Labor Union to Build Tech Training Facility in Queensbury

A labor union will build a technology training facility in the Queensbury-Glens Falls area and become the first tenant of a new tech park there.

Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 773 has agreed to buy five acres in the Tech Meadows Park, a half-mile from exit 18 of the Northway.

The union will erect a building of up to 20,000 square feet to be used for “cleanroom” training. That type of manufacturing is often used by medical device companies, a few of which are located in the northern Capital Region, as well as GlobalFoundries Inc. GlobalFoundries Inc.

Construction is expected to start by early 2012, and take a year to finish. The union has 450 members.

New Facility to Produce Wonder Material

The $5.5-million pilot plant, created through a collaboration of the provincial and federal governments in partnership with industry under the Western Economic Partnership Agreement (WEPA), will use wood and straw pulp, like that from flax and hemp, to create up to 100 kg per week of NCC for testing in commercial applications leading to production.

Recent discoveries reveal NCC has useful properties such as great strength, optical characteristics and very large surface area at the nanoscale. The pilot plant will allow researchers to test and validate NCC from a variety of forest and agriculture materials for use in diverse applications such as, automotive components, paints and building materials, plastics, packaging, health care products and energy extraction.

"This has the potential to be one of the technologies that, literally, changes the world," said Greg Weadick, Minister of Alberta Advanced Education and Technology. "This project focuses our Alberta Innovates system on gaining the knowledge and experience we need to develop the greener products that the world demands."

The project opens the door to new and diverse markets for Alberta’s forest industry in areas like composite materials and coatings, drilling fluids, pharmaceuticals and more.

"Our Government's investment will help advance a new forestry product with the potential to diversify the industry," said Mike Lake, Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry. “With numerous sectors in Alberta that could benefit from NCC applications, this initiative will help increase our competitiveness and create jobs in our communities."

"This project highlights the role Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures (AITF) plays in Alberta's research and innovation system. AITF contributes technical expertise and world-class facilities to initiatives with commercial promise," said Dr. Gary Albach, President and CEO, of AITF. "We're excited to be involved and recognize the economic potential of nanocrystalline cellulose. Providing support to innovations like this, delivers on our mandate as an organization for enabling technical industries. AITF is designed to accelerate the growth of prosperous business in Alberta. That is exactly what we are doing with nanocrystalline cellulose production."

"Alberta-Pacific is pleased to be an industrial partner in this project. NCC represents an opportunity for our mill to produce a value-added material with significant market applications right here in Alberta, as well as around the world," said Brent Rabik, Director of Strategic Programs, Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc.

The Canada-Alberta WEPA will target priorities that address regional needs and are consistent with national and provincial economic development strategies. The Canada-Alberta WEPA has identified four priority areas of activity: Technology Commercialization, Business Productivity and Competitiveness, Trade and Investment, and Value Added Processing.

MEMS at Fraunhofer

Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS (Duisburg, Germany) developed a new etch process to manufacture micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) for commercial-scale applications. Etching gasses allow MEMS designers to use a wider range of materials for the functional layer, while preventing device damage during etch.

This isotropic etching is based on a substance that etches vertically into the MEMS substrate and tunnels under the functional layer. The result is a functional layer 100nm thin connected to the silicon or other substrate by certain suspension points.

Conventional etch is performed with liquids, and can only remove material vertically, said Dr. Marco Russ, project manager at IMS. When the etch fluid dries, filigree membranes are stuck to the substrate or destroyed. Functional and sacraficial layer materials are limited by the etch liquid.

The group will open a MEMS production facility on June 22, incorporating the etch technology. The new facility will use 2 gases in the etch process chamber instead of liquids, Russ said: Hydrogen fluoride (HF), which strong etching properties on silicon dioxide but does not affect silicon; and xenon difluoride gas (XeF2), which achieves the opposite effect. The gasses allow greater materials flexibility.

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