The new cleanroom will be built at DTU Lyngby Campus and comprises an approximately 5,600-m2 two-floor building with a basement. The DTU-funded building is budgeted at DKK 345 million and is expected to be completed in 2026.
The vast majority of all microchips are produced in Asia, including China, South Korea, and Taiwan, while the EU only produces 10 per cent of all microchips worldwide. But, like China and the United States, the EU now wants to boost its own production of microchips to reduce dependence on producers in the rest of the world.
With a new agreement, the EU will raise DKK 323 billion for microchip production, with DKK 25 billion being earmarked for research and development of new chips. The ambition is to increase Europe's market share to 20 per cent before the end of the decade.
"The expansion of DTU's cleanroom facilities will contribute to strengthening Denmark's business sector, competitiveness, and digitalization capacity, as well as contribute positively to the European ecosystem for microchips," says Jörg Hübner.
The cleanroom was last expanded in 2000 and 2003. DTU currently has 1,350 m2 of cleanroom facilities with a very wide range of machines for the production of sensors and microchips. Jörg Hübner explains that—since then—more equipment has been crammed into the cleanroom, leaving no room for additional equipment, more technologies, large international research projects, or more companies than the over 30 enterprises that currently use the facilities.
"There is a need for more cleanroom space and equipment if DTU Nanolab is to meet the demand from partners or to launch major research activities," says Jörg Hübner.
In March, DTU signed a contract with the worldwide consulting company Jacobs, which has
experience in constructing similar research and production facilities. The company has also developed the cleanrooms that DTU built 20 years ago.
Production of nanochips and microchips requires a production environment that is free of particles and dust. Large facilities that meet these extremely stringent standards are usually only found in industry and large organizations, but—uniquely—they are also available at DTU. The new cleanroom will be built as an ISO 4 cleanroom with a full clean basement (subfab) for 200-mm wafer equipment. This structure provides maximum flexibility for using the cleanroom and facilitates quick adaptation of equipment to user needs.
COMPAMED-tradefair.com; Source: DTU (Technical University of Denmark)
