Nanocollege, German company team up

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bethany Bump

More than 20 high-tech jobs are coming to Albany as part of a new $12 million partnership between a leading German solar technology manufacturer and the University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

Headquartered in Germany, Singulus Technologies is sending scientists, researchers, engineers and advanced tooling equipment across the Atlantic to the Albany NanoTech Complex. The goal, announced Wednesday, is to collaborate with college researchers and its global corporate partners to further develop thin-film and magnetoresistive random-access memory technology.

“New York’s high-tech economy continues to attract leading companies from around the world because they recognize the strength and advantage of doing business in our state,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a news release issued Wednesday. “I want to be the first to welcome Singulus and its workers to the Capital Region. I am confident they will find the power of a partnership with the NanoCollege unparalleled in the industry, and their new home exciting, vibrant and prosperous.”

The new jobs will help deliver a critical technical need that is required in establishing a fully installed, multi-equipment MRAM tool set that uses module and integrated processing for an MRAM development program, according to a college news release.

Dr. Michael Liehr, the college’s executive vice president of innovation and technology, said the new partnership is an example of how the Capital Region’s reputation within the nanotech industry continues to attract leading high-tech companies from across the globe.

“The addition of Singulus broadens CNSE’s world-class capabilities to support the critical needs of the nanoelectronics sector,” he said, “and in the process, brings new private high-tech investment and jobs to New York state.”

Singulus has worked to establish itself as a leading manufacturer in the silicon and thin-film solar technology industry. Its business activities have strengthened as the market for MRAM semiconductor technology continues to grow.

MRAM has been under development since the 1990s, but is still considered a relatively new type of non-volatile memory. Researchers in the field hope to make it the dominant technology for all types of memory, including both flash and dynamic RAM.

To advance this goal, Singulus and the college will collaborate to develop innovative deposition techniques for Tunnel Magneto Resistance materials. In addition to advancing TMR processes and applications, research will focus on developing techniques to enable improvements in film deposition rates, deposition uniformity, and mechanical, electrical and magnetic properties.

Wolfram Maass, managing director of Singulus’ Nano Deposition business unit, said in the release: “We are very optimistic about the potential of know-how transfer for MRAM storage media, and are excited to be developing processes for TMR materials with the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, which is recognized around the world as the global leader in innovation and commercialization of advanced technology.”

The German manufacturer is joining an already long list of CNSE partners, including Intel, Samsung, GlobalFoundries, NASA, Sony, SEMATECH, General Electric and IBM, among others.