MICROELECTRONIC SYSTEMS NEWS

FILENUMBER: 9938 BEGIN_KEYWORDS FREE SILICON PROTOTYPING EDUCATION MOSIS END_KEYWORDS DATE: December 2000 TITLE: FREE SILICON PROTOTYPING FOR EDUCATION VIA MOSIS
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TITLE: FREE SILICON PROTOTYPING FOR EDUCATION VIA MOSIS

MOSIS  prototyping  continues  to  be  available  for  free   for
educational   purposes   thanks  to  generous  donations  by  the
Semiconductor Industry Association, AMI, HP-Agilent, IBM,  DuPont
Photomasks,  Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, the IEEE Computer Society
Design Automation Technical Committee and the MOSIS  organization
itself.  Since  1981  students  in  the United States enrolled in
introductory and advanced classes on  integrated  circuit  design
have been able to obtain free silicon prototyping via MOSIS under
government sponsorship by the Defense Advanced Research  Projects
Agency  and the National Science Foundation.  As government funds
for  this  purpose  declined,  the  MOSIS  Advisory  Council  for
Education  organized sufficient sponsors to continue this service
at no charge for qualified university  classes  anywhere  in  the
world.  Over the past decade, 50,000 students have benefited from
this program with over 12,000 student designs  being  fabricated.
MOSIS  has fabricated more than 40,000 integrated circuit designs
for  commercial  firms,  government  agencies   and   universites
combined.

The Semiconductor Industry Association  (SIA)  will  sponsor  the
MOSIS (MOS Implementation Service) Educational Program to provide
funding to fabricate and package integrated circuits designed  by
university students.

"The US semiconductor industry is pleased to  support  the  MOSIS
Educational   Program,   which   enables  electrical  engineering
students to fabricate and test circuits which they design in VLSI
courses," stated George Scalise, SIA President.  "Future economic
growth and our ability to overcome technological barriers  depend
upon  a  supply  of  talented,  well-educated  graduates  from US
universities."

MOSIS was  organized  in  1981  to  provide  the  DARPA  (Defense
Advanced  Research  Projects  Agency)  research  community  cost-
effective access to advanced  microelectronics  fabrication.   It
realized  fast  and cost-effective circuit prototyping by merging
multiple projects onto a mask set, and sharing the cost of  masks
and  wafer fabrication among these projects.  MOSIS also provides
its prototyping services to commercial customers.  With DARPA and
NSF  (National  Science  Foundation)  support, MOSIS expanded its
services to include chip fabrication for projects  from  approved
university  courses.   Students  in these courses are required to
test their circuits and report the results  to  MOSIS,  including
chip yield, correlation with simulations, and any design errors.

The MOSIS Educational Program became a critical part of the  U.S.
VLSI  educational  infrastructure,  with  more  than  200  US and
Canadian universities participating.  Professor  Carver  Mead  of
Caltech  said  in  1993,  "Fab  and  test  of  real  silicon  are
essential.  Our access to MOSIS is the envy of the  rest  of  the
world.   It gives our graduates the experience that it would take
10 years or more to gain in a traditional engineering career."

The MOSIS educational program has  been  in  a  tenuous  position
since  the government's phased withdrawal of support beginning in
1994.  The fabrication  of  class  projects  has  been  continued
through   the  present  time  with  generous  donations  of  chip
processing, masks, and administrative services by AMI,  HP,  IBM,
DuPont  Photomasks,  and  the  MOSIS  organization, and with cash
donations from AMD,  Intel,  Motorola,  QUALCOMM,  and  the  IEEE
Computer  Society  Design  Automation Technical Committee.  SIA's
$500,000 academic-year support of  this  program  enables  it  to
continue into the future on a secure financial foundation.

University of Michigan Prof. Richard Brown, chair  of  the  MOSIS
Advisory Council for Education said, "The availability of a rapid
prototyping service for VLSI class projects is vital if we are to
continue  training  students  in  the  fundamentals of integrated
circuit design.   For  the  U.S.  to  maintain  its  position  in
microelectronics,  some  of  our students must be educated in the
full range of VLSI issues, and it is important that they have the
opportunity to design and test custom ICs."

Gary Daniels, Former Sr. VP and  General  Manager  of  Motorola's
Microcontroller  Technologies  Group,  said,  "We  have a serious
concern that without the experience  offered  through  the  MOSIS
Educational  Program,  graduating  engineers  will  not  have the
experience and maturity needed to fully and quickly contribute in
industry.  We hope that universities will continue to offer full-
custom VLSI design courses, and we want students to  be  able  to
tape-out  and test their designs from these courses.  These tasks
complete   the   design   process,   re-enforce   design-for-test
principles,  and  provide  relevance  to the courses like nothing
else can."

The Semiconductor Research Corporation will  administer  the  SIA
donation as part of a larger initiative to increase the number of
engineering students.  Larry Sumney, SRC President and CEO  said,
"Stable  funding  of the MOSIS Educational Program will encourage
universities to offer VLSI courses so  that  many  students  will
have  the  opportunity  to  design, fabricate and test integrated
circuits as part of their educational experience."

Cesar Pina, director of the MOSIS Service said, "I would like  to
thank  the  SIA,  the  SRC,  and  the industrial and professional
organizations   for   their   invaluable   contributions   toward
preserving  the  MOSIS  Educational  Program.   Over the past ten
years, over 50,000 students have been enrolled  in  the  program,
and  over  12,000  student  designs  have  been fabricated.  I am
pleased that this  service  will  continue  to  be  available  to
students in VLSI courses."

MOSIS is part of the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) of  the
University  of  Southern California.  It provides prototyping and
short-run production access to  technologies  ranging  from  1.5-
micron  analog processes to 0.18-micron digital processes.  MOSIS
has fabricated more than 40,000 integrated  circuit  designs  for
commercial firms, government agencies and universities.  For more
information  about   the   MOSIS   organization,   please   visit
MOSIS WWW.

The Semiconductor  Industry  Association  is  the  premier  trade
association  representing the semiconductor industry, with member
companies  comprising  more  than  90   percent   of   U.S.-based
semiconductor  production.  In  addition  to supporting the MOSIS
program, the SIA has launched  educational  programs  to  support
long  term  growth  that: train K-12 teachers in technology, work
with the Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center (MATEC) to
partner  with  over  80 community colleges training semiconductor
technicians,  and  promote  the  industry   among   undergraduate
engineering students through the SRC.  For more information about
the SIA and its programs, please visit SIA WWW.

Questions regarding:

MOSIS:  Cesar Pina (cpina@mosis.org; 310-822-1511).

MOSIS Advisory Council on Education: Richard B. Brown
 (brown@umich.edu, 734-763-4207).

SRC:  Ginny Poe (poe@src.org, 919-941-9453).

SIA: Molly Marr (mmarr_sia@attglobal.net, 408-436-6600).

MOSIS Announces TSMC 0.18 Runs and Additional TSMC 0.25 Micron Runs
MOSIS FAB SKED.

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