To satisfy the growing needs of developing a forward-looking data storage technology that facilitates processing, reduces electricity consumption, and prevents data loss in case of power outages, top semiconductor manufacturers across the globe are committed to pooling talents and mapping out the R&D of relevant technologies. The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) strongly supports further research on semiconductor technology with a view to consolidating Taiwan’s status as a frontrunner of the semiconductor industry. Recently, its efforts have come to fruition once again. The National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI) collaborated with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) in the R&D of Selector and STT-MRAM Integration. The research thesis on sophisticated STT-MRAM, first published and selected as Highlight Paper at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDE) in December 2023, bears witness to the resounding success of the research team. TSRI has continued to establish a service platform to encourage university-industry cooperation and assist in nurturing young talents who can conduct advanced research on memory chips or up-to-date AI chips.
As a key development area for the international semiconductor industry and academia, STT-MRAM technology is well applied to cloud computing and IoT for bulk data storage due to its high speed, high reliability, small size and low power consumption. Moreover, it boosts the learning efficiency and accuracy of AI computing.
TSRI has long been hosting or co-organizing international meetings during which research theses on key development areas are published. In response to the global trend, the institute has set up a service platform for talent nurturing, aiming to train the highly-educated in this field to be eminent researchers.
According to Tuo-Hung Hou, Director General of TSRI, Taiwan, as the world’s semiconductor manufacturing hub, should embark on the establishment of talent pools for years to come, which is the key aspect of maintaining our country’s competitiveness as well as increasing production value. As the cradle of talent nurturing, TSRI has been knocking into shape a large number of diamonds in the rough, namely intellectuals in the relevant fields, through the mechanism of university-industry cooperation and professional training, which is in line with market requirements. The institute designs practicums whereby trainees can improve their techniques for manufacturing wafers and verifying prototype electronic circuits. Every year, it provides resident research training programs for more than fifty universities, including five hundred professor-led research teams that consist of approximately two thousand highly-educated elites.
TSMC, the leading manufacturer of the world’s semiconductor industry, is dedicated to university-industry cooperation and talent nurturing in Taiwan. This time, by collaborating with TSRI in the publication of a revolutionary research thesis, TSMC not only proves Taiwan has been at the forefront of this field in the international community, but also expects to assist the highly-educated in conforming to the mainstream in the future with marketable skills in tow, thereby strengthening the R&D capabilities of Taiwan’s semiconductor technology.
