OTHER ELECTRONICS & NANOTECHNOLOGY
INDUSTRY UPDATE
October 2011
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dow Awards UC Santa Barbara $15 million to Establish Research Center
Memsstar Expands Livingston Manufacturing Facility
Thai Firm’s First North American Manufacturing and R&D Facility
M+W Building $300M Research Center at Nanocollege
QD Vision Moves to High-Volume Production Facility
Royal Engineered Composites Breaks Ground on Expansion
Microfluidics Foundry Opens in Singapore
Distron Extend Capabilities with Addition to Facility
Tronics Expands MEMS Manufacturing, HQ
Selen Technology Plans Tianjin Technology Park
Finetech Opens Cleanroom in Berlin
The Dow Chemical Company has awarded UC Santa Barbara up to $15 million to establish a collaborative research initiative that aims to further technological discovery.
The Dow Materials Institute at UCSB will educate future scientists and engineers and advance the discovery of revolutionary new materials with applications that range from novel polymers to next-generation microelectronics.
The pioneering institute will be housed in the Materials Research Laboratory (MRL), a National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) that is widely recognized as one of the top materials research facilities in the world.
“This new partnership with the Dow Chemical Company is dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the United States through collaborative research and interactions with industry, thereby serving as a catalyst to transform people's lives,” said Craig J. Hawker, director of the MRL and professor of materials. “By actively engaging in productive partnerships with industry, the MRL with National Science Foundation MRSEC support has proven to be an economic engine here and around the world.”
Memsstar, a Scottish provider of deposition and etch tools, has doubled its cleanroom manufacturing space to meet growing demand from the micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) and semiconductor industries.
The firm has also taken on more staff in logistics, administration and skilled and semi-skilled engineering.
Memsstar, based in Livingston, Scotland, took record orders of more than $20m in 2010 and is projecting ‘high double-digit’ revenue growth for 2011.
The extra space will allow memsstar to increase capacity as well as more efficiently remanufacture, refurbish and repurpose semiconductor etch and deposition equipment. It also allows the firm to handle larger and more complex equipment.
The facility has been re-designed with seven flexibly configured bays ready for immediate use.
Memsstar's remanufacturing division, pt35, delivers refurbished and repurposed etch and deposition equipment for MEMS fabrication and R&D as well as semiconductor manufacturing in Europe. It will use the expanded facility to reduce lead times for refurbished OEM platforms as a result of increased manufacturing efficiencies.
“Refurbished and repurposed equipment is coming of age as a critical component in the strategies of semiconductor manufacturers in Europe,” said Peter Connock, chief executive of memsstar.
In addition to the gains expected in its remanufacturing process, memsstar will also benefit from additional capacity to support its proprietary products for MEMS applications. The company's Solo, Sentry and Multi process tools deliver advanced etch, surface preparation and deposition processes.
“Two trends have driven our expansion, the increased importance and significance of the secondary equipment market for semiconductor manufacturing and the maturation of MEMS manufacturing with its increasingly advanced requirements,” added Connock. “memsstar is ideally positioned to address both markets.”
Precision Converting Solutions (PCS) LLC will open a specialty converting factory in the Charleston area. The new company is a subsidiary of Siam Precision Components, a Thailand-based manufacturer of precision laminated components.
When fully operational in two years, the project is expected to create 25 high-technology jobs and represent an investment of approximately $6 million.
Siam Precision Components first learned about opportunities in West Virginia when they visited the state’s exhibit at the Bio International Convention in Washington, D.C., in June 2011.
PCS will employ proprietary tooling and converting technology to support Siam’s current customers worldwide.
The West Virginia firm will be Siam’s first manufacturing and research and development facility in North America. It will facilitate Siam’s entry into the rapidly expanding market for microfluidic components for medical, diagnostic and alternative fuel industries.
Plans call for PCS to begin operations in January 2012 in an interim employee training and business development center while construction of the new 20,000-square-foot cleanroom manufacturing and R&D center is completed in Kanawha County. A cleanroom is a manufacturing environment where airborne particle concentrations and other potential contaminate are tightly controlled in order to protect sensitive equipment.
The new jobs will be engineer and technician positions specializing in precision machining, stamping, and converting of high precision components. PCS will begin the hiring process in the fourth quarter of 2011 for key management and technical personnel to send to Asia for training. Applications are being accepted through WorkForce West Virginia.
“From our discussions at the Bio show and our follow up visits to the state, we learned about West Virginia’s business advantages,” said Tim Cheromcka, Siam’s president of global operations. “We are confident that this will be a great opportunity for both West Virginia and Precision Converting Solutions.”
M+W U.S. Inc. is constructing a $300 million research center at the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany.
The project is a signature piece of the new $4.8 billion Global 450 Consortium led by CNSE and five major semiconductor companies: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., IBM, Intel Corp., GlobalFoundries and Samsung. The initiative was announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Alain Kaloyeros, senior vice president and CEO of the nanocollege complex, said the building will be ready to install its first equipment by July 2012.
The project will include a 50,000-square-foot cleanroom and will house roughly 800 new employees who will focus on creating the next generation of computer chips. A cleanroom refers to the hyper-clean areas that are used to limit the amount of dust and particles that come in contact with wafers and computer chips during the production process.
Construction is expected to be completed sometime in 2013, Intel officials said. The consortium is expected to generate approximately 1,500 construction jobs in Albany, most tied to the $300 million research center.
The five semiconductor companies are expected to contribute at least $75 million apiece into the project over the next five years.
The Global 450 project is expected to create 2,500 high-paying research jobs across upstate New York. Researchers will focus on developing technology that will enable chip manufacturers to produce computer chips on 450-millimeter or 18-inch wafers. The semiconductor industry currently is focused on smaller 300-millimeter wafers. Wafers refer to the discs on which computer chips are etched.
Kaloyeros said the transition to the larger wafers will enable chip makers to double the amount of chips produced on each wafer, reducing overall production costs.
QD Vision, Inc., developer of nanotechnology-based optical products for displays and solid state lighting, announced it has relocated to a new, high-volume production facility in Lexington, Massachusetts to support new products launching in 2012.
QD Vision occupies the entire building in Lexington, which houses the company’s global headquarters, as well as its production and development facilities.
QD Vision is currently working with several global consumer electronics companies that are building new products that employ its Quantum Light™ optics. For displays, QD Vision’s products provide greatly expanded color gamut simultaneously reducing manufacturing and operating costs while improving system energy efficiency. For solid state lighting, its products enable LED lamps to produce incandescent-like, warm, white light with high efficiency.
“Quantum dots are light emitting materials made via a precisely-controlled chemical synthesis process. The sophisticated nature of the manufacturing process, coupled with the need for a skilled educated workforce, makes Massachusetts an ideal place to locate a high-volume Quantum Dot manufacturing facility,” said Jason Carlson, QD Vision CEO. “This new space in Lexington perfectly fits our needs for long term business growth and will allow us to address rapidly increasing customer demand.”
Electronics manufacturing services innovator, ESCATEC has added ISO Class 5 sections to its ISO Class 7 micro optic electronic manufacturing services (MOEMS) facility in Heerbrugg, Switzerland to address the growing demand for miniaturized electronics.
The facilities enable miniaturized electronics and sub-assemblies to be manufactured at levels of cleanliness and technological precision rarely available from a contract manufacturer. They are supported by the rest of the Group’s global operations that include the ability to ramp up to high volume manufacturing in Asia.
The MOEMS facility’s capabilities include Chip On Board (die bonding and wire bonding), encapsulation, Solder Flip Chip, Ball Grid Array, and micro-optics assembly. ESCATEC also has an extensive R&D department.
‘”Very few contract manufacturers are prepared to invest the significant sums required to set up and run a Class 7 cleanroom close to their customers in Europe,” said Gerhard Klauser, general manager at ESCATEC Switzerland. “We differentiate ourselves in the marketplace by focusing on quality and precision. This MOEMS facility enables us to manufacture microelectronic and optical assemblies in an ultra-clean environment to ensure the highest possible build quality and reliability. For one customer we even bought a special piece of equipment to make their product because no-one else could manufacture it to the standards that we were then able to.”
Examples of products that ESCATEC has manufactured in its MOEMS facility include laser sights for the military, rangefinders for surveying equipment, and camera assemblies.
Royal Engineered Composites broke ground on an expansion of their manufacturing plant on June 30, 2011. The expansion is Phase 1 of 3 expansions planned at Royal. Upon completion of Phase 1, Royal will have added just over 30,000 square feet which will bring their total building to 82,000 square feet. The Phase 1 expansion will house a 12,000 sq. ft. cleanroom for graphite/epoxy part production and will house Royal's 5 autoclaves. Royal has also created a new parking lot on the west side of the building to accommodate the growth.
Royal's equipment purchase list includes a 12' X 30' autoclave, a ply cutting table with conveyor system and is awaiting delivery of a Composite Waterjet Machining Center purchased earlier this year from Flow. "This 30,000 square foot high bay building should satisfy our growth needs for the next 5 years. We'll move in equipment the day after it is approved for occupancy" says Phillip Gill, President of Royal Engineered Composites. The Phase 1 expansion is slated for completion in November 2011. The expanded facilities will expand Royal's capabilities to produce larger parts and assemblies and accommodate higher volume contracts. Royal has been experiencing steady growth for the last 10 years and expects that trend to continue. Jarrod Ridge, Business Development Manager at Royal says, "As more aircraft are being designed or retrofitted to include additional composite content than ever before; the supply chain has become increasingly more important. Our customers are driving our growth based on our dedication to performance and being that stable supplier that allows them to focus on the future."
The Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), research institute within Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), opened the SIMTech Microfluidics Foundry (SMF), offering microfluidics development, customization, and manufacturing. These devices suit applications in healthcare, pharmaceutical, energy, water quality monitoring, biomedical, and chemical processing industries.
Singapore currently lacks a microfluidics, or lab-on-a-chip, industry, but the global microfluidics market is estimated to grow to US$5B in 2016 (Yole Development 2011, Microfluidic Substrates Market and Processing Trends), driven largely by biotechnology and microtechnology. Fluidigm, CAMTech, Clearbridge Biomedics, JN Medsys, Molbot and Fluigen have set up operations in Singapore for medical/life science applications. A*STAR's foundry will exploit Singapore's multi-disciplinary research capabilities in biomedical, physical and engineering sciences for microfluidics development.
Barriers to microfluidics adoption in applications from inkjet printing to cancer screenings include high manufacturing costs, lacking design and manufacturing standards for large volumes, and customization required for each application. Many biochips are fabricated using silicon wafers or glass slides. The special processes required during the manufacturing of these silicon-based biochips prove to be expensive for disposable applications. Polymer materials, on the other hand, are better suited for fluidic sample analyses and fabrication can be achieved in bulk at a fraction of the cost for disposable applications. Through its competencies and capabilities to address these challenges, SMF can help nurture and grow the microfluidic industry in Singapore.
SMF will host an integrated spectrum of design, simulation, prototyping, and scalable technology development for mass production of polymer-based microfluidic devices. Companies can work with the foundry to reduce costs and improve efficiency, translating lab processes and prototypes to commercially viable products.
Dr Lim Ser Yong, Executive Director of SIMTech said, "The SIMTech Microfluidics Foundry provides a low-risk environment for companies to place their capital-intensive investments for testing and implementing microfluidic technology solutions. It also offers a strong base for precision engineering and electronics companies to expand and pursue growth in other industries, assisting in the development of microfluidic products for biomedical, pharmaceutical and chemical companies and help start-ups to accelerate its commercialization process by providing robust manufacturing capabilities and innovative microfluidic solutions."
SIMTech signed three research agreements with Rhodia Asia Pacific, CAMTech Management and Molbot to develop high-throughput microfluidic tools for applications and product development in pharmaceuticals; for water quality monitoring and for gene cloning respectively. SIMTech also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CAMTech Innovations (UK) and Clearbridge Biomedics to jointly develop design and manufacturing technologies of microfluidic devices for life science companies as well as intends to collaborate on development of manufacturing technologies and solutions for microfluidic devices for potential commercial use respectively. These microfluidic R&D commitments reflect the confidence of industry in SMF's competencies and capabilities, seeding a growing microfluidic industry in Singapore.
Dr Mario El-Khoury, CSEM Chief Executive Officer, said: "The SIMTech Microfluidics Foundry is a successful outcome of the research collaboration between CSEM and SIMTech. Today, SMF is a milestone for Singapore to grow the microfluidic industry. We look forward to furthering our collaboration with SMF to advance the microfluidic technology and its applications that impact the quality of life, such as healthcare, biomedical and life science research."
Singapore's government has $16.1 billion Singapore dollars earmarked for the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2011 to 2015 Plan (RIE 2015), about 20 percent more than the previous quinquennium and a commitment of 1 per cent of expected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to public sector research and innovation. Singapore aims to increase its gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2015.
SIMTech develops high-value manufacturing technology and human capital to contribute to the competitiveness of the Singapore industry. It collaborates with multinational and local companies in the precision engineering, electronics, semiconductor, medical technology, aerospace, automotive, marine, logistics and other sectors.
CSEM, Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology), founded in 1984, is a private applied research and development center specializing in micro- and nanotechnology, system engineering microelectronics and communications technologies. It offers its customers and industry partners custom-made, innovative solutions based on its knowledge of the market and the technological expertise derived from applied research. CSEM's mission is to enhance the competitiveness of industry, particularly Swiss industry, by developing applied technology platforms in micro- and nanotechnologies and ICT and transferring them to the industrial sector.
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is the lead agency for fostering world-class scientific research and talent for a vibrant knowledge-based and innovation-driven Singapore. A*STAR oversees 14 biomedical sciences and physical sciences and engineering research institutes, and six consortia & centers, located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis as well as their immediate vicinity. A*STAR supports Singapore's key economic clusters by providing intellectual, human and industrial capital to its partners in industry. It also supports extramural research in the universities, and with other local and international partners.
Electronic contract manufacturer Distron Corporation is poised to expand its business when it cuts the ribbon on a newly expanded production facility.
Distron – who first announced plans to extend its plant, in Attleboro Falls, Massachusetts, earlier this year – says the addition has been driven by demand from its growing original equipment manufacturer (OEM) client base.
And company president Robert Donovan said that the new systems in place has “totally overhauled our capability to provide Electromechanical Assembly on a higher level.”
The 12,500 square foot addition includes a new SMT assembly work center, as well an extended electroK mechanical work center, and a new stock room.
Distron has also equipped the plant with over $1m (€700,000) of new robotic placement and inspection equipment.
Among the new technology, is Mydata 100DX SMT equipment, an Ekra semi-automatic screen printer, a DEK fully automatic screen printer, a Heller RoHS reflow oven, a nexgen Yestech AOI machine and a new aqueous cleaner.
Don Petry, VP of sales and marketing at Distron, said: “Distron selected this system to support out growing operation and to help us continually expand our capabilities.
“The move exemplifies our focus on moving forward and providing for our customers – old and new – the very best electronic contract manufacturing services around.”
The CMO now hopes the new additions will help launch it onto bigger playing fields.
Petry added: “These equipment and personnel acquisitions are one reason we’ve had the outstanding opportunity to stay strong and continue moving forward despite the challenges posed by the economy.”
He also pegged their steady growth over the years largely on achieving a thumbs up from medical device regulatory bodies the ISO 13485 medical device certification and international traffic in arms (ITAR) registration.
Petry continued: “With customers across the country looking for high quality and cost efficient electronic manufacturing services, we believe it’s all of these factors combined that have helped us continue to deliver what they’re looking for successfully.”
MEMS foundry Tronics upgraded its Grenoble headquarters and manufacturing facilities, making a more than half a million euro investment, along with new equipment capital expenditures.
Due to a recent order bookings increase, along with what the company reports as "several years of solid performance," Tronics invested in a larger headquarters and is expanding its manufacturing facilities for micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS).
The company has occupied a 1400-sq.m. (15,064 sq. ft.) building for offices and manufacturing cleanrooms since 2003. Now, all offices and engineering labs have moved to a new, modern 1500-sq.m. (16,140 sq. ft.) building nearby. The former office space will now be used exclusively for manufacturing, including a new back-end cleanroom. The additional space will be used for more MEMS assembly capacity and added process capabilities and automation. The existing wafer fab will be fully operational during the transition.
The project is self-funded and will be 100 percent complete by the end of 2011.
Tronics is a full-service MEMS manufacturer with wafer fabs in France and the USA, and representation in Asia. Tronics' engineering support includes electronic interface development, assembly and custom packaging, but also medical-device development.
Shenzhen Selen Science & Technology intends to invest 500 million yuan to establish an industrial park in Tianjin.
The company will construct a 151,860-square meter (1,634,013 sq. ft.) industrial park that will include centers for purifying equipment, cleanroom equipment and cleaning services. The project, which entails a construction period of 18 months, is expected to generate sales revenue of one billion yuan and net profit of 104.07 million yuan after completion. The estimated investment payback period is 5.7 years, with an investment income rate of 21 percent.
Selen Technology was founded in 2002 and produces static contamination control and clean- room solutions.
Finetech announces that comprehensive construction measures to remodel and expand the development and manufacturing facilities at Berlin headquarters have been completed.
The centerpiece of the remodeling is the new cleanroom designed to meet the highest customer demands. The cleanroom puts Finetech in the position to work on high-sensitive optical and semiconductor applications, testing samples and profiling tasks in a dust-proof environment. Constant environmental conditions such as consistent temperature and air humidity add to a particularly high process stability and reproducibility.
At the same time, the capacities of the Finetech application labs have been enhanced further. Dedicated premises now combine application and demonstration labs and provide extended opportunities for efficient and comprehensive process and equipment development and fast handling of customer requests.
Other Finetech company departments also benefit from the remodeling. Precision and final assembly of the sub-micron bonding systems FINEPLACER® femto and FINEPLACER® lambda will now be conducted in a dedicated dust-protected area.
McIlvaine Company
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