UAlbany gets $150M boost Albany -- IBM, state help fund university's efforts in nanoelectronics research [KITCHEN & BATH WORLD ] An old partnership emerged anew Monday when IBM Corp. announced a $100 million investment to support the University at Albany's 300mm computer wafer pilot research facility -- the only such center in the world. With the investment, Big Blue will get access to a world-class research and development center. UAlbany, meanwhile, will deepen its partnership with New York's "premier high-tech company,'' said Alain Kaloyeros, executive director of the UAlbany Institute for Materials. A slew of political and business leaders -- including Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan -- converged on UAlbany's Center for Environmental Science and Technology Management on Monday to hear Gov. George Pataki announce the creation of the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at UAlbany. Pataki first proposed the center, along with others in Rochester, Buffalo and New York City, in his annual State of the State address in January. New York state will contribute $50 million to the 300mm wafer facility. With that money and the IBM investment, the university now has the financing in place to begin construction of the previously announced $300 million facility. A groundbreaking for the 278,000-square-foot complex is expected in May. Above all, International Business Machines and UAlbany are continuing a six-year partnership, during which the electronics giant has supported the Institute for Materials with financial and equipment investments. The institute is the umbrella entity that oversees all micro- and nanoelectronics research and development at CESTM. "The governor's creation of the Center of Excellence will guarantee a tenfold expansion in the research, development, prototyping and work force training programs between IBM and UAlbany,'' Kaloyeros said. John Kelly III, senior vice president and group executive in the IBM Technology Group, said at the news conference that the announcement of the center affirms the state's message of commitment to [Image] technology. "That message is being clearly [Image] [Image] heard by private companies such as IBM,'' he said. UAlbany will license equipment from IBM for the new facility, under a three-year agreement between the university and IBM. In return, IBM will have access to the 300mm wafer facility for its R&D projects. IBM last year announced a $2 billion plan to construct a chip fabrication plant in East Fishkill that will produce 300mm wafers. The company also will have internship slots for 20 UAlbany students to study at various IBM facilities, and IBM will support UAlbany's research activities through grants and equipment donations in its University Partnership and Shared University Research programs. Nanoelectronics, the science of creating smaller and faster computer chips and the systems that go on those chips, is considered a building block of nanotechnology -- the ability to work at the molecular level. It is an industry projected to reach $433 billion by 2004. The research conducted at UAlbany's Center of Excellence will have an impact on all industries, especially biotechnology, electronics and energy, Pataki said to a 300-plus audience. "The technology that could be developed is absolutely incredible,'' he said. Despite a slump in chip sales, the Semiconductor Industry Association, a trade group based in San Jose, Calif., is pushing for more R&D dollars in nanosciences. The SIA works closely with the UAlbany Institute of Materials on research for computer chips and will be involved in the work-force training program at the new facility. The Center of Excellence is part of UAlbany's 300mm wafer R&D facility. Laboratory and clean-room space will be created that will allow for research on the new, larger 300mm wafers, as well as providing incubator space for spin-off companies. The 300mm wafers, which hold computer chips, are expected to replace the current industry-standard 200mm wafers. A state-of-the-art work-force development program also will be established, and UAlbany's proposed School of Nanosciences and Materials, which will offer master's degrees and doctorates in nanosciences programs, would be housed in the facility, too. [Email] Send this story to a friend [Image] [Return to Top] Return to Top [Image] Copyright 2001, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y. The information you receive online from Times Union is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, retransmitting, or repurposing of any copyright-protected material.