Compiled by Mark DeSorbo
Malaysia makeover
SINGAPORE—Sunningdale Precision Industries Ltd said it is setting up a manufacturing plant with ISO Class 4 cleanroom facilities at its subsidiary, SDP Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
The plant will support the operations of Toa Electric Industrial Co. Ltd's customers in the manufacturing of decorative plastic parts and components for the global telecommunications industry.
Sunningdale said the allocated capital expenditure for the plant is about $1.7 million, and the facility is expected to begin production this month.
Fostered foundry
RIMINI, Italy—Multiplex Inc., a South Plainfield, N.J.-based manufacturer of optoelectronic components and integrated subsystems, is offering custom compound semiconductor foundry services.
From a newly completed 10,000-square-foot facility, housing ISO Class 6 and ISO Class 7 cleanrooms, Multiplex is offering front-end capabilities for III-V semiconductor expitaxial growth, processing device design, testing, reliability qualification and failure mode analyses.
The company maintains a MOCVD epitaxy platform that includes Aixtron 2400 and 2000 multi-wafer reactors, and all GaAs- and InP-based material systems are supported.
Renting in Ridley
RIDLEY, Pa.—Aerotech Filtration Inc., a cleanroom equipment and filtration supplier, has leased 24,990 square feet of industrial space within the Holmes Corporate Center.
Aerotech, which signed a $1 million, seven-year lease, will occupy a portion of a 130,000-square-foot building. Company officials say the move from the Clifton Heights facility to the Holmes center will be completed this month.
In addition to filtration and other contamination-control equipment, Aerotech also provides HVAC decontamination and duct-cleaning services.
Vive le nanotech
MONTREAL—McGill University has announced the opening of the $9-million Tools for Nanoscience Facility, based in the Rutherford Physics and Wong Engineering buildings.
Ten researchers from McGill's Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering have teamed up to create the university's new nanotechnology hub, which consists of 8,000 square feet of lab space.
It includes three closely linked components: A cleanroom with a micro-machining facility; an atomic manipulation facility, designed to let McGill researchers construct new devices, atom by atom; and a Beowulf supercomputer dedicated to the modeling of nanomaterials. The Beowolf is currently Canada's most powerful computer, according to www.top500.org.
Among the research projects planned for the facility are developing new cantilever-based chemical sensors for DNA testing, investigation of atomic-scale conductance for the shrinking geometries of integrated circuits, the assembly of nanophotonic devices for future optical communications networks, micro-machined electronic components for next-generation wireless devices and integrated miniaturized biomedical diagnostic systems.