, including high-performance computing and low-power electronics, necessitating significant advancements in microelectronics capabilities, particularly advanced packaging.
This technology enables manufacturers to enhance system performance and functionality across all aspects while reducing time to market. Additional benefits include a smaller physical footprint, lower power consumption, reduced costs and increased chiplet reuse. Achieving these objectives requires coordinated investments to support integrated R&D activities, establishing leading-edge domestic capacity for semiconductor advanced packaging.
“The National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program will enable a packaging sector within the United States that outpaces the world through innovation driven by robust R&D,” said Laurie E. Locascio, undersecretary of Commerce for standards and technology and NIST director. “Within a decade, through R&D funded by CHIPS for America, we will create a domestic packaging industry where advanced node chips manufactured in the U.S. and abroad can be packaged within the United States and where innovative designs and architectures are enabled through leading-edge packaging capabilities.”
“We’re bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States, teaming with industry to build factories, supply chains, and jobs in communities across the country. That’s how we win today, and CHIPS R&D is how we win tomorrow,” said Arati Prabhakar, assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “Investing in research to accelerate new advanced semiconductor packaging approaches will help this pivotal and fast-changing industry thrive here at home now and into the future.”
In addition to the R&D areas targeted by the NOI, the funding opportunity is expected to include provisions for prototype developments. More information will be shared in an upcoming webinar, with details to be posted on the CHIPS for America website.
In February, CHIPS R&D released its first funding opportunity for the NAPMP, seeking applications for R&D activities to boost domestic capacity for advanced packaging substrates and materials. More than 100 concept papers from 28 states were submitted, and Commerce selected eight teams in May to submit full applications for the NAPMP funding opportunity for materials and substrates.
The CHIPS for America program plans to award approximately $300 million, with individual awards of up to $100 million over a five-year period. These awards may be supplemented by voluntary co-investment.
Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
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