PseudolithIC is advancing a chipmaking process to serve the growing market for RF and mm-Wave technology. Its heterogeneous integration process combines disparate materials and functionalities onto single chips, faster, cheaper, and with better performance than is possible with a monolithic approach.
FELLOWS
Florian Herrault
Florian Herrault is the co-founder and chief technology officer of PseudolithIC. Previously he worked as a research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology and spent nine years at HRL Laboratories, developing technologies and leading programs and teams in the areas of radio frequency (RF) and mm-wave microelectronics.
Dan Green
Dan Green is co-founder and CEO of PseudolithIC. Most recently, he was a government executive at the Office of Naval Research and program manager at DARPA where he directed research advancing microelectronics. PseudolithIC’s semiconductor technology is derived from research into heterogeneous chip development that Green directed as part of the DARPA CHIPS program. Green received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his B.S. from Yale.
TECHNOLOGY
Critical Need
Semiconductor electronics drive the communications networks that enable our mobile, connected society. While technology has evolved through 3G, 4G, and now 5G technology, the part of the RF spectrum used has largely remained the same, limiting the data that can be pushed across the infrastructure. Higher frequency mm-Wave radios offer dramatic expansion to these data networks and network providers have invested to bring these networks to life. Unfortunately, high costs related to manufacturing advanced mm-Wave solutions have limited widespread adoption. An affordable, capable mm-Wave technology will deliver the next leap ahead in mobile communications applications.
Technology Vision
Conventional semiconductor circuits are built through a process called monolithic integration, creating chips by patterning a wafer of a single material. The progression of shrinking critical dimensions is the basis for Moore’s law. While this approach has been wildly successful over decades, it now faces physical limits. Heterogeneous integration offers a new path with the opportunity to combine electronic, photonic, and even mechanical solutions that are greater than the capabilities of their constituent parts. PseudolithIC has identified a promising heterogeneous semiconductor manufacturing process that will deliver single chip solutions faster and at lower cost than previously possible—even for monolithic solutions.
Potential for Impact
PseudolithIC’s products and processes will solve fundamental challenges in building radio solutions today and create value for its customers with significant benefits to cost, scalability, manufacturing turnaround, and performance. The commercial drivers for these products benefit society through expanded data connections between people, places, and networks at lower cost and greater efficiency than possible with conventional technology. Further, PseudolithiC’s manufacturing will boost the U.S. semiconductor industry and support domestic chip foundries as they define new markets, all while generating high-paying jobs.
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PseudolithIC