OTHER ELECTRONICS & NANOTECHNOLOGY
UPDATE
September 2012
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MEMSCAP Brings Service to China
UKFast Launches On-Site Cleanroom
XP Power Opens Green Fab in Vietnam
The BBC covered some of the technologies that have been developed and are being planned to cope with the floods that have plagued Thailand in the past year.
Both were developed by the National Nanotechnology Center in Thailand (Nanotec).
One uses silver nanoparticles for a water filtration system that operates on solar power, called the SOS Water System. The genius of it is its portability—it's shown mounted on a small boat, purifying water from the flooded river it's floating on. Though small, the system is capable of purifying a remarkable 200 liters per hour.
Nanotec calls the second technology covered by the BBC video "n-SACK." It’s basically a material that absorbs water. As shown, it creates a better sandbag—better in a couple of ways: Before absorption, it's much smaller and lighter than a sandbag, and unlike one, it not only blocks floodwaters, it partially absorbs them.
Now, these nanotechnologies are not groundbreaking. Inexpensive water filtration systems that employ nanoparticles are nothing new, nor are water-philic materials. But it is the development of these technologies for an acute need that is interesting.
Specifically, the breakthrough here is that the Nanotec researchers were able to make a high-capacity water purifier portable and solar-based, on the one hand, and bringing the price down to $2 per "sandbag" in the other. Now that’s still twice as high as a typical sandbag, but these can be reused. And, if I might add, it’s much less labor intensive. With sand bags someone has to shovel that sand into the bags. With the n-SACK, you simply place the bag into the way of the flood and it fills itself up.
While much of nanotechnology research is devoted to far-off aspirations like ridding the world of artificial light—with the claimed aim of preventing starvation and thirst—sometimes just addressing the problems in front of you can significantly improve the world.
Also noteworthy is the pragmatism shown by the Thailand researchers when they opted to use silver nanoparticles in their portable water filtration system. Meanwhile Europe and the US seem to be in the midst of a “paralysis by analysis” in regulating the use of silver nanoparticles.
It's easy to imagine the victims of this year's Thailand floods weren’t too troubled by a lack of regulations governing the nanoparticles that allowed them to drink the only clean water they may have had access to for days.
On August 8th TDI Power celebrated the grand opening of their new Shenzhen facility. The ceremony encompassed factory tours, a traditional Chinese line dance and a Szechuan mask changing show. James Feely, CEO and President, gave a speech discussing the aggressive growth plans for TDI and how China would play a major role in this strategy.
Located in the free trade zone, the manufacturing operation is 99,000 sq. ft. and incorporates 3 SMT lines, PTH Assembly Wave and Solder, PCB in-circuit testing/ sub module testing, as well as HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening) testing. The free trade zone offers significant benefits including convenience for customers and suppliers, improved logistics and easier import/export of goods. As a result of this continued investment in their China operations, TDI will realize a significant increase in productivity and efficiency.
French MEMS manufacturing firm MEMSCAP has teamed up with Hanking Group of China to increase its presence in the country through sales of MUMPS (Multi-User MEMS Processes).
Shenyang-based Hanking Group, a mining and metal processing conglomerate, formed subsidiary company Hanking Electronics Company in 2010 to enter the semiconductor business as a maker of MEMS. Hanking Electronics is constructing a wafer fab for the manufacture of MEMS in Fushun about 40 miles east of Shenyang.
However, that facility is not expected to be operational before 2014. Prior to that Hanking Group will begin offering training and sales support for the MUMPS multiproject wafer service to design engineers in China. Hanking Group will also focus on MUMPS-plus opportunities where designers are allowed to modify the standard MEMS processes offered under the MUMPS scheme.
MUMPS is a program that was originally developed at the University of California Berkeley in the 1980s before moving to Microelectronics Corporation of North Carolina and brought up as a means of providing academics with access to MEMS prototyping. The service was transferred to Cronos Integrated Microsystems including a wafer fab in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, which was then acquired by MEMSCAP in 2003.
Since 2003 MEMSCAP as offered three standard MEMS processes namely PolyMUMPs, SOIMUMPs, and MetalMUMPs. MEMSCAP is just about to initiate the hundredth MUMPS run and claims that MUMPs has delivered hundreds of thousands of devices to different user groups from the academic, commercial and government sectors worldwide.
Goodrich Corporation added 46,00sq.ft. to its high-tech manufacturing facility in Burnsville, MN, with advanced production, design and development areas for micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS).
The facility is home to about 1,275 employees, part of Goodrich's Sensors and Integrated Systems business, which employs approximately 4,200 people worldwide.
At the expanded Burnsville facility’s ribbon cutting ceremony, Goodrich chairman, president and chief executive officer Marshall Larsen joined Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, City of Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Kautz, and other officials, marking the opening with a facility tour.
The MEMS sensors produced at Burnsville will be used in the company's commercial and military aerospace sensor-based products and systems. The 300,000 sq.ft. campus hosts manufacturing and office space, and is also home to a new icing wind tunnel for advanced aerospace product development and testing. Primary products produced at the facility include advanced air data systems, cockpit data management systems, and various sensors and sensor-based products for commercial and military aerospace applications.
Goodrich Corporation is a global supplier of systems and services to the aerospace and defense industries.
Hosting and cloud specialist UKFast has launched an on-site data recovery cleanroom within its Manchester data centre. This enables data recovery to start immediately and maximizes the chances of a successful outcome.
‘Having the cleanroom on site gives us that extra power in disaster recovery – more time. We are cutting the time it takes to begin data recovery by removing the need to outsource or move to another facility so we can set to work on disks straight away,’ said Lawrence Jones, UKFast CEO.
‘We own the data centre building, the land that it sits on and everything inside so we’re in full control. Including the cleanroom in the design of our newest data centre is part of our strategy to own and control the different elements that deliver services to our clients, applying our high standards across every area of the supply chain.’
Last year, 69% of businesses lost valuable data, which resulted in loss of both revenue and clients, and damage to brand reputation, according to research by security firm Symantec.
UKFast’s data centers and on-site cleanroom are operated under strict quality controls to provide in the best environment to open and examine hard drives and disk media. The recovery process of lost data within the cleanroom includes everything from complete rebuilds of hard disks to the replacement of damaged or faulty components.
UKFast’s cleanroom is fitted with air filters to remove particles as small as 0.3µm, and all equipment and personnel within the cleanroom are fully discharged before handling any equipment to avoid damage caused by electrostatic discharge.
XP Power has opened a new manufacturing facility in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, that the company claims is the world's most environmentally advanced power supply manufacturing facility. The fab is the first building in Vietnam to meet the Building Construction Authority's Green Mark Gold Plus certification, which attests that a building meets high environmental standards applicable to buildings in tropical climates.
The facility is said to incorporate the use of sustainable power and energy efficiency, with highly insulated construction, a solar PV array, eco-friendly glass to prevent solar heat gain, low energy lighting, ultra-efficient air conditioning. The facility also collects rainwater for use in the building and for irrigation systems. All the environmental features are managed by a fully integrated building management system.
According to XP Power, their commitment to the environment is also demonstrated across the full range of their products. Comprising highly efficient power supplies rated up to 95 percent energy efficiency and having a low standby power to reduce energy loss when the customer system is idle.
XP Power is the only power supply power supply manufacturer that is a member of the Electronic Industry Citizen Coalition, an organization whose Code of Conduct upholds the highest standards for not only environmental and sustainability issues but also treatment of labor, health and safety and business ethics, the company noted.
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