South Korea’s ETRI leads the way in fostering chip talents

Workers are checking facilities to launch My Chip Fabrication Service at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) semiconductor fab in Daejeon on June 22. [Photo provided by ETRI]

South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has recently initiated a training project for college students in South Korea in a bid to nurture semiconductor design talent.

The program, My Chip Fabrication Service, supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT, aims to provide undergraduate and graduate students from universities with free fabrication of semiconductor chips. It serves as an invaluable opportunity for them to verify the functionality of their chip designs by having ETRI fabricate them.

In addition to ETRI, the project is operated in collaboration with Seoul National University and Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST). The ultimate objective is to extend this benefit to 500 to 1,000 students by 2027.

“This project aligns with President Yoon Seok Yeol’s directive to place special emphasis on nurturing talent for the semiconductor industry, as discussed during a cabinet meeting in June last year,” said an unnamed official from the Science and ICT ministry.

The initiative addresses a crucial need as students majoring in semiconductor design often lack hands-on experience in chip fabrication. With the global semiconductor market valued at approximately 500 trillion won ($379.3 billion), non-memory semiconductors account for over half of this market. However, Korea’s share in the sector is only 3 percent and without Samsung Electronics Co., it falls below 1 percent.

The project is expected to facilitate the growth of skilled design professionals and foster an expansion in the non-memory semiconductor market share.

The three organizations at the ETRI semiconductor fab were in talks about a list of future agenda on Thursday. One of the primary topics on the agenda was the establishment of a unified Process Design Kit (PDK) for all the organizations involved in the project. A PDK is a crucial database of semiconductor manufacturing processes provided by semiconductor manufacturers or foundries to designers or fabless companies. It enables students to design semiconductors effectively.

However, access to PDKs has been limited for students. Currently, only graduate students in master‘s and doctoral programs are granted access to PDKs through non-disclosure agreements. Unfortunately, these agreements come with high costs, long waiting times and minimal feedback. Noh Tae-moon, the chief from ETRI, emphasized that by learning and utilizing PDKs, students can develop into semiconductor design talents with practical skills.

ETRI plans to launch the project in September as it is the only organization among the three involved that already possesses the database. The project aims to engage up to 100 students this year. Students can apply to have their chips fabricated at the ETRI semiconductor fab, where the chips will be packaged and delivered to them, and then be able to conduct measurements and analyze their chips to verify their functionality as intended.

Starting from the following year, all three organizations will begin providing their services. The plan is to offer this service at least six times annually, with the goal of increasing it to 12 times a year by 2026. As a result, up to 1,000 students each year will have the opportunity to experience the process of chip fabrication.