As part of modernisation of Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) Mohali, the government has cleared a Rs 2,000-crore funding plan for the chip unit to improve its existing 180 nanometre (nm) fabrication line, people in the know said.
This means that the country’s first chip fabrication unit would first go through the process of augmentation wherein new tools will be added, decades-old equipment will be replaced and any kind of redundancies in chip fabrication line will be removed.
This move would open the doors for global companies like Applied Materials, Cadence, Synopsys, among others, which are suppliers of semiconductor tools and machinery.
Officials said since SCL is now venturing beyond the strategic sectors and opening up its fab line for design startups for limited chip production, there is also a need to reduce the project delivery time or cycle time for chip manufacturing in its facility.
Currently, SCL is spending close to Rs 127 crore annually on repair and maintenance of equipment. A higher repair expense can be attributed to refurbishing old equipment. Therefore, new equipment are needed to reduce project delivery time, officials said.
Simultaneously, the plan to upgrade SCL’s chip technology to higher nodes such as 65 nm, 40 nm and 28 nm is in the works. The ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) may soon invite proposals for the same from the companies, who can come on board as technology partners of SCL and help it upgrade its chip technology, officials said.
As part of the restructuring plan for SCL, the government’s plan is also to increase its current quantity of chip manufactured by 50 to 100 times. Further, SCL might also do a team rejig, like having a separate team for business development to cater to industry and startups with their products and pricing, according to officials.
The Rs 2,000-crore approved funding is part of the Rs 76,000-crore semiconductor incentive scheme. Earlier, the government had announced $1 billion (around Rs 8,000 crore) for SCL’s modernisation. However, the outlay is expected to go up looking at the government’s plan to make it on par with global standards, to support startups and industry for R&D and prototyping, as well as increase its capacity.
“Performance, price and cycle time are the key things that matter in semiconductor processes. For SCL, these are the areas that need improvement as startups or any private player would definitely analyse this before choosing SCL or global foundries,” an official said, adding that semiconductor players worldwide have a cycle time of about 3-4 months, whereas SCL is lagging.
Analysts said it is crucial for the government to use SCL for commercial purposes given that startups and other players have to go to players like TSMC, GlobalFoundries, to get even limited samples of chips before actual production can start. This not only entails huge costs but also limits their ability to do failure analysis, testing and identify any challenges in manufacturing or assembly first hand.
However, since chip technologies have also matured, many startups are developing products using 28 nm technology or lower chip nodes, a chip design startup founder said, adding that SCL needs to also shift to lower nodes as 180 nm has less scope.
SCL has two fabrication lines — for 6 inch and 8 inch wafers — an ATMP unit, and a compound semiconductor unit. For building the new fab unit, SCL is scouting for land near its existing facility. Officials said the land which SCL has found nearby is worth about Rs 250 crore and the discussions on its acquisition are going on.