Dage Precision Industries announced the move and expansion of its group headquarters to a larger facility in Aylesbury, UK. The move follows the development of the business, which manufactures bond-test equipment and x-ray inspection systems for the PCB assembly and semiconductor industries, since its acquisition by Nordson in 2006. Dage currently has over 200 employees and maintains facilities in China, Japan, Singapore, Germany, and the U.S.

Spanning over 36,000 square feet, the new building includes a state-of-the-art production area, which is double the size of the old facility. The clean room was built for the assembly and test of ultra-high–bandwidth bond-tester transducers and is also an essential part of the manufacturing process for the Dage 100-nm sealed x-ray tubes. Additionally, the new headquarters features an expanded applications lab and training center.

IBM Expands European Future Logic Effort

One-dimensional devices and advanced virtual substrates for compound semiconductors are set to be studied in Poland and Bulgaria.

Computing giant IBM has enlisted two additional European countries to support its hunt for a successor to today's dominant silicon semiconductor technology.

The Polish and Bulgarian governments have both signed on to collaborate on the nanotechnological research agenda established by the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory.

In late May, IBM agreed to help Bulgaria set up a nanotechnology centre that will conduct applied research on “advanced virtual substrates for compound semiconductors”.

Although the center's research specialties will not be confirmed until it is built in one to two years time, IBM's post-silicon CMOS logic plans currently focus on one-dimensional semiconductor nanowires.

“Once created, the Bulgarian Nanotechnology Center will rely on the combined potential of the industry, Bulgarian universities and the Bulgarian Academy of Science,” the company said.

“Bulgarian scientists will be in touch with talented students and via virtual teams will work together on complex scientific projects which can be applied in industry, business, or the consumer space.”

Located in Sofia and Botevgrad, the center will include almost 500 m2 (5,380 sq. ft) of clean- room space that will be equipped according to the needs of the specific projects. Lithography, deposition, etching and characterization tools will provide the basic capabilities necessary for the kind of research that will be performed.

In the same week in May, IBM agreed that its research scientists would support nanotechnology research in Poland at the Wroclaw Research Center, European Institute of Technology Plus (WRC EIT+).

IBM and WRC EIT+ are now discussing several collaborative projects, while IBM will also provide training and consulting services.

IBM's Zurich operation is already acting in a pivotal role in the DUALLOGIC European III-V-silicon integration project, alongside teams from Greece, France, Belgium, Germany and the UK.

Construction work is currently ongoing on a dedicated nanotechnology research facility on its Swiss campus as part of a $90 million, multi-year collaboration with leading university ETH Zurich.

“Use of novel materials and one-dimensional device concepts, innovative device architectures and smart integration schemes need to be explored and assessed,” IBM told compoundsemiconductor.net.

“They are crucial to extending current capabilities and maintaining momentum beyond the end of the technology roadmap timeframe.”

Atlas Composites Expanding with New Contracts and Supplier Approvals

The Derbyshire, UK-based manufacturer of carbon/glass/aramid fiber composite components and tooling for aerospace has won new orders worth more than $1 million. In addition to its preferred supplier status with Lockheed Martin UK Insys, the company is an approved supplier to BAE Systems, Bombardier, MBDA, Meggitt Thermal Systems and Nordam.

Managing director Shaun Moloney says gaining the prestigious Lockheed Martin UK Insys accreditation adds stability to Atlas and allows for more forward planning and subsequent growth. But Atlas is not resting, he says. The company continues to invest in plant and equipment with the acquisition of its second five-axis and third three-axis machines, increasing its capability as a composite component manufacturer.

Concept-to-construction capability is further supported by in-house CAD/CAM technology with the ability to receive any format of data; autoclaves; a cleanroom facility; CNC materials preparation and final inspection, all in accordance with AS9100 and ISO 9001.

Northwest EMC Opens New Facility in Minnesota

When Northwest EMC decided to open a new EMC test laboratory in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, near the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, they turned to a long time partner – ETS-Lindgren – to design and install a state-of-the-art ten meter chamber facility that would be the hallmark of the laboratory. Northwest EMC knew they could count on the chamber expertise ETS-Lindgren offers; after all, ETS-Lindgren also designed and installed the ten meter chamber at the company’s other locations in Hillsboro, Oregon and Irvine, California. With the new laboratory in the Midwest, Northwest EMC can test products in accordance with the major industry standards. In addition, as with all Northwest EMC laboratories, this newest facility will soon be accredited by NVLAP to ISO 17025 standards, providing customers with global acceptance of their test reports.

“This expansion will help us to better serve the wireless, consumer electronics and medical device markets, and gives us a face-to-face presence with our clients in the Midwest,” said Dean Ghizzone, President of Northwest EMC. “Our loyal Midwest clients have been commenting for years that they wish we were closer, so we finally decided to come to them. I am extremely excited for the opportunity to serve this market,” he added.

ETS-Lindgren installed a FACT™ 10 ten meter chamber, a smaller FACT™ 3 three meter chamber, and a pre-compliance chamber as part of a “turn-key” contract. All chambers feature the popular Series 81™ modular shielding panel system, Series 201™ recessed contact mechanism (RCM) shielded doors, connector panels, RF filters, and a unique, low heat, fiber optic lighting system. The FACT chambers are lined with ferrite tile and pyramidal microwave absorber. ETS-Lindgren also provided a full suite of its EMCO brand antennas and a three meter turntable with a 4,000 kg (8,800 lb) load capacity in the large chamber to lend flexibility to the types of products that can be tested.

GM Opens Battery Systems Lab in Michigan

General Motors expanded its battery R&D capabilities by opening the largest and most technologically advanced battery lab in the U.S. on its Technical Center campus in Warren, Mich. The Global Battery Systems Lab will lead GM's global advanced battery engineering resources and expedite the introduction of electrically driven vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt, as well as plug-in hybrid and hybrid-electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles.

"Our new lab improves GM's competitiveness by speeding the development of our hybrid, plug-in and extended-range electric vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt," said Fritz Henderson, GM's President/CEO.

The Lab spans 33,000 sq. ft.-four times larger than GM's previous Tech Center battery lab-and will be used by more than 1,000 engineers working on advanced batteries and electrically driven vehicles.

The lab became fully functional in May, equipped with 160 test channels and 42 thermal chambers duplicating extreme real-world driving patterns, hot and cold temperatures and calendar life. The lab's maximum power capacity is 6 MW, or enough electricity to provide power to approximately 1,400 homes.

"More than half of the lab is dedicated to testing the electrochemical battery cells and their enclosures, known as modules, a capability not available in GM's previous battery lab. The lab's remaining floor space is committed to evaluating completed battery packs," said Jim Queen, GM group VP.

The Global Battery Systems Lab was built within GM's Alternative Energy Center facility, and includes many environmentally friendly features such as a center hallway with high-efficiency LED lighting and a floor made from recycled tires. Approximately 90% of the electricity used for battery testing can be returned to the local energy grid for use by homeowners and businesses.

Additional new benefits offered by the Global Battery Systems Lab include a thermal shaker table for battery structural integrity testing, a battery teardown area for failure analysis and competitor benchmarking, an integrated test automation system and improved Design of Experiments methodology - an information-gathering exercise that allows GM to perform more thorough battery tests more quickly.

The new lab complements GM's other battery labs in Mainz-Kastel, Germany, Honeoye Falls, N.Y., and the Warren Technical Center's Research Chemical Engineering facility. The opening of the Global Battery Systems Lab is the latest move in GM's comprehensive battery strategy, which includes ramping up "in-house" responsibility for advanced battery technology and a broad portfolio of supplier partners.

Freescale Opens New Business and Technology Centre in Guadalajara

Freescale recently celebrated the opening of its new 65,000-square-foot facility in Tlaquepaque, Guadalajara, marking another milestone in Freescale’s 41 years of expansion in Latin America. The new Freescale Mexico Business and Technology Centre is three times larger than the older facility and has 250 employees under its roof. There is further room to expand – nearly 22,000 square feet, large enough to accommodate more than 500 employees in total.

The majority of work at the new facility focuses on applications development using embedded processors and microcontrollers, sensors, RF, analogue and mixed-signal ICs for a variety of markets. The facility also houses customer service, sales, finance, IT manufacturing, marketing and governmental relations staff.

“We maintain a strong technical talent pipeline through our university relations program in Mexico and have had excellent government support during the last five years,” Germán Hernández, Mexico country manager for Freescale, brought out. “Freescale has attracted some of the best and brightest minds in semiconductor design and embedded software development in the region, thanks to our many years of active support and collaboration with leading universities throughout Latin America.”

Rich Beyer, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Freescale, remarked “Freescale Mexico’s applications engineering and semiconductor design teams enhance our support for our customers around the world and help strengthen our global leadership in embedded processing. The opening of this new facility is a proud day for all of Freescale.”

Nemotek Technologie Has Certified Class 10 Cleanroom Facility in Morocco.

Nemotek Technologie Inc., a manufacturer of wafer-level cameras for portable applications, said that it has certified its Class 10 cleanroom facility in Morocco.

This type of facility is said to be the first in Africa. It is located in the Rabat Technopolis Park, a hub for technology development in Morocco. The facility will serve as the center for the design and manufacture of wafer-level cameras (WLC) for camera phones and other portable devices.

Last year, Nemotek took a license for chip-packaging technology unveiled by Tessera Technologies Inc.. The technology makes it possible to manufacture thousands of lenses simultaneously on a semiconductor wafer.

Nemotek licensed this technology, dubbed OptiML Wafer-Level Camera (WLC), as well as Tessera's Shellcase Wafer-Level Chip Scale Packaging (WLCSP). The company will develop a range of camera solutions from wafer-level packaging of image sensors and wafer-level lenses to fully-integrated camera modules.

Nemotek's cleanroom will reside in a 10,000-square-meter (107,600 sq. ft.) facility. Its clean- room was validated and certified by Luseo, an independent certification company based in France.

''To become the first wafer fabrication company to maintain a Class 10 clean room facility in Africa is a major accomplishment for us as well as the industry,'' said Jacky Perdrigeat, CEO of Nemotek Technologie.

Europe's Next Neutron-Science Lab to Be Built in Sweden

After a very long battle with other candidates, Sweden has finally won the honor of hosting Europe's next neutron-science facility, the European Spallation Source. The science complex will be built around a linear particle accelerator, which will accelerate protons to high speeds, and then have them collide into a target, most likely the chemical mercury. Around the main linear device, a number of other laboratories will be built, where independent research projects in various fields will be carried out. For the location of the ESS, three cities “fought:” Lund (Sweden), Bilbao (Spain) and Debrecen (Hungary). The device costs $2 billion to make.

According to the director of ESS Scandinavia, Colin Carlile, the conclusion was achieved in a late-night meeting between research ministers across Europe. Only the UK and Czech Republic abstained from the vote. Switzerland and Italy said they would vote with the majority, and seven of the 12 project “backers” voted for Sweden, including the representatives of France and Germany, Nature News reports. “I feel really very pleased. It's been so long in coming,” the official stated.

“There is sort of a Swedish advantage, but there is not a final decision. My feeling is that there should be very important meetings between all the major players,” said Lazlo Rosta, project director for ESS Hungary and expert at the Budapest Neutron Center. He added that the vote was only an “opinion” and that the decision was not final. Representatives from the two cities that lost refuse to concede victory to Sweden, and it remains to be seen what the final decision will be.

The ESS, despite lagging behind its American and Japanese counterparts in terms of construction time, will dwarf them. The €1.4 billion (US$2 billion) project will surpass the United States' Spallation Neutron Source, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as well as Japan's J-PARC, in Tokaimura. For example, as far as the target material goes, researchers estimate that they will use no less than 20,000 kilograms of mercury during the tests.

The laser generators in the facility will take up between 120 and 150 MW of electrical power to operate at full capacity, and the ESS will most likely be involved in innovation covering various fields, from energy, telecommunications, manufacturing, transportation, and information technology, to biotechnology, and health.

U of O and Carleton Get Canadian Government Funds for Building Projects

Ottawa's two biggest universities are getting a total of $132.5 million in funding from the provincial and federal governments for their new major building projects.

Carleton University announced it was receiving $52.5 million for its Waterfront Project, representing the single largest capital investment in its history. The project, which was announced in August 2008 and is worth more than $80 million, will see a six-story nanoscience and engineering lab and the new five-floor, 140,000-square-foot home of the university's School of Journalism and Communication, the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and the School of Public Policy and Administration constructed on campus.

The federal and provincial governments will each provide equal investments of $26.25 million to Carleton.

The university had said in December 2008 that it would be delaying plans to build the latter, dubbed the "River Building," although the new $30.4-million, 100-square-foot Canal Building housing the engineering and research labs would proceed as planned.

Meanwhile, the University of Ottawa said it's getting $80 million in government funds to build its "eco-friendly" Vanier Tower, a $112.5-million, 15-storey building that will house its Faculty of Social Sciences, as well as to renovate the existing Vanier building.

Construction on the project is scheduled to begin in July, with an estimated completion date of April 2011. The university said it expects the new building to be "at least 50 per cent more energy-efficient that the current national standard for energy efficiency" and added it's aiming to get a LEED Gold certification.

As with Carleton University, the government investment in the University of Ottawa also represents the largest infrastructure grant in the latter's history. The federal government will put in $30 million of the $80-million total as part of its Knowledge Infrastructure Program, while the Ontario government will contribute $60 million in matching funds.

The two grants are part of more $1.2 billion in federal and provincial funding for 28 colleges and universities across the province. The federal government committed $587 million, with the province providing matching funds of $641.2 million.

Ottawa Colleges, Algonquin College and La Cite collegiale, Benefited from Funding

Algonquin College is receiving $35 million in fresh funds at the federal level, in addition to the $35 million in provincial funds awarded in June 2008 for its construction trades and building sciences facility, while La Cite collegiale is getting $13 million from each of the two levels of government for its emergency services training centre.

PPG Industries Foundation Pledges $500k for University of Pittsburgh Nanomaterials

The PPG Industries Foundation has pledged $500,000 to the University of Pittsburgh’s chemistry department to build a nanomaterials characterization lab.

“The University of Pittsburgh has been a leader in this complex and important field of research, and PPG’s support will help us renovate and improve our laboratory assets to move ahead rapidly in the international nanoscience arena,” said John Cooper, dean of arts and sciences at Pitt. “Infrastructure supported by this gift will enable recruitment of world-class researchers, faculty with the expertise to educate the next generation of nano scientists and position the University as a major contributor to this new frontier of knowledge.”

Nanomaterials, more than a thousand times smaller than the width of a single human hair, are used in lighter, stronger and more durable plastics for eyeglasses, computer displays and other products. Their tiny size gives the materials unique properties that have the potential to increase computer processing and memory capacity and improve solar energy cells, among other applications.

The PPG Industries Foundation was established in 1951 and focuses on education, human services, culture and arts, and civic affairs.

Since 971, it has contributed almost $3 million to Pitt for research and education.

West Virginia University Shares Cleanroom and SEM Equipment

The city of Morgantown, West Virginia, home to West Virginia University, is making national headlines as an "economic oasis." It is one of the few U.S. locations to be successfully isolated from the current recession, offering diverse opportunities for employment and research plus a low cost of living.

Isolation of another kind is occurring in the University’s Nanosystems Engineering Shared Cleanroom (NESC), where Dr. Kolin Brown is installing a new e-beam lithography/scanning electron microscope (SEM). Outfitted with a customized acoustic enclosure to isolate it from the constant background noise, vibration, and magnetic interference of the Class 10,000 cleanroom, the new SEM will do double duty. As an e-beam lithography system, it will produce precise patterns and features just nanometers in width on silicon substrates. As an SEM, it will allow students and researchers to examine nanowires linked to extremely small components at ultrahigh resolution and magnifications up to 1,000,000X. This level of precision will be demanded around the clock in a multiuser environment that also contains polymer spinners, wet development benches, and plasma etch tools.

“This is going to be a very hot instrument that a lot of people will want to come and use,” said Brown, Research Program Coordinator for WVU’s cleanroom. “Our goal is to have the best SEM on campus.” The lithography capability makes it even more exciting. “One of our questions is, how small can we go? Sometimes we’re talking sixty to seventy nanometer patterns or just ten to twelve nanowires.”

Through a National Science Foundation Grant that was matched by a grant from the state of West Virginia, the analytical field emission SEM is part of the University’s vigorous WVNano Initiative, giving researchers and students from multiple disciplinary fields the tools and facilities they need to develop new biosensors, semiconductor devices, structures, and photonic crystals. Replacing an antiquated but dedicated e-beam lithography tool on another part of the large campus, the new SEM will allow rapid proof of design and application testing.

From undergraduates to post docs, exposure to the JEOL JSM-7600F field emission analytical SEM is the opportunity to use the most advanced analytical electron microscope technology available today. Additionally, outside researchers working within West Virginia’s higher education system or industry will be given access.

“We’re not just multidisciplinary but interdisciplinary,” said Christie Zachary, Public Relations Specialist at WVNano. “At West Virginia University we offer everything from toxicology to orthopedics. We’re responsible for building an infrastructure and educating students so they can get out into the workforce. We’re changing our culture and emerging as a resource for true interdisciplinary research, and changing people’s perspective of industry. Ours is more of a group culture.”

Dr. Brown adds, “The interests of our students are so vast. They are studying materials, or looking at the biomedical side of early cancer detection, where a lot of our work is looking at delivery of organic materials to sensors to create devices that act as unique sensors. These biomaterials may be used for detection of viruses or pathogens for homeland security. Other times we’re just trying to create a method of measuring new materials interaction. We do everything from pure to applied sciences.”

The new SEM will be part of that initiative. By outfitting it with a JC Nabity pattern generator, the NESC has optimized the performance of this instrument as a lithography tool. Housed in the NESC busy clean room environment, a sealed and temperature-controlled acoustical chamber will protect the electron optics column and precision electron beam generation from outside interferences. JEOL engineers and West Virginia University engineers met with Integrated Dynamics Engineering (IDE) to custom fit the enclosure for easy access, minimal use of space, robust sealing of the panels for repeated opening and closing, uncompromising temperature stability, and failsafe noise dampening. IDE’s AKH panel technology is an evolutionary blend of material and construction to achieve optimal acoustic isolation.

Continually upgrading and adding to their capabilities, West Virginia University plays a key role in the state’s economic success. “West Virginia University has always been at the top of the list for building economic development in West Virginia. The state saw that WVNano had a real plan and really pushed us into a plan for the state, which has been best known for coal and agricultural. Now it’s nanoscience. People here can do top notch research.”

Flanders Awarded Purchase Agreement from Shaw AREVA MOX Services, LLC

Flanders Corporation (NASDAQ: FLDR) was awarded its second purchase agreement from Shaw AREVA MOX Services, LLC related to the MOX project at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, SC. Flanders is expected to ship 24 glove box assemblies during 2010 and 2011 for approximately $3.5 million.

"Through our continued diligence, we continue to demonstrate our ability to add value to the Shaw AREVA MOX project," said Gary Chrismon, Director of Isolator and Glove Box Sales. "We won our first order for eight glove boxes, as announced in February, and through our successful milestones we secured this follow-on order. We are excited to continue our partnership with Shaw AREVA."

"Our strong engineering and ASME NQA-1 nuclear compliant quality program operational capabilities are an excellent fit for weapon-grade plutonium repurposing," stated Tom Morse, Vice President of High Purity Operations. "Our highly skilled team creates customized solutions for a variety of extremely specific containment and filtration applications related to toxic substances and processes. We are pleased to be able to continue to service the nuclear industry."

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