Chipping In

The U.S. Department of Defense has chosen NC State to lead a regional hub that will develop and produce what are known as wide bandgap semiconductors, which allow electronic components to be smaller, faster and more efficient than those that use semiconductors made with silicon.

NC State will receive nearly $40 million to oversee a hub that includes N.C. A&T State University and six industry partners, including Wolfspeed and General Electric. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who announced the grant, said it is part of a larger national effort to “get the most cutting-edge microchips into systems our troops use every day: ships, planes, tanks, long-range munitions, communications gear, sensors and much more.”

NC State’s work will focus on increasing the capability to produce wide bandgap semiconductors in the U.S. — an effort known as “lab to fab,” short for laboratory to fabrication, says John Muth ’98 PHD, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the primary investigator on the grant. He says the grant will also enable the university to perform the sort of fundamental research that is part of its mission.

Mladen Vouk ’85 MS, vice chancellor for research and innovation, says the grant capitalizes on the university’s strengths in electrical and computer engineering, as well as computer science, to “help make this leap ahead for wide bandgap semiconductor technology a reality.”