Future of Semiconductors (FuSe)
Funding Agency:
- National Science Foundation
The current state of semiconductor microelectronic systems is at a crossroads. Continued advances in the range and capabilities of our technologies as well as reducing their cost of applications across computing, sensing, and communications represent a tremendous opportunity. The technology has expanded following the trends in miniaturization long characterized by Moore’s Law, underpinned by new materials, processes, devices, and architectures. The developments in these underpinning areas have often progressed independent of the application area, delaying their incorporation into the next-generation technologies. Closing that gap between the essential components in the technology stack, from materials through devices to systems, is now required to ensure further progress. The materials, devices and systems need to be co-designed, that is, designed with simultaneous consideration of as many elements of the technology chain as possible, spanning materials, devices, circuits, architectures, software, and applications.
Furthermore, developing a sufficient pool of diverse and multi-disciplinary talent suitable for workforce participation in the US is also essential for the future success of the semiconductor microelectronics field. In addition to fundamental and applied research, rapid developments in the vibrant field of semiconductors also offer new and unique opportunities and challenges when it comes to workforce preparation, education, and broadening participation. Co-design has been widely recognized in government and industry studies as means to accelerate advances in semiconductor technology. A holistic, co-design approach can more rapidly create high-performance, robust, secure, compact, energy-efficient, and cost-effective solutions. The technological challenges that are overcome by co-design approaches include: dramatically reducing the energy consumption of the existing computation and communication systems; reducing the impact of device and system manufacturing on the environment; increasing performance speed and capacity; and developing novel computing systems.
Expediting the next and future generations of semiconductor systems will impact all aspects of modern life and all industries of our economy. The future of semiconductor manufacturing will require the design and deployment of diverse new technologies in materials, chemical and materials processes, devices, architectures through the development of application-driven systems, and engaging the full spectrum of talent in the academic community and industrial sectors. Partnerships between industry and institutions of higher education are essential to spur innovation and technology transfer, to inform the research needs, and to educate future researchers and train the future workforce.
The goal of this solicitation is to cultivate a broad coalition of researchers from across science and engineering communities to utilize a holistic, co-design approach to fundamental research and education and training, to enable rapid progress in new semiconductor technologies. Proposals are sought to support team-formation to articulate co-design visions for the future. Teaming grants are expected to support capacity building across the co-design platform, which positions investigators for future competitive larger research grants and possibly future center activity. Teaming grants can also support catalytic activities that foster stakeholder community networks to develop strategies that address the innovative co-design capacity of the U.S. for future semiconductors at the national research center level. Teaming grants prepares groups of complimentary researchers to respond to future calls for co-design research and potentially centers.
Initially, team formation is directed to the following three research areas identified for support in FY 2022 under this solicitation, as described in greater detail below:
- Collaborative Research in Domain-Specific Computing
- Advancing Function and Achieving High-Performance from Heterointegration
- New Materials for Energy Efficient, Enhanced-performance and Sustainable Semiconductor-based Systems
Standard Grant or Cooperative Agreement
$10,000,000
July 18, 2022
- Sankar Basu, (CISE/CCF), telephone: (703) 292-7843, email: sabasu@nsf.gov
- Geoffrey Brown, (TIP), telephone: (703) 292-4749, email: gebrown@nsf.gov
- Erik N. Brunvand, (CISE/CNS), telephone: (703) 292-2767, email: ebrunvan@nsf.gov