Pete HahnloserThe Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has become part of the new SMART USA (Semiconductor Manufacturing and Advanced Research with Twins USA) Institute. This public-private initiative looks to innovate, validate and implement virtual environments for semiconductor manufacturing, advanced packaging, assembly and testing processes.
SMART USA is meant to bring together the semiconductor industry to harness the vast potential of digital twin technology for groundbreaking advancements. Digital twins are virtual representations that replicate the structure, context and behavior of their physical counterparts.
Research using digital twins can integrate emerging technologies like artificial intelligence to speed up the development of new U.S. chip designs and manufacturing processes. This approach has the potential to lower costs by enhancing capacity planning, optimizing production, upgrading facilities, and enabling real-time process adjustments.
As a key component of the multi-state SMART USA initiative, the university will lead the Midwestern Digital Innovation Semiconductor Center (DISC).. The center’s primary focus will be workforce development and fostering collaboration with regional participants in the semiconductor industry, particularly small businesses. Under the federal CHIPS funding framework, SMART USA partner organizations will submit applications for funding opportunities as projects advance, with $285 million in federal funding available to support these efforts.
The Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity has allocated $50 million in matching funds as part of a $200 million commitment to federal fund matching for the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park (IQMP). Innovate Illinois, a public-private coalition with more than 20 members, played a pivotal role in securing federal funding to advance the state’s technology ecosystem.
The SMART USA Institute was created with funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce and will collaborate with other institutes across the country designed for regaining U.S. manufacturing competitiveness following years of offshoring, as well as strengthening the nation’s research and development infrastructure. The institute will be operated by the industry-funded Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), in partnership with organizations such as KB Science, AMD, IBM, Intel, Micron, Texas Instruments, the University of Illinois, Purdue University, Georgia Tech and SUNY Binghamton.
“We are thrilled that the SMART USA Institute has been awarded to the SRC team. And we are equally excited that Illinois has been designated by the SMART Institute as the lead for the Midwest DISC,” said Harley Johnson, IQMP director and CEO. “We are in a leadership position in the SMART USA Institute, and we look forward to bringing microelectronics manufacturing innovation to the IQMP in our mission to create a national quantum computing facility in Chicago.”
Image by Amol Sharma from Pixabay
