25-Mar-2022: Manufacture of Microprocessors

Government has notified Production Linked Incentive schemes for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing and IT Hardware which do not cover manufacturing of microprocessors.

However, Government is focused on its important objective of building the overall semiconductor ecosystem and ensure that, it in-turn catalyses India’s rapidly expanding electronics manufacturing and innovation ecosystem. This vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat in electronics & semiconductors was given further momentum by the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, approving the Semicon India programme with a total outlay of INR 76,000 crore for the development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in our country. The programme aims to provide financial support to companies investing in semiconductors, display manufacturing and design ecosystem. This will serve to pave the way for India’s growing presence in the global electronics value chains.

Following four schemes have been introduced under the aforesaid programme:

1. Scheme for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs in India provides fiscal support to eligible applicants for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs which is aimed at attracting large investments for setting up semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities in the country. Following fiscal support has been approved under the scheme:
   • 28nm or Lower - Up to 50% of the Project Cost
   • Above 28 nm to 45nm - Up to 40% of the Project Cost
   • Above 45 nm to 65nm - Up to 30% of the Project Cost
2. Scheme for setting up of Display Fabs in India provides fiscal support to eligible applicants for setting up of Display Fabs which is aimed at attracting large investments for setting up TFT LCD / AMOLED based display fabrication facilities in the country. The Scheme provides fiscal support of up to 50% of Project Cost subject to a ceiling of INR 12,000 crore per Fab.
3. Scheme for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors Fab and Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) / OSAT facilities in India: The Scheme provides a fiscal support of 30% of the Capital Expenditure to the eligible applicants for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics (SiPh) / Sensors (including MEMS) Fab and Semiconductor ATMP / OSAT facilities in India.
4. Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme offers financial incentives, design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design. The 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.

In addition to the above schemes, Government has also approved modernisation of Semi-Conductor Laboratory, Mohali as a brownfield Fab.

Government has received three applications under Semicon India Programme for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs in India for manufacturing of semiconductor chips, including microprocessors chips. Incentive may be extended upto two eligible applicants with approval of the Union Cabinet.

The applications received under the Semicon India Programme for manufacturing of chips are yet to be approved subject to the recommendation of India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). Further, Semiconductors manufacturing is a very complex and technology-intensive sector with huge capital investments, high risk, long gestation and payback periods, and rapid changes in technology which require significant and sustained investments. Presently, India is at formative stage of developing its semiconductor supply chain ecosystem. The manufacturing of semiconductor chips, including microprocessors in semiconductor fab units will depend on technology, capacity and availability of semiconductor supply chain ecosystem.

31-Dec-2021: Swarna Jayanti Fellow developing doping agents for efficient next-generation low-cost semiconductor materials

Pabitra K. Nayak, reader at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research-Hyderabad and Swarnajayanti fellow for the year 2020-21, is leading a research group for the development of efficient next-generation low-cost semiconductor materials which can contribute to India’s technological leadership in this area.

India has recently announced incentives of INR 2,30,000 crore to position India as global hub for electronics manufacturing with semiconductors as the foundational building block and efficient next-generation low-cost semiconductor materials could pave the path towards positioning India as the global hub for Electronic System Design and Manufacturing as per the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Large-scale commercially viable electronic applications can be realized by low-energy processible materials like metal halide perovskite and organic semiconductors. However, in competing with traditional inorganic semiconductors, organic materials and halide perovskites still lag in electrical conductivity. This lag can be addressed through doping to introduce more numbers of free electrons (or holes) increase conductivity, or to control the charge injection /extraction properties at the interface of other semiconductors or metals, thus affecting the performance of devices.

Most of the attention of the research community has been in developing electronic dopants systems that are based on highly complex and reactive organic or organometallic complexes, which are largely inefficient and leave behind side products which affects the long-term stability of devices. Thus there is a need to look beyond these approaches and beyond the state-of-the-art research in electronic doping.

In a paper published in Nature Materials, Dr. Nayak has shown the very first example of an adduct-based dopant system (impurities that can change the electrical conductivity of semiconductors) for organic semiconductors, where the dopants do not leave behind any side products and work better than the existing class of dopants. He has also made seminal contributions towards the understanding of crystallization and doping in halide perovskites, a class of materials that are driving the progress of emerging solar cell technologies. 

Dr. Nayak, who won the Swarnajayanti fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), now aims to develop new doping agents based on molecular adducts (a molecular species formed out of a combination of multiple distinct molecules) and radicals for efficient and clean electronic doping of different types of semiconductors. He hopes that this will help in coming up with new systems which will have better performance.

His group will investigate the mechanism of p-type and n-type electronic doping of organic and metal halide perovskite semiconductors. Processes will be developed to neutralize electronic defects, which are often responsible for poor device performances. New doping methods and materials developed by the group will be used to realize the state-of-the-art perovskite and organic-based solar cells, light-emitting devices, and transistors and heterostructures. The new doping methods and dopants are expected to cause a paradigm shift in the doping of soft semiconductors as they will end our dependency on highly expensive dopant molecules. The new generation of dopants will drive the next revolution in displays, solar cells, and bio-electronics by improving their efficiency and stability. This will enable the wider application of low-cost and printable electronics.

Dr Nayak pointed out that all these possibilities will improve India’s competitiveness in semiconductor materials research and development, which is essential for sustainable socio-economic growth driven by the usage of clean energy.