GUIDELINES FOR OPEN ACCESS

The use of the Pilot Line is subject to fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions. All access requests submitted by Potential Users will be evaluated for eligibility, technical feasibility and pilot line capacity uptake. In the event that too many eligible requests are received relative to the capacity of the line, ranking criteria will be used to prioritize the different User Requests. The eligibility and ranking criteria are listed below. The feasibility of a project and its capacity uptake will be evaluated by relevant experts of the Dedicated Team(s). Additionally, because the FAMES Partners are all research and knowledge dissemination organisations, the amount of economic activities they carry out must not exceed 20% of their overall annual capacity. This may limit the number of economic requests accepted by the FAMES Pilot Line.

Eligibility Criteria

The Partners have agreed with the Chips JU that access to the pilot lines should primarily be reserved to entities established in Participating States of the Chips JU, meaning EU Member States, EEA countries and those countries that have been associated to Horizon Europe or to the Digital Europe Strategic Objective 6 (under which the pilot lines are funded). In determining access to the pilot lines for entities established in any Participating State but controlled from third countries that are not Participating States of the Chips JU, the Hosting Consortium must take into consideration two main criteria: EU added value and Economic security considerations. Entities from third countries may also be granted access when they are contributing to jointly funded research and innovation activities between the Union and that third country and/or access is foreseen in international cooperation agreements of the European Union concerning semiconductors such as those defined in Digital Partnerships or Trade and Technology Council agreements of the Union with third countries.

Therefore, Potential Users must comply with the following criteria in order to gain access to the FAMES PL:

• Be a legal entity (public or private);
• Be established in an eligible country, meaning EU Member States, EEA countries, countries that have been associated with Horizon Europe and countries associated with the Digital Europe Strategic Objective 6 under which the FAMES Pilot Line is funded.
• Users controlled from third countries that are not Participating States of the Chips JU must satisfy the following criteria:
• Provide EU added value (contribution to the objectives of the Chips Act, expanding the knowledge base and capabilities of the FAMES Pilot Line Consortium…);
• Satisfy economic security considerations (when considering risks to European semiconductor supply chains, physical and cybersecurity of the pilot line, security and leakage of sensitive semiconductor technology…);
• Comply with confidentiality obligations and IP Rights (to avoid potential risks of infringement of IP, unauthorized disclosure of trade secrets and IP rights, security, confidentiality, or the leakage of sensitive emerging technologies within the semiconductor sector).
• Entities from third countries may also gain access if
• They contribute to jointly funded research and innovation activities between the Union and that third country, and/or access is foreseen in international cooperation agreements of the European Union concerning semiconductors.

In all other cases, eligibility will be decided in accordance with European Commission/Chips JU criteria and national guidelines.

Additional legitimate criteria that would make a User Request non-eligible for access to the FAMES Pilot Line may include:

• Major risk of tool contamination from wafer imports identified by one or more FAMES Partners;
• Executing the User Project would be against the legitimate interests of one or more of the Partners;
• Potential User activities are prohibited under mandatory regulations such as export control regulation or could expose one or more FAMES Partners to the risk of becoming subject to sanctions under mandatory laws;
• Potential User activities are not in line with EU, international and national laws on ethical principles and the respect of basic EU values, such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, including the rights of minorities;
• One or more FAMES Partners have or have had major pre-litigation procedures or legal disputes with a Potential User;
• The Potential User does not pass one or more partners’ “Know Your Customer” processes;
• Despite the FAMES Partners’ reasonable efforts, one or more FAMES Pilot Line tools required for the implementation of a User Request are not available for the duration of the User Project;
• The request does not correspond to the FAMES PL R&D Services offer.

All restrictions related to security rules, as provided in the European Grant Agreement, apply.

A preliminary export control and sanction check will be part of the selection process.

Ranking Criteria

In the event that there are more User Requests than FAMES Pilot line capacity, the following criteria will be used to rank User Requests:

Technological Implementation (30 points, 5 points each criteria)

• Completeness of the User Request and compliance with Access Form instructions;
• Capacity uptake of the User Request compared to the capacity availability of the FAMES Pilot Line;
• The correspondence between the timeline of the Potential User Request and the FAMES Pilot Line’s planning possibilities;
• Balance in usage of the different R&D Services offered by the FAMES Pilot Line;
• Innovation impact of the expected User Request outcome;
• Potential for EU IP creation.

Type of User (5 points):

• The FAMES Pilot Line means to give preferential access to SMEs, start-ups and academics. Requests submitted by this type of User will thus receive an extra 5 points.

Strategic relevance (15 points, 5 points each criteria):

• Contribution to the EU’s semiconductor ecosystem;
• Disruptive idea that could accelerate technological advancement;
• Balance of Users.

Scoring: each criterion will be scored anywhere from 0 to 5

0 – The User Request fails to address the criterion or cannot be assessed due to missing or incomplete information.

1 – Poor. The criterion is inadequately addressed or there are serious weaknesses.

2 – Fair. The User Request addresses the criterion, but there are significant weaknesses.

3 – Good. The User Request addresses the criterion well, but a number of shortcomings are present.

4 – Very good. The User Request addresses the criterion very well, but a small number of shortcomings are present.

5 – Excellent. The User Request successfully addresses all relevant aspects of the criterion. Any shortcomings are minor.