OTHER ELECTRONICS & NANOTECHNOLOGY
INDUSTRY UPDATE
May 2012
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Astro Pak Expands Precision Cleaning Cleanrooms in CA
Hanking Industrial Group Expands for MEMS
Tensilica's India Facility Gets Expansion
Grant Will Outfit Nanotech Cleanroom, Nano-Medicine Lab
Indium to Invest in Manufacturing Facility in New York
American Associates, Ben-Gurion University Plan Quantum Nanotechnology Facility
Sanmina-SCI Suzhou, Awarded Certification for Medical Devices
BGI Establishes HPC Center for Bioinformatics
Astro Pak Corporation opened its Class 100 and Class 1000 cleanrooms, recently renovated and expanded, in Downey, CA. The cleanrooms host contract precision cleaning for the semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, and other industries. Astro Pak believes the California location to be the largest of its kind in the US.
The modernization began in early 2011, aiming to improve services and expand capacity. Astro Pak’s Chesapeake, VA cleanroom facility was completed in January 2012.
The Downey cleanrooms are situated on 3 acres, with more than 35,000sq.ft. for Class 5, 6, 100 and 1000 cleanrooms under ISO 14644-1. Astro-Pak is ISO 9100:2008 and AS9100 revision C certified, noted Ignacio Quiroz, production manager for the Downey facility.
The new large-component Class 6 cleanroom measures 40' x 30' x 18' (height), and supports a 2,500 psi high-pressure spray system. A 4,000lb bridge crane will move heavy hardware and components.
The new high-volume component/hardware processing cleanroom houses a 1,500sq.ft. Class 100 space and 2,100sq.ft. Class 1000 space, supported by a modern 6,000sq.ft. preclean area. The preclean area includes 8 work stations, 4,000lb bridge cranes, 3 large Ultrasonic cleaning units (3' x 3' x 8'), and a high-purity, high-pressure spray system integrated into the area that houses additional immersion tanks.
A new safety containment pressure test room was built for pneumatic pressure testing, and a new hydrostatic pressure test stand was also designed. Pneumatic testing is performed up to 10,000 PSI and Hydrostatic testing up to 30,000 PSI.
From pre-commissioning and maintenance projects to planned shutdowns and emergency outages, Astro Pak has a proven track record of cleaning and passivating ultrapure water systems for semiconductor manufacturers and more.
Astro provides precision cleaning and passivation services in North America for the aerospace and defense, medical device, semiconductor, laser, biopharm and other markets.
Hanking Industrial Group Co., Ltd., broke ground on a micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) manufacturing campus in Fushun City, China, outside of Shenyang, in late March.
The MEMS sensor manufacturing venture will lead the way for the company’s high-tech development strategy. Hanking Industrial is primarily a mining and metals processing company. Once completed, the Hanking Micro Electro Mechanical Sensor Industry Park project will bring in RMB 10 billion, and may form a local industry on the scale of RMB 100 billion, the company reports.
The industrial park is designed based on advanced, international standards, said Yang Min, chairman of the board. Late in 2011, Hanking MEMS’ leader Dr. Douglas Ray Sparks met with Wang Guifen, Mayor of Fushun City, Deputy Mayor Zhang Wenhui, director of Fushun Economic Development Zone Management Committee Dong Zebin, leaders of Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, Development and Reform Commission, and Foreign Trade and Economic Bureau, president of Hanking Group Yu Wenbo, president of Hanking MEMS Company Huang Xiangxiang, CFO of Hanking Group Li Yongshan, and Administrative and HR director Chen Zhe. The meeting covered the plan for the MEMS site and economic impact of the facility.
Hanking Industrial Group Co., Ltd. is active in mining, metallurgy, commerce, electronics, and precision manufacturing.
Tensilica Inc. has expanded its R&D centre in Pune, India. The research and development unit has now transferred to a new building, which is twice the size of its original facility. The company is now looking into doubling the workforce of the centre to at least 50 percent.
According to Tensilica, over the past six years, employees at its Pune R&D centre have become essential developers of Tensilica's dataplane processors (DPUs), which are used by chip designers to perform complex signal processing tasks, such as audio and base band processing.
"The engineers in our Pune design centre are an integral part of our R&D team, and they've tackled some of the most demanding projects," stated Jack Guedj, Tensilica's president and CEO. "We've asked them to take on several challenges and they've proven they have the background to do an excellent job in many engineering areas."
Some of the projects Tensilica engineers have been working on in Pune include: audio and speech codecs for Tensilica's HiFi audio digital signal processors (DSPs), libraries, design verification, application engineering, and the integrated development environment (IDE) for Tensilica's DPUs.
"I'm extremely proud of the team we've assembled here in Pune," stated Subodh Shukla, director of the Pune R&D centre. "We've been able to hire some of the top talent from across India because we can offer engineers the opportunity to grow and learn about leading edge processor/DSP architecture and chip design."
As construction of UMass Lowell’s $70 million Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center (ETIC) enters the homestretch, plans to equip the building with cutting-edge laboratories and research space got a boost from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. On April 24, the agency awarded a $10 million capital grant that will help outfit the center’s cleanroom for micro-nano fabrication and third-floor nanomedicine laboratories.
“UMass Lowell is grateful to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, as well as Gov. Deval Patrick and his administration, and the state legislature, particularly the Lowell delegation, for this crucial funding,” says UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan. “We will leverage this to gain additional support for the Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center and the cutting-edge research that will be conducted there with our faculty, students and industries across the region. This will enable the university to build on its significant role in fueling the state's innovation economy.”
Scheduled to open in the fall, the 84,000-square-foot facility will bring together experts in such leading-edge disciplines as nanotechnology, biomedicine and plastics engineering and will create new opportunities for collaboration between faculty, students and industry. Researchers will have the space and specialized lab equipment to develop advanced materials that will improve the performance of everything from food packaging to life-saving medical products.
“UMass Lowell is one of our state’s strongest contributors to innovative life sciences research and one of the many reasons that Massachusetts is considered a global leader in the life sciences,” says Susan Windham-Bannister, president and chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. “We are pleased to support the construction of this new facility that will enhance the University’s capacity for innovation and benefit the regional economy in Greater Lowell.”
Construction of the ETIC got underway in June 2010, with broad support from local, state and federal officials, as well as private industry. Mass Life Science Center’s $10 million award, combined with $35 million in previously approved state funding from other sources, will pay a substantial portion of the building’s cost.
The ETIC has also attracted $7 million in private donations from alumni and corporate partners. Of that money, $5 million comes from five donors, including alumni John Kennedy ’70, Barry Perry ’68, Mark Saab ’81 and Robert Ward ’70, as well as medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific.
“Never before have University supporters committed to a single project at this level,” Meehan says. “Their contributions are helping to drive this project forward.”
The cleanroom will be used for the fabrication of micro- and nanodevices, sensors and templates for life sciences applications. Vice Provost for Research Julie Chen expects it will attract a range of companies, from large enterprises to startups in such industries as defense, life sciences and communications. The nanomedicine labs will provide the space for advanced research focused on the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and related sectors.
The four-story glass and steel building will also house wet labs, engineering labs, plastics processing facilities, a high-bay manufacturing center and meeting rooms. The first-floor lobby will serve as the home to a plastics hall of fame to recognize the accomplishments of industry leaders.
“The thing that’s unique about the ETIC is the interdisciplinary mix in one building,” says Chen. “It’s not just a chemistry building or a biology building or an engineering building. It brings all these disciplines and outside partners under one roof.”
Several corporations that have never before partnered with UMass Lowell are donating highly specialized equipment for the building, including Arburg Corp., a leading maker of injection machines for plastics processing headquartered in Lossburg, Germany, and Technovel, a Japanese maker of extrusion molding machinery. Prof. Robert Malloy, chairman of the Plastics
Engineering Department, says the equipment that Technovel has donated is the first of its kind to be installed in North America.
Located on the corner of University Avenue and the VFW Highway, the ETIC will serve as a gateway to North Campus. While the hard hats and heavy equipment are still in evidence, construction will be winding down in the coming months as lab equipment is installed and calibrated and final preparations made before the building opens.
In keeping with the University’s sustainability goals, the ETIC is a green building, with a targeted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification. The exterior of the building includes a terrace that overlooks the Merrimack River and there is a quadrangle that sits between the building and Lydon Library, mirroring the quad of the original North Campus layout.
Indium Corp., a supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, solar and thermal management industries, has announced its plans to make an investment of $10 million on the development of its manufacturing facility to Rome, New York, in Oneida County.
Rick Short, Director of Marketing Communications at Indium Corp., said, We are excited to continue our expansion in Oneida County. Our sophisticated technology products are well suited to the area’s educated and capable work force.
Indium Corp. produces advanced assembly materials and provides them to the solar photovoltaic, thin film, optical fiber, battery, flat-panel display, thermal management, semiconductor and electronics industries.
Empire State Development approved incentives of over US $1 million to influence the company to expand in northern New York State. There the company will create an expected two dozen full-time jobs and retain 320 workers.
Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Kenneth Adams, said, Governor Andrew Cuomo has made it a priority to support the growth of our existing businesses as we work to rebuild New York. Indium s investment is critical to the area s economic sustainability, and will mean the creation of two dozen jobs and the retention of the more than 300 employees already working in Oneida County. We are pleased to assist the company as it continues to build its successful operation in New York.
Empire State Development will offer Indium Corp. with a $347,939 grant to compensate the cost of the purchase of new machinery and equipment, in addition to $652,061 in Excelsior Jobs Program tax benefits over 5-year, which will total $1 million in state assistance to support this project. Besides this, the city of Rome offered the company with a $100,000 loan. Oneida County Industrial Development Agency also approved a 10-year property reduction, with other tax reduction incentives.
American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) just received a $3 million pledge from long-time AABGU supporter and National Vice President Ruth Flinkman-Marandy and Ben Marandy. This generous donation will support a new atom chip and quantum optics research and development facility at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Beer-Sheva, Israel.
The Atom Chip Lab is the first of its kind in Israel. Its new facility will provide the necessary technology to pursue world-class scientific investigation, as well as train promising young researchers. It will contain advanced nanotechnology research equipment, including sophisticated optics and lasers, high level computing capabilities and complex electronics.
Atom chips are used in the construction of "atomic clocks" which are fundamental to the extremely high precision guidance systems required for satellites, missiles and other vital homeland security products. Dr. Ron Folman of the Department of Physics will head the new facility.
The Flinkmans were early supporters of the nanotechnology research initiative at BGU. "I am so proud to continue to help provide the resources for cutting-edge research and training," explains Ruth Flinkman-Marandy. "With this level of research and development taking place, BGU will attract great minds to live in the Negev and will be a magnet for high-tech companies that will leverage University resources."
In 2010, BGU dedicated the Stan and Ruth Elaine Flinkman Microscopy Wing in the state-of-the-art Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. Ruth also contributed significantly to student scholarships and several other programs at BGU. She is currently the campaign chair for the AABGU Southwest Region headquartered in Los Angeles.
"AABGU is extremely grateful for the ongoing dedication and support of Ruth Flinkman-Marandy, who has an extraordinary vision for the use of quantum nanotechnology research, especially as it pertains to the future security of Israel," explains Doron Krakow, executive vice president of AABGU. "With Ruth's and Ben's help, BGU will improve its ability to attract the world's best and brightest researchers."
Sanmina-SCI Corporation, a leading manufacturing solutions company making some of the world's most complex and valuable optical, electronic and mechanical products, announced that its Suzhou, China facility has been awarded ISO 13485 certification for medical device manufacturing. This certification recognizes Sanmina-SCI's world-class manufacturing capabilities and its focus on meeting the highest levels of quality assurance for products developed for the medical industry. ISO 13485 is an internationally recognized standard developed to ensure companies provide medical devices that consistently meet government regulations.
"Earning the ISO 13485 certification shows our commitment to produce the highest quality devices for the medical market," said Seamus Grady, Senior Vice President, Medical Division of Sanmina-SCI. "The Suzhou plant is the 20th dedicated medical plant in Sanmina-SCI's extensive network of global facilities to achieve this exacting medical certification. We have the most ISO 13485 qualified facilities of any design and manufacturing provider, which allow us to offer the unique technology and complex manufacturing capabilities required in many sectors of healthcare, from medical devices and disposables to very large diagnostic imaging systems."
Sanmina-SCI's Medical division provides Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) with a measurable competitive edge, and a worldwide network of manufacturing facilities that includes nine FDA-registered factories. Supported by a team of highly skilled engineers, and an exceptional compliance record with quality and regulatory agencies, Sanmina-SCI is uniquely positioned to design, engineer, manufacture, and provide reverse logistics support for the most dependable and technologically advanced medical products.
BGI has announced a partnership with the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin — home of currently the world's second most powerful supercomputer, the Tianhe -1A — in order to take advantage of supercomputing technology to accelerate genomics research.
The joint venture will be known as the Tianhe-BGI Bioinformatics and Computing Joint Laboratory. To kick off the new collaboration, investigators from the two organizations will begin work on a new bioinformatics analysis pipeline for genomics data that will utilize the power of the Tianhe-1A supercomputer.
The Tianhe-1A supercomputer came online in October of 2010 and runs at a peak performance of roughly 2.57 petaflops per second. The system is equipped with 14,336 Xeon X5670 processors, 7,168 Nvidia Tesla M2050 general purpose GPUs, 2,048 FeiTeng 1000 SPARC-based processors.
“In the next step, we will establish a comprehensive bioinformatics & computing platform based on Tianhe-1A. It will focus on the research and development of the high-performance software with higher efficiency, including standard analysis software, the analytical pipeline and tools for enormous data, among others.” says Guangming Liu, Director of CSCC-TJ. “We hope this new laboratory could greatly promote the applications of genomic technologies in agriculture, drug discovery and human health in Binhai New Area, and make more contributions to the society.”
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