National Science Foundation - Future of Semiconductors | 23 552

Opportunity Information: Apply for 23 552

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Future of Semiconductors opportunity (NSF 23-552) is a discretionary grant program focused on keeping semiconductor and microelectronic systems on a path of continued improvement at a time when traditional scaling trends associated with Moore's Law are becoming harder to sustain. NSF frames the problem as a growing disconnect between foundational advances (new materials, fabrication and chemical processes, device concepts, and architectures) and the real-world application needs in computing, sensing, and communications. When those areas evolve in isolation, it slows down how quickly breakthroughs can be incorporated into practical next-generation technologies. The central idea of the solicitation is to close that gap by pushing a holistic "co-design" approach, meaning research teams should design materials, devices, and systems with simultaneous, integrated consideration across the semiconductor technology chain rather than optimizing each layer separately.

A major emphasis is that co-design is not just a research style preference but a necessity to deliver future microelectronic systems that are higher performance, more robust and secure, more compact, more energy-efficient, and ultimately more cost-effective. NSF highlights several drivers behind the urgency: sharply reducing energy use in computation and communication, reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing and production, increasing speed and capacity, and enabling fundamentally new computing systems. In practice, this solicitation is looking for projects that can connect fundamental science and engineering advances to application-driven system outcomes, speeding the translation of innovations into manufacturable semiconductor technologies.

The program also strongly ties research objectives to education and workforce outcomes. NSF is seeking to build a broad coalition of researchers and educators across science and engineering, and it expects proposals to include meaningful workforce development plans alongside the technical research. The goal is to strengthen semiconductor-related STEM education and training across US higher education, explicitly including both two-year and four-year institutions and welcoming participation from minority-serving institutions. The solicitation underscores national workforce needs across multiple roles, not only PhD-level researchers but also engineers and technicians, and it encourages proposers to address diversity and equitable access to semiconductor education and career pathways by broadening exposure to advanced research and technology capabilities.

Partnerships are a key part of the intended ecosystem. NSF calls out the importance of industry-academic collaboration to spur innovation and technology transfer, inform research priorities based on real manufacturing and design constraints, and train a workforce aligned with industry needs. While the solicitation is oriented toward fundamental research, it is explicitly motivated by the future of semiconductor manufacturing, meaning the work should be relevant to deployable technologies and the realities of building and integrating devices and systems.

Funding is offered through the Future of Semiconductor Co-Design Research and Education Grants (FuSe-REG). For FY 2023, awards are up to $2,000,000 each for up to three years, with the final budget and scope expected to match the ambition and size of the team. NSF anticipates making about 20 awards. The program is designed for collaborative, team-based efforts that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries, and it encourages teams of all sizes, including efforts larger or broader than what might fit within a typical single-program NSF submission. A core compliance point is that every proposal must include a genuine co-design research plan spanning at least two layers of the technology stack: materials, devices, and systems.

For FY 2023, NSF identifies three main research topic areas and requires proposals to clearly name at least one, while also welcoming ideas that combine multiple areas. The three topics are: (1) Collaborative Research in Domain-Specific Computing, which targets computing approaches tailored to specific application domains rather than one-size-fits-all architectures; (2) Advanced Function and High-Performance by Heterogeneous Integration, emphasizing new capabilities and performance gains through integrating diverse components, technologies, or materials into unified systems; and (3) New Materials for Energy-Efficient, Enhanced-Performance, and Sustainable Semiconductor-Based Systems, focused on materials innovations that improve efficiency and performance while supporting more sustainable manufacturing and lifecycle impacts. Across any of these areas, NSF is looking for proposals that treat co-design as the organizing principle, linking fundamental advances to system-level goals and pairing research with credible education and workforce development outcomes.

Administrative details from the source listing include: agency NSF; opportunity number 23-552; activity category Science and Technology and other Research and Development; funding instrument Grant; CFDA numbers 47.041, 47.049, 47.070, 47.076, 47.084; creation date January 25, 2023; and an original closing date of April 24, 2023. The eligibility field is listed as "Others" with additional clarification expected in the full announcement, which is common for NSF solicitations that define eligible organizations and proposal structures in the detailed program text.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "National Science Foundation - Future of Semiconductors" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.049, 47.070, 47.076, 47.084.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 25, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 24, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 20 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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