Pilot program connects microelectronics industry with world-class instruments and materials-science expertise at Brookhaven and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories to speed innovation and manufacture of advanced semiconductor chips
UPTON, N.Y. — Two major U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories and NY Creates, a New York-based semiconductor research center that convenes key members of the microelectronics industry, have launched a pilot program funded by the DOE Office of Science to accelerate the development of advanced semiconductor chips. The pilot program was announced in September at a kickoff meeting at the Albany NanoTech Complex, owned and operated by the nonprofit New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering, and Science (NY Creates). The program will facilitate access to world-class scientific User Facilities and expertise at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for chip manufacturers and foster connections among scientists and the industrial partners who ultimately transform laboratory advances into commercial products.
Bindu Nair (center, front), the U.S. Department of Energy’s Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences, met with members of the pilot project during a kickoff meeting and tour of the Albany NanoTech Complex of NY Creates in September. (NY Creates)
Through this pilot program, industry partners will work with Lab experts to design experiments that address the most significant challenges the industry identifies. The pilot will lower barriers for these industrial partners to access the National Laboratories’ state-of-the-art equipment. This will ultimately speed the deployment of discoveries and innovations at those facilities into the next generation of chips for essential technologies, including those needed for advanced applications in Super Intelligence (SI).
“This pilot program will explore avenues for bolstering U.S. technological leadership in the semiconductor industry,” said DOE Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences Bindu Nair. “By leveraging the unique capabilities and expertise at each facility, we can enhance U.S. competitiveness in a field that is of paramount importance to the nation’s strategic and economic security.”
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Image: Scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Center for X-ray Optics (CXRO) align synchrotron light at the CXRO beamline at the Advanced Light Source.
Credit: Thor Swift/Berkeley Lab