Semiconductor initiative a boost to research and the labour market
Electron beam lithography (EBL) is used in the clean room to draw patterns on silicon wafers at the nanometre scale, here with students Johan Stenborg from the Master's Programme in Engineering Physics and Freja Klucis Lövström from the Master's Programme in Sociotechnical Systems Engineering. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
After having closed down semiconductor factories in Europe during many years, the EU is now investing in building up its manufacturing in this area again. At Uppsala University, most of the advanced research in semiconductors is being conducted within large companies.
Ted Johansson, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Electrical Engineering. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
“Our research is very industrially focused. Most of the students we are training for the industry hold PhDs and become specialists in different companies or organisations,” says Ted Johansson, researcher at the Department of Electrical Engineering.
In February, it was announced that the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth and the EU Regional Fund are investing SEK 175 million in the Swedish semiconductor industry together with regional and national actors. The initiative is based on the European Chips Act, which was promulgated in 2022. The goal is for Europe to strengthen its competitiveness in the semiconductor sector and to undergo a green transition and digital transformation.
Sweden has been awarded funding for projects in five EU Regional Fund areas, including Myfab Uppsala for Swedish semiconductor innovation. For the cleanroom at the Ångström Laboratory, this means an injection of just over SEK 37 million to replace outdated equipment and improve quality assurance, but also to involve students in working with semiconductors in the cleanroom.
“We have companies that come to visit and if the students are involved, they get to see how exciting and interesting it is to make semiconductors. It’s important that the students get to be in the lab early in their studies, doing measurements and building or programming various things depending on what they are interested in,” says Ted Johansson.
Biggest cleanroom in Sweden
Of Sweden’s four university cleanrooms, Uppsala University has the biggest. It’s now hoped that the manufacturing in the lab of the individual components that make up the electronics in semiconductors can be scaled up. Basically, a semiconductor consists of millimetre-thin silicon wafers covered in electronic circuits. The circuits can consist of many billions of electronic components in the form of transistors on a postage stamp-sized silicon chip, and are used in a variety of applications such as mobile phones, computers, flat screens, and cars.
“Today, the most advanced chips are the ones that sit in our mobile phones and tablets. Consumer products are the big market and the reason for investing in factories that cost SEK 100 billion to build,” says Ted Johansson.
He began his career as an externally employed doctoral student at Ericsson’s semiconductor factory in Kista, where he combined work with research at Linköping University for more than two decades. In 2024 he became a senior lecturer at Uppsala University. Today, his experiences from the semiconductor industry and telecommunications are providing engineering students in both engineering physics and electrical engineering with additional perspectives.
Measurement of electrical resistance (resistivity) of 100 mm silicon wafer. The yellow light is needed to not damage the patterns on the wafer. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
Hoping to secure supply chains
But with the memory of previous closures fresh, the question is how secure is the future of semiconductor manufacturing. Another important question is how Europe can cope with the competition from Taiwan in particular. According to Ted Johansson, the difference is that if the EU ensures its own semiconductor manufacturing, it can reduce the risk of a lack of advanced components which can cause an entire logistics system to collapse.
“When the consumption of cars in particular picked up again after the pandemic, Apple wanted one billion of the most advanced components. This meant that smaller countries and their companies ended up last in the line of customers. So the problem was not of a technical nature but lay in the supply chains,” he explains.
What’s needed is for the will to exist – both the political will and in terms of investment. Something that Ted Johansson considers does exist today. Both the EU and the USA are investing very heavily in rebuilding the semiconductor industry, which will generate many jobs in Europe and also in Sweden, he adds.
“New factories are going to be built by means of large subsidies to Asian and US companies, and some of the EU’s new factory initiatives will be located in Europe. In addition, a number of ‘pilot lines’ are being built at various sites in Europe, where companies can try out the very latest technology on a small scale, as well as an infrastructure to help companies with knowledge, training and tools to get started. Then they are going to need a lot of people with the right education and that is where higher education institutions like Uppsala University come in with their long experience and expertise in the field.”
Anneli Björkman