Abu Dhabi entity joins Saxony in research projects

Abu Dhabi: The Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), a subsidiary of Mubadala, and the German state of Saxony announced the establishment of the ‘twin labs' projects, a $4.8 million (Dh17.62 million) investment in research and development in areas of interest to the semiconductor industry.

ATIC and Saxony will each contribute $2.4 million towards the plan over the next two years. The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology will host the Abu Dhabi research centre, while Technische Universität Dresden will oversee development of the Saxony lab.

Both sites will be of similar size, initially staffed with 10-12 graduate and PhD students. Research will focus primarily on three-dimensional chip stacking, a potentially faster and more energy efficient semiconductor technology that follows ATIC's broader emphasis on minimum electronic energy systems, or MEES.

The agreement follows a 2010 memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Abu Dhabi and Saxony to facilitate a strong working partnership. The Twin Labs concept was conceived by the research and development working group established under the MoU, jointly chaired by Sami Eisa, executive director leading the Abu Dhabi Technology Ecosystem Unit at ATIC, and Prof. Gerhard Fettweis, professor and Vodafone chair at TU-Dresden.

Since 2010, ATIC has invested $17.2 million in research and development. "It's starting to pay off because now we have enough intellectual professors that we can actually use for commercial use. But you have to remember that it takes years to create an industry," he said. "This is only the beginning."

Take a decade

"It will take a decade at least to see a real hub for [the semiconductor industry]."

When asked of what is to become of the intellectual property generated from this research, Sami Eisa said that the "purpose of this funding is the creation of an innovation hub and innovators appreciate having some ownership of the idea they're creating and we are very conscious of that."

He added: "We are going to structure it in a way that allows if a start-up comes out of this research, that start-up could become efficient financially, therefore we have to have some kind of mechanism that allows us to monetise the idea it creates. We are going to build the right relationship to give the innovators the opportunity to create well and we're also going to keep within ATIC and Globalfoundries the rights for intellectual property."

Explore

On the Abu Dhabi side, the group "Three-Dimensional Integrated Microelectronics for Minimum Energy Design" will be led by Dr. Abe Al Fadil, Professor of Microsystems Engineering at the Masdar Institute. It will explore and illustrate the minimum-energy/low-power features of 3D-integrated microelectronics in a variety of computing, communication, storage and sensing design contexts.

"There is 3D stacking research going on around the world, but this is obviously the first time it's happening in our region," said Sami Eisa. "This is what is going to enable the industry to give you another dimension of integration."

On the Saxony side, the Twin Labs group led by Professor Gerhard Fettweis will be known as "ESF Young Investigators Group 3D Chip Stack Intra-connects."