Purdue launches institute for microelectronics development
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Purdue University on Wednesday announced the launch of the Institute for Advanced System Integration and Packaging, or ASIP. The institute will have a focus on research to more quickly design and build microelectronic systems to improve reliability and reduce costs.
The institute was announced as part of the 2023 Purdue Silicon Summit, which is bringing leaders from the semiconductor industry to the West Lafayette campus through Oct. 25.
Ganesh Subbarayan, the James G. Dwyer Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue, will serve as director of ASIP and told Inside INdiana Business the institute will serve as a leader in advanced packaging, which has been limited in the U.S. for the last 30 years.
“There are only a handful of universities that have the ability to do packaging, and even fewer that can do advanced packaging,” he said. “We have research focused on advanced packaging, and this institute [is meant] to highlight our capability to do advanced packaging, to bring to focus our strength in advanced packaging.”
Advanced packaging refers to building semiconductor chips by combining several smaller chips as close together as possible to achieve the function of a single larger chip. Subbarayan said those smaller chips could integrate multiple complex functions into one large system.
“Now, we can build smaller chips at lower cost and integrate them together to perform the function of what we would have achieved with one large chip had we been able to manufacture it,” he said. “And the other issue is now we can take multiple different chips with different functions and basically integrate them into a system that we couldn’t do if you manufacture everything with one technology.”
The research will also focus on system integration, which is the design activity that precedes chip fabrication and involves looking at ways to reduce heat from the chips and ensuring reliability.
Currently, the U.S. has only 3% of the global packaging capability, according to Purdue, but advanced packaging creates new opportunities. Subbarayan said Purdue has about 30 faculty who work in various aspects of advanced packaging, and the institute aims to highlight that strength.
“ASIP is the latest chapter of leadership for Purdue as the semiconductor industry seeks new ways to advance system performance and reshore packaging,” Purdue Chief Semiconductor Officer Mark Lundstrom said in a news release. “Purdue will lead the charge with a foundation of strong partners and a growing list of future collaborators.”
Purdue said it will work with several partners to establish ASIP, including California-based Cadence Design Systems, Osaka University in Japan, and Belgium-based Imec, which signed a memorandum of understanding with Purdue earlier this year to advance R&D in Indiana’s semiconductor industry.
“With our long track record in advanced R&D on semiconductor and system integration and packaging and our mission to drive the semiconductor industry forward by collaborating with the entire value chain, we look forward to partnering with ASIP to build up the necessary knowledge,” Imec CEO Luc Van den hove said in written remarks. “An initiative like ASIP is important to enabling the CHIPS Act and propelling the semiconductor industry forward.”
Subbarayan said the long-term goal is for ASIP to be the premier institute for any research related to advanced packaging and system integration. He said the institute could also help serve as an economic driver for the state.
“We want to highlight the strength in Indiana in advanced packaging so potentially, companies that are looking to invest in Indiana in electronics would look at us and say, “Okay, here’s the reason why we should come to Indiana and invest in Indiana.'”