Funded by a £500,000 Innovate UK grant, the project is being delivered in partnership with TechWorks National Microelectronics Institute (NMI), with consultative support from Pragmatic Semiconductor, and is intended to address the high costs and resource demands of training in advanced semiconductor fabrication.
By leveraging virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (XR), the project provides an immersive VR model of a modern fabrication facility, allowing trainees to interact with realistic representations of fabrication equipment and to learn about semiconductor manufacturing.
The project addresses the acute training needs of the semiconductor industry fuelled by the US and EU Chips Acts, the UK’s Semiconductor Programme and similar investments all over the world.
By 2030 it is estimated that more than 1m new semiconductor experts will be needed to enable the growth of the semiconductor industry and the Implementation of the US and EU Chips Acts.
Building a traditional silicon semiconductor fabrication facility can cost between $10-30 billion, while a single deep EUV stepper costs around $350 million. With the VR FAB training scheme, the training costs will be greatly reduced by replacing an expensive fab with much cheaper VR model.
The project utilises Unity software to create an immersive experience of the clean room. For the actual fabrication process Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) tools provided by Synopsys will be used.
The virtual Training Fab will include a full set of equipment allowing advanced CMOS manufacturing. Generic as well as equipment manufactures specific equipment will be included. Flexible clean room layout will allow users to configure their own cleanroom, with multiple choices of equipment to build a virtual fab which meets their exact needs.
Commenting Asen Asenov, CEO of Semiwise said “VRSFT will revolutionise the training of much needed experts for the rapidly growing semiconductor industry fuelled by the US and Eu Chips act and investments all over the world. Opposite to the typical ‘walk through a clean room’ educational videos it has deep educational content at equipment, product fabrication, working practices and behaviour levels. It is enhanced by the use of Synopsys TCAD tools showing the outcome of each stage of the semiconductor fabrication process”
“Semiconductor technology is a key economic enabler for any country and here in the UK we have numerous small to medium sized specialist chip companies all looking to expand their operations,” said Charles Sturman, CEO of industry body TechWorks. “VRSFT will enable these companies to train staff efficiently at any time, without operational disruption and at low cost. TechWorks is excited to be supporting this activity through our NMI Network.”
