US puts up $1.6bn for packaging R&D

The U.S. Department of Commerce is to put up $1.6 billion to fund R&D to accelerate domestic capacity for semiconductor advanced packaging.

The programme will focus on five areas:

Equipment, tools, processes, and process integration;
Power delivery and thermal management;
Connector technology, including photonics and radio frequency (RF);
Chiplets ecosystem;
Co-design/EDA.

Several awards of approximately $150 million per award in each research area will be made. These awards will leverage private sector investments from industry and academia.

“Now, the U.S. will have multiple advanced packaging options across the country and push the envelope in new packaging technologies,” says DoC Secretary Gina Raimondo.

In addition to the R&D areas, the funding opportunity is expected to include opportunities for prototype developments.