Taiwan Semiconductor announced the opening up of the academic community to use 16nm FinFET technology to train semiconductor talent and drive academic innovation

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced the launch of the University FinFET program with the aim of nurturing future semiconductor chip design talent and driving global academic innovation. TSMC will work with service partners in Asia, Europe and North America to support research projects for educational use and testing of the chips.

Under the terms of the project, TSMC will bring the experience of chip design and learning to 16nm FinFET technology with the Open University's process Design Suite (PDK) of FinFET technology for faculty, students and academic researchers. The project will also be available to university chip researchers for Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) services using the N16 and N7 processes, accelerating the transfer of influential innovative research into practical use.

TSMC will provide the following resources to university institutions, including:

An instructional design kit based on the TSMC N16 process, including educational design cases, training materials, and instructional videos, guides students from the traditional flat transistor structure to the fin FET structure.

For high-impact research projects, including research design for logic, analog and RF applications, TSMC offers the N16 and N7 process design related kits to support test chips produced through MPW services.

TSMC's Open Innovation Platform is the industry's most comprehensive and vibrant design ecosystem to support our technology and manufacturing. TSMC partners participating in the Open Innovation Platform will also provide support to university FinFET projects, and interested academic institutions can contact local partners through the website provided by TSMC.