July 12, 2006 – Semiconductor Research Corp., a university-research consortium for semiconductor technologies, has opened a Non-Classical CMOS Research Center for five universities to collaborate to develop III-V compound semiconductors.

Under a three-year/$7 million project (funded by SRC member companies and matched by the universities), researchers will focus on facilitating the introduction of III-V compounds for sustaining CMOS viability in future end-use applications, such as communications, computing, automotive, and consumer electronics. Work will be led by UC-Santa Barbara, with participation from Stanford, UC-San Diego, U. of Massachusetts-Amherst, and the U. of Minnesota.

Results from the research are projected to enhance speed for CMOS gates and lower power dissipation in circuits, with significant impact on chip manufacturing expected as early as 2012-2014, according to the SRC. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors calls for alternative materials to be available to address semiconductor production at the 22nm level, around 2016-2019.

“We plan for the Non-Classical CMOS Research Center to ensure that Moore’s Law will be alive and well for several more generations,” stated Jim Hutchby, director of device sciences for the Global Research Collaboration (GRC), a unit of the SRC. “When the day comes that Moore’s Law for classical silicon CMOS is no longer a viable solution, we’ll have developed a new set of materials and devices for improvements to speed and power of the historically successful CMOS technology.”

“We expect that a new class of compound semiconductors can provide better peak velocities and lower voltages and allow the industry to supplement silicon’s critical paths for speed and power,” added Prof. Mark Rodwell, UC-Santa Barbara, and the Center’s director. “This new research effort proposes to benefit a long line of applications and users.”