The scene was familiar. The dramatic, three-story atrium of the University’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management (CESTM) was abuzz with excitement. New York Gov. George Pataki, University President Karen R. Hitchcock, governmental, State University of New York and industry leaders, and faculty and staff had once again gathered for what was billed as a major announcement.

But at this sunlit gathering on April 23, it was no exaggeration to say that University at Albany history was made. Gov. Pataki, joined by Dr. John Kelly III, senior vice president and group executive for IBM’s Technology Group, announced an unprecedented $150 million in public and private support to create a Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at the University. The center’s mandate is to advance research and education in the emerging field of nanotechnology.

IBM pledged $100 million in support, the single largest donation in its history. It was also the largest corporate donation in the University’s history, and according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, it was only the 36th nine-figure gift in the history of higher education. Gov. Pataki, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver pledged up to an additional $50 million in state support.

The support enables the University to build — only steps away from where the announcement was made — the first university-based 300-millimeter computer wafer prototyping and workforce training facility in the world, a facility that will serve as the distinctive physical core of the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics. The new facility will include a business incubator and will serve as the home of the University’s new School of Nanosciences and Materials, the first such school in the country.

IBM’s donation, to be made over three years, will consist of $25 million in cash and state-of-the-art equipment valued at $75 million to create the pilot-development line for producing and testing computer chips made on the 300-millimeter platform.

UAlbany’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management, far right, with architectural image, left, of planned new wing, which will house the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics.

At CESTM, thanks to state and industry support, the University already boasts one-of-a-kind facilities and expertise in microelectronics and advanced materials that serve as a magnet for companies from around the world. The new facilities at the Center of Excellence will position the University to provide even greater support to the semi-conductor industry as it moves to producing the next generation of computer chips, with their ever tinier transistors, on the 300-millimeter, or 12-inch, wafer platform.

The University’s Center of Excellence is one of several being developed across New York State by Gov. Pataki. The No. 1 goal of the Center of Excellence program is to strengthen high-tech industry in New York State and create high-quality jobs through investment in research.

“The work performed at the University at Albany in partnership with IBM and other academic and industry leaders will lead to the development of cutting-edge technologies and innovative new products, while also fostering new job creation,” said Pataki.

“This investment is strong testimony to the great value IBM places on its collaborative relationship with the state of New York and the University at Albany,” said Kelly. “We believe this Center of Excellence will build tremendous capability for this region.”

IBM is currently building a $2.5 billion facility in East Fishkill to manufacture 300-millimeter wafers, and the University’s prototyping facility will offer IBM, as well as other businesses, superbly equipped laboratories to test and develop the processes used to make the larger wafers.

Only four years earlier, Pataki, Bruno and Silver stood in the same room and helped dedicate CESTM, a facility that had been designed and built with the express goal of helping to move the best ideas of researchers into the marketplace. And, said President Hitchcock, their “vision, leadership and unflagging support” since then and the many generous contributions from IBM have helped the University build its capabilities and leadership in nanoelectronics.

Even before CESTM opened, New York State and industry partners had begun nurturing the seeds that have grown into the Center of Excellence.

In the early 1990s, research being done by a new physics professor, Alain Kaloyeros, began attracting the attention of companies involved in producing computer chips. At the time, he was exploring the use of copper as a material for interconnections within and between computer chips.

Industry support grew for the research being done by Kaloyeros and his colleagues, and in 1993, the University was designated by New York State as a Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology (CAT). The designation carried with it state funding of $1 million for ten years, with a required industrial match of $1 million minimum, for a yearly budget of at least $2 million. A key goal of the CAT was to develop technologies to help strengthen New York and other U.S. industries, particularly in the fields of microelectronics and optoelectronics.

John J. Sullivan, left, former executive vice president for technology at MKS Instruments, with President Hitchcock and James Castracane, director of technology at UAlbany’s Institute for Materials.

Led by Kaloyeros, the CAT grew rapidly. With its government and industry funding, the CAT assembled state-of-the-art research facilities, recruited scientists with expertise in critical research areas, and supported increasing numbers of graduate students.

Today, the CAT is one of six interdisciplinary research centers in the fields of nanotechnology, nanoelectronics, and advanced materials that comprise the University Institute for Materials. With facilities valued at more than $100 million, the Institute has more than 100 U.S. and worldwide corporate partners who either use the facilities or work with Institute scientists to test approaches in advanced materials processing. To date, New York State has provided a total of $27 million for facilities and $35 million for operations support.

“All the past investments helped us create outstanding research programs and offer students one-of-a-kind opportunities,” said President Hitchcock. “These new unprecedented investments make possible a spectacular future. We are deeply grateful to IBM and to our State’s leaders for investing in our research, and to all who have demonstrated support throughout the years.”

“To our knowledge, our Center of Excellence will be the first program in the U.S. that comprehensively addresses the gap between pure science and commercialization. Our program includes research, prototyping and the essential element of workforce training at all levels, from the doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degree levels to the associate degree level through our work with community colleges,” said Kaloyeros.

“There is a vision, if you will, of the leadership of our University that is shared by IBM and the state, and that is to create a nexus in the Northeast that will become the hub for the next Silicon Valley. Our goal is to help make that vision a reality,” he added.

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