Microelectronics Commons

Abstract

This program supports the Department's initiatives to Build Sustainable and Long-Term Advantage, Defend the Homeland, and Deter Aggression. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) is standing up the Microelectronics (ME) Commons activity pursuant to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (Pub. L. 116-283), including the CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) for America Act, and funded through the CHIPS for America Defense Fund established by the CHIPS Act of 2022. The FY 2021 NDAA legislation significantly emphasizes solutions that promote the domestic on-shoring of capabilities to address economic and technology security concerns. Under FY 2021 NDAA Sec. 9903(b), DoD is directed to establish a National Network for Microelectronics Research and Development (NNMRD) to enable the laboratory-to-fabrication transition of microelectronics innovations in the United States and to expand the global leadership in microelectronics of the United States. Specifically, DoD is addressing a component of the NNMRD, the ME Commons, through a public-private partnership consisting of regional innovation hubs distributed across the U.S. to foster a pipeline of innovative ideas and talent residing in university labs and small business R&D teams. Background U.S. technological dominance in ME materials, processes, devices, and architectural designs can only be sustained through the development of a robust domestic innovation ecosystem that fosters the rapid development and transition of novel concepts into commercially viable manufacturing processes. The U.S. innovation ecosystem has long been the driver of our nation’s technology leadership throughout the world. U.S. R&D kick-started the enormous semiconductor industry and continues to lead the world in developing the next generation of disruptive technologies including: new materials, devices, circuits, architectures, and design tools. In recent years, the efficient domestic adoption of U.S. chip innovation has been threatened as emerging hardware technologies have become increasingly reliant on offshore sources for State of the Art (SOTA) manufacturing, prototyping, and investment. There are several significant hurdles that hardware startups face, including limited or expensive access to necessary facilities and design infrastructure, high costs of design intellectual property, limited expertise with hardware engineering, and high costs of prototyping. As a result, the number of U.S. hardware startups has dropped significantly and foreign investment in U.S.-based technology startups has enabled offshore fabrication and maturation of emerging technologies. To address these needs, OUSD(R&E) is standing up the ME Commons as a public private partnership, consisting of regional innovation hubs distributed across the U.S. to foster a pipeline of innovative ideas and talent residing in university labs and small business R&D teams. The partnership will provide resources for and access to specialized lab equipment, technical expertise, and connections to existing or upgraded low-volume prototyping facilities. These low-volume fabrication and packaging facilities will help mature promising technologies and demonstrate the manufacturing and economic benefits of these innovations for dual-use application for defense and commercial sectors. The ME Commons will focus on critical, on-shore prototyping to transition innovation from universities, start-ups, and small companies to manufacturing. Key features are: •Creates and connects “Lab-to-Fab” testing/prototyping hubs to form a network focused on maturing emerging microelectronics technologies •Provides broad access to these prototyping hubs, potentially by augmenting academic facilities and enabling access to facilities within local semiconductor companies or FFRDCs. •Facilitates ME education and training of students at local colleges and universities, and provide a potential pipeline to bolster local semiconductor economies and contribute more broadly to the growth of a domestic semiconductor workforce. This program element focuses on the advanced component development and advanced prototyping activities of the ME Commons, including staffing at ME Commons Hub facilities, prototype development, and the establishment and development of a path for successful Lab-to-Fab technology transition. This will require significant industry buy-in from state-of-the-art ME fabrication facilities (fabs). The ME Commons will establish early and sustained engagement with industry and academic stakeholders to build consensus on technology roadmaps to guide maturation and delivery of innovation into a given commercial fabricator’s pilot line and production plans.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2024
• Source ID: 0604669D8Z_4_0403D_PB_2024
• Change Summary Explanation: This PE is funded by the CHIPS for America Defense Fund special appropriation established by the CHIPS Act of 2022, not the annual Defense appropriation. The CHIPS Act appropriates funds for this effort from FY 2023 through 2027.
• Service Agency Name: Office of the Secretary Of Defense

Entities

Organizations

• Office of the Secretary of Defense

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Commerce
• Disruptive Technology
• Ecosystems
• Education
• Emerging Technology
• Engineering
• Environment
• Fabrication
• Intellectual Property
• Manufacturing
• Materials
• National Security
• Product Development
• Product Prototyping
• Semiconductors
• Small Business
• United States

Readers

• Defense Technology Research and Development.
• Economics
• Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.

Technology Areas

• Microelectronics