• Active or completed projects: 11
• Estimated ATP funding: $ 63.8 M
• Industry cost-share funding: $ 70.7 M

Potential for U.S. Economic Benefit. Electronics are the heartbeat of the products and services of many industries, including aerospace, communications, entertainment, defense, and health. A company or nation that dominates any aspect of the $1 trillion worldwide electronics market gains substantial strategic and economic advantages. As a result, the electronics market is a stage for intense competition, primarily among U.S. and Asian firms. This environment spurs rapid product obsolescence and demands high levels of investment in all areas of semiconductor, board, and assembly technologies and all stages of research and development (R&D).

Electronic products are steadily becoming smaller, thinner, lighter, faster, and less expensive. Advances now occur so rapidly that, to cite just one example, portable communication products are conceived, designed, and produced in 12 to 15 months, compared to 21 to 27 months a few years ago. These trends are expected to continue and accelerate into the 21st century, challenging the foundation of today’s electronics technology. However, rapid change is possible only with an agile, responsive supply and manufacturing infrastructure.

The United States has important strengths in electronics, with 46 percent of the world market in microcircuit technology and advantages in industrial electronics, large computers, and software. Some U.S. electronics products, such as pagers and printers, sell very well abroad. But the manufacturing infrastructure is aging. In the past, much of the U.S. R&D needed to advance electronics infrastructure technology was performed by large electronics manufacturers. Recently, competitive pressures have reduced corporate profit margins and led to a stratification of the industry into supplier, device manufacturing, and systems integration sectors. Investments in infrastructure R&D have declined accordingly.

The manufacturing chain for the electronic component industry now consists of two major sectors: semiconductor devices (including chips and chip packaging) and circuit boards and assembly. These two sectors are supported by infrastructure companies, most of which are small and serve niche markets in equipment, materials, measurement and testing, processing, design, and other areas. These infrastructure companies cannot afford to perform their own R&D and, unless effective alliances are formed, stand to lose the manufacturing base they need to provide new technologies and products to electronics manufacturers.

Because of the recent fragmentation of the industry, infrastructure issues are not currently being addressed in a coordinated way. Some of these issues include: fundamental physical limitations of existing semiconductor patterning and interconnecting materials and technologies; requirements for "green" manufacturing; gaps in projected performance levels of chips, packages, and the off-chip interconnection substrate; and ever shorter product design cycles. Advances in the supplier infrastructure for components are essential to support the continuous growth of the U.S. electronic products industry.

The ATP focused program in microelectronics will catalyze synergism and collaboration within the industry to create an integrated infrastructure for manufacturing electronic components that are superior in performance, cost, time-to-market, reliability, size, and weight. In doing so, the program will enhance the value and utility of portable electronic products and thereby expand the market, spur the development of new electronic products, increase the U.S. share of the world electronics market, and reduce the costs of R&D.

The U.S. electronic products industry had sales of $422 billion in 1996, with $135.4 billion in exports and a negative trade balance of $22.9 billion. Even a modest increase of 1 percent in world market share in the year 2000 would add $20 billion to factory sales, thus boosting the U.S. economy and substantially reducing the trade deficit. Doubling the number of cellular telephones sold by U.S. factories from 7 million to 14 million units would increase sales by approximately $1.4 billion. This is a very conservative goal considering the large market opportunities. China, for example, currently has only one telephone for every 25 people.

Technology Challenge and Industry Commitment. The electronics industry has participated in ATP competitions since they began. In the past seven years, nearly $13 million in total funding has been committed through general competitions, largely in the areas of materials, manufacturing systems, and devices. The industry also contributed more than 40 white papers addressing the focused program criteria in 1993 and 1994, when the ATP was considering a focused program in electronics packaging. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) then announced its own program in that area. Now that DARPA’s efforts have been refocused on DOD needs not being addressed by industry, ATP has received over 37 new white papers in electronics manufacturing. The industry also has articulated its needs in road maps for semiconductors, electronic interconnections, and electronics manufacturing technology and is clearly interested in collaborating with the ATP to address infrastructure technology requirements. The new white papers and discussions at two recent ATP-sponsored workshop identified critical needs for coordinated research in infrastructure technologies for semiconductor chips, semiconductor packaging, and board-level off-chip interconnection product technologies.

The ATP focused program in microelectronics manufacturing will promote progress in these areas by supporting high-risk research on

• patterning and on-chip interconnecting semiconductor wafers and devices for more dense semiconductor chips with superior performance;
• technologies for new and improved packaging technologies that can cost-effectively accommodate future semiconductor devices;
• very high density off-chip interconnects to amplify greatly their density, performance, and usefulness; and
• technologies that extend the integration from chip-to-package-to-board to enhance dramatically the miniaturization and performance of commercial electronic products.

Significance of ATP Funds. The electronics industry long has recognized the value of collaboration to solve industry-wide problems, as evidenced by the formation of the Semiconductor Industry Association, Electronics Industry Association, SEMATECH, and many other groups. Nearly all of the strategies outlined in the white papers involve interdisciplinary approaches requiring cross-industry participation. In keeping with this approach, the ATP program will promote vertical and horizontal partnerships among the various sectors of this diverse industry to address manufacturing infrastructure needs within a critical time frame.

The ATP program offers a unique mechanism for filling the gaps in corporate R&D by engaging the many small and medium-sized companies in the electronics industry. Ultimately, the program will stimulate a network of industry alliances that will be self-sustaining and capable of performing the R&D needed to support future generations of electronic materials, processes, and manufacturing. The goal is to avert future gaps between semiconductor device performance and the ability of the packaging and assembly industries to exploit that performance and meet the needs of manufacturers.

The program will complement and build on the accomplishments of past and ongoing federal investments, including Department of Defense programs in high-performance logic and communications devices and electronic packaging and the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Centers and projects in semiconductor and packaging sciences.

Additional Information. For information about eligibility, how to apply, and cost-sharing requirements, contact the Advanced Technology Program:

(800) ATP-FUND (800-287-3863)
http://www.atp.nist.gov
email: atp@nist.gov
fax: (301) 926-9524
100 Bureau Drive, MS 4720
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4720

For technical information, contact:
Michael Schen, Group Leadeer, ITEO
(301) 975-6741
email: michael.schen@nist.gov
fax: (301) 548-1087

Purabi Mazumdar, Program Manager
(301) 975-4891
email: purabi.mazumdar@nist.gov
fax: (301) 926-9524

Date created: January 1999
Last updated: April 12, 2005