The US Department of Defense is directing $31.9m in funding to the California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub (CA DREAMS), led by USC Viterbi’s Information Sciences Institute. The award aims to accelerate the development of advanced semiconductor technologies.

Through a collaboration initiated by the CA DREAMS hub, UC Santa Barbara’s Nanofabrication Facility is leveraging data analytics tools from PDF Solutions to improve uniformity and repeatability in academic nanofab processes. If successful, it could put the hub on the right path to accelerating lab-to-fab transitions.

The Department of Defense (DoD) announced on September 17, 2024 that it is directing $31.9 million in funding to the California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub (CA DREAMS), led by the University of Southern California (USC). The award aims to accelerate the development of advanced semiconductor technologies through two projects led by Northrop Grumman.

Adapted from a successful program at the University of California Santa Barbara by the California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub (DREAMS), the CHIPS Technician Fellows Program was created to develop a new pipeline of workers into the semiconductor and microelectronics industry by giving them their first experiences in a cleanroom setting.

Experts forecast that in the coming years there will be tens of thousands more jobs in the semiconductor and microelectronics industry than people qualified to fill them. One way to help meet that future demand is by sparking interest and enthusiasm in young people to continue in STEM-focused education.

California DREAMS is conducting a pilot Cleanroom Gateway this summer for specialized learners and undergraduate students, with the goal of kickstarting a new pipeline of inspired and qualified workers by giving them their first experiences in a cleanroom setting.

California DREAMS is exploring its potential to combine the capabilities of its industry-leading institutions into one place. Seven university nanofabrication laboratories are a part of DREAMS, each with unique strengths that the superhub is working to standardize into a sum even greater than its parts.

Established at USC Viterbi’s Information Sciences Institute (ISI) in 1981, MOSIS revolutionized the world of silicon-based semiconductor manufacturing. Now, as the industry faces new challenges and opportunities, MOSIS is embarking on its next phase: MOSIS 2.0, a pioneering initiative at the heart of California DREAMS, the Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices SuperHub.

On May 15th and 16th, 2024, the California DREAMS hub held a two-day strategy meeting at USC’s Information Sciences Institute in Marina Del Rey, bringing together over 100 hub members from across Southern California to collaborate in-person for the first time.

“The idea of this hub is to put funding in place so that the university people working in the lab and the industry people that have the fabrication facility for production are working closely together, right at the beginning. So, when the technology breakthrough makes it past the lab, it’s already been experimented with in a way that was rigorous and harmonious with the fabrication facility, which can then pick that up and run with it."