AMMTO Semiconductor Workshop 2

Workshop 2

Ultra-Precision Control for Ultra-Efficient Devices

April 21-23, 2021

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) hosted the second in its series of semiconductor R&D workshops on April 21-23, 2021. The second workshop focused on the manufacture of more energy-efficient semiconductor devices to decarbonize the entire economy, including manufacturing. 

These devices (e.g., transistors used for logic, memory, and RF) are the building blocks for integrated circuits and affect nearly every aspect of our modern lives including some of the fastest growing industries (e.g., telecom, internet, and IOT).  No critical infrastructure — defense, power, transport, finance, communications, health care — can function without semiconductors.

Workshop attendees including representatives from other federal agencies, industry, and academia were invited to assist AMO in identifying R&D needs to drive ultra-precise control of manufacturing for ultra (e.g., >10x over MOSFET) energy-efficient semiconductor devices. The workshop covered the role of ultra-precision control in enabling the manufacture of vastly more energy efficient semiconductor devices and leveraged recent AMO investments in atomic precision for microelectronics. 

The workshop featured panels and facilitated sessions on ultra-energy-efficient devices, ultra-precision manufacturing processes and ultra-precision metrology and tools. By partnering with U.S. industry to further develop ultra-precise manufacturing technologies (e.g., atomically precise, atomic-layer deposition/etching, area selective deposition) and with our federal partners on devices and metrology, AMO hopes to increase the competitiveness of domestic device and chip manufacturing, spur domestic job creation in this growing field, and combat the climate crisis through reduced energy consumption across all sectors that utilize semiconductor technology. 

AMO sought advice from industry stakeholders (including stakeholders from AMO’s current research ecosystem) with expertise in ultra-efficient semiconductor devices and the ultra-precision-controlled manufacturing technologies needed to enable them and ultimately, more energy efficient products. The workshop concluded with a discussion to develop a detailed list of research portfolio recommendations that will be summarized in a forthcoming report.

Workshop 2 ReportWorkshop 2 Read-Ahead DocumentsWorkshop Series