Chip Consortium Plans $600M UAlbany Expansion

ALBANY, N.Y., May 10, 2007 -- International Sematech, the research and development arm of Sematech, a consortium of international nanoelectronics manufacturers, will expand its operations at the University of Albany NanoCollege under a $600 million agreement announced yesterday.

Sematech (short for Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology), is a consortium of 15 major microchip manufacturers, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel, Freescale, Samsung, IBM, Hewlett Packard (HP) and Infineon. Its corporate offices are located in Austin, Texas; operations there include Sematech's advanced materials programs and ISMI, AMRC and ATDF subsidiaries. (See also: AMD Plans New Plants)

In 2002, International Sematech established its first center in Albany for the development and commercialization of nanolithography technology, the photographic process of imprinting patterns on transistors and then onto silicon wafers to build computer chips. The $400 million, 300-mm R&D center, called International Sematech North, is located at UAlbany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) in the Albany NanoTech complex. More than 1600 scientists, engineers and others work at the complex, a $3.5 billion, 450,000-sq-ft facility currently undergoing a 750,000-sq-ft expansion.

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Under the seven-year agreement announced Thursday, which has yet to be finalized, International Sematech will expand its existing R&D program at UAlbany and establish its headquarters there. The company will increase its workforce by 450 over three years and provide $25 million to fund research at colleges and universities at five centers around the state. State lawmakers said they plan to provide International Sematech with $300 million over five years to help it buy advanced semiconductor process equipment. The company said it will also make a financial commitment of $300 million.

"This represents the second phase of a historic industry-university-government alliance for Sematech. Our Albany-based programs will cover the development and commercialization of leading-edge lithography, 3-D interconnect, metrology, and other advanced technologies. These programs will be supported by 700 researchers, scientists, engineers, and technicians on site at our International Sematech program headquarters in Albany," the company said in a statement Thursday.

"This decision by Sematech is an affirmation of the UAlbany NanoCollege's status as the most advanced research complex of its kind at any university in the world," New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said in a statement.

For more information, visit: www.cnse.albany.edu

Published: May 2007

Glossary

lithography: Lithography is a key process used in microfabrication and semiconductor manufacturing to create intricate patterns on the surface of substrates, typically silicon wafers. It involves the transfer of a desired pattern onto a photosensitive material called a resist, which is coated onto the substrate. The resist is then selectively exposed to light or other radiation using a mask or reticle that contains the pattern of interest. The lithography process can be broadly categorized into several...
metrology: Metrology is the science and practice of measurement. It encompasses the theoretical and practical aspects of measurement, including the development of measurement standards, techniques, and instruments, as well as the application of measurement principles in various fields. The primary objectives of metrology are to ensure accuracy, reliability, and consistency in measurements and to establish traceability to recognized standards. Metrology plays a crucial role in science, industry,...
nano: An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
photonics: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...
transistor: An electronic device consisting of a semiconductor material, generally germanium or silicon, and used for rectification, amplification and switching. Its mode of operation utilizes transmission across the junction of the donor electrons and holes.

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