OTHER ELECTRONICS & NANOTECHNOLOGY
INDUSTRY UPDATE
November 2013
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Research Underway at Nanyang Technological University
Nanotech Facility to Spin Off On Its Own
Ohio Community College Nabs $1M MEMS Grant
Praxair China Opens Global Technology Centre in Shanghai
Singapore’s Nanyang Technological Univ. (NTU) is establishing an advanced maritime energy test facility - the first in South-east Asia.
Named the Maritime Energy Test Bed, it will be open to scientists and engineers from both academia and industry to do research and development work in green ship and port technologies, which includes alternative fuels, fuel additives, engine emissions and control.
The facility was announced at the SMI Forum by Teo Siong Seng, Chairman of the Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI). The new facility is jointly funded by NTU and SMI and will be ready by 2015. SMI will contribute S$4.7 million over the next 10 years, while NTU provides S$3.4 million, with support from the industry.
“The establishment of the Maritime Energy Test Bed will help in the translation of innovative technologies from lab-scale to large-scale application where new technologies will be tested prior to sea trials. The METB is a significant component in demonstrating and raising Singapore’s maritime R&D capabilities and expertise,” Teo says.
Jointly proposed by the Energy Research Institute at NTU and Maritime Institute at NTU, the new test bed will play a big part in keeping Singapore at the forefront of maritime research and development. The facility will be tapping a potential maritime market segment estimated to be worth billions of dollars world worldwide.
Prof. Chan Siew Hwa, Co-Director of ERI@N, says the new facility, which is built according to International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirements, will allow both industry and academia to test and assess all the crucial parameters needed for cutting-edge research and development.
“To develop new technologies for green ships and green ports, all aspects of energy usage have to be studied, from the type of fuel and its associated emissions issues, to the efficiency of engines and waste heat recovery systems,” Chan says.
“Energy studies and the development of future energy solutions are key pillars of sustainability research, which NTU has a strong expertise in. With this new facility, we can continue to keep Singapore at the forefront of maritime research and development, tackling future challenges at all levels.”
Sustainability is one of NTU’s key research strengths. Sustainability research is one of the university’s Five Peaks of Excellence, areas of research focus which NTU wants to make a global mark in under the five-year 2015 strategic blueprint. The other four Peaks include Future Healthcare, New Media, New Silk Road and Innovation Asia.
This new Maritime Energy Test Bed will have a 1.5 megawatt diesel engine which can be modified to run on different fuels, as well as advanced equipment for research in energy storage, noise pollution and waste heat recovery.
The maritime industry is a key component of Singapore’s economy, with a contribution of about seven percent to the Gross Domestic Product annually. With 90 percent of world trade using shipping as a means of transporting goods, authorities and industry alike are moving towards greener fuels and cleaner emissions, in a bid to curb harmful effects on the environment.
Lam Yen Chin, Executive Director of MI@NTU, says that maritime manpower training and development is also an important objective of the new facility as it will be also be a platform to train PhD students and engineers.
“With the creation of new knowledge and green technologies, as well as skilled manpower, Singapore will be able to attract more business to the whole maritime value chain, ranging from local suppliers to shipyards and ports,” Lam says. “In addition to Singapore getting a share of the multi-billion dollar green shipping industry through R&D, this initiative will also help to promote Singapore’s international standing when it comes to environmental sustainability in the maritime industry.”
ARM opened a second design facility where highly skilled electronics engineers based in North India will have the opportunity to join the company and support its Physical IP Division. The new design centre in Noida will focus on specialized areas such as planar and FinFET CMOS technologies IP.
This division will complement the capabilities of ARM's existing team at the Bangalore Design Centre in Mahadevapura, which also focuses on the creation of building blocks for translation of a circuit design into actual silicon.
ARM is a provider of physical IP components for the design and manufacture of integrated circuits, including systems-on-chip (SoCs). The company currently employs over 2,700 staff across its global design centers.
Back in August, ARM announced it is designing a processor core for operation close to the threshold voltage of CMOS transistors and at clock frequencies of the order of tens of kilohertz. The ultra-low power microcontroller core is geared for embedded applications such as the Internet of Things. (See ARM working on low-power processor for IoT.)
The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany will become a separate institution within the SUNY system by the 2014-2015 academic year. The establishment of SUNY CNSE will further cement New York’s position as a global center for nanotechnology innovation, high tech industry and research, and educational opportunities.
A resolution passed by the SUNY Board of Trustees endorses Chancellor Nancy Zimpher taking immediate steps to separate CNSE from UAlbany and begin work on a new degree granting structure to include CNSE. The board action follows the unanimous recommendation of the Chancellor’s advisory group on the future of CNSE that was comprised of members of the Board of Trustees, SUNY Administration, UAlbany, CNSE, and the Governor’s Office.
“UAlbany deserves enormous credit for incubating the growth of CNSE into the groundbreaking research and innovation center it has become,” says Chancellor Nancy Zimpher. “Because of CNSE’s success, importance to SUNY and New York State, and its unique statewide economic development mission, this is a natural progression in its evolution. It is also a tremendous opportunity for UAlbany to build on its experience with CNSE and the start of a new era of reinvestment and focus for the campus.”
In 2011, Governor Cuomo announced that New York State entered into agreements providing for investments valued at a total of $4.4 billion from five international companies to create the next generation of computer chip technology at CNSE through the Global 450 Consortium.
CNSE is one of the leading economic drivers in the state and its curriculum and students are on par or superior to any of the top technology institutions in the nation. Currently, CNSE in Albany is home to $14 billion in private sector investment and it has created more than 3,000 jobs in the Capital Region and across Upstate New York. In addition, CNSE has facilities or partnerships in Syracuse, Canandaigua, and Buffalo.
Chancellor Zimpher’s immediate next steps include the establishment of a mutually beneficial Memorandum of Understanding between UAlbany and CNSE, and empanelling an “Implementation Team” of experts from SUNY Administration, the Research Foundation for SUNY, CNSE, and UAlbany to address outstanding issues such as mission, governance, academics, strategic partnerships, innovation, and shared services. CNSE currently maintains considerable autonomy within UAlbany and already has its own administrative structure. CNSE will continue to compensate UAlbany for student housing, general education courses, access to clubs, activities, dining facilities and other amenities.
In the months ahead, additional partnerships will be aligned under the CNSE umbrella, with the ultimate result being the creation of a statewide campus that expands high-tech educational opportunities for students, increases economic development across Upstate, and allows for efficiencies through shared services and consolidations. Importantly, there will be no additional costs to SUNY or New York State taxpayers.
CNSE is dedicated to education, research, development, and deployment in the disciplines of nanoscience, nanoengineering, nanobioscience, and nanoeconomics. CNSE’s footprint spans upstate New York, including its Albany NanoTech Complex, an 800,000 ft2 megaplex with the only fully-integrated, 300mm wafer, computer chip pilot prototyping and demonstration line within 85,000 ft2 of Class 1 capable cleanrooms. An expansion now underway, part of which will house the world's first Global 450mm Consortium, will add nearly 500,000 ft2 of next-generation infrastructure, an additional 50,000 ft2 of Class 1 capable cleanrooms. CNSE’s Smart System Technology and Commercialization Center of Excellence in Rochester offers capabilities for MEMS fabrication and packaging. CNSE also co-founded and manages operations at the Computer Chip Commercialization Center at SUNYIT in Utica and is a co-founder of the Nanotechnology Innovation and Commercialization Excelerator in Syracuse.
The Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology has been in the works for the past two years. It features new state of the art laboratories designed for the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology, which began construction two and a half years ago in February 2011, will be opening on Oct. 4.
The building, designed to accommodate researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the College of Arts and Sciences, is built around two massive labs specially designed to maximize precision in scientific experiments. “The dogma for the first floor is no dust,” says Engineering Dean Eduardo Glandt. “The dogma downstairs is no vibration.”
On the first floor, he’s referring to the giant cleanroom, a scientific facility with a low concentration of particles in the air to conduct nanoresearch. “We had a very primitive one before, but now ours is state of the art,” Glandt says.
One wall of the 10,000 ft2 cleanroom faces the sunlit entrance. It’s a beautiful view, but ultraviolet rays from the sun pose potential harm to the experiments inside. The architects decided to counteract this by building an amber colored wall to filter out the damaging rays.
This wall of amber in the sea of glass and white columns sets the color scheme for the entire building. Marigold lounge chairs and tables stand out against pristine white staircases and pillars. Booths of the same color fill one wall of the second floor.
“We added lounges and booths to have the space be colonized by students once it opens,” Glandt says.
The second floor contains 10 new labs, which are for “new faculty growth,” according to Glandt. Current College and Engineering scientists in departments ranging from bioengineering to physics, as well as new hires, will share this space.
Continuing further upstairs, one reaches the cantilevered floor, which juts out and above the second floor. Glandt and University Architect David Hollenberg call it a “daring civil engineering gesture.”
The cantilever soars above the rest of the 3200 block on Walnut, offering a view all the way up Walnut street past Huntsman Hall. “If there is beachfront property on campus, this is it,” Glandt says.
The Singh Center is also an environmentally conscious building. On top, a green roof with a terrace looks out over the courtyard below as well as the Walnut street block. “This green roof is a lot rawer than other green roofs,” Hollenberg says, pointing to the six new magnolia trees and the shrubs surrounding them. “It really presents a contrast.”
The plants on the roof will be regularly watered with stormwater collected by specially designed pipes in the courtyard, another green feature. “We’re shooting for a minimum LEED silver [award], but we’re hoping for gold,” says Anne Papageorge, vice president of Facilities and Real Estate Services.
Downstairs below the cleanroom in the Garden Lobby, the building has more features designed to keep vibrations to a minimum. The walls have special metal plates built into them to guard against outside electromagnetic fields, and the front courtyard was built to shield the lower level from the noise of the street. “If there is nuclear war, we will meet there,” Glandt jokes of the lower level.
The measure is necessary since that floor contains experiments which use electron microscopy — a very precise scientific technique that allows researchers to see things directly on the molecular level. “The temperature control is plus or minus 0.1 degrees centigrade … and the metal cabinets had to be replaced with wooden ones,” Glandt says, giving examples of some of the measures taken.
As much as the building itself is a work of architecture, it also has several installations of fine art placed throughout. Most prominently, jutting out from the manicured courtyard lawn is Tony Smith’s famous 1962 “We Lost,” a monolithic black polygon. Many years ago, it could be seen in place of the Love statue on College Green, but it was put away for storage until now.
“It is much better here than it was there,” Glandt says.
Federal resources will provide Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio, with a new manufacturing pilot production lab for microsystems. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced that LCCC will receive a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to build a facility where companies can test their sensor and Micro-Electro-Mechanical System technologies. The project is expected to create nearly 200 jobs and leverage more than $13 million in private investment.
“These federal resources will lay the groundwork for small businesses throughout Lorain to have a better shot at creating new opportunities and jobs,” Brown says. “Small businesses are essential to our economy, and through this award, Lorain County Community College can lead the way in economic development.”
EDA has approved a $1,174,000 grant to LCCC. The money will help the college construct a cleanroom in the Richard Desich SMART Commercialization Center for Microsystems. The space will be used as a manufacturing pilot production lab for microsystems used in aerospace, biomedical, automotive, and energy products. Earlier this year, the community college launched an associate degree and certificate program in mechatronics technology focused on micro-electromechanical systems.
The new Praxair China Technology Centre is a state-of-the-art facility for applications engineers and Research and Development
Praxair China Investment Company, a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc. has announced the opening of its state-of-the-art Global Technology Centre in Shanghai, supporting the company’s development and implementation of innovative applications technologies.
Praxair supplies gases such as nitrogen, hydrogen, arsine, phosphine, silane and ammonia used in III-V and III-nitride MOCVD growth.
The Praxair China Technology Centre is located in the Jinqiao Development Zone of Pudong New Area.
The centre houses laboratories, including pilot and demonstration facilities, to support a growing team of Praxair engineers and scientists who work with customers in China in the steel, combustion, metal fabrication, metals and materials processing, pharmaceuticals, water treatment and electronics segments.
“The new Praxair China Technology Center is a state-of-the-art facility for our applications engineers and R&D organization,” says Minda Ho, president of Praxair China.
“These laboratories enable us to work closely with our business partners and customers to develop innovative products that meet their unique needs. In addition, Chinese regulations for emissions reduction are becoming more stringent and are world-class in several areas. Praxair’s experience will allow us to quickly replicate our applications technologies to contribute to our customers’ needs for cleaner air and water. We look forward to delivering novel gas applications from this centre to our customers across China,” adds Ho.
“The inauguration of the Praxair China Technology Centre builds on our rich tradition of innovation,” comments Amitabh Gupta, executive director of Praxair Asia R&D and Applications. “Praxair technical teams are developing applications to help customers increase productivity, achieve energy savings and improve environmental performance through emissions reductions. The development and application of these innovative products and services enables sustainable development, while truly making our planet more productive.”
“China is our largest and fastest growing market in Asia and this center is developing technology that will not only be used in China but also in Praxair’s businesses around the world,” adds Ray Roberge, Praxair’s senior vice president and chief technology officer.
“In addition, we are collaborating with several respected universities across China on important areas of research, which is a strategic advantage for Praxair. The innovation stemming from these projects and our ability to attract and recruit top talent from these and other educational institutions are key reasons we chose to open our facility here,” he continues.
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