Dr. Michael Fritze of TechStrat LLC

Dr. Fritze will give his independent perspectives on what the CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) Program means for the US particularly for the microelectronics community.   He will cover the motivations behind this historic semiconductor investment and articulate the planned support level for each particular area.   This includes the Department of Commerce Incentives and R&D efforts and the Department of Defense Microelectronics Commons.  Particular attention will be paid to the R&D parts of this legislation.   He will review the goals of this legislation in strengthening the US domestic microelectronics supply chain and R&D infrastructure.   Dr. Fritze will also discuss some of the key challenges of this major US Government investment.

Biography:

Dr. Fritze is an independent technology consultant.  He is a Senior Fellow and former Vice President at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.  He is also a Consultant at Trusted Strategic Solutions.  His interests include USG trusted microelectronics access strategies, support of needed legacy technologies, DOD innovation policy and outreach to Industry and strengthening the US Microelectronics Industrial Base.  He has supported a variety of USG organizations primarily in the DoD on these issues.He is also a member of the Industrial Advisory Committee supporting the NIST CHIPS R&D efforts.

Dr. Fritze was the Director of the Disruptive Electronics Division at the USC Information Sciences Institute (2010-2015). He also held a Research Professor appointment in the USC Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering (Electrophysics).  His research interests at ISI included Trusted Electronics, CMOS Reliability & Robustness, Low power 3DIC enabled electronics and Rad-hard electronics.  He was a Program Manager at the DARPA Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) from 2006-2010.  While at DARPA, Dr. Fritze was responsible for Programs in the areas of 3D Integrated Circuits (3DIC), Steep-Subthreshold-slope Transistors (STEEP), Radiation Hardening by Design (RHBD), Carbon Electronics for RF Applications (CERA), Silicon-based RF (TEAM), Ultra-low power Digital (ESE), Highly regular designs (GRATE) and Leading-edge foundry access (LEAP).

Prior to joining DARPA, Dr. Fritze was a staff member from 1995-2006 at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he worked on fully-depleted silicon on insulator (FDSOI) technology,  silicon-based integrated optics and development and resolution-enhanced optical lithography.

Dr. Fritze received a Ph.D. in Physics from Brown University in 1994, working in the area of compound semiconductor quantum well physics. He received a B.S. in Physics in 1984 from Lehigh University. Dr. Fritze is an elected member of Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi. He is a recipient of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service awarded in 2010.  He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and is active on the GOMAC Conference Program Committee as well as the NDIA Electronics Division Policy Group. Dr. Fritze has published over 75 papers and articles in professional journals and holds several U.S. Patents.