President Murmu inaugurates semiconductor training fab at IISc Bengaluru

President Draupadi Murmu on Wednesday virtually inaugurated a new Semiconductor Training Fab Facility at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

The project, supported by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, was launched from Delhi alongside several other initiatives during the National Conclave on Strengthening Integrated Tribal Development Agencies and Projects.

According to IISC, this follows on from semiconductor skilling programmes that were conducted by IISc’s Centre for Nano Science and Engineering.

The IISC noted that, “the programme has trained more than 1,400 participants from Scheduled Tribe communities, delivered over 48,000 hours of specialised semiconductor training, and awarded more than 1,000 NSQF (National Skills Qualification Framework) certifications, engaging participants from over 30 states and Union Territories and more than 273 institutions.”

The 3,200-square-foot facility is located in a “clean room” isolated from outside contaminants, where visitors are expected to don protective gear to keep such contaminants out. It is currently expected to train around 700 students every year.

Explaining the practical effects that the facility would have for training students, National Nanofabrication Facility’s technology manager Salim said, “India’s Semiconductor Mission is now in Phase Two. The main idea of having a training fab is to cater to the requirements of building a workforce that can be utilized in the semiconductor industry. Even now, most colleges cover the theoretical aspect, but something that is needed for the industry is practical exposure.”

He added, “This is a space where they actually get to visualise and understand the process.”

In service of this, Bengaluru’s new training facility is equipped with a great deal of advanced equipment, with a section dealing with techniques such as lithography, while equipment for students includes a Scanning Electron Microscope.

This follows on from other developments in the semiconductor field in Bengaluru this year. As previously reported by The Indian Express, the company Qualcomm had unveiled a design for a two-nanometre semiconductor chip this February.

At the release event for the chip, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that manufacturing in India could take on the challenge of producing smaller boards by working toward seven-nanometre chips, having already begun with 28-nanometre chips used in applications such as the automotive sector. Indian Express