TSMC, which dropped out of Sematech’s major R&D program in the mid-1990s, is rejoining the consortium as a core member to work on 20nm generation and beyond challenges. The Taiwan foundry left Sematech’s fold, and its return is an indication of TSMC’s need to step up its R&D effort and its good fit with Sematech’s research agenda.

Sematech’s core members pay a much higher fee than companies which belong only to the ISMI subsidiary and other individual programs. The core members focus on big-ticket R&D challenges, including extreme ultra-violet (EUV) lithography, heterogeneous ICs which combine III-V and germanium channel materials, and several other programs. The core members typically also support ISMI and the rest of the Sematech agenda.

Sematech’s other core members include GlobalFoundries, HP, IBM, Intel, Samsung, UMC, and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE).

“This relationship further reflects our commitment to push the boundaries of innovation and deliver leading-edge technology to our customers,” said TSMC CTO Jack Sun.

“We look forward to TSMC’s contributions and technical insights from their perspective as a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology and manufacturing,” said Dan Armbrust, president and CEO of Sematech.

Tags: lithography, Sematech, TSMC

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