Lok Sabha Question No. 5458 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-04-05
Subject: Funding of Semi-conductor Materials Research
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Thalikkottai Rajuthevar Baalu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5458

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 05.04.2023

## FUNDING OF SEMI-CONDUCTOR MATERIALS RESEARCH

## 5458.   SHRI T.R BAALU:

Will  the  Minister  of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether the Government is planning to fund new semi-conductor materials research, new design  architectures  for  critical  equipment,  intellectual  property  protection,  and  technical standards;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the initiatives that have been taken/proposed to be taken by the Government keeping in view that India is a global hub for chip design and design services?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a)  and  (b):    Yes  Sir.  Research  in  semiconductors  including  materials  is  a  critical  part  of Government's  policy  in  developing  an  overall  semiconductor  ecosystem  in  the  country. Government  is  committed  to  develop  an  overall  semiconductor  ecosystem  in  the  country  to catalyse India's rapidly expanding electronics manufacturing and innovation ecosystem.

Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  (MeitY)  is  financially  supporting  to develop  emerging  semiconductor  materials  for  Semiconductor  Photonic  Integrated  Circuits (PICs);  which  has  varied  applications  including  Aerospace  and  Defence,  Datacom,  IoT, Quantum  Technologies  etc.  Some  of  the  R&D  projects  initiated  in  this  direction  are  as following:

- (i) An R&D project  entitled 'Centre  for  Programmable  Photonic  Integrated  Circuit and  Systems  (CPPICS)' is  being  implemented  at  Indian  Institute  of  Technology Madrassince  December  2020  in  collaboration  with  industry  (M/s  Si2  Microsystems, Bangalore) to design, manufacture and develop applications based on Field programmable photonic gate array (FPPGA) core technology and its applications using Silicon Photonics Platform.
- (ii) Another R&D project entitled 'National Centre for Quantum Material Technologies (NCQMT)' is  being  implementedat  Centre  for  Materials  for  Electronics  Technology (C-MET), Punesince March 2022 aiming to develop quantum material technology on Diamond Substrates.The centre is engaged in establishing ISO17025 standard lab and its infrastructure. NCQMT has signed MOU with M/s Hind HiVacuum Company Pvt. Ltd,  Bangalore  for  co-development of  Diamond Substrate manufacturing process  and machines (Microwave Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition(MPECVD));and aims to develop Indiansupply chain for the global market.

IP  rights  for  aforementioned  technologies  will  be  protected  through  national  and international patents in due course.

(c): Yes Sir. Government is cognizant of the fact that India is a global hub for chip design and design services. With thousands of chips designed every year by an exceptional design talent pool  making  up  to  20%  of  world's  semiconductor  design  engineers  in  the  country,  India remains a highly attractive destination for global semiconductor companies with most of the major semiconductor companies present in the country.

Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  has  initiated  a  number  of  dedicated schemes  and  programmes  to  increase  the  domestic  share  in  chip  design  area  and  create vibrant domestic chip design industry in the country.

- (i) Semicon India programme: has been initiated by Government with anoverall outlay of  Rs.  76,000  Crore  for  development  of  semiconductor  and  display  manufacturing ecosystem in the country.As Research & Development (R&D) is the foundation for the developing semiconductor ecosystem in the country, up to 2.5 % of the total outlay of  the  Semicon  India  programmeis  allocated  to  the  R&D,  Skill  Development  and Training requirements for developing semiconductor ecosystem in India.
- (ii) 'Semicon  India  Future  Design:  Design  Linked  Incentive  (DLI)  Scheme' offers financial incentives and  design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor designs for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets,  System  on  Chips  (SoCs),  Systems  &  IP  Cores  and  semiconductor  linked design. The DLI Scheme provides 'Product Design Linked Incentive' of up to 50% of the  eligible  expenditure  subject  to  a  ceiling  of  ₹15  Crore  per  application  and 'Deployment Linked Incentive' of 6% to 4% of net sales turnover over 5 years subject to  a  ceiling  of  ₹30  Crore  per  application.  Out  of  23  applications  receivedfrom  the domestic companies under the DLI Scheme, 3 applicants have been granted approval; while other applications are being evaluated for support under the DLI Scheme.
- (iii) Chips to Start-up (C2S) Programme: aims to generate 85,000 number of industryready manpower at B.Tech, M.Tech& PhD level specialized in the area of VLSI/ Chip and  Embedded  System  Design  over  a  period  of  5 years  at  academia,  R&D organizations, start-up and MSME across the country.

'ChipIN Centre' has been setup at C-DAC Bangalore, as a one-stop support centre, for providing services for chip design and fabrication; including access to state-of-the-art chip  design  tools,  Multi-project  Wafer  fabrication  services  etc.104  organizations across  the  country  (including  91  Academia/  R&D  Organizations  and  13  Startup/ MSMEs)  have  been  selected  for  providing  support  for  designing  chips  in  varied application areas under C2S Programme.

- (iv) As a step towards meeting India's future requirements ofstrategic&industrial sectors including that of automotive, mobility and computing sectors, following programmes have been initiated by MeitY:
- (a) An R&D project entitled ' Microprocessor Development Programme' is being implemented at  IIT Madras, C-DACand IIT Bombay which aims to design and developfamily of 32-bit and 64-bit, multi-core microprocessors using open-source ISA (Instruction Set Architecture).32-bit/ 64-bit variants of SHAKTI, VEGA and AJIT Microprocessors have been designed and fabricated by IIT Madras, C-DAC and IIT Bombay under Microprocessor DevelopmentProgramme.
- (b) A project fordesign, development and deployment of Integrated NavIC and GPS Receiveris  being  implemented  by  domestic  companies;  wherein  the  integrated NavIC and GPSChipsets designed  and  fabricated  by  M/s  Accord  Software  and Systems has been qualified by SAC(ISRO) for deployment in civilian sector in the country.

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