For microelectronics, DoD wants ‘lab-to-fab’ prototyping hubs

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 24: U.S. President Joe Biden holds a semiconductor during his remarks before signing an Executive Order on the economy in the State Dining Room of the White House on February 24, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images)

The Pentagon wants to create “lab-to-fab” testing and prototyping hubs to build a network focused on maturing microelectronics technologies, the Defense Department announced today.

“Microelectronics are vital to every aspect of our lives from delivering power to our homes to securing our nation’s infrastructure,” Heidi Shyu, undersecretary for research and engineering, said in a statement. “They also support nearly all DoD activities, enabling capabilities such as GPS, radar, and command, control, and communication systems.”

The “Microelectronics Common” idea, envisioned by a cross functional team led by Shyu, aims to provide broad access for the prototyping hubs, potentially through augmented academic facilities like local semiconductor companies or a federally funded research and development center, and facilitate microelectronics education at colleges and universities in an effort to bolster the the local semiconductor economy.

“To supplement substantial U.S. investments in disruptive research and development, DoD must establish and facilitate a national network of academic and small business research entities by reducing barriers and enhance existing infrastructure,” according to a DoD press release. “Many restrictions exist for introducing new materials and processes into tightly controlled high-volume fabrication processes that rely on maintaining high yield to accommodate large facility operation costs.”

DoD has posted a notice in the Federal Register requesting information from academia, startups, small businesses, government labs and domestic semiconductor manufacturers in pursuit of a public-private partnership to create the prototyping hubs, according to the release.

Shyu has included microelectronics as part of her 14 critical technology subject areas laid out in a memo obtained earlier this month by Breaking Defense. The memo places those technologies into three broad categories.

Microelectronics falls into the second category, “effective adoption areas”— technology already available in the commercial sector. Other capabilities in that category include artificial intelligence, space technology and advanced computing and software, among other areas.