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WBG Pilot Line project aims to revolutionize the testing and experimentation of advanced technologies based on current WBG materials (i.e. SiC and GaN) introducing new device concepts and architectures
The Wide-Bandgap (WBG) Pilot Line is one of the five pilot lines launched under the Chips for Europe Initiative, a key pillar of the European Chips Act. The project, officially presented in Brussels in January 2025, aims to establish a cutting-edge infrastructure dedicated to the development and industrialization of wide-bandgap semiconductors such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN).
With a budget of € 360 million involving 7 EU countries, the WBG pilot line represents a strategic investment to strengthen Europe’s autonomy in semiconductor technologies and to bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial-scale manufacturing.
The WBG pilot line is coordinated by the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) through its Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (CNR-IMM) in Catania.
Through its relevance for Europe’s semiconductor manufacturers, WBG materials contribute to EU’s strategic autonomy.
The main investment (around 190 M€) of the WBG Pilot Line will be done in Catania, where the main laboratory of the Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM) is located and where several public and private investments of various companies (STMicroelectronics, ASM, Analog Devices, NXP, Techno Probe, etc.) have located their activities on WBG in the last years.
The main locations of STMicroelectronics and ASM are very close to the CNR-IMM laboratories and the future location of the WBG Pilot Line. This concentration of companies and research institutes in the same area, together with the presence of the University, has produced the formation of a community with good expertise in all the aspects of WBG technology, from the growth of bulk SiC and epitaxy, to the process development, to the devices design and simulations, to the circuits and the final applications. This community will be fundamental for the growth of the WBG Pilot Line because several competences will be needed for this new development. Later the WBG Pilot line will contribute to the enlargement of this community with several new researchers that will be involved in the new projects in the Pilot Line.
The acquisition and operation of the WBG Pilot Line is funded jointly by the Chips Joint Undertaking, through the European Union’s Digital Europe programme and Horizon Europe programme, as well as by the Participating States Italy, Sweden, Poland, Finland, Austria, France and Germany under Grant Agreement n. 101183211.