The Business Review: SEMICON West gives Albany, New York
researchers
chance to show off new technology
Published:
Friday, July 11, 2014 - 20:34
The Business Review
This week semiconductor industry leaders and researchers from around the world gathered in San Francisco, California for industry tradeshow SEMICON West 2014--and it was booths from Albany, New York that were the focus of much attention.
"For us to be visible in a place that [has] that visibility, together with the Empire State Development Corp. is very, very significant," said Mike Liehr, executive vice president of innovation and technology and vice president for research at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany.
The State University of New York recently merged with the SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica-Rome, and had a booth at the event along with Empire State Development, the state's economic development arm.
The collegiate-state duo unveiled CNSE's new 450 milimeter wafers, the silicon discs on which computer chips are etched. The first of its kind in the world, the new wafer is roughly 18 inches in diameter, about 50 percent larger than the current industry standard, 300 milimeter wafers which are about 12 inches in diameter.
Along with a new etching technology from a partnership with Nikon, the larger wafers can hold 2.25 times as many chips, reduce production costs and the circuits are closer together meaning its faster than ever before.
