On Thursday, September 11, the University at Albany cut the ribbon to introduce the Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology's new $4.5 million semiconductor pilot manufacturing facility, which is located in the basement of the Physics Building.

The facility, the only one of its kind at a university, is sponsored by Varian Associates, Inc., a Silicon Valley firm that is one of the largest equipment suppliers in the semiconductor industry, with annual sales of approximately $1.5 billion. In addition to enhancing the Center's research and development capabilities, local and New York State high-technology business will be able to take advantage of this state-of-the-art facility for new product development and market testing.

The success of the $30 million Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology (CAT) has opened up exciting opportunities to attract major semiconductor industry research and manufacturing facilities to the University at Albany and the Capital region, according to Alain Kaloyeros, director of the CAT. He said the pilot manufacturing facility is key to the Center's strategy for creating new high-tech jobs in the Capital region and New York State by attracting and stimulating entrepreneurial activity.

For more information about the Center, please call Richard Saburro at the Center at 518-442-2667.