March 5, 2012 — The Albany, NY-based College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s (CNSE) Smart System Technology and Commercialization Center of Excellence (STC), which performs micro electromechanical system (MEMS) and nanotechnology-enabled manufacturing and packaging, successfully completed the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) 9001:2008 registration.
The registration incorporates rigorous criteria in a collection of formal international standards, technical specifications and reports, as well as handbooks and web-based documents on quality management. CNSE’s STC worked with EEP Quality Group of Rochester to review and edit existing documentation, and to develop a number of new standard operating procedures in order to comply with ISO requirements.
With ISO 9001:2008, the MEMS development center expects to have "new opportunities to create high-tech jobs" and be able to "attract additional partners in the industrial and government sectors," including the Department of Defense and various intelligence agencies that require ISO certification, and domestic and foreign commercial companies, Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, CNSE SVP and CEO, said. Numerous enhanced security features are being put into place that will allow CNSE’s STC to heighten its site security clearance as well.
CNSE’s STC expects to hire additional employees as a result of its ISO registration. New hires will range from engineering and technical personnel to cleanroom operators, who will be needed to support both existing projects and new programs that transition from prototyping and pilot production to low- and mid-volume manufacturing.
The UAlbany CNSE is a college dedicated to education, research, development and deployment in the emerging disciplines of nanoscience, nanoengineering, nanobioscience and nanoeconomics. CNSE’s footprint spans upstate New York, including its Albany NanoTech Complex, an 800,000-square-foot megaplex with the only fully-integrated, 300mm wafer, computer chip pilot prototyping and demonstration line within 85,000 square feet of Class 1 capable cleanrooms. More than 2,700 scientists, researchers, engineers, students and faculty work here, from companies including IBM, Intel, GlobalFoundries, SEMATECH, Samsung, TSMC, Toshiba, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, ASML and Novellus Systems. An expansion now underway, part of which will house the world’s first Global 450mm Consortium, will add nearly 500,000 square feet of next-generation infrastructure, an additional 50,000 square feet of Class 1 capable cleanrooms, and more than 1,000 scientists, researchers and engineers from CNSE and global corporations. For information, visit www.cnse.albany.edu.
CNSE’s Smart System Technology and Commercialization Center of Excellence (STC) in Rochester, NY, offers state-of-the-art capabilities for MEMS fabrication and packaging. It assists small and large companies in transitioning new technologies from concept to manufacturing. STC maintains a 140,000-square-foot facility with over 25,000 square feet of cleanrooms for MEMS fabrication and packaging, and works with large and medium-sized companies to help them bring new technologies to market; with small companies ready to transition from prototype and low-volume manufacturing to scalable manufacturing; and with various federal agencies to develop technology solutions to areas of critical national need, including smart prosthetics and improvised explosive device (IED) detection. For more information, visit www.stcmems.com.