The Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma said that modernization of Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) Mohali is to play a key role in advancing India’s Semiconductor aspirations. He was visiting the Semi-conductor Labs in Mohali today and reviewed the plan and progress for modernization effort there.
Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma at SCL Mohali
While appreciating the contributions and capabilities of SCL, Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma highlighted that the time was right for SCL to assume a significantly larger aspiration: not only in terms of setting up a larger manufacturing business, but also in scaling the semiconductor capabilities and talent in India. The Government of India is actively pursuing modernization of the existing Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali as part of the broader efforts to grow semiconductor manufacturing in India, he added.
As the only IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturer) semiconductor facility in India, SCL has served advanced, but low scale indigenous semiconductor needs of the country, including powering the country’s Mars Mission, under the stewardship of Department of Space. The CMOS Wafer Fab has been able to fabricate and deliver more than 200 types of CMOS devices, including variants (Digital, Analog, Mixed Signal and SRAM).
SCL has already launched an RfP for capacity augmentation of existing CMOS wafer fab from 700 wspm to 1000-1100 wspm by upgrading current equipment. As part of this upgrade, SCL will also add NVM (Non-Volatile Memory) technology to the exiting 180nm CMOS platform and add GaN on Silicon technology to its suite of technological capabilities. This will allow SCL to expand its offerings, especially in the domain of Power electronics, including PMIC, low power RF and memory devices. SCL has also signed a contract with IMEC Belgium for acquiring GaN on Silicon Power HEMT technology for E-node 200V & 650V devices.
In the near term, this ongoing RfP will enhance the product portfolio and improve the production cycle time for SCL. In parallel, MeitY has also engaged a leading management consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group, to develop a longer-term vision and execution roadmap for SCL 2.0, jointly with MeitY, ISM and SCL leadership, for SCL to play a key role in India’s Semiconductor Mission.
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RKJ/BK