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 Binghamton University on Monday announced that it
has won an award in a national competition from the U.S. Display
Consortium (USDC), which will allow it to establish and operate the
Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing (CAMM). The USDC
is providing more than $10 million in equipment and funding to
establish the center, which will be a collaborative effort between
Binghamton, the USDC and other academic, government and industry
partners. The center will help speed microelectronics manufacturing
research and development in a roll-to-roll (R2R) format.
The R2R format will use
a continuous web process to produce components more efficiently, at
higher yields and at a lower cost than is common practice today.
The USDC “crafted a unique request for a proposal that led to a
very spirited competition” for the contract said Michael Ciesinski,
USDC president and CEO. “Binghamton University developed a very
compelling story that draws on the resources of the University,”
he said. “There was creativity in the University’s proposal.”
“The overarching purpose of this CAMM is to create new
manufacturing methods on new platforms for commercial, consumer and
military markets,” Ciesinski said. Binghamton’s proposal matched
the USDC’s vision “that prototype manufacturing lines from
research and development projects will literally be running around
the walls” of the center, which will be housed at Endicott
Interconnect Technologies in Endicott, N.Y.
“The establishment of this new center marks a milestone for
Binghamton,” said President Lois B. DeFleur. “This project
greatly enhances our partnerships and really sets the stage for
future educational as well as industrial impact. The bottom line is
cooperative, strong partnerships made this happen, and with more
such activities we’ll see even greater things for the University
and the Greater Binghamton area.”
Congressman Maurice Hinchey said the establishment of the center is
a compilation of efforts by many and is built upon the “capacity
to take new ideas and develop them into solid components of the
future.
“The results will be profound and will make this part of New York
State once again a leader in technology,” he said.
Most advanced electronics components are produced on silicon or
quartz wafers, or on plates of specialized glass in a “batch”
process that has been the backbone of the integrated circuit and
flat panel display industries. The expected R2R result will be
“low-cost, high-function, user friendly, flexible substrates,”
said Jay McNamara, president and CEO of EI.
The CAMM will evaluate equipment and materials developed under the
auspices of USDC, industry or its own research and development
program, that can be further developed for manufacturing purposes.
It will also provide large-scale testing, allowing academic research
groups to test their work for manufacturing applicability without
the high costs and risks typically associated with such activities.
Binghamton University will recruit, integrate and manage academic,
govern-ment and industry participation while creating, launching and
maintaining the technical R&D program at the center. Cornell
University and Endicott Interconnect Technologies will assist and
private companies will participate through paid membership fees and
funded research programs. The CAMM will also work in tandem with the
U.S. Army-funded Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State
University (Tempe, Ariz.) on display-related R&D. Bahgat
Sammakia, professor of mechanical engineering and director of
Binghamton University’s Integrated Electronics Engineering Center
and its Small Scale Systems Packaging Center, will serve as the
CAMM’s director. “The center’s infrastructure presents great
opportunities,” Sammakia said. “We will execute, execute on time
and do things right and the results will be absolutely
spectacular.”
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