The 天美影视传媒 is at the forefront of an international effort to innovate the semiconductor industry while building a skilled U.S.-based workforce to design and manufacture chip technology. UPWARDS for the Future will support work already underway in the UW’s Washington Nanofabrication Faciliity. Video credit: Kiyomi Taguchi, UW News

The 天美影视传媒 is at the forefront of an international effort to innovate the semiconductor industry while building a skilled U.S.-based workforce to design and manufacture chip technology.

Part of a landmark education partnership that was in May 2023 at the G7 meeting in Japan, the effort brings together researchers and faculty from the U.S. and Japan to support the University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research & Development in Semiconductors (UPWARDS) for the Future project. Micron Technology and Tokyo Electron Limited, as founding industry partners, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and universities together are investing over $60 million for the five-year project. Many of the participants are attending kick-off activities at the UW this week.

鈥淲ith our University鈥檚 proven track record of using public research investment to spur economic and technological growth, the UW is excited to be taking the lead in expanding our capacity to educate professionals and drive discovery in the critical field of semiconductors,鈥� said UW President Ana Mari Cauce. 鈥淲e鈥檙e grateful to Senator Cantwell for her leadership and for the collaboration of our partners.鈥�

Modern technology 鈥� including household appliances, automobiles, computers and defense systems 鈥� relies on semiconductors. The semiconductor was invented in the U.S., yet today the U.S. produces about only 10% of the world鈥檚 supply. Recognizing the economic and national security risks this poses, U.S. policymakers passed the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) & Science Act in 2022 to strengthen the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem.

鈥淥ur nation鈥檚 success in advanced technologies depends on having a skilled workforce. The 天美影视传媒 will help establish the Pacific Northwest as a leader by training the more than 90,000 students, faculty, and skilled professionals needed to build the most advanced chips right here in the United States,鈥� said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who was instrumental in passing the landmark CHIPS & Science bill. 鈥淚f we want to lead the world tomorrow, we must invest in worker training today.鈥�

Boise, Ida.-based Micron and the partner universities will jointly recruit new faculty members, named as UPWARDS Professors, who will work on high-impact research projects with the industry partners. In addition to their research responsibilities, UPWARDS Professors will also contribute to curriculum development and other UPWARDS for the Future activities, including advising exchange students and graduate fellows. The first cohort of UPWARDS professors, all women, will also participate in industry-led mentoring programs to help gain valuable insights supporting in the advancement of their own careers. The grants will also support graduate fellowships and provide research experiences for undergraduate students.

Initiatives like UPWARDS for the Future prioritize expanding the STEM talent pipeline to reach groups that are underrepresented in the semiconductor industry today. This vision for UPWARDS for the Future aligns with UW efforts to close the STEM gender gap, establish pathways into higher education and facilitate new programs dedicated to attracting and retaining historically underrepresented groups. President Cauce and College of Engineering Dean Nancy Albritton are members of the national Education Group for Diversification and Growth in Engineering Consortium, or EDGE. And, last summer, the UW joined the Northwest University Semiconductor Network, led by Micron, to grow the next generation of semiconductor experts, by enhancing experiential learning opportunities in the semiconductor industry, and prioritizing access for underrepresented students, particularly in rural and tribal communities.

鈥淲e are proud to be part of this innovation partnership and to lead the NSF grant for UPWARDS. As Washington state鈥檚 leading educator of engineers and as a leader in chip engineering and workforce development for the global innovation economy, it is an honor to work collaboratively with academic and industry partners to drive advancements in this crucial scientific field,鈥� Albritton said.

In addition to the UW, the UPWARDS for the Future partnership includes five U.S. institutions: Boise State, Purdue, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology and Virginia Tech; and five Japanese universities: Hiroshima University, Kyushu University, Nagoya University, Tohoku University and Tokyo Institute of Technology. The UW will share the $10 million NSF grant with the five U.S. institutions, while Micron’s and Tokyo Electron’s $20 million gifts will be shared among the 11 U.S. and Japanese institutions.

鈥淭he UPWARDS for the Future program sets a prime model of government-industry-academia partnership, propelling the development of the U.S. semiconductor technology workforce. This initiative stands out with an emphasis on international collaboration, providing students with invaluable insights and experience into the industry’s international supply chain dynamics,鈥� said , UW professor of both electrical and computer engineering and physics, as well as a faculty member of the UW Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems. Li will lead UW鈥檚 efforts supporting UPWARDS for the Future.

The UPWARDS program includes five pillar activities, including: Semiconductor Curriculum Design and Implementation; Expanding Women Workforces in Semiconductors; Experiential Learning; US-Japan International Student Faculty Exchange; and Memory-centric Research Projects. At this week’s workshop, the 11 institutions aim to establish across-the-board plans on student exchange, curriculum sharing and standardization, and research collaboration.

Semiconductor engineering is the second strategic university-corporate partnership initiative concluded between American and Japanese academic institutions and the corporate sector since May 2022, when President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a commitment to advance U.S.-Japan science and technology cooperation. The UW also is the lead partner on the Cross Pacific AI Hub partnership announced on April 10, to lead innovation and technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. Both UPWARDS for the Future and the Cross Pacific AI Hub are cornerstones of the UW鈥檚 global impact, building lasting relationships with peer institutions and industry on both sides of the Pacific to support UW students, faculty and staff on work to address critical issues.

For more information, contact Li at upwards@uw.edu.

Here鈥檚 what other leaders said about UPWARDS for the Future:

鈥淓conomic security depends on the 鈥�3 M鈥檚鈥�: machines, minerals, and minds. The UPWARDS network is developing the workforce that we need to secure semiconductor supply chains and delivering on the promise made by President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida to elevate U.S.-Japan cooperation in advanced science and technology. This innovative university-corporate partnership has become the model for long-term collaboration in transformative technologies.” 鈥� U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel

“This past year we have accelerated our collaboration with our ecosystem partners. Collaboration between the UPWARDS universities will cultivate the next generation of the high-tech workforce, ushering in an exciting new era of semiconductor research and manufacturing in the United States and Japan. Micron has made it a priority to increase opportunities for all students, making sure that women, students from underrepresented populations and those from rural or economically disadvantaged communities have equitable access to engineering and science degrees. The impacts of UPWARDS will be far-reaching as we work to meet the demand for semiconductor industry talent over the next two decades.” 鈥� April Arnzen, executive vice president and chief people officer, Micron Technology

“Tokyo Electron (TEL) is proud to participate in the U.S.-Japan University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research & Development in Semiconductors (UPWARDS) for the Future Program. The objectives of the program are in line with TEL’s vision to leverage our expertise as an industry-leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer and pursue technological innovation in semiconductors, thereby contributing to the development of a dream-inspiring society. Through participation in this program, we aim to help develop a diverse set of skilled individuals capable of leading future innovation in semiconductor technology. The UPWARDS Program is also part of our ongoing efforts in the US to collaborate with industry partners and help grow the talent pipeline for technicians, engineers, computer scientists, and other professionals who will be in high demand as the domestic semiconductor industry, its manufacturing base, and associated R&D activities grow.” 鈥斅�Alex Oscilowski, president, TEL Technology Center of America

For start-up companies looking to make chips with nanoscale features for sequencing DNA or wafers for industrial barcode printing, the equipment costs to fabricate those parts could easily devour every last dollar of seed funding.

The same goes for grant-funded researchers designing quantum information devices or micro-scale sensors to measure cell movement鈥� which is where the comes in.

The WNF makes things that aren’t practical, economical or possible to fabricate at commercial foundries 鈥� inconceivably tiny parts, chips made from unconventional materials that industrial factories won’t touch, devices that probe the boundaries of our universe. Part of the , the lab on the 天美影视传媒 campus is the largest publicly accessible nanofabrication facility north of Berkeley and west of Minneapolis.

To serve growing demand for nanofabrication services, the UW Board of Regents has approved spending up to $37 million to renovate the facility, which is housed in . The overhaul, scheduled to begin in November, will upgrade basic building systems and roughly double the amount of highly-specialized fabrication space that academics and entrepreneurs increasingly rely on to build innovative devices.

The “fab lab” in Fluke Hall 鈥� currently used by 48 UW faculty members and 134 students 鈥� has supported $32 million in UW research grant funding this year. A third of its 223 users are with commercial companies, which range from multinational corporations to UW spinouts to minority-owned local start-ups. Regional demand for nanofabrication services is growing rapidly, with WNF revenues nearly tripling in the last four years.

“The Washington Nanofabrication Facility is vital to my existence,” said Jevne Branden Micheau-Cunningham, who launched a new company called FLEXFORGE six months ago. He’s using WNF equipment and expertise to manufacture nanoscale聽electronics with applications in the automotive, aerospace and medical devices industries.

“It allows entrepreneurs such as myself to flesh out ideas and bring products to life 鈥� the costs to get up and running on my own would have been prohibitive,” said Micheau-Cunningham. “Nanofabrication is also a pretty specific thing, and they’ve really looked over my shoulder throughout the process.”

The WNF houses nearly 100 different pieces of equipment that perform everything from electron beam lithography and atomic layer deposition to plasma etching and wafer bonding. User fees paid by academic and non-university clients are invested back into the facility. Applications for the devices those tools enable range from tissue engineering and silicon photonics to semiconductor technologies and basic scientific research.

“Fabrication is basically a repetitive sequence of steps where we add or subtract material to create the microsystems and devices that people ask for,” said WNF associate director . “A lot of companies don’t have fabrication experts, so we also do a lot of design assistance and handholding to take an idea or concept and engineer a process and turn it into a prototype.”

The UW assumed ownership of the nonprofit nanofabrication facility in 2011, which was formerly run by the Washington Department of Commerce. Through private donations, grants, UW funding and corporate gifts, the lab has invested in excess of $8 million over the last four years to modernize tools and equipment.

But the infrastructure in Fluke Hall, built in 1988, needs upgrades to meet basic safety and environmental standards and the highly specialized needs of nanofabrication users. The renovation, which will be done in three phases over 14 months to minimize downtime, will allow the lab to better control temperature, humidity and air quality inside the “clean room,” where unwelcome fluctuations can poison an entire production line.

“One dust speck can damage a device if it’s in the wrong place, so this renovation will make a major difference,” said WNF director , a UW professor of electrical engineering and of bioengineering. “The other advantage will be having more space 鈥� usage and revenues have increased, and we are bursting at the seams.”

By helping fledgling companies realize prototypes and develop scalable production processes, the WNF plays an important role in the region’s innovation ecosystem. With funding from the Washington Research Foundation, the lab has awarded $140,000 in that help bridge the gap from academic or applied research to commercialization of micro-fabricated devices. So far, those grants have supported two UW spin-out companies.

The nanofabrication lab also offers an undergraduate research program for students who spend up to three years learning how to calibrate and operate the highly sensitive and specialized equipment. This summer’s program will include 20 UW undergrads, up from three in 2011.

The electronics industry workforce that spurred the development of personal computers and mobile devices is aging and retiring; nationwide there is a shortage of engineers entering the workforce to backfill essential positions and skillsets. By training students in real-world challenges, the WNF’s workforce development mission supports the future success of the U.S. tech industry.

“When they leave here, they’re highly sought-after in the semiconductor and electronics and aerospace worlds,” Khbeis said. “Every one of our students has multiple offers, and those companies are extremely happy to get them.”

For more information, contact Khbeis and B枚hringer at wnf-info@coral.engr.washington.edu.