First view of VR fab to tackle the UK skills gap
Semiwise in Glasgow is building a Virtual Reality Semiconductor Fabrication Training Facility (VRSFT) to tackle the industry skills gap.
The £500,000 project, announced this time last year, is being developed with the TechWorks National Microelectronics Institute (NMI) and UK 300mm fab operator Pragmatic Semiconductor to build an immersive VR model of a modern semiconductor fabrication facility. This allows trainees to interact with realistic representations of fabrication equipment and to learn about semiconductor manufacturing.
The virtual Training Fab, built on the Unity game engine, will be a product rather like a computer game. It 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.
£5m for UK semiconductor skills projects
“Building a solid pipeline of skills and talent is essential for the successful future of the Semiconductor industry. I, and the team at Pragmatic, are fully committed to playing our part in broadening awareness of electronics and STEM, in general, alongside providing practical support of semiconductor technology development and learning, such as VRSFT. This also underscores the opportunity we have in the UK to play a globally leading role in advanced materials and manufacturing,” said Richard Price, Co-Founder & CTO of Pragmatic Semiconductor.
The main aim is to tackle the high costs and resource demands of training in advanced semiconductor fabrication and address the acute training needs of the semiconductor industry. By 2030 more than a million new semiconductor experts will be needed to enable the growth of the semiconductor industry and the Implementation of the US and EU Chips Acts.
The project uses Unity software to create an immersive experience of the clean room and Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) tools provided by Synopsys for the fabrication process.
“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,” said Asen Asenov, CEO of Semiwise. “This is the opposite of the typical ‘walk true 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. VRSFT will enable these companies to train staff efficiently at any time, without operational disruption and at low cost,” said Charles Sturman, CEO of TechWorks
www.semiconductorwise.com/; www.synopsys.com/silicon/tcad.html/; www.pragmaticsemi.com
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