Creating Semiconductor Engineering Training Programs

“Education of Chip Designers at a Large Scale: A Proposal” – Prof. Behzad Razavi (IEEE SSC Magazine, Spring 2024) In this article, Prof. Razavi shares his experience about an industry-oriented training course on chip design, which is also called “Tapeout Class.”   The article starts with a very relevant question: “Most of the CHIPS Act fund goes to chip fabrication. Who will design the chips that must fill the capacity of these fabrication lines?” Indeed, governments are showing unprecedented interests in semiconductor fabrication facilities in order to build robust domestic supply chain. In this process, chip (circuit) design skill remains out of focus. An industry-oriented chip design course can address this issue and strongly help produce a significant number of future talents for industry.   In this article, Prof. Razavi describes his experience and the issues he faced during the chip design course in a very lively manner. Young people, willing to develop a career in chip design, would surely benefit from this article because it explains the steps in the chip design process quite authentically with a reasonable timeline. Overall, the idea of the chip design course or “tapeout class” sounds great.       Prof. Razavi concludes the article with some truly practical remarks. “The instructor does need to have an in-depth knowledge of the project topics as well as extensive experience in chip design and measurement. If left to their own devices, even highly intelligent students may develop faulty chips, thereby resenting their experience.” In this regard, I consider myself fortunate enough to have worked with some of the great circuit designers in industry and academia. Link to the article: https://lnkd.in/ekPnE-N3 #chip_design #ic_design #circuit_design

🇮🇳 5 Ways Fabs & OSATs Will Build India’s Semiconductor Ecosystem ✅ 1) Create Anchor Demand → Pull the Supply Chain Into India Once fabs and OSATs commit billions, suppliers follow automatically — gases, chemicals, CMP pads, wet benches, wafers, bonding wire, leadframes, packaging substrates, tools, spare parts. India examples • Micron ATMP (Sanand) → pulling in chemicals, automation vendors, cleanroom firms • Tata OSAT (Dholera) → attracting bonding wire, molding compounds, test equipment service providers • Tata Semiconductor Fab (Dholera) → supply chain planning for gases, CMP slurries, UPW, STP, photochemicals Effect: India shifts from importing fab inputs to manufacturing + supplying them. ✅ 2) Build Semiconductor Talent Pipelines Fabs and ATMP plants don’t just hire — they restructure university pipelines and vocational training. How it plays out • Cleanroom operator programs • Semiconductor technician diplomas (ITI/Polytechnic) • Fab engineer specializations in IITs/NITs Examples • Dholera + IIT partnerships for fab-ready curriculum • PDPU + ISM + Techovedas cleanroom skilling ecosystem • Karnataka semiconductor skill cluster (DRDO + CDAC + private fabs) Effect: A fab-ready workforce — technicians, EHS, yield, metrology, automation engineers. ✅ 3) Technology & Process Transfer Into India Real capability grows when we internalize process know-how and yield learning. Examples • PSMC tech transfer for 28nm with Tata • Micron’s global ATMP playbook → imported to Gujarat • Gallium Nitride pilot lines in IISc + IIT campuses with industry tie-ups Effect: India learns process IP, yield engineering, reliability + automotive grade quality systems. ✅ 4) Catalyze Fabless + Hardware & EMS Growth Packaging & test proximity reduces cycle time & logistics cost → fuels design + electronics industries. Examples • Saankhya Labs, Signalchip, Morphing Machines — benefit from local test ecosystem • VVDN, Kaynes → link design → prototyping → PCBA → test • Micron + Tata OSAT → expected to serve defence, telecom, automotive fabless firms Effect: India moves from PCB assembly → chip design → packaging → systems manufacturing. ✅ 5) Trigger Industrial Policy Flywheel Fabs force the government to solve the right problems: What gets built • Logistics corridors • Power redundancy + clean power • Specialty gas networks • Waste recycling + UPW plants • Custom bonded warehousing Current progress • Gujarat Semiconductor Mission (Dholera-Sanand corridor) • Karnataka and TN building packaging + design clusters • Haryana, Maharashtra pushing “electronics valley” incentives Effect: Semiconductor policy → becomes industrial transformation policy. ~~~~~~ If you are looking to invest in semiconductors and need expert insights, drop us a DM.

Texas A&M just released a walkthrough of the future Texas A&M Semiconductor Institute, and I want to break down why this matters. An 80,000 square foot, industry-class facility is going up on the RELLIS campus with 300mm process capabilities, ballroom-style cleanroom environments, and precision infrastructure built to current advanced manufacturing standards. But here's what caught my attention. They didn't design a research lab. They designed a collision point. Workforce training environments are physically integrated alongside specialized R&D labs. Collaboration spaces feed directly into the technical core. Industry partners, researchers, students, and public sector leaders are all funneled through the same front door. That's intentional. And it's smart. Because the real bottleneck in domestic semiconductor growth isn't just funding or equipment. It's the gap between where talent gets developed and where innovation actually happens. Most of the time, those two things exist in completely separate zip codes. Texas A&M is eliminating that distance. When a student training on advanced processes can walk down the hall and see that same technology being pushed toward commercialization, you compress the timeline from education to impact. You produce graduates who understand real production challenges, not just theory. The state of Texas backed this with serious capital, and the A&M System is positioning the institute as a launchpad for cross-sector partnerships, startup formation, and long-term national security contributions. This is the type of infrastructure that changes the trajectory of an entire regional ecosystem. Not a ribbon-cutting moment. A generational investment. #Semiconductors #WorkforceDevelopment #TexasAM #SemiconductorManufacturing #CHIPSAct #Innovation #STEM

  New-generation Faculty Leaders Aim to Transform Indian Design, Semiconductor, Packaging, and Systems (IDSPS) with Next-Gen R&D and Workforce Initiative. The three-way partnership between Meity, academia, and industry created IDSPS as a national R&D and workforce program with 80 faculty from 30 Institutions and 80 global companies. Together, they made outstanding progress. They are ready to form industry consortiums in 12 industry centers to build the nation, educate 2000 Ph. Ds, 3000 MTech, 3000 BTech, and reeducate 15,000 industry engineers, as described below. 1. System Designs and Architectures by Profs. Kumar (IITJ) & Sharma (IIT Ropar) focuses on high-bandwidth computing, power efficiency, privacy, and security, as well as design for signal, power, EMI, and ESD. 2. CMOS Devices by Profs. Mohapatra (IITGN) & Dixit (IITD) focuses on the next-gen (< 3nm) semiconductor materials, process modeling, and characterization of logic and memory devices. Power Devices by Profs. Akshay K (IIT BBS) & Brag (IITG) focuses on device modeling, simulation and design, substrate and epi growth, device fabrication and characterization.  3. Package Substrates by Profs. Dixit (IITB) &Arora (IITJ) focuses on glass substrates with advances in package design, embedded components, large panel lithography, and polymer-Cu RDL  4. Co-packaged Optics by Profs. Emani (IITH) & Sudharsanan (ITTM) focuses on design of co-packaged optics for higher bandwidth at lower power than electronic packages, photonic interconnections, hybrid bonding assembly, and fiber coupling.  5. Predictive Modeling & Design by Profs. Agarwal (IITGN)& Roy (IITKGP) focuses on AI- assisted design for reliability, multi-physics design, materials, interfaces and stress development.  6. 6G Integrated Systems by Profs. Mandal (IITKGP), Duttagupta (IITB)& Kumar (IITG) focuses on low-loss glass substrates with embedded devices, components, and package-integrated antennas.  7. Integrated Sensors & MEMS by Profs. Mitra (IITD)& KP Rao (BITS) focus on new concepts in inertial sensors, resonators, printed sensors,2D materials, and sensor fusion.  8 Materials for Devices, Components & Packaging by Profs. Bhagwati on non-volatile memory, Kumar(IISc) on package materials & Murali (NIT Calicut) on components.  9. IC and Board Assembly by Profs. Badwe (IITK) & Govind Singh (IITH) focuses on Cu-Cu bonding, sintered Cu die-attach and fiber coupling assembly.  10. Thermal Technologies by Profs. Bhattacharya(IITKGP) &Ambirajan(IISc) focuses on liquid cold plates, 2-phase and boiling heat transfer, and thermal interfaces.  11. Integrated Power Electronics by Profs. Shiladri(ITB) & Yadav(IITR) focuses on integrated power modules with advances in system design, power devices, components, sintered-Cu die attach, and double-side liquid cooling.   12. System Electrical Test by Profs. Tudu (IIT TP) & Ahlawat (IIT Jammu) focuses on test advances in chiplets, 2.5D glass packages, boundary scan, analog and mixed signal.