STMicroelectronics to build Digital Twin center in Italy

STMicroelectronics is establishing a new research and development center dedicated to Digital Twin technology at its Castelletto facility in Lombardy, Italy. The center aims to transform semiconductor development by utilizing physics-based modeling, simulations, silicon data, and artificial intelligence within a unified design environment.

By creating evolving digital representations of manufacturing processes, devices, and semiconductor designs, the company intends to shift much of the development process from physical experimentation to digital preview. This approach is designed to reduce development times, accelerate time-to-market, lower costs, and increase the success rate of initial designs. The digital models will be continuously refined using data from physical experiments and silicon characterization.

The Digital Twin initiative will impact various R&D stages, including technology development, process and device modeling, layout design, reliability assessment, qualification, and testing. While the company emphasizes that digital modeling is not intended to replace physical silicon validation, it aims to identify potential issues earlier and increase confidence before moving to physical testing. Current proof-of-concept projects include a MEMS accelerometer and a multidimensional anomaly detection system. Additionally, ST is collaborating with Politecnico di Milano to develop AI solutions for silicon photonics.