Meet the UC Davis Labs and Centers Advancing Innovation as part of the Northwest AI Hub

The California-Pacific-Northwest AI Hardware Microelectronics Commons Hub, or Northwest AI Hub, one of eight Microelectronics Commons regional innovation hubs awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense, was established with $15.3 million in funding. The eight hub awards, the largest to date under the CHIPS and Science Act, were announced in September by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks.  

The Northwest AI Hub, led by Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, includes more than 40 partner institutions from academia, government laboratories and industry. UC Davis is one such member and features substantial involvement among electrical and computer engineering faculty, including the principal investigator, Distinguished Professor S. J. Ben Yoo. 

Meet the UC Davis facilities active in the partnership to advance semiconductor technologies for AI: 

UC Davis Center for Nano-MicroManufacturing 

The Center for Nano-MicroManufacturing, or CNM2, a 10,000-square-foot ISO 5 (Class 100) cleanroom, brings critical knowledge to the manufacturing industry, demonstrating the scalability and economic feasibility of processes developed through UC Davis interdisciplinary research programs. The research center offers educational courses, hands-on short courses, and training workshops applicable to many user groups. CNM2 also engages the scientists and engineers of tomorrow through various outreach programs to local community colleges and K-12 schools. 

Integrated Nanodevices and Nanosystems Research Lab 

Professor Saif Islam's nanotechnology research focuses on the synthesis and incorporation of low-dimensional and nanostructured materials and devices with conventional semiconductor integrated circuit elements and systems. Unlike the research-based approach of sequentially processing individual nanostructures for device physics studies, his group employs massively parallel and mass-manufacturable nanofabrication processes to reproducibly fabricate low-cost nanodevice arrays for applications in integrated nanoelectronics, ultra-fast optoelectronic, data communication, quantum sensing, computing, energy harvesting, disease sensing and prevention and energy storage. 

Davis Millimeter Wave Research Center 

The Davis Millimeter Wave Research Center, or DMRC, was founded in June 2008 by Professors Anh-Vu Pham and Neville Luhmann, Jr. as an industry-university cooperative research program. The DMRC is broadly focused on fostering millimeter wave technology for wireless communications, radar, sensing, and imaging systems. The activities in the DMRC range from devices, integrated circuits, components and packaging, and sub-systems to system implementation. 

Next Generation Networking and Computing Systems Laboratory 

Led by Yoo, the Next Generation Networking and Computing Systems Laboratory focuses on research that includes 2D/3D photonic integration for future computing, cognitive networks, communication, imaging, navigation systems, micro/nano systems integration and the future Internet.