UK funds equipment for testing and improving semiconductors

The UK government has earmarked £16.6 million through Innovate UK to purchase "open-access tools" and equipment for researchers and businesses to test and make semiconductors. It will also help improve chips for electric cars and other net zero technologies.

According to a governmental press release, the new tools are “predominately” based in Newcastle and Strathclyde. They can be used for various processes, “including ‘slicing’ silicon wafers into smaller chips and bonding complex materials together to make chips.”

The bulk of the funding, 14 million pounds, is reserved for semiconductors used in “power electronics.” That also includes electric cars, as power electronics are applications “where chips convert and control power in energy intensive machines.” The goal is to help manufacturers improve their technologies and automate assembly processes.

The funding is part of the country’s Semiconductor Strategy, “which identified new ways of packaging and testing chips as a key area to drive performance improvements in semiconductors.”

“New innovations in the way we package up semiconductors have the potential to transform whole industries and vastly improve consumer devices, all while driving long-term economic growth,” says Technology Minister Saqib Bhatti. “This investment in open-access technology will make sure British researchers have the tools they need to rapidly turn semiconductor science into business reality, all while making hugely energy intensive sectors more sustainable.”

There already is an “existing network of machinery open to researchers and businesses across the UK through Driving the Electric Revolution Industrial Centres (DER-IC),” the press release states. The latter had been funded with 33 million pounds in 2019.

gov.uk