June 22, 2001
Mechanicville Company Will Produce New
Polymer
Troy, N.Y. — Governor George E. Pataki announced June 19 that
Rensselaer received $300,000 in funding to evaluate a new
microelectronics insulating material that has the potential to
double the processing speed of microchips. The Polyset Company
in Mechanicville, along with other resources, will provide an
additional $300,000 in funding for a total of $600,000 for the
two-year project.
The money is part of $1 million in awards to four institutions
through the New York State Office of Science, Technology, and
Academic Research (NYSTAR)’s Technology Transfer Incentive
Program.
“Over the past six years, we’ve invested heavily in high-tech
research and economic development, and now we’re looking to
kick things into high gear with our new $1 billion Centers of
Excellence initiative,” said Governor Pataki. “This
unprecedented plan will help turn cutting-edge innovations into
new employment opportunities allowing us to compete and win in
the worldwide battle to attract and retain the new
technology-based jobs of the 21st century.”
James Crivello, professor of chemistry at Rensselaer,
developed and patented a process for making pure
multifunctional epoxy siloxane resins, which are considered to
be the next-generation insulating material for a range of
micro-and optoelectronics applications. Rensselaer will
evaluate these novel resins for use as interlayer dielectrics
in all integrated circuit applications, such as insulators in
microelectronics packaging, and as waveguides in
optoelectronics on a chip, in a package, or in optical
communication.
Rensselaer has issued a license to the Polyset Company to
manufacture and market the resins, and will evaluate and
optimize the materials for commercialization. Polyset currently
markets the materials for use in electronic packaging, but the
company could enjoy explosive growth in sales by proving the
product’s suitability for wafer-level and photonics
applications. This research is expected to create new markets
for a material that is manufactured in New York state and add
at least 100 new high-tech jobs in the next four to five
years.
“As it moves from aluminum to copper interconnects, the
microelectronics industry needs new low-dielectric-constant
(low-k) insulators to support its drive to produce smaller,
faster devices,” says Toh-Ming Lu, the Ray Palmer Baker
Distinguished Professor of Physics at Rensselaer and director
of Rensselaer’s Center for Advanced Interconnect Science and
Technology (CAIST). Lu is principal investigator and manager of
the project. “Silicon dioxide, the material now used on most
chips, has a dielectric constant of about 4. Some companies
have already begun to manufacture chips using dielectric
constant of 2.8. A strong market exists for a material with a
value of around 2.2. But given the high cost and high risks
involved in semiconductor manufacturing, industry will not be
willing to use any new low-k material until it has been
demonstrated to be reliable and practical for
manufacturing.”
Co-PIs on the project are Shyam Murarka, The Elaine S. and
Jack S. Parker Chair in Engineering, who pioneered the use of
copper interconnects, and physics professor Peter Persans.
Murarka was responsible for the Focus Center-New York program
at Rensselaer, a partner in the national Focus Research Center
(FRC) on interconnects.
Rensselaer, a pioneer in developing and testing new
electronics materials, has a strong track record in industry
cooperation and technology transfer. Rensselaer’s Office of
Technology and Commercialization has received 66 patents and
has 50 more pending. The partnership with Polyset offers the
opportunity to transfer the technology represented by one of
these patents to the multibillion dollar electronics
industry.
Governor Pataki also announced the award of $500,000 to
establish an Advanced Biotechnology Incubator at SUNY Downstate
Heath Science Center in Brooklyn. Cornell University received
$102,500 to work with Marmotech Inc. of Ithaca, and $90,000 was
awarded to SUNY Albany’s Center for Advanced Technology in Thin
Films to work with MTI-Instruments Inc.
Contact: Megan Galbraith
Phone: (518) 276-6531
E-mail: N/A