New microelectronics innovation centre aims to link Canada into emerging North American research corridor

The federal and Quebec governments are making a pitch to carve out a world class niche in the microelectronics sector with $178-million in grants to establish a research centre in Bromont QC. With a focus on microchip assembly and packaging and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), the Centre's backers say it fits strategically with the growing North American microelectronics corridor that stretches throughout the northeastern part of the continent.

The Microelectronics Innovation Centre (MIC) is the result of several years of planning and lobbying for funding and involves IBM, DALSA Corp and the Univ of Sherbrooke as founding partners. Both companies have established facilities in Bromont — IBM employs 2,500 with a focus on specialized microchip packaging and assembly while DALSA employs 400 in the area of MEMS. The Univ of Sherbrooke is the driver of the Centre in defining the research programs with IBM and DALSA contributing people and training for several classifications of personnel. The university has well- established research programs in semi-conductor materials and processes and has a long-standing co-op program.

MIC will initially be staffed by 250 researchers and is intended to maintain and expand upon the 3,000 Quebec-based personnel working in the sector. The investment marks a critical stage in implementing the province's regional development and research and innovation strategies, both of which identified nano and microelectronics as key tech industries, as well as implementation of the action plan under the nano and microelectronics component of the province's ACCORD strategy, which targets microelectronics as an area of industrial expertise for the Bromont region.

The federal government is providing $83 million through the Quebec portion of the Federal Infrastructure Program while Quebec is contributing $95 million through its Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export. The remainder ($40.6 million) comes from IBM and DALSA in the form of equipment and other in-kind.

"The centre is very significant for microelectronics in Quebec and Canada. It has by far the most advanced infrastructure," says Claude Jean, GM and VP, DALSA Semiconductor Foundry Operations. "It's an extension of the northeast corridor and will speed up the development of expertise in Quebec."

The northeast corridor is fast becoming one of the most powerful concentrations of microelectronics expertise in the world, with more than 35,000 people working in the sector. Anchored by IBM facilities in East Fishkill NY and the massive nanotech complex in Albany NY, the Bromont Centre extends the corridor further north and promises to further cement Quebec's microelectronics sector to the US cluster. In addition, Global Foundries broke ground on a US $4.2-billion chip plant in Malta NY in July. The 1.3-million-square-foot plant will be operational by 2012 and is a joint venture between Advanced Micro Devices, Sunnyvale CA, and several investment firms owned by the government of Abu Dhabi.

"Our plan is to be complementary to Albany. We know them and will keep speaking with them," says Jean. "The perception is that all microelectronics is being done in Asia so we've had to educate people and explain our plan and the expertise in Quebec and Canadian universities on materials, device physics and software can be put to work to develop manufacturing jobs and new companies."

The inclusion of IBM represents a huge boost to the Centre. IBM's Bromont facility is the largest semiconductor facility in Canada and the largest semiconductor assembly and testing facility in the world. Its semiconductor packaging expertise is used for all of IBM's products and a growing number of original equipment manufacturers, including some of the world's biggest producers of video games. IBM has a strong US presence along the microelectronics corridor and its other facilities will inevitably link into the centre's research activities.

DALSA'S presence, while considerably smaller than IBM's, is also based on world-leading technology. DALSA's Bromont facility is one of the biggest pure play MEMS foundries in the world and is currently pursuing R&D on advanced prototyping of 200 mm MEMS and 3D microelectronics. DALSA is also positioning itself for the wave of convergence now taking place and new market opportunities in BioMEMS/Lab-on-a-chip and radio frequency MEMS.

"When the centre is up and running, our main role will be to ensure that it is capable of running prototypes of MEMS devices," says Jean, "We'll put in place basic software processes that can be used by researchers and we'll also be a user of the centre and develop manufacturing technologies with centre partners."

The project was first raised as a possibility five years ago years ago and subsequently championed by Quebec premier Jean Charest, helping to define the centre concept in the fall of 2007.

For the Univ of Sherbrooke, MIC represents the biggest research centre in its history and the hope that it will grow even larger as more universities, research centres and companies come on board. Discussions are already underway with several potential new partners including several universities that have sent letters of interest.

"We plan to bring in other people as soon a possible. The centre is modelled on those in Albany and Grenoble (France). This is part of the Quebec government's strategy to identify areas of industrial expertise in regions of the province and microelectronics is a key area. An R&D facility is critical to the development of the region," says Jacques Beauvais, the Univ of Sherbrooke's vice rector research and a researcher in the areas of nanolithography, nanotechnologies, electron beam lithography and electronic and photonic devices. "We hope this will become an even larger centre. Albany Nanotech had just two original partners — IBM and the University of Albany. In the past 10 years it grew and there's been $10 billion in investment. There's also evidence of a shift in microelectronics expertise from Texas to Albany."

As a mid-size, university, the Univ of Sherbrooke is ranked #18 in Canada with more than $86 million in sponsored research, an increase of nearly 75% in just five years. Much of that increase has come from its close relationship with business and the introduction of new research centres. And data have yet to capture the impact of Park Innovation, established last year with the first building devoted to an Advancer Technology Centre in collaboration with Bombardier Recreational Products.

In the coming months a second build in Innovation Park will open, devoted to a Centre of Excellence in Information Engineering to conduct research into the engineering of nanomaterials to telecommunication systems and algorithms.

"The Microelectronics Innovation Centre will have a huge impact on what we're doing and fits with our ideas of industrial collaboration," says Beauvais. "There's a real convergence of classical microelectronics manufacturing and photonics and biomaterials so there are huge opportunities for new products and process. It's a perfect moment to combine worldclass research from universities and industrial processes. This centre has the right people at the right time."

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