Tech Valley a Hub for Nanotech
Published Apr 15, 2004
Scientists at work at Albany Molecular Research
Tech Valley is truly a fitting name for this Hudson River basin region, where 18 counties boast more than 1,000 technology companies. Included are world-class industries and universities, which anchor the research and development efforts that boost the region’s reputation. But that giant reputation lies in sharp contrast to the nature of most Tech Valley research, which is tiny. Very tiny. Nanoscale.
“When state officials looked to turn New York’s economy into one that is high-tech driven, two or three key science areas were identified as potential industry clusters. One of those primary areas was nanotechnology, which feeds industries such as the computer chip, biotechnology, telecommunications, homeland defense and environmental sciences. It’s the platform that provides all the innovations,” explains Alain Kaloyeros, founding dean of the University at Albany School of Nanosciences and Nanoengineering, and executive director of Albany NanoTech, also on campus.
In fact, leading the nanotechnology charge is the University at Albany, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. UAlbany’s School of Nanosciences and Nanoengineering ensures a highly qualified workforce, while Albany NanoTech is the umbrella organization that develops, applies and commercializes nanotechnology advances. The result is a marriage of the best in intellect and infrastructure.
That powerful combination has been an effective lure for the semiconductor industry.
“Semiconductors are the chips that are the heart and soul of modern-day computing and also the heart and soul of a lot of automated systems. Chips are pervasive in our society now,” explains Dan McGowan, media relations manager for International SEMATECH, based in Austin, Texas.
The 2003 agreement by SEMATECH – or Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology – to locate a research and development program in Tech Valley was an economic development coup for the state.
“Basically, the state of New York made us an offer that was too good to refuse,” McGowan says.
SEMATECH is a consortium of 10 major semiconductor manufacturers that join forces for research. The goal, says McGowan, is to make those chips smaller and faster, while sharing the research load and its hefty price tag.
The new International SEMATECH North is already in operation, with additional programs expected by mid-2004. SEMATECH’s home is at the UAlbany Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics – a collaboration between the state of New York and computer industry leader IBM, a member of the SEMATECH consortium.
IBM’s vast Tech Valley presence includes manufacturing and development facilities in East Fishkill.
“IBM East Fishkill is a mini-city, where 6,000 IBM employees and 2,000 vendors, contractors and tenants work,” notes Steve Cole, IBM regional manager of external affairs and media relations. “The headquarters of our Microelectronics Division is in East Fishkill, which is also the location of our new 300-millimeter chip fab [fabrication plant].”
This $2.5 billion facility, which opened in July 2002, is designed to support the creation of chips with circuits smaller than 100 nanometers – and a nanometer is a billionth of a meter. A single 300mm wafer can hold around 50 billion transistors.
Kaloyeros describes both IBM and SEMATECH as “anchor tenants” in Albany NanoTech’s strategy to attract companies to Tech Valley. Another anchor is Tokyo Electron, one of the world’s largest suppliers of tools used to manufacture computer chips. Tokyo Electron finalized its contract with Albany NanoTech in July 2003.
Despite the nanotechnology surge, world-class research is nothing new in Tech Valley.
“We’ve been here since the beginning of Tech Valley,” says Jim Healy, communications manager for GE Global Research. “The research center here was started in 1900. In fact, this was one of the first industrial research and development centers in the United States.”
About 1,800 employees work at the General Electric Global Research Center just outside Schenectady. It’s one of four GE research facilities in the world and the headquarters of the corporation’s centralized R&D organization. GE researchers in Tech Valley tackle projects as diverse as all-digital medical imaging, weatherable polymers, gas turbine lighting and advanced airfoils.
Clearly, such complex research requires an innovative and well-educated workforce. Here again, Tech Valley delivers with top colleges and universities churning out some of the nation’s best and brightest. In addition to UAlbany, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is widely known for its Center for Automation Technologies, Lally School of Management and Technology, School of Science, and its School of Engineering.
Other major players include Trudeau Institute, an independent, not-for-profit biomedical research institute in Saranac Lake; SUNY Cobleskill, with its College of Agriculture and Technology; and Union College, with its Center for Converging Technologies.
“We believe our research center is one of the very few of its type in the world, and it’s a world-class facility,” Healy says.
Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
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