FAMES Pilot Line launches open-access call for EU chip industry

The FAMES Pilot Line has launched its first Open-Access Call. A dedicated workshop in Brussels generated strong interest across Europe’s semiconductor industry. Many potential users participated to learn more about how to submit a User Request to access the pilot line’s cutting-edge microelectronics R&D technologies and services, according to a media release.

Initiated in December 2023 by the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) and coordinated by CEA-Leti, FAMES envisions a strategic leap in semiconductor innovation while reinforcing Europe’s industrial leadership.

Design houses, fabless companies, foundries, integrated device manufacturers, material & tool suppliers, universities and research centers can submit User Requests by responding to the two-month-long Open-Access Call, or by submitting a Spontaneous User Request throughout the year. Participants whose requests are selected will have access to FAMES technologies as they become available. Open-Access Calls will take place each spring through 2028, with an updated portfolio of available FAMES technologies.

Users of the pilot line will have access to two types of PDKs; pathfinding PDKs for FD-SOI advanced-node performance evaluation; PDKs giving access to silicon, via multi-project wafers (MPW); specific process steps, modules, integration flows and demonstrator results; and education and training on FAMES technologies.

The Open Access Committee, representing the consortium’s 11 Partners, will review and select applicants’ proposals. Pricing will depend on the specifics of each R&D project.

“It is essential that these new technologies can be adopted by EU chip stakeholders. For that reason, FAMES has been strategically structured to leverage them, in order to support all sectors of the EU’s semiconductor value chain,” said Sébastien Dauvé, CEO of CEA-Leti.

The technology sets will enable FAMES to leverage highly differentiating FD-SOI-based solutions. These solutions will strengthen the EU’s semiconductor ecosystem’s response to rapidly growing demand for low-power, high- connectivity and robustly secure integrated circuits driven by the automotive, IoT, and smart mobile-device markets.

“We see this initiative, which we expect to go beyond just a pilot line, as a vision for a sustainable, resilient, and innovative Europe. It will bring together industry, SMEs, start-ups, and research institutions, and build an open-access ecosystem that transforms ideas into impactful solutions, fostering collaboration and innovation at every level,” said Jari Kinaret, executive director of the Chips JU, an EU public-private partnership dedicated to advancing the EU semiconductor ecosystem.

Nokia, a member of the FAMES External Industrial Advisory Board, said the consortium has the “experience, technological expertise, vision and openness to expand the technology platform further into a pan-European technology infrastructure.”

In addition to the pilot line coordinator, France-based CEA-Leti,  the FAMES consortium includes imec (Belgium), Fraunhofer (Germany), Tyndall (Ireland), VTT (Finland), CEZAMAT WUT (Poland), UCLouvain (Belgium), Silicon Austria Labs (Austria), SiNANO Institute (France), Grenoble INP (France) and the University of Granada (Spain).