The Role of IISc and Its Faculty in Making India a Semiconductor Nation (27/11/25)
Speaker and Affliation:
Prof. Rao Tummala, Distinguished Alumni, IISc
Advisor to ISM & Father of Modern Semiconductor Packaging (IEEE)
When?
27th Novenber, 2025 (Thursday), 5.00 PM (India Standard Time)
Where
KI Vasu Auditorium, Dept. of Materials Engineering, IISc, Bangalore
Abstract:
India has all the fundamentals to be a semiconductor nation, except two-technology and manufacturing expertise infrastructure and resources. India is correcting its manufacturing weakness by setting up 10 initial manufacturing plants. The IDSPS (Indian Design, Semiconductors, Packaging and Systems) initiative proposed by Prof Rao Tummala corrects the other weakness by development next gen manufacturable technologies, educated workforce and global supply-chain industry partnership in all the technologies. India is currently behind advanced countries by several decades. Bridging this gap, however, requires a national effort and 4-way partnership between central and state governments, Indian and global industry, and IISc and other top academic research institutions.
To bring India to global level and for India to become a product nation, 10 national technology centers, one in each of the 10 strategic technologies is necessary. For India to be a product nation, the foundational technologies developed at these 10 IITs, BITS and IISc must be transferred to two hubs, one in Advanced Packaging and the other in Integrated Power Electronics. This vision and plan allow India to leapfrog, consistent with seismic shift that is taking place in the semiconductor industry, from on-chip integration to on-package integration. Advanced packaging, as proposed here, is the basis of that leapfrog. The outcomes of the program are many. It builds India from ground up with deep tech R&D and educated workforce. The program involves global partners with knowledge, expertise and resources that India doesn’t have, resulting in an acerated path for India to be at global level and be a product nation. The program is self- sustainable after 5 years.
The IISc, as the top research institute in India with unparallelled expertise in all the 10 strategic R&D areas can contribute greatly. The seminar is aimed at informing and motivating 17 IISc faculty to be part of IDSPS and to contribute to making India a semiconductor nation.
In addition, Prof Rao Tummala proposes a national center at IISc in Materials for devices, components, packaging and systems.
Speaker Bio:
Prof. Rao Tummala is a Distinguished and Endowed Chair Professor and Founding Director of 3D Systems Research Center, an NSF National Engineering Research center at Georgia Tech. He is well known as an industrial technologist, technology pioneer, and educator. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he was an IBM Fellow, pioneering such major technologies as the industry’s first plasma display and the first and next three generations of 100 chip integration electronics. At Georgia Tech, he is pioneering entire System-On a- single-Package (SOP) compared to System-On-Chip (SOC) by the IC industry. Prof. Tummala has published 500 journal and conference papers, holds 90 US patents, authored the first modern packaging reference book—Microelectronics Packaging Handbook (Van Nostrand, 1988), the first undergrad textbook—Fundamentals of Microsystems Packaging (McGraw Hill, 2001) and the first graduate textbook introducing System-On-Package technology. He is a Fellow of IEEE, IMAPS, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering in the U.S. and in India. Prof. Tummala was the President of both IEEE-CPMT and the IMAPS Societies. Prof Tummala is a distinguished Alumni of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.