The chair

The Chip Cantabria Chair (C3) is based on the experience, both at the research and teaching level, of three research groups from the University of Cantabria in areas ranging from the design, verification and testing of digital, mixed and microwave integrated circuits to the development and application of advanced processor architectures, such as RISC-V. This experience has allowed us to define lines of collaboration with the company, in the form of collaboration projects, agreements or training courses, which will be strengthened with this proposal. The C3 Chair is sponsored by two companies (ACORDE and TST) from complementary sectors: development of radio frequency systems and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. On behalf of the UC, the following Research Groups participate:

Microelectronics Engineering Group

Computer Architecture and Technology Group

Microwave Engineering and Radiocommunication Systems Group

The general objective of the C3 Chair is to promote and develop research, training and dissemination activities in the area of microelectronics in collaboration with interested companies.

This general objective is developed in the following specific objectives:

1. Improving the competitiveness of regional and national companies

Access to silicon has proven to be strategic since the semiconductor crisis in 2022. The impact on many sectors apparently far removed from microelectronics was significant.

As a political reaction, the European Commission has launched the ‘Chips Act’, a colossal economic effort with the aim of strengthening Europe’s competitiveness and resilience in semiconductor technologies and applications, and helping to achieve both the digital and ecological transition. To do this, it is necessary to strengthen Europe’s technological leadership in this field. The initiative will provide a large number of research and collaboration opportunities between universities, technology centres and companies. Spain has joined this effort through PERTE Chip. The University of Cantabria, which already led the push for microelectronics in Spain in the 80s and 90s, in the National Microelectronics Plan and its participation in the GAME initiative, both in its areas of silicon design and MMICs, cannot be left out of this new push. Today, integrated circuits implement multiprocessor architectures. Europe is making a big commitment to leading open architectures, specifically RISC-V. The Chair includes one of the leading Spanish groups in RISC-V. The University of Cantabria is the Secretary of the SOHA association for research on RISC-V and Open Hardware.

The Chair will promote the activities in each group and take advantage of the synergy between them. This research activity has a direct impact on the regional and national industrial fabric. Thus, the Chair starts with three patrons. A company from Seville, Alter, and two companies from Cantabria, Acorde and TST. The Chair will allow the consolidation and expansion of collaboration to a greater number of companies and increase technology transfer.

The University of Cantabria has been a member of AENEAS and INSIDE since the creation of Artemis in 2008. This experience has allowed it to establish a network of European partners with whom to contribute to the Chips JU, the European research effort in microelectronics within the ‘Chips Act’.

2. Strengthening the research activity of the University of Cantabria

The Chair will allow the quality of research groups to be increased in strategic lines defined by the European Commission and, consequently, with greater funding opportunities:

HW/SW co-design of RISC-V-based systems on chips, aimed at IoT applications and the Design and Test of digital, analog and Mixed Integrated circuits, as well as the development of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), with an emphasis on applications that include artificial intelligence.
Design and measurements of ultra-low noise radio frequency and microwave amplifiers in SiGe technology for quantum computing and space applications.
Design and evaluation of RISC-V application architectures

3. Increase the number of students in technological areas

The growth of microelectronics in Spain and Europe as a result of the investments in the Chips Act and PERTE Chip will offer quality job opportunities in the sector to young engineers with knowledge in these technologies.

In recent years, it has been observed that, although the percentage of women has increased, the total number of students in electronics and computers has tended to decrease. It is an objective of the Chair to take advantage of the political momentum in semiconductors to stimulate the number of students interested in designing, verifying and testing complex chip systems, including everything from digital and mixed modules to microwave frequencies, as well as advanced open source processors. The specific objectives of the training activity are:

Define and teach a postgraduate course (master’s degree) in the University of Cantabria’s own program, with a teaching load of at least 60 students. To encourage participation, free registration for said course will be offered, financed by companies.
To promote and improve teaching in the field of microelectronics and advanced processor architectures, both in regulated study plans and in courses and seminars for companies.
Promote the completion of doctoral theses, final degree projects and master’s degrees in the areas of activity of the department.

The master’s degree, which will be defined and implemented in the first year of the chair, will provide a response to the needs that companies in the sector have expressed both in working groups for training in the PERTE Chip (such as AMETIC- ACADEMIA), and in direct communications with the members of the chair. Related courses and subjects taught both at the requesting university and at other national and foreign centers will also be taken into account. The course will have at least 6 modules, with students being able to take only a subgroup of them, which will allow them to obtain micro-credentials in a specific field. The identified modules are:

Analog and mixed integrated circuits, ranging from sensors such as MEMs to amplifiers and A/D conversion systems. This will include both the study of design and verification techniques and Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC), with special emphasis on the development of low noise amplifiers, including design, assembly technologies and measurements.
Advanced digital systems, which will include description of digital systems using both C/C++ and hardware description languages, as well as design, simulation, synthesis and implementation techniques. Particular attention will be paid to verification techniques.
Open platforms -RISCV- configurable, which will provide the student with the ability to develop, integrate and use processor architectures
Heterogeneous intelligent embedded systems whose objective is to provide the ability to develop applications that can make use of the hardware (HW) platforms studied in the rest of the modules. Also included in this module are methodologies for the integration of the HW and SW (software) part of the Master’s Final Project, whose objective is to demonstrate competence in the subjects of the course, reaching the design of chips that will be produced using EUROPRACTICE resources.

4. Dissemination and promotion

The third activity of the C3 Chair is the dissemination and promotion of both the Chair’s activities and microelectronics in general. In the dissemination activity, the specific objectives are:

Disseminate the results of the Chair through publications in relevant journals and conferences, as well as on websites associated with the project, which not only report on its activities, but also provide access to its documents and promote C3’s areas of work in activities aimed at high school students such as workshops, hackathons or similar, in order to increase the number of engineers trained in this area.
Promote collaboration and transfer of results to interested companies to increase their technological capacity and competitiveness in a market.