VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland reports that the Chips Joint Undertaking’s Public Authorities Board will award funding to the Advanced Packaging and Heterogeneous Integration for Electronic Components and Systems (APECS) pilot line project, aiming to boost Europe’s semiconductor production for new packaging and integration solutions.
Under the EU Chips Act programme, the APECS line, coordinated by Fraunhofer, seeks to boost Europe’s capability to manufacture semiconductors and innovate chips. It intends to develop reliable packaging solutions for microchips, combine semiconductor materials and technologies, and facilitate chiplet integration.
“In the APECS project, VTT will focus in particular on the radio frequency technologies required for the 6G network and on the development and demonstration of optical microsystems and chip packaging methods,” says Tauno Vähä-Heikkilä, vice president of Microelectronics and Quantum Technologies at VTT.
VTT is involved in a range of pilot projects in Europe, including the FAMES and NanoIC pilot lines run by CEA-Leti and imec. These pilot lines provide services to help companies develop and scale products for production, including new packaging, memory, transistor and RF technologies.
The Finnish government has granted €79 million to build shared pilot lines in Kvanttinova – an RDI Hub in microelectronics and quantum technology developed by VTT, Aalto University, and the City of Espoo – where VTT’s activities in the APECS, FAMES, and NanoIC pilot lines will be based.
At VTT’s shared-use cleanroom, domestic companies are invited to develop and pilot microelectronics components, systems, and innovation to be scaled up for production. This is set to be the focus of the €29 million funding from the EU and Finnish government for the APECS pilot line, as well as the development of semiconductor manufacturing processes.
The first semiconductor processes in Finland are scheduled to begin towards the end of 2026.
The European Commission has also announced the creation of the PIXEurope pilot line for photonic chips, coordinated by the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona; financial and technical negotiations are ongoing. VTT is a participant in the PIXEurope consortium and develops low-loss thick-SOI integrated photonics for the pilot line’s offering.
“Taken together, these four pilot lines, APECS, FAMES, NanoIC and PIXEurope, will support the growth of the Finnish and European semiconductor industry and help Finnish industry to connect to European value chains,” explains Pekka Pursula, research manager at VTT.
Last year, the European Commission approved a €5 billion measure to help European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC) build and operate a ‘first-of-its-kind’ microchip manufacturing plant in Dresden. Set to operate at full capacity by 2029, the facility foresees the production of 480,000 silicon wafers every year.
SkyWater Technology and Intel Corporation were also set to receive combined investments of up to $7,876,000,000 from the U.S. Department of Commerce under the CHIPS for America programme – a development set to drive semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.
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