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TXST's semiconductor expertise spurs research and enhances national CHIPS effort

December 18, 2024
Jayme Blaschke

The COVID pandemic exposed a major vulnerability for the United States—for decades, computer chip makers had increasingly moved production overseas, chasing low manufacturing costs. When COVID disrupted international supply chains, chips needed at all levels of industry were suddenly in scarce supply, throwing the economy into turmoil.

The chip shortage prompted Congress to pass the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act in 2022, authorizing $280 billion to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing and spur advanced research. TXST joined that effort this summer as part of the Texas Institute for Electronics (TIE), a consortium of universities and tech companies working on an $840 million Department of Defense initiative to expand domestic semiconductor production.

There are four materials that are designated as UWBGs, and we are the only university in the United States — perhaps the world — that has capabilities in all four materials.

Dr. Edwin Piner
Co-director of the Materials Applications Research Center

TXST brings a unique set of capabilities to the nationwide effort. As part of TIE, TXST is developing material structures for Ultra-Wide Bandgap (UWGB) semiconductors, a type of chip that functions efficiently at high temperatures. TXST faculty and student researchers are providing the advanced chips to other universities and private industry in a partnership to develop the next generation of high-performing power electronics and wireless amplifier systems.

“There are four materials that are designated as UWBGs, and we are the only university in the United States—perhaps the world—that has capabilities in all four materials,” explained Dr. Edwin Piner, chair of the Department of Physics and co-director of the Materials Applications Research Center.

Roy F. Mitte Building, Texas State University, San Marcos.
The Roy F. Mitte Building

Master’s student Mahfuz Ahmed Azmain said he chose TXST to study electrical engineering because of such capabilities, as well as attractive scholarship opportunities. “I had a passion that I wanted to work in clean rooms and facilities like those provided by Intel or Samsung,” Azmain said. “Texas State has those facilities and many programs in semiconductor engineering. After graduation I can go to work for big companies or industries.”

Within the Roy F. Mitte building, TXST operates a clean room—which has a controlled environment to minimize dust and pollutants—a high-vacuum Molecular Beam Epitaxy multichamber cluster, and a high-temperature Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition reactor. These tools enable researchers to create ultra-thin films. 

All semiconductors use a substrate as the foundation upon which transistors, resistors, inductors, and capacitors are fabricated to produce a functional chip. The chip is a piece cut out of this base, with each substrate yielding hundreds or thousands of chips depending on the chips’ size. With its equipment, TXST can create layers just 10 nanometers thick, among the thinnest and most precise available.

Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Part of the College of Science and Engineering, the high-vacuum Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) multi-chamber cluster is a cutting-edge tool used to grow crystalline thin films that are employed in making semiconductors.

The College of Science and Engineering’s Core Research Operations (CRO) manages the clean room and other advanced laboratories across campus. Dr. Casey Smith, CRO manager, noted that graduate and doctoral students make up most of the CRO’s staff.

“The students here get more hands-on time than you would ever expect, intimately learning how this equipment works and what it does and how to keep it healthy,” Smith said. “A lot of the alumni that have come out of the physics or the material science program here are able to land jobs at major manufacturers.”

Daniel Bailey, a doctoral student in the materials science, engineering, and commercialization (MSEC) program, said the research opportunities at TXST are vast. With his advisor, he’s researching gallium nitride semiconductors for high-frequency devices. He pointed to fast-charging cellphones as an example. “One aspect is the lithium-ion battery, but the other aspect is the actual charger has to be able to output that much power in such a small device without burning itself out,” he said. “It has to perform without overheating. That’s where my research is going.”

At TXST, students like Azmain and Bailey find themselves working alongside researchers from universities across the state, Smith said. “They will deliberately come to use our facilities here rather than using those at their home institution,” he said. “That tells me that we’re doing something right.”

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Jayme Blaschke

Jayme Blaschke is the senior media relations manager for TXST's Division of Marketing and Communications.