IIT Bombay Team Triumphs At VLSI User Design Track Competition, Pioneers Made-In-India OTP Memory Technology

Mumbai: In a significant breakthrough for India’s semiconductor sector, a team from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) has won the coveted VLSI User Design Track Competition at the 38th International Conference on VLSI Design and the 24th International Conference on Embedded Systems, held in Bengaluru from January 4 to 8.

This victory highlights India’s growing influence in the global semiconductor industry, with IIT-B’s team presenting an innovative anti-fuse One-Time Programmable (OTP) memory technology.

The design leverages the team’s patented PECVD SiO2 capacitors, used as anti-fuse elements, integrated into CMOS technology at the 180nm node at Semiconductor Labs, Mohali. This solution allows for low programming voltages (3.3V), crucial for securing electronic systems against tampering and unauthorised access.

Prof. Udayan Ganguly, a professor of Electrical Engineering at IIT-B, said, "As India builds fabs with imported technology, the ability to build indigenous memory technology at scale is essential for the sustenance and growth of the semiconductor ecosystem. Our capability is a key enabler for the same."

The team responsible for the award-winning design included Ajay Kumar Singh (Former Senior Project Research Scientist), Shreeniwas Daulatabad (Project Scientist), Shatadal Chatterjee (Senior Project Research Scientist), and PhD scholars Abhishek Kadam and Shreyas Deshmukh.

Looking to the future, this OTP technology holds vast potential for use in security applications that require radiation-hardened memory, such as in space missions, e-passports, and driving licenses.

The development of the technology will soon be commercialised by Numelo Tech Pvt Ltd, an incubated startup under the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) at IIT-B.