Binghamton's Integrated Electronics Engineering Center will bring to the alliance its world-class expertise in mechanics, thermal management and reliability, said Bahgat Sammakia, interim vice president for research and director of the IEEC, a New York state Center for Advanced Technology.
"The areas of research at Binghamton, at RPI's Center for Automation Technologies complement one another very well," Sammakia said. "We are excited to join this initiative with the Infotonics Center, and we expect great things to come from it."
Some of those things will be in the form of improved products and technologies in fields ranging from health care and homeland security to agriculture, consumer products and manufacturing processes, Sammakia said. Others will likely include significant increases in research funding as well as new opportunities to explore and refine collaborative working relationships across the region.
New machines that will be thinner than the human hair, diagnostics that will function at the molecular level, electronics packaging materials that will be lighter, stronger, and more versatile than anything now known-these are just a few of the expected fruits of such small-scale systems research and engineering, Sammakia said.
"Our part will be the fundamental science that supports the development of world-class products that can survive in the harshest of environments and conditions," he said. Electronics packaging is all-important to microsystems. Take the microprocessor out of your computer, lay it on your desk and you have little more than an interesting doodad. That's because in the same way that the potentials of the human brain are realized only as a result of the protection and environmental interfaces provided by the human body, micro-devices are wholly dependent on their packaging for the mechanical supports and interconnections needed to realize their potential.
That's why the new alliance is so exciting said Duncan Moore, chief executive officer of the Infotonics Center.
"While microsystem devices have been researched and prototyped," Moore said, "very little packaging research has been developed to serve this high-growth market. We are about to change that. We expect this initiative will keep high-tech jobs in this field in the United States, rather than losing them to other countries."
According to Moore, the alliance is expected to have national impact because the unique packaging capabilities of the alliance are primed to provide the kind of breakthrough research needed by this rapidly emerging field.
The Infotonics Technology Center Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation that operates New York State's Center of Excellence in Photonics and Microsystems. Infotonics is structured as a consortium with industrial participants including Corning, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, and Xerox Corporation. Academic participants include about 20 New York State colleges and universities. The goal of the center is to establish a unique, world-class research and development facility to enable rapid commercialization of new products. With financial support from New York State, the federal government, and three founding corporate members-Corning, Kodak, and Xerox- the initiative is expected to drive economic development and to create 5,000 jobs within ten years.
A $20 million renovation project is currently under way at the Infotonics Center's Canandaigua site. A major part of the renovation is the upgrading of 40,000 square feet of cleanroom space. A cleanroom is a laboratory-like setting featuring ultra-high filtration of particles and control of interior climate and static to meet the requirements for handling highly sensitive silicon wafers.
In addition to projects for the founding corporate members, the Center's interim packaging lab currently is providing services for Integrated Nano-Technologies, a Rochester-based company that specializes in chemically synthesizing complex electronic circuits and devices.
Representatives from RPI and Binghamton met recently with Infotonics management and scientists from Corning, Kodak and Xerox to review research opportunities and to discuss potential business and government customers.
Several BU faculty were already involved in individual research projects sponsored by the Infotonics Center, Sammakia said. The alliance will enhance those relationships and provide significant new opportunities for collaborative research, he said.