Purdue Partnership to Improve Microchips

January 12, 2022

Thursday, January 13, 2022 11:59 AM EDT
By Wes Mills, Content Manager
Purdue conducts research on improving microchips. (image courtesy: Pixabay.com)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University has forged a partnership with Semiconductor Research Corp., a nonprofit technology consortium, to focus on research and development of better microelectronics and more robust components for microchips. The university says breakthrough innovations are needed for the next technological revolution. “This is where the power of the Purdue-SRC partnership shines. It combines the best minds in fundamental and applied research with the industry sense of the most urgent issues and commercial constraints. It combines the academic and street smarts of the most talented individuals in this area,” said Theresa Mayer, Purdue executive vice president for research and partnerships. The SRC connects academic researchers with industry practitioners to provide the tools and funding needed for revolutionary research. The consortium says the power and affordability of microchips have steadily advanced, but the physical limits of standard design and production trends are being reached. “The number of transistors and size of microchips have increased to the point where they are difficult and expensive to manufacture, as well as being more susceptible to defects. The next key innovation must be in advanced packaging through which microchips potentially from different companies are integrated on innovative platforms,” said Ganesh Subbarayan, Purdue professor of mechanical engineering. Over the past four years, SRC and its members invested $48 million in Purdue and the university’s partners. The new set of projects funded by SRC provided an additional $735,000 over three years.