ASU & Deca Technologies Team Up For First Such Microchip Research in North America

Article originally posted on AZ Central on March 19, 2024

Semiconductor manufacturing isn’t just about making the increasingly small chips that power all sorts of applications. It’s also about connecting them and protecting them, which describes the packaging process.

To this end, Arizona State University and Deca Technologies, a Tempe-based provider of packaging technology used in smartphones and other applications, announced Tuesday a collaboration to create the first North American research and development center devoted to an especially dense type of configurations known as fan-out, wafer-level packaging.

The new Center for Advanced Wafer-Level Packaging Applications and Development aims to spur innovation, expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing and drive advancements in related fields such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, automotive electronics and high-performance computing.

The center will be part of the Microelectronics Commons, a network of regional technology hubs working on projects requested by the Department of Defense under the federal CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to expand America’s competitive edge in microelectronics.

“This is at the heart of the next generation of innovation in microelectronics and everything it enables,” said Zak Holman, Vice Dean for Research and Innovation for ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, in a prepared statement. “Deca has developed a unique technology, and ASU brings extraordinary capacity that will provide the resources to leverage Deca’s technology.”

The initiative will also have a workforce development angle, such as providing training for the growing number of technicians needed in the industry.

“With the industry’s leading fan-out technology as a foundation, we’re excited about the possibilities this new center brings to Arizona as well as the broader U.S. semiconductor industry,” said Tim Olson, founder and CEO of Deca, in a prepared statement. The collaboration will bring together members of industry, academia, government and other entities to accelerate innovation in the field, he added.