MUMBAI: In a gleaming cleanroom nestled within the campus of IIIT Hyderabad, a quiet revolution in India’s semiconductor story has just begun. The institute’s latest pride—the “FabLab”—was officially inaugurated today by its Director, Prof. P J Narayanan, marking a significant leap toward indigenous research in microfabrication and chip characterization.Funded under the Department of Science and Technology’s Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (PURSE) scheme, the lab is not just a facility—it’s a promise. A promise to advance India’s ambition to be self-reliant in semiconductor technologies and to fuel innovation in healthcare applications through biosensors and bio-actuators.For a country still largely dependent on imported semiconductor components, this development signals a critical shift. “This lab is a game-changer,” said Dr. Aftab Hussain, the principal investigator and coordinator for the PURSE grant at IIIT-H. “It is not just about equipment, but about capacity-building—training students, researchers, and even regional stakeholders in how to design, build, and characterize semiconductors from the ground up.”Inside the lab, it’s a symphony of precision instruments—UV lithography units stand ready to etch delicate patterns onto substrates, while sputtering systems and spin coaters silently layer materials with nanometer accuracy. A vacuum chamber hums in anticipation of the next experiment, and material characterization tools like the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and optical profilometer await to analyze the fine details invisible to the naked eye.But what truly sets this lab apart is its edge in semiconductor IC testing and mmWave characterization—a key enabler for next-gen technologies like 5G, automotive radar, and high-speed wireless communication. A probe station, paired with a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), Vector Signal Generator (VSG), signal analyzer, and high-bandwidth oscilloscope, can now simulate and test integrated circuits with surgical accuracy at millimeter wave frequencies.The FabLab is poised to become a playground for interdisciplinary research—where material science meets VLSI design, and where biomedical engineering intersects with wireless communication. “We intend to open this facility to external users in the region,” Dr. Hussain emphasized. “This is not an island of excellence. It’s meant to be a resource for all.”More than just a lab, FabLab is an incubator of ideas and talent. IIIT-Hyderabad now plans to roll out specialized courses and hands-on workshops, grooming a new generation of researchers, engineers, and innovators fluent in the language of chips and circuits. It’s a timely move, aligning neatly with India’s larger vision for semiconductor sovereignty as laid out by the central government.Founded in 1998, the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, has always walked the talk when it comes to interdisciplinary research with a social impact. Its work spans a rich matrix of domains—from VLSI and wireless communication to robotics, language technologies, earthquake engineering, and computational natural sciences. This lab, though, represents a crystallization of many of those ambitions in physical form.As India ramps up its semiconductor manufacturing capabilities through initiatives like the India Semiconductor Mission, small yet vital ecosystems like the one now blooming at IIIT-Hyderabad will form the backbone of this technological renaissance.The lab’s virtual walkthrough is already live here—but what it truly promises may be too microscopic to capture on video. Because somewhere between the atoms of sputtered metal and the signals traced in the mmWave band, India’s chip-making dreams just got a little bit closer.
