ATDF,
the global R&D foundry for the nanoelectronics industry, and UMC,
a leading global semiconductor foundry and SoC solution provider, have
agreed to extend their existing collaboration to evaluate emerging
technology products and bring those that are most promising to market.
Under the agreement, ATDF and UMC will focus on specialty
technologies including nanotech and memory designs that originate with
small companies, university labs, and other
organizations. ATDF will evaluate the technologies that match UMCs
manufacturability
criteria, while UMC will work with select innovators to evaluate the
manufacturability and commercialization of their technologies.
Our
partnership with UMC gives technology innovators an important new
resource for implementing their best ideas,
said Dave Anderson, ATDF general manager. Novel
technologies now have a clearer path to a foundry, which is especially
important for smaller participants in the industry.
Joe Ko, vice president of the
Specialty Technology Division at UMC, said, This
partnership underscores UMCs
commitment to stay at the forefront of semiconductor R&D
technologies. It also enhances UMCs
ability to target fabless and startup companies that require a
manufacturing partner to commercialize new ideas and intellectual
property.
Under this
program, ATDF will assess feasibility and perform qualification testing
for any innovator willing to engage in the program. UMC then will
review ATDFs
test results to select the potential manufacturing partners.
This
collaboration draws on ATDFs
experience in incubating new technologies for the marketplace, said Dr.
Shu Ikeda,
ATDF technology director. We
are pleased to apply that experience to our continuing partnership with
UMC, which affords us the opportunity to bring new processes and novel
technologies from concept to manufacturing.
ATDF and UMC
began their relationship in 2006 with three projects aimed at
developing advanced CMOS devices for logic chips. Now nearing
successful completion, these projects include the development of
multi-gate field-effect transistors (MuGFETs), dual work function metal
gates, and mobility enhancement structures.