NanoIC pilot line: accelerating beyond-2nm innovation across Europe
Hosted by imec and supported by pan-European partnerships, the NanoIC pilot line boosts the development and commercialization of beyond-2nm systems-on-chip.
What do key innovations such as autonomous vehicles, personalized medicine, 6G networks, robotics, and quantum computing have in common? They are all driven by the next generation of semiconductor technologies, including breakthroughs like systems-on-chip based on beyond-2nm logic nodes.
These innovations have the potential to catalyze the transformation toward a sustainable society while fostering employment and economic growth. It's no wonder that European policymakers consider them of strategic importance.
The European semiconductor ecosystem is expected to play a crucial role: collaborating to enable core technological breakthroughs, guiding these advancements to higher levels of maturity, and integrating them into cutting-edge products.
The European Chips Act supports this through pilot lines for advanced semiconductor technologies. These provide low-barrier access to the necessary infrastructure for R&D of new materials, process steps, and modules.
The pilot line for the development of beyond-2nm systems-on-chip (SoC), the NanoIC pilot line, is hosted by imec.
Exploring new technologies
As the world’s leading semiconductor R&D hub, imec has built up a unique infrastructure over the last 40 years, including the world’s most advanced 300mm cleanroom for research purposes. he NanoIC pilot line will extend this infrastructure, enabling the industry to explore beyond-2nm system-on-chip technologies.
These SoCs are built around the most advanced logic technology node, combined with next-generation memory and cutting-edge optical and electrical interconnects.
By incorporating these devices into their products, companies can create highly innovative solutions that transform existing markets or create entirely new ones. The NanoIC pilot line enables rapid and thorough testing of the technology before transitioning to high-volume production at commercial foundries.
To this end, the NanoIC pilot line will offer early-stage process design kits (PDKs) to pioneering industry players, including design and system companies, SMEs, academia, and start-ups. These stakeholders will gain access to design pathfinding PDKs for exploring forthcoming chip technologies and system exploration PDKs for prototyping, particularly for novel technology components on top of or embedded within the stack of commercially available foundry wafers.
For IDMs, foundries, and suppliers, the NanoIC pilot line provides an environment to assess new process flows and equipment before making definitive investments.
European boost to innovation
The NanoIC pilot line is a truly European project that includes CEA-Leti (France), Fraunhofer (Germany), VTT (Finland), CSSNT (Romania), and Tyndall National Institute (Ireland).
It promises to make the European supplier ecosystem more competitive, support the technological leadership of European OEMs, and strengthen the global chip value chain.
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