Collaboration expected to advance semiconductor manufacturing processes and lead to the creation of 50 jobs at SUNY Poly statewide facilities

Albany – In support of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s commitment to furthering New York State’s international leadership in the global nanotechnology driven economy of the 21st century, SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (SUNY Poly CNSE) and Inficon, Inc. (INFICON) today announced plans for a joint research and development alliance on advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology.  The 2-year R&D agreement will leverage SUNY Poly CNSE’s globally recognized state-of-the-art capabilities and INFICON’s best-in-class in-situ monitoring technologies that are enabling the “smart factories” of the future with real time nanoscale process control. The joint alliance will also formally launch a new Advanced Manufacturing Performance (AMP) Center dedicated to the component, sub-system and site-service companies that support the advanced manufacturing processes in a broad array of industries. The AMP Center is expected to lead to the creation of 50 jobs and will leverage the operations at the NanoTech Albany Complex while expanding to the Computer Chip Commercialization Center (QUAD-C) in Marcy with dedicated R&D capabilities, which will also support new advanced manufacturing operations recently announced by Governor Cuomo. 

“Governor Cuomo’s high-tech economic blueprint for New York State is rooted in world class research and development opportunities and our partnership with INFICON will enable increased efficiency and effectiveness as we determine new manufacturing standards necessary to meet the future needs of the industry,” said Michael Fancher, Executive Director of the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Nanoelectronics and Nanomaterials (CATN²)  “INFICON and CNSE have enjoyed a long relationship and this agreement marks a new level of collaboration with one of the world’s leading innovation companies located just 30 minutes away from SUNY Poly’s Marcy campus that is expanding its operations in the New York NanoTech corridor today. We look forward to our collaboration with INFICON and enabling the continued growth of New York’s burgeoning nanoelectronics industry.”

“The demands on the nanoelectronics industry are increasing rapidly and it is vital that we continue to build our sensing and analysis capabilities. SUNY Poly CNSE is a critical enabling resource in catalyzing new research and development, not just due to its world-class facilities and personnel, but also its ability to foster partnerships between state government, the private sector and New York State's top-flight universities and research institutions,” said Peter Maier, President of INFICON, Inc.  “With our recent expansion in Syracuse, INFICON has grown its local workforce to 260 and is excited to launch this partnership to advance the development of next generation sensor technologies.”

INFICON is a leading provider of innovative instrumentation, critical sensor technologies, and advanced process control software that enhance productivity and quality in sophisticated industrial vacuum processes. The establishment of the semiconductor research and development partnership with SUNY Poly CNSE will characterize precursor and/or byproduct compounds containing phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, gallium, and/or indium that may evolve from the surface of wafers during and/or following various processes throughout the semiconductor manufacturing sequence; identify and develop methods for detecting and analyzing such compounds; and improve and develop sensor technologies and equipment that embody or incorporate such methods.