The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on May 10 announced the successful conclusion of its pilot to upskill engineers in semiconductor fabrication technology. Announced in partnership with Lam Research, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington D.C. in July 2023, the pilot incorporated Lam’s Semiverse Solutions™ portfolio to train 32 MTech and PhD students at IISc’s Center for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE).
Three students from the cohort, run along with Lam Research, have been offered placements at leading global semiconductor manufacturing companies. Last year, IISc partnered with Lam Research to develop a customized course offering for Indian universities utilizing Lam’s Semiverse Solutions virtual fabrication software. After the successful pilot, IISc and Lam Research have signed an MoU with the India Semiconductor Mission to scale the program nationally. The plan is to upskill a targeted 60,000 engineers over the next 10 years via the broad rollout of Semiverse Solutions.
“With three of the pilot’s participants already placed in a global tier-1 semiconductor manufacturing companies, we are confident about the broad rollout of the course and its impact,” said Professor Srinivasan Raghavan, Chair of the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering at IISc.
As part of the pilot, students got a chance to train on SEMulator3D®, a powerful 3D semiconductor process and integration modelling software that is part of the Semiverse Solutions platform. The program is used by the world’s largest semiconductor companies, manufacturers, and foundries to model complete process flows and predict downstream ramifications of process changes that would otherwise require build-and-test cycles in the fab. Using SEMulator3D® helped students learn to develop process flows and perform automated virtual experiments not feasible in the actual fabs at significantly lower cost, and environmental impact.
“A successful pilot lays the foundation for further expansion of the Semiverse™ learning platform across the country. We believe in the democratization of specialized semiconductor knowledge and are excited to support the scaling of the semiconductor industry in India,” stated Rangesh Raghavan, Corporate Vice President and General Manager at Lam Research India.
Lam India has been a part of CeNSE’s Industry Affiliate Program (IAP) since 2014 and is continuously engaging with the centre to collaborate on multiple innovative projects to advance the state of semiconductor technologies.
