OTHER ELECTRONICS & NANOTECHNOLOGTY
UPDATE
December 2014
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
EV Group
Establishes Nanoimprint Lithography Center
University NanoFAB Facility Expands Capabilities with Oxford Instruments
GE
Invests in Advanced Manufacturing Partnership with Purdue
Materials
Corp to Quadruple Lab Space
New
College Lab Offers Top-level Nanotechnology
EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography
equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, announced that
it has established the NILPhotonics Competence Center, which is designed to
assist customers in leveraging EVG’s suite of nanoimprint lithography (NIL)
solutions to enable new and enhanced products and applications in the field of
photonics. These include light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photovoltaic (PV)
cells, where NIL-enabled photonic structures can improve light extraction and
light capturing, respectively, as well as laser diodes, where photonic
structures enable the tailoring of device characteristics to improve
performance. The NILPhotonics Competence Center includes dedicated, global
process teams, pilot-line production facilities and services at its cleanrooms
at EVG’s headquarters in Austria as well as its subsidiaries in North America
and Japan.
“Nanoimprint lithography is an enabling technology for the
design and manufacture of all kinds of photonic structures, which can
significantly shorten time to market and lower cost of production compared to
conventional technologies, such as electron-beam writing and stepper systems for
optical lithography,” stated Markus Wimplinger, corporate technology development
and IP director at EV Group. “For example, compared with conventional
lithography, our full-wafer nanoimprinting technology can pattern true
three-dimensional structures in the sub-micron to nano-range as well as features
as small as 20nm, which opens up a range of new photonic applications. With our
NILPhotonics Competence Center, we’re not just providing our customers with the
most advanced NIL systems; we’re also working closely with them during product
development to help them determine how best to optimize their product designs
and processes to take advantage of the resolution and cost-of-ownership benefits
that NIL brings.”
The new NILPhotonics Competence Center builds on more than 15
years of NIL experience at EVG with the largest installed base of NIL systems
worldwide. EVG’s NIL equipment portfolio includes the recently introduced
EVG7200 UV-NIL system, which supports EVG’s next-generation SmartNIL large-area
soft NIL process for high-volume manufacturing. The EVG7200 with SmartNIL
provides unmatched throughput and cost-of-ownership advantages over competing
NIL approaches.
A Canadian open access fabrication and characterization
facility, the University of Alberta nanoFAB, has recently purchased three Oxford
Instruments plasma etch systems. The systems provide upgraded capabilities to
the current installed base and ensure that the nanoFAB has state of the art
systems, facilitating the growing demand for its top class purpose built
cleanroom facility.
The PlasmaPro 100 Estrelas, PlasmaPro 100 Cobra and PlasmaPro
80 PE/RIE dual mode systems will soon be installed in the nanoFAB, offering
users a wide range of process options.
The most recent addition to the PlasmaPro family of tools, the
PlasmaPro Estrelas100 deep silicon etch technology delivers industry leading
process performance, and, developed with the R&D market in mind, the system
offers the ultimate in process flexibility. Nano and micro structures can be
realized as the hardware has been designed with the ability to run Bosch and
cryo etch technologies in the same chamber. PlasmaPro 100 Cobra and PlasmaPro 80
PE/RIE systems have equally high specifications, are versatile and eminently
suitable for R&D and production needs.
Dr. Eric Flaim, Director of the nanoFAB said, “Over 15 years
of operation, the nanoFAB has proven to be a great learning, R&D and small
volume production environment. We
strive to enable the highest possible outcomes for our research and industrial
users. Our decision to purchase Oxford Instruments plasma systems was based on
their flexibility, quality and ease of use, in addition to their extensive
process offering and ability to scale from research to production.”
In addition, Keith Franklin, Operations Manager at the nanoFAB
said, “The customer support we receive is excellent; from maintenance to user
training Oxford Instruments has demonstrated excellent and reliable service from
its global support network. As an open access facility we aim to offer our users
the broadest range of processing opportunities possible, and these Oxford
Instruments systems will be a huge asset.”
Purdue University announced that GE Global Research will
invest up to $10 million in a five-year partnership focused on research and
development in advanced manufacturing.
The GE/Purdue Partnership in Research and Innovation in
Advanced Manufacturing (GE/Purdue PRIAM) will push a new era in manufacturing,
promoting technologies that enable the digitization, decentralization and
democratization of manufacturing to lower cost, improve speed and drive
innovation.
All three trends are being driven by the increasing
convergence of software and hardware that is turning today’s factories into
brilliant factories that are more capable, connected and productive than ever.
Along with new technology development, GE/Purdue PRIAM will
provide educational and engagement opportunities for Purdue students and GE
employees to help ensure future manufacturing workforce needs are addressed.
“This collaboration opens the way for Purdue and GE to move
manufacturing far into the future,” said Purdue President Mitch Daniels. “As we
do that, we’ll be giving our students the chance to be a part of this
transformation, preparing them for careers on that new frontier.
“Purdue’s expertise in advanced manufacturing research and
development and our long-standing relationship with GE make this partnership a
natural. It is difficult to overestimate the potential benefits to Purdue and
GE.”
Mark Little, GE senior vice president and chief technology
officer, said, “In today’s global economy, manufacturing competitiveness starts
with having the best technology and people to innovate, design and produce
world-class products at the right cost and scale for our customers. We will be
investing in both through our advanced manufacturing partnership with Purdue.
Together, we will work to deliver the right technologies, while preparing the
future manufacturing workforce to run ever faster, more productive brilliant
factories.”
GE Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Mark
Little announced GE/Purdue Partnership in Research and Innovation in Advanced
Manufacturing (GE/Purdue PRIAM), a five-year partnership focused on research and
development in advanced manufacturing. GE will invest up to $10 million in
PRIAM. Little added, “Investing more in advanced manufacturing technologies will
translate into bigger savings in time and money on the production side. For
manufacturing operations the size of GE’s, just a 1 percent improvement in
manufacturing productivity would save $500 million.”
GE and Purdue have been working together for more than 120
years. GE is the largest employer of Purdue students, with many of the company’s
hires coming from the university’s engineering programs. A large number of hires
also are made from the College of Technology and Krannert School of Management.
Both GE and Purdue bring a multidisciplinary approach to
research and development. GE’s global team of technologists represents virtually
every scientific and engineering discipline, which will pair well with the
equally diverse skillsets found at Purdue.
Suresh Garimella, Purdue’s executive vice president for
research and partnerships, said the partnership will be a truly
multidisciplinary effort for Purdue.
“We will have faculty, staff and students from across our
campus working on this initiative,” he said. “Especially for our students, the
learning opportunities will be exceptional and the deeper connections to GE
transformational.”
Providing more detail on the partnership’s focus on
digitalization, decentralization and democratization in manufacturing, Abhijit
Deshmukh, the James J. Solberg Head of Industrial Engineering and the faculty
leader for GE/Purdue PRIAM, said, “Our collaboration aims to combine the latest
advances in materials and manufacturing processes; multi-scale modeling of
products, services and systems; and on-demand, customer-driven product and
supply-chain design.”
In the area of advanced manufacturing, GE and Purdue already
are partners in the U.S. government’s Digital Manufacturing Design Innovation
Institute (DMDI). The DMDI is one of five manufacturing innovation institutes
announced by the Obama Administration to bolster America’s leadership and
competitiveness in manufacturing.
The focus of DMDI is on the development of new technologies to
build a digital thread that connects all parts of the manufacturing supply chain
from product design to operations on the factory floor. Such a thread will
enable faster, more real-time decision making in the manufacturing process and
allow for feedback loops that allow for continuous improvements to be made in
manufacturing processes or even product designs.
In addition to DMDI, Purdue is involved in providing skills
and training support for the new jet engine assembly facility GE Aviation is
building in neighboring Lafayette, Indiana. At the plant, GE Aviation will
produce its new LEAP engine.
The intensified focus in advanced manufacturing through this
new partnership will greatly enhance these ongoing efforts. Construction on the
jet engine assembly facility, being built near Veterans Memorial Parkway and
U.S. 52 southeast of Lafayette, began in July. Production is expected to begin
in 2016
Quantum Materials Corp is expanding its labs and offices
within STAR (Science Technology and Research) Park, in the Silicon Hills of the
Austin Metroplex. The 58-acre STAR Park is a collaborative effort of Texas State
and research partners serving as a catalyst for continued public/private
development of new or improved technologies.
Quantum Materials Corp announced it has signed an agreement
with STAR Park that will quadruple the company's Quantum Dot production space
when the new state-of-the-art lab and offices are completed on or before June
2015. The company is also recruiting to double its scientific staff effective
January 2015.
"It is extremely gratifying that our work is meeting with
industry acceptance from some of the most technologically advanced companies in
the world," said Quantum Materials Founder and CEO Stephen Squires. "Our
expansion demonstrates our commitment to meet the demands of next-generation
television and display, solid-state lighting and solar energy manufacturers. We
will be bringing to San Marcos top scientists and chemists to develop non-heavy
metal tetrapod quantum dots and thick-shell technology to optimize them for each
client's purpose and to their true commercial potential."
In a recent Reuters News article Samsung and LG Display
discussed the use of quantum dots to create the next-generation Ultra High
Definition televisions rather than Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED). In the
article an industry analyst estimates that a 55-inch quantum dot TV would only
cost consumers about 35 percent more than a current LCD TV, while an OLED TV
could be 5 times more expensive. Quantum Materials' patented and automated
process for quantum dot manufacture can further reduce manufacturer's costs
through economies of scale.
At this time, there are a few heavy metal (Cadmium-based)
quantum dot televisions on the market. Quantum Materials is aware of ecological
concerns about Cadmium and is currently developing non-heavy metal (NHM) quantum
dots under company-owned patents for the Ultra High Definition display market.
Industry research has shown NHM quantum dots to be environmentally friendly but
have yet to demonstrate NHM quantum dots of a quality, quantity, reliability and
price necessary to justify industrial production. The company believes these
problems will be overcome with our current intellectual property, automated
processes and top scientific personnel.
Doctoral candidate Eugene Freeman, demonstrated the processes
of atomic layer deposition for his EE 441 class in the Millennium Science
Complex’s Nanofabrication Laboratory. The lab’s sophisticated technology allows
students to work with the most contemporary equipment and materials. Cate
Hansberry Engineering educators have long believed that the laboratory is an
important component of instruction.
The hands-on learning can improve students' critical thinking
skills and their understanding of course material. Students in this semester's
Electrical Engineering 441 course at Penn State are getting the best of both
worlds; for the first time, their classroom instruction is held in the newly
constructed Nanofabrication Laboratory located in the Millennium Science
Complex.
Professor of electrical engineering Theresa Mayer says
undergraduate students take the class to learn the nanofabrication processes
that support silicon integrated circuit technology.
The same steps can be used to fabricate optical devices such
as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers, energy harvesting structures such as
solar cells, microelectromechical systems (MEMS) such as accelerometers and
ultrasound transducers, and even lab-on-a-chip devices for chemical and
biomedical analysis.
The class was formerly conducted in a teaching lab that
offered only a limited tool set.
"This semester we transitioned the lab into the
state-of-the-art nanofabrication research cleanroom," Mayer says. "We are now
able to integrate more advanced processes that are commonly used in industry
today."
Electrical engineering professor Srinivas Tadigadapa says he
taught the EE 441 class for the last several years, when it was still conducted
in the older laboratory facilities.
While the previous lab still offered a great learning
experience, its 30-year-old equipment cannot compare with the sophisticated
nanofabrication lab.
"Students need to see what is contemporary," Tadigadapa says.
"Here they have exposure to the newest technology, using the latest materials."
Eugene Freeman, a doctoral candidate and EE 441 teaching
assistant, says the class observes the steps involved in creating modern silicon
transistor devices and circuits through a series of experiments.
The class emphasizes the importance of how all of these steps
come together to make working devices by taking them through the entire process,
from beginning to end. Without having access to the tools available in the
nanofabrication cleanroom, this would not be possible.
One such process, atomic layer deposition (ALD), is one of the
most important steps in a modern silicon transistor fabrication process,
according to Freeman. It is required to make high-performance integrated
circuits used in today's smartphones and laptops.
"By incorporating modern techniques in our process we ensure
Penn State students have the knowledge to be competitive in the semiconductor
industry," Freeman says.
Mayer says that advanced processes like ALD were not available
in the teaching lab.
"By bringing undergrads into the state-of-the-art research
lab, we can give them much better educational and training experience using
state-of-the-art tools," she says.
Because the technology available in the lab is applicable to
so many fields, many disciplines are represented in the EE 441 class.
This semester, aerospace, computer science, materials science,
and electrical engineering students are taking the course. Mayer said there are
often students from physics, chemistry and mechanical engineering as well.
"I think there's a lot of excitement," Mayer says. "The course
is already oversubscribed for next semester."
McIlvaine Company
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
Tel:
847-784-0012; Fax:
847-784-0061
E-mail:
editor@mcilvainecompany.com
Web site:
www.mcilvainecompany.com