6508 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 22 / Thursday, February 1, 2024 / Notices 

up to receive automatic updates when 

amendments to a funding opportunity 

are posted. 

Disclaimer. This NOI does not 

constitute a solicitation. No applications 

may be submitted in response to this 

NOI. Any inconsistency between 

information within this NOI and the 

eventual NOFO announcing the CHIPS 

Manufacturing USA Institute award 

competition shall be resolved in favor of 

the NOFO. 

Authority: DOC CHIPS activities were 

authorized by Title XCIX—Creating 

Helpful Incentives to Produce 

Semiconductors for America of the 

William M. (Mac) Thornberry National 

Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2021 (Pub. L. 116–283, often 

referred to as the CHIPS Act). 

Tamiko Ford, 

NIST Executive Secretariat. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02025 Filed 1–31–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology 

CHIPS National Advanced Packaging 

Manufacturing Program (NAPMP) 

Materials and Substrates Research and 

Development 

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards 

and Technology, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI). 

SUMMARY: The CHIPS Research and 

Development Office (CHIPS R&D) 

intends to announce, via a Notice of 

Funding Opportunity (NOFO), an open 

competition for new research and 

development (R&D) activities to 

establish and accelerate domestic 

capacity for advanced packaging 

substrates and substrate materials, a key 

technology for manufacturing 

semiconductors. CHIPS R&D anticipates 

making available up to approximately 

$300,000,000 for multiple awards in 

amounts up to approximately 

$100,000,000 per award, not including 

voluntary co-investment, over up to 5 

years and made through cooperative 

agreements or other transactions. The 

purpose of this NOI is to offer 

preliminary information to potential 

applicants, facilitating the development 

of meaningful partnerships and strong, 

responsive proposals. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: All 

inquiries may be directed to Chris Greer 

(301–975–2000) via email to research@

chips.gov, with a subject line stating: 

‘2024–NIST–CHIPS–NAPMP–01 

Questions.’ All answers, which will be 

provided at the sole discretion of CHIPS 

R&D, will be posted on the NIST 

competition website at https://

www.nist.gov/chips/chips-RD-fundingopportunities. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose. The CHIPS Research and 

Development Office (CHIPS R&D) 

intends to announce, via a Notice of 

Funding Opportunity (NOFO), an open 

competition for new research and 

development (R&D) activities to 

establish and accelerate domestic 

capacity for advanced packaging 

substrates and substrate materials, a key 

technology for manufacturing 

semiconductors. CHIPS R&D anticipates 

making available up to approximately 

$300,000,000 for multiple awards in 

amounts up to approximately 

$100,000,000 per award, not including 

voluntary co-investment, over up to 5 

years and made through cooperative 

agreements or other transactions. Coinvestment (cost share) is not required 

in this program. CHIPS R&D will, 

however, give preference to applications 

that demonstrate committed coinvestment in their application. 

The purpose of this NOI is to offer 

preliminary information to potential 

applicants, facilitating the development 

of meaningful partnerships and strong, 

responsive proposals. CHIPS R&D 

intends to announce the competition no 

later than March 2024 by posting the 

NOFO on Grants.gov at https://

www.grants.gov. More information 

about the expected CHIPS R&D NAPMP 

Materials and Substrates competition 

will then be available at the CHIPS for 

America website at https://

www.nist.gov/chips/chips-RD-fundingopportunities. 

Background. Emerging technologies 

like artificial intelligence, advanced 

telecommunications, biomedical 

devices, and autonomous vehicles 

require leap-ahead advances in 

microelectronics capabilities. Improving 

all aspects of system performance to 

support the breadth of new 

semiconductor applications will require 

advanced packaging and related 

capabilities, such as heterogeneous 

integration, to address the need to 

integrate multi-component-assemblies 

with large numbers of interconnects to 

achieve a degree of integration that blurs 

the line between chip and package. 

In particular, the ability to ‘‘scaledown and scale-out’’ will be critical, 

where ‘‘scale-down’’ refers to shrinking 

the size of the features on the package 

and ‘‘scale-out’’ refers to increasing the 

number of chips assembled on the 

substrate. 

Materials and substrates are 

foundational to achieving the necessary 

advancements. Moreover, materials and 

substrates R&D, particularly applied 

R&D, is critical to expanding the U.S. 

packaging ecosystem. 

CHIPS R&D Mission and Goals: The 

CHIPS and Science Act appropriated 

approximately $50 billion to the 

Department of Commerce—$39 billion 

in incentives to onshore semiconductor 

manufacturing and $11 billion to 

advance U.S. leadership in 

semiconductor R&D. Within CHIPS for 

America, the mission of CHIPS R&D is 

to accelerate the development and 

commercial deployment of foundational 

semiconductor technologies by 

establishing, connecting, and providing 

access to domestic research efforts, 

tools, resources, workers, and facilities. 

NAPMP, one of multiple CHIPS R&D 

initiatives, seeks to drive U.S. 

leadership in advanced packaging and 

provide the technology and skilled 

workforce needed for packaging 

manufacturing in the United States. 

Within a decade, NAPMP-funded 

activities, coupled with CHIPS 

manufacturing incentives, will establish 

a vibrant, self-sustaining, profitable, 

onshore packaging industry where 

advanced node chips manufactured in 

the United States and abroad can be 

packaged in appropriate volumes within 

the United States and innovative 

designs and architectures are enabled 

through leading-edge packaging 

capabilities. In combination with other 

CHIPS for America education and 

workforce efforts, NAPMP-funded 

activities produce the diverse and 

capable workforce needed for the 

success of the domestic packaging 

sector. 

Materials and Substrates NOFO 

Objectives: Three major R&D areas have 

the potential to make a significant 

impact on domestic advanced packaging 

capabilities: organic materials and 

substrates (including fan-out); glass 

materials and substrates; and 

semiconductor-based substrates. Within 

these areas, CHIPS R&D intends to fund 

R&D activities that establish and 

promote relevant domestic capability 

and capacity, with the following 

objectives: 

1. Accelerate domestic R&D and 

innovation in advanced packaging 

materials and substrates; 

2. Transition domestic materials and 

substrate innovation into U.S. 

manufacturing, such that these 

technologies are available to U.S. 

manufacturers and customers, including 

to significantly benefit U.S. economic 

and national security; 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 22 / Thursday, February 1, 2024 / Notices 6509 

3. Support the establishment of a 

robust, sustainable, domestic capacity 

for advanced packaging materials and 

substrate R&D, prototyping, 

commercialization, and manufacturing; 

and 

4. Promote a skilled and diverse 

pipeline of workers for a sustainable 

domestic advanced packaging industry. 

Funded activities are expected to 

include, but not necessarily be limited 

to, basic and applied research, substrate 

and demonstration device development 

and production, commercial viability 

and domestic manufacturing 

preparation, integrated workforce 

education and training, and pilot-level 

substrate production. 

To ensure that funded R&D meets the 

above objectives, CHIPS R&D expects to 

define aggressive technical targets (e.g., 

substrate wiring, via pitches, and 

number of levels on both sides of the 

substrate) for applicants to achieve. 

CHIPS R&D will also encourage 

proposals for advanced substrates that 

incorporate one or more passive or 

active components embedded in the 

substrate for enhanced functionality. 

Whereas traditional boards, silicon or 

glass interposers and small area 

substrates are not expected to be in 

scope for this NOFO, composite 

substrates using fan-out wafer-level 

packaging, including flexible and 

biocompatible substrates, are expected 

to be entertained. CHIPS R&D will 

further expect that substrates be 

compatible with direct attach at fine 

pitch of advanced node CMOS, legacy 

nodes, and non-silicon dielets. Substrate 

proposals will be strongly encouraged to 

incorporate embedded substrate features 

and active and passive devices and 

through substrate vias. CHIPS R&D will 

further expect applicants to define nontechnical targets related to advanced 

packaging education and workforce 

development and to demonstrating both 

the commercial viability and the 

potential for the domestic production of 

innovations funded under the NOFO. 

Eligibility: CHIPS R&D expects eligible 

applicants and subrecipients will 

include for-profit organizations; nonprofit organizations; accredited 

institutions of higher education 

including community and technical 

colleges; state, local, territorial, and 

Indian tribal governments. 

Applicants must be incorporated in 

the United States (including U.S. 

territories). Eligible applicants may only 

submit one concept paper and one full 

application under this NOFO. Full 

applications will only be accepted from 

applicants invited after the concept 

paper stage. Entities may not be 

included as subrecipients on more than 

two applications. 

Entities that operate Federally Funded 

Research and Development Centers 

(FFRDCs) may be eligible to receive this 

funding as sub-subrecipients to an 

eligible applicant to the extent allowed 

by law, based on the unique and 

specific needs of the project. 

Foreign organizations may participate 

as members of a project team, as subsubrecipients or contractors, subject to 

CHIPS R&D approval based on a written 

justification that the foreign partner’s 

involvement is essential to advancing 

program objectives, among other 

considerations. 

R&D Collaboration: CHIPS R&D 

expects that applicants assembling 

teams comprising one or more 

subrecipients may be best suited to 

collectively provide the full range of 

expertise and capabilities needed to 

achieve the program objectives and to 

successfully strengthen U.S. materials 

and substrates innovation. Equally 

important, these types of partnerships 

can promote inventiveness, clarify 

future demand, improve transparency 

and security, solidify business and 

domestic manufacturing plans 

(including plans for technology 

adoption by defense and commercial 

partners), help educate the future 

workforce, mitigate the risk of future 

chip shortages or oversupply, and 

support a more productive, efficient, 

and self-sustaining semiconductor 

ecosystem. 

CHIPS R&D therefore encourages 

applications that demonstrate 

collaboration across the innovation, 

manufacturing, supply chain, and 

customer landscape. 

Application Process and Award 

Information: The envisioned application 

process consists of a mandatory concept 

paper and a required full application. 

CHIPS R&D anticipates a due date for 

concept papers of approximately 35 

days after the date of NOFO publication. 

Full applications will only be accepted 

from applicants invited to apply after 

the concept paper stage. Submissions 

from entities other than those 

specifically invited to submit a full 

application will not be reviewed or 

considered in any way. 

To provide the public with an 

opportunity to learn more about the 

NOFO before the concept paper 

deadline, CHIPS R&D expects to host a 

Proposers Day after NOFO release to 

familiarize potential applicants with the 

NOFO objectives and program structure. 

CHIPS R&D will announce details 

regarding the date and location of the 

Proposers Day via the CHIPS R&D 

website at https://www.nist.gov/chips/ 

chips-RD-funding-opportunities. This 

event will be for informational purposes 

only. Attendance is not a prerequisite 

for submitting a concept paper or 

application. 

Competition Information: Once the 

open competition has been announced, 

further information may be found at 

https://www.nist.gov/chips/chips-RDfunding-opportunities. 

System for Award Management: In 

anticipation of the NOFO, CHIPS R&D 

encourages potential applicants to 

complete the following steps, which are 

required to submit applications for 

Federal assistance: 

• Register with the System for Award 

Management (SAM) at https://

www.sam.gov. CHIPS R&D strongly 

encourages applicants to register for 

SAM.gov as early as possible. While this 

process ordinarily takes between three 

days and two weeks, in some 

circumstances it can take six or more 

months to complete due to information 

verification requirements. Recipients 

will be required to maintain an active 

registration in SAM and re-validate 

registration annually. 

• Register for a Grants.gov (https://

www.grants.gov/) account. It is 

advisable also to go to ‘‘manage 

subscriptions’’ on Grants.gov and sign 

up to receive automatic updates when 

amendments to a funding opportunity 

are posted. 

Disclaimer. This NOI does not 

constitute a solicitation. No applications 

may be submitted in response to this 

NOI. Any inconsistency between 

information within this NOI and the 

eventual NOFO announcing the CHIPS 

NAPMP Materials and Substrates award 

competition shall be resolved in favor of 

the NOFO. 

Authority. DOC CHIPS activities were 

authorized by Title XCIX—Creating 

Helpful Incentives to Produce 

Semiconductors for America of the 

William M. (Mac) Thornberry National 

Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2021 (Pub. L. 116–283, often 

referred to as the CHIPS Act). 

Tamiko Ford, 

NIST Executive Secretariat. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02026 Filed 1–31–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING 

COMMISSION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities Under OMB Review 

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1