Future Chips

The Future of Chips

¹û¶³´«Ã½ ranks among the very best internationally when it comes to research on the development of new and advanced equipment, initiative chip design processes, and materials. ¹û¶³´«Ã½â€™s ability to bring these aspects together is renowned in the semiconductor field.

To enable the future digital revolution, we need to design and manufacture chips that can handle the heavily increasing amount of data and attract highly skilled talent, among many other things. These ‘future chips’ could well originate in the Brainport region, one of the most relevant semiconductor ecosystems in the world.

In the coming years, ¹û¶³´«Ã½ will expand its key position in Dutch academia in the field of semiconductors with its Future Chips flagship. With the initiative, the university is giving a boost to the development of chip technology to accelerate the creation of solutions to the major societal, economic and geopolitical challenges in this field. 

to find out why we really are the chip university of the Netherlands in Europe. 

Chips

We at ¹û¶³´«Ã½, belong to the international top in the field of semiconductor research and we are world-leading in chip design. Our expertise on creating chips and our pioneering scientific research on this topic is one of the cornerstones of future heterogenous integration of chips.

We are leading in InP on silicon heterogeneous integration, including InP membrane on silicon technology (IMOS) and micro-transfer printing of InP components/coupons on silicon and silicon nitride PICs. Next to this we are at the forefront of developing multi-chip heterogenous beamsteering antenna systems for 6G wireless communications in which several technologies come together in heterogenous components. 

¹û¶³´«Ã½ is also leading in the research of novel materials (phase change, 1D/2D materials) from both fabrication & characterization and device modeling & simulation. We also invest in research on quantum circuit design on superconducting qubit devices and silicon SET. Furthermore, we develop novel computing paradigms i.e., neuromorphic computing, analog computing and edge computing with merging of AI.

Materials & Processes

We are one of the leading groups in the so-called atomic scale processing segment. This involves the preparation and patterning of extremely thin nanolayers and nanostructures. The methods are mostly atomic layer deposition, atomic layer etching and area-selective deposition.

The materials systems range from oxides, nitrides, metals and sulfides (in particular 2D materials). The methods and materials we work on are key for leading-edge applications in advanced logic, memory, power electronics, integrated photonics and quantum devices.

With our research we link equipment, materials and processes and (leading-edge) applications.

Equipment

¹û¶³´«Ã½ ranks among the very best internationally when it comes to research on the development of new and advanced equipment. Together with our partners we created a common roadmap on equipment in which heterogeneous integration plays an important role.

As a research institute ¹û¶³´«Ã½ focusses on technology and methodology to push equipment performance (productivity, accuracy) and to improve cost and engineering efficiency. The expertise of ¹û¶³´«Ã½ and our partners involves mechatronics (opto-mechatronics, cryo-mechatronics), control (embedded control, contamination control, e.o.) and methodology expertise like digital twinning, multi-physics modelling and simulation.

Eindhoven Semicon Summer School (ESSS)

The ESSS is a unique summer academy, offering students a comprehensive program in the semiconductor industry, covering everything from equipment and devices to circuits, systems, and applications, delivered by top specialists from a wide range of leading semicon companies and knowledge institutions. The week is being organized by Eindhoven University of Technology (¹û¶³´«Ã½) together with founding partners, including ASML, ASM, NXP, SMART Photonics, TSMC, imec, Axelera AI and Neways.

Video is a recap of the 2024 Eindhoven Semicon Summer School

International Ecosystem

Within a 200km radius of ¹û¶³´«Ã½ we have a unique regional ecosystem which offers a combination of semiconductor equipment manufacturers, OEMs like ASM and ASML and integrated device manufacturers, IDMs like NXP. It also involves a wide range of other innovative companies, organizations regarding lasers, sensors, design, manufacturing and packaging of (photonic) chips. 

This regional ecosystem, including The Brainport region entails many research institutes, start-ups, spin-offs and incubators, like Imec, PITC, HighTechXL and PhontonDelta. Also, in the groundbreaking research of novel materials and quantum circuit design this international ecosystem allows us to push boundaries. 

Now that the world is investing heavily in semicon, it is important that we, - research institutes, governments and industry – ensure that the Brainport region is and remains one of the most relevant semicon ecosystems in the world. 

As a university, we will contribute to this in various ways; by maintaining and strengthening our top position in semicon research, by building a bridge between science and industry, and by training the much-needed talent. Like we have been doing for the last 40 years.

Related news on future chips

Related research centers & research groups

The Future Chips research is co-working with multiple research groups within ¹û¶³´«Ã½ to cover the fields:

  • Chips

  • Material & Processes

  • Equipment

Faculteit Technische Natuurkunde

Photonics and Semiconductor Nanophysics

We explore the novel physics and applications emerging from the interaction of light with nanoscale matter.

Faculteit Electrical Engineering

Electro-Optical Communication

We have a vision of a globe-spanning ubiquitous optical network, a sustainable and reliable communication infrastructure for users and…

Faculteit Electrical Engineering

Photonic Integration

Provide major contributions to photonic integration and the associated applications with a particular focus on indium phosphide technology.

Faculteit Technische Natuurkunde

Coherence and Quantum Technology

Our central theme is dilute matter at high phase space density. Our goal is exploiting quantum coherence. Our work is both theoretical and…

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dynamics and Control

Our mission is to perform top-level research and train next-generation students on the topic of understanding and predicting the dynamics of…

Interconnected Resource-aware Intelligent Systems

We at the Interconnected Resource-aware Intelligent Systems cluster address (distributed embedded) systems performance challenges in terms…

Faculteit Electrical Engineering

Integrated Circuits

The research area of the group is advanced purely-analog and mixed-signal IC design (RF/IF/LF), applied to frontends, especially for…

Faculteit Technische Natuurkunde

Physics of Nanostructures

We explore novel ways of controlling the electron spin and magnetic textures at the nanoscale for a wide range of applications.

Faculteit Technische Natuurkunde

Advanced Nanomaterials & Devices

It is fascinating how material properties at the nanoscale can be radically changed by controlling their dimensionality, size and crystal…

Faculteit Electrical Engineering

Electrical Energy Systems

Welcome to our group focusing on the future of energy systems, where sustainability and energy intertwine to shape a better world. Our…

Plasma & Materials Processing

Our scientific objective is to obtain atomic-level understanding of the interaction of plasmas and reactive gases with materials in the…

Faculteit Electrical Engineering

Electronic Systems

Our goal is to create constructive design trajectories for electronic systems that lead to high-quality, cost-effective systems with…

Our main partners

Some of our main partners we work with.

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