Samsung Partners with IISc to Research Advanced Nanoelectronics Devices

Samsung Semiconductor India Research (SSIR) has announced a new partnership with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to advance research and development on on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. The partnership aims to create advanced ESD device solutions to protect ultra-fast serial interfaces in advanced integrated circuits (ICs) and system-on-a-chip (SoC) products, according to a joint statement on Wednesday.

The corresponding study will be carried out by the group of Prof. Mayanka Srivastava at the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering (DESE), IISc. The solutions resulting from this study will be deployed at Samsung’s advanced technology nodes.

ICs and SoCs are essential to just about every system, from small to large, that we see around us, but they are very susceptible to ESD failures, especially those designed using advanced CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) nanotechnologies.

It has been noted that most IC failures and returns in the field are due to ESD failures. It is also a rare experience and industries with the art of designing ESD protection devices and interface concepts lead the market.

“Therefore, R&D on ESD technology for highly reliable interfaces and low-power, high-speed SoCs is an integral part of semiconductor innovation efforts. IISc is one of the few institutes in the world leading research into ESD devices,” the statement said. .

The research agreement was exchanged between CVP and MD from Samsung Semiconductor India Research, Bangalore, Balaji Sovrirajan and IISc Director Prof. Govindan Rangarajan in the presence of delegates from Samsung and IISc.

“We are excited to partner with IISc to drive semiconductor innovation and look forward to building on ESD knowledge alongside the experience available at IISc. Our goal is also to build capacity through graduate-level study programs, opening up opportunities for students to undertake industry-specific internships and encouraging entrepreneurial endeavors for young researchers,” said Sourairajan.

Professor Rangarajan said: “The partnership reinforces our commitment to strengthening industry-academia collaboration, which could have a significant impact in the coming years.” “We are actively collaborating with semiconductor manufacturers around the world on advanced nanoelectronics technologies, including solutions to protect against ESD, which threatens the reliability of advanced single-chip systems. We have carried out both fundamental and applied research on ESD protection devices, with a focus on creating practical solutions for the semiconductor industry in a number of process nodes,” said Professor Srivastava.