SIA ISSUE BACKGROUNDERS

TECHNOLOGY FUNDING

Issue: Federal funding for research in the physical sciences - the building blocks that underlie our nation's economic competitiveness - has decreased to dangerously low levels. This trend must be reversed if we are to continue the technological advances that will drive our future economic success.

Importance: As semiconductors become ever denser, faster, and cheaper, they approach physical limits that will prevent further progress with current chip making processes. Continuing information technology advances are becoming increasingly difficult.

Semiconductor firms invest 17¢ for every dollar of sales in R&D; however, these research dollars are largely for product and process advances that rest on the fundamental scientific research performed at our nation's universities, pre-competitive research that is in large part funded by the Federal government.

SIA Position/Action: SIA supports substantial increases in Federal funding for university and national laboratory research in the physical sciences and engineering. Of particular note are programs at the Department of Defense (DOD), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST):

• Appropriate $20 million in FY 2006 in support of the Focus Center Research Program (FCRP), which is co-funded by DOD and industry. Together the DOD and industry support five focus centers involving 30 universities across the country. By advancing our current semiconductor technology to their ultimate limits and identifying new ideas to eventually replace our current technology before we reach those limits in 10 to 15 years, the FCRP is developing the capabilities that will be at the heart of our future defense systems. Fully funding the program also furthers the January 2005 recommendation of the Committee on Department of Defense Basic Research at the National Research Council to "redress the imbalance [with the] current basic research allocation, which has declined critically over the past decade…."
  
  
• Increase NSF by 7 percent annually. While $250 million higher than the 2.4 percent increase requested by the Administration, a 7 percent increase would still be $2.7 billion below the $8.5 billion called for in The National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002. SIA also fully supports budget increases authorized in the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, and notes the Appropriations conference report statement that NSF should "examine the challenges and timelines outlined in the most recent International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors and, where feasible, increase research support in this area accordingly."
  
  
• Support NIST lab budget. SIA supports the Administration's proposal for an increase of $20 million for advances in manufacturing to enhance the research capabilities of NIST's National Nanomanufacturing and Nanometrology Facility. One of the biggest barriers to continued miniaturization of semiconductor circuits is the inability to measure many of the critical dimensions at the desired feature size. Consequently, additional research in metrology at the NIST is critical to future chip development.