The new advanced microelectronics infrastructure will be created in the heart of Etna Valley for the creation of prototypes of devices necessary for development of innovative applications in the field of electric mobility and telecommunications. The project, presented by the National Research Council (Cnr), is among those approved today by the Governing Board of the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU), an international program established with the Chips Act, the legislative package approved last September by the European Commission with the objective of encouraging and supporting the production of semiconductors at European level.
“I am very proud of this project, which will be coordinated by the National Research Council, and involves the creation of an enabling infrastructure for the microelectronics industrial sector, with particular focus on the Catania area, made possible thanks to the CNR's continuous investment in microelectronics and microsystems sector, which has allowed us to have the critical mass to be able to build this significant opportunity for the economic and technological development of our country, destined to play a leading role in this scenario“, explains the President of the Cnr, Maria Chiara Carrozza. “Furthermore, it is placed in a global context characterized by a growing demand for semiconductors and their fundamental importance for the technological industry, to which Europe responded with the birth of the Chips Act, which allocated 43 billion euros to double by 2030 European chip production and make member states independent from non-EU supplies“.
The approved infrastructure is, in fact, part of the technologies identified by the Pilot Lines of the Chips JU program such as those destined to play a crucial role in the advancement of Europe with particular reference to the most critical and high-impact sectors of microelectronics. Among these technologies is included the creation of an integrated system for the development of wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor technologies for power and radio frequency (RF) electronics, which will be developed by the approved Pilot Line. To achieve this goal, existing structures in the field of advanced semiconductors and related technologies will be strengthened: in Italy “Beyond Nano”, an infrastructure launched in 2020, the result of collaboration between Cnr, the Ministry of University and Research (MUR), Sicilian Region and STMicroelectronics. Added to this are infrastructures present in Finland, Poland, Sweden, Austria, France and Germany, involving universities and research centers in these countries, and bringing together the scientific community and the industrial community in the development of advanced products and processes, in accordance with the roadmaps of the various microelectronic technologies.
In addition to the Cnr, i Italian partners of the project They are the Bruno Kessler Foundation, the Italian Center for the Design of Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Chips-it Foundation, the National Inter-University Consortium for Nanoelectronics IUNET. The initiative was strongly supported by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy (MIMIT), by the MUR and by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) as well as by the Sicilian Region and the Municipality of Catania.
The the overall cost of the project is 360 million euros: 50% will be shared by community funds and 50% by funds made available by the States participating in the proposal. Italy is the state that will receive the largest share of funding: 212 million euros, of which 106 million euros from the European Community, 53 million euros from MUR and an equivalent share from MIMIT. Of these, approximately 190 million euros are intended for the Cnr for the pilot line which will be created through the skills of the Institute of Microelectronics and Microsystems (Cnr-Imm).
“The project is the result of a ten-year journey which aims to shorten the innovation chain in the semiconductor field and which has allowed the effective transfer of consolidated skills in basic research towards emerging technologies. The infrastructure will be available to the regional and national production sector and will play an enabling role for small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the microelectronics sector, which will be able to develop innovative devices based on new materials, with a potential increase in their capabilities for the creation of small low cost production“, adds Stefano Fabris, director of the Department of Physical Sciences and Material Technologies of the Cnr (Cnr-Dsftm).”Even large companies will benefit significantly from its presence, because they will be able to experiment in this pilot line with the technologies to be included in new generation devices. Furthermore, the huge investment planned for the Italian Pilot Line will bring a significant impact on the territory by encouraging employment, related industries, the establishment of new entrepreneurship, and fueling industrial development directly connected with a sector of excellence such as microelectronics, already represented in the 'area”.
“ChipsJU” is an international program that brings together resources from the European Union, including Horizon Europe and Digital Europe, Member States and the private sector to advance the development of advanced transistors, low-power processors and quantum chips. To this end, the program has made available an initial allocation of 1.67 billion euros to launch the first tenders aimed at organizations interested in establishing pilot lines in the Member States and dedicated to four specific strategic technologies: “Fully Depleted Silicon on Insulator” , “Leading-edge nodes below 2nm”, “Heterogeneous system integration and assembly”, “Wide-band semiconductors”. In the medium to long term, the Chips for Europe initiative will introduce important funding and measures to boost the EU's innovation and manufacturing capabilities. “Italy is at the forefront in strengthening its strategy for microelectronics, particularly in the semiconductor sector, representing one of the first European countries to implement the European Chips Act” concludes Vittorio Privitera, director of the Cnr-Imm.
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