It is becoming increasingly clear that Europe will not be able to achieve its ambitious plans to double its global market share in microelectronics by 2030. However, the chip law passed in this context is having an effect, at least in Saxony: apart from the large-scale chip factory projects of TSMC and Infineon, the pan-European pilot development line for chip packaging technologies is taking shape - and a large proportion of the funds are flowing to Saxony. The investments are attracting smaller expansions and semiconductor relocations, including in the supplier industry and from Northern Europe.
The new pilot development line for transnational chip packaging technologies is finally getting underway: The 'Advanced Packaging and Heterogeneous Integration for Electronic Components and Systems' (Apecs) project aims to close back-end gaps in the European semiconductor value chain and will cost around €730 million. According to the Fraunhofer-dominated 'Research Fab Microelectronics Germany' (FMD) in Berlin, the development of this line is now beginning. Almost a third of the sum is expected to flow to Saxony. The chip assembly pilot line will consist of facilities in various clean rooms at different locations - new equipment is planned for Fraunhofer institutes in Dresden and Chemnitz, but also outside Saxony. Ceasax in Dresden and Fraunhofer Enas in Chemnitz, for example, want to devote themselves to new chiplet technologies through to 'quasi-monolithic integration'. Together with its parent institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) in Erlangen, the Development of Adaptive Systems (EAS) division in Dresden is optimizing the associated system technologies (STCO) and is also responsible for chiplet design and integration. The network also includes sites in Berlin, Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt. International partners such as Graz University of Technology, the Finnish VTT, the large-scale research center Imec in Leuven, the French CEA-Leti, Forth in Greece, IMB-CNM and CSIC in Spain and INL in Portugal are also involved. Together they will form a kind of continuous pilot line. "In order to become even more independent from other large clusters in the world as a European research and production location in the future, we need this research alliance and a joint effort across national borders," emphasizes Saxony's Science Minister Sebastian Gemkow (CDU). "This will significantly accelerate the transfer of research results to industry and, in particular, strengthen Saxony's chip industry as a driving force in the European network. This is the only way we can keep chip technologies made in Saxony competitive on a global scale and set completely new trends."
More cooperation called for
In demand in chip plants: air separation plantsIn general,European semiconductor locations will have to work more closely together in the future if they want to counter the multi-billion packages with which the USA, Japan, South Korea, India and other countries are currently boosting their own microelectronics industries. In order for Europe's microelectronics industry to become more competitive with Asia and America, large European chip industry centers such as Dresden, Crolles and Leixlip must also network more closely with smaller semiconductor locations. This is the assessment of Dresden's 'Silicon Saxony' boss Frank Bösenberg, who has now also become Chairman of the European semiconductor association 'Silicon Europe Alliance'. "By pooling the expertise of regional ecosystems and, in particular, small and medium-sized enterprises across the continent, we can strengthen our collective impact, promote innovation and ensure Europe's competitiveness on a global level," says Bösenberg. In this way, it may be possible to achieve the ambitious goals of the EU chip law after all. Even in comparatively strong European semiconductor locations such as Saxony, certain gaps in the value chains - which are also the target of the Apecs project - cannot be overlooked. For this reason, the new Saxon minority government made up of the CDU and SPD has explicitly included this topic in its coalition paper. "The aim is to become the leading development location for microelectronics," it says. "We want to increase the depth of added value, in particular by building up Saxony's research and development capabilities in chip design and advanced packaging." This is no longer completely unrealistic: the TSMC settlement could possibly trigger a strong pull effect that could also attract many of the Taiwanese company's suppliers and ultimately perhaps also backend, test and chip design companies to Dresden, according to the hopes of economic policy makers.
Air Liquide expands its presence in Saxony
And this pull can be felt even before the opening of the TSMC fab in Dresden: suppliers are strengthening their infrastructures in Saxony and new high-tech players are settling here. For example, process gas supplier Air Liquide Electronics (ALE) is expanding its presence in 'Silicon Saxony': "100% of the chips produced in Dresden contain gases from Air Liquide Electronics," emphasizes ALE CEO Wolfgang Steiner. "In order to strengthen our presence in the region and be even closer to our customers and partners, we have now also opened an office at Dresden Airport." The supplier had previously expanded its storage and production capacities in Ottendorf-Okrilla near Dresden. The company supplies oxygen, nitrogen, argon, precursors and other gases to semiconductor and solar companies. On the other hand, the ALE team also constructs air separators with which some of these gases can be extracted from the atmosphere with a high degree of purity directly at the respective factory. "We now operate ten such onsites for the Saxon semiconductor cluster Silicon Saxony," reports ALE Operations Director Stefan Lindt.
Freiberg Instruments is also expanding
The microelectronics supplier 'Freiberg Instruments' also wants to expand its measurement technology production in Saxony. Specifically, the company wants to build a new, air-conditioned hall for semiconductor production facilities. The state is providing € 1.87 million for this. Freiberg Instruments was founded in 2005 as a spin-off from the Freiberg Mining Academy. The company specializes in measurement technology and analytical instruments for chip factories, the solar industry, medical technology, materials development and other sectors. The already expanded production and storage areas in Freiberg are now fully utilized. Now the team around Managing Director Kay Dornich needs a new production hall. There are also plans to purchase measuring equipment, new tools, a CNC milling machine, robots, a water jet system and a photovoltaic system. "These investments will create the basis for being able to accept larger orders in the future," estimates the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Dresden.
Finnish 'Chipmetrics' settles in Dresden
And 'Silicon Saxony' is also increasingly radiating to the north and east: Attracted by the ecosystem of large chip factories, semiconductor suppliers and microelectronics institutes, which is unique in Europe, more and more Northern European high-tech companies are now settling in and around Dresden. This pull has recently prompted the electronics process company Alixlabs from southern Sweden to establish a Dresden subsidiary, and now 'Chipmetrics Oy' from North Karelia is joining them: the Finns want to expand their production of test chips on silicon wafers in Dresden's clean rooms and build up new business areas with the big players in the industry. This was announced by Thomas Werner, who is currently setting up the Dresden branch for Chipmetrics in the Nanocenter in Klotzsche. In Helsinki as well as in Karelia, 'Silicon Saxony' is well known, emphasizes Thomas Werner: "Dresden is also regarded there as the most important semiconductor location in Europe. Anyone who is active in the industry wants to be present in this city." In Finland, there are not the same opportunities as in Dresden to test new chip technologies and products in industry-oriented research clean rooms or even in megafabs. The electronics company 'Chipmetrics', on the other hand, develops test chips for the production of state-of-the-art 3D circuits in Joensuu, far from the capital in North Karelia, but does not have its own factories. The move to Saxony was therefore a logical step.
Test chip wafers from Chipmetrics
Argus-eyed data packet messenger for the robot car
Impetus continues to come from the spin-offs from the Dresden University of Excellence: the Dresden University spin-off 'Siliconally' has developed a new type of communication chip module to ensure that robot cars have fewer accidents in future. It monitors Ethernet-based data traffic in the car and processes it particularly reliably and with few errors. As a result, this virtual data packet messenger ensures that driverless vehicles can react very quickly to the risk of an accident. The first customer is a US car chip manufacturer. The Dresden semiconductor factory of Globalfoundries is responsible for producing the circuits, and the first test samples are also undergoing stress testing in Saxony. "What we are doing here is an important key to autonomous driving," says 'Siliconally' boss Benedikt Schonlau.
New superlaser laboratory docks at Helmholtz Dresden
Looking further into the future is a research-oriented settlement: in view of the great progress that Helmholtz researchers in Dresden have made with super lasers such as the 'Draco', the technology company 'Amplitude Laser' wants to set up a new research laboratory in Saxony. The French company is now gradually relocating staff and technical expertise from Lisses near Paris to Dresden. On the agenda of the new laboratory, which is docked to the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), are particularly compact proton accelerators for the fight against cancer on the one hand and super lasers for inertial fusion power plants on the other.
The Helmholtz researchers from Dresden-Rossendorf want to use such ion cannons to generate and stabilize the quantum computing units in silicon
'Equspace': quantum chips for Europe
Speaking of Helmholtz and the future: researchers from Saxony, Finland and the Netherlands want to pave the way for their own mass production of silicon-based, particularly stable quantum chips for quantum computers with a new project. The EU is providing €3.2 million in funding for this consortium called 'Enabling New Quantum Frontiers with Spin Acoustics in Silicon' (Equspace). The HZDR has taken over the ion bombardment of the new quantum processors. Specifically, the Helmholtz researchers in Saxony want to spike chips, similar to those found in today's microelectronics factories, with a special form of the usual silicon atoms. These silicon 28 isotopes are intended to ensure that the special quantum states in the computer chip do not collapse. They also bombard the quantum chips with bismuth. They serve as 'donor' particles with a quantum mechanical spin that can assume several states simultaneously. This is what gives rise to the supercomputing capabilities of quantum computers, which are organized in 'qubit' data units. According to HZDR project manager Dr. Nico Klingner, this concept could possibly "surpass classical computers and other quantum computer systems in the future".
Fraunhofer expert: Should use 'Teuken' momentum now
Are humanoid robots like this artificial concierge at the Ceti research center in Dresden the future? The fusion of AI and robotics could provide a boost towards universal applicabilityIn addition toclassic microelectronics and quantum computing, AI technologies are also increasingly proving to be a driving force for 'Silicon Saxony'. This includes the large European language model 'Teuken', in whose development researchers from Dresden and Leipzig were also involved. Saxony should now also initiate more concrete AI projects, trigger public contracts and promote the construction of AI data centers. In this way, the pool of experienced AI experts could grow quite quickly, even without a lengthy build-up of academic training capacities. This is the assessment of Dr. Nicolas Flores-Herr from the Dresden branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS). It is now important to take advantage of the current momentum "and act now instead of deliberating for a long time", emphasized the neuroscientist. "Then we will also be able to build up a group of capable young AI experts here within two years." With the growing personnel base, new and more ambitious AI projects could then become a kind of self-runner.
Trend towards the fusion of AI and robotics: premiere for 'Robotics & AI Experience'
And it is precisely in this sector that another docking point to another key technology is emerging: If AI and robotics merge, a whole new generation of universally deployable "intelligent" robots that adaptively adjust to changing environments could emerge. A new conference trade fair in Dresden will show how this could work: Around 350 researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs and potential buyers of innovative automation solutions will meet this year at the Hygiene Museum Dresden for the 'Robotics & AI Experience'. The focus will be on networking between research and SMEs and the use of 'artificial intelligence' (usually abbreviated as AI) in 'intelligent' robots. Trend topics include innovative camera technology, evaluation programs for such artificial 'eyes', digital twins, which make it particularly easy to prepare the use of robots, and self-learning robots. "SMEs in industry as well as craftsmen are currently facing major challenges," explains Thomas Schulz from the organizer 'Robot Valley Saxony'. "They need to become more internationalized and automated." This is because competition from China is getting stronger and stronger, in addition to a shortage of skilled workers, rising costs and a high level of bureaucracy. These are all drivers for the increased use of AI and robots in small and medium-sized companies. Schulz: "With this new format, we want to bring together industrial companies, SMEs and tradespeople with top researchers and new partners in these fields."
Sources
Silicon Saxony, FMD, Fraunhofer IAIS, Fraunhofer ISIT, Coalition Agreement CDU-SPD Saxony, HZDR, Robot Valley Saxony, Oiger.de, Siliconally, Chipmetrics, SMWK
