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… creating faster, smarter,
more cost-effective electronic devices and systems
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Center for
Integrated Electronics (CIE) is advancing the electronic devices
of our everyday lives. By making significant contributions to the
science and technology of interconnects, devices, architectures,
and packaging, CIE is accelerating the production of the next generation
of micro- and nanoelectronic devices and systems.
The Center's mission is to build integrated top-down
and bottom-up nanostructures, devices, and systems for information,
biological, and broadband communication applications. Major activities
include pioneering research into gigascale interconnects, 3-D interconnect
structures, materials properties and process modeling, wideband
gap semiconductors and devices, terahertz devices and imaging systems,
power electronic devices and systems, and biochips.
Researchers' work is facilitated by Rensselaer's
leadership in the areas of hyperintegration, integrated circuit
(IC) backend technology, functional nanobuilding blocks, multiscale
modeling, and packaging science. The university's areas of expertise
also include wearable electronics, solid-state lighting, tissue
engineering, and bioreactors. CIE's research capabilities are enhanced
by Rensselaer's recently upgraded Class 100 Microfabrication Clean
Room (MCR). This 10,000-square-foot state-of-the art facility supports
three-, five-, and eight-inch wafer fabrication technology.
Uniting Five Centers
CIE is comprised of five electronics
technology sub centers that conduct research in a variety of complementary
disciplines. Collectively, their vision is to serve as a major hub
that performs original research with a systems-focus at the interface
of information, nano- and biotechnologies. Subcenters include the
New York Center for Advanced Interconnect Science and Technology (NY CAIST),
the Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES), Focus Center -
New York (FC-NY), the Center for Microcontamination Control (CMC),
and the Center for Broadband Data Transport Science and Technology. Each sub center includes participation from numerous
universities nationwide, as well as from major U.S. corporations.
Exceptional Faculty
Approximately 50 outstanding Rensselaer
faculty members and 100 energetic graduate students and postdoctoral
fellows contribute to the Center for Integrated Electronics. Rensselaer
CIE faculty members received their degrees from some of the finest
institutions in the world, including Stanford University, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, University of
Zürich, and the Indian Institute of Technologies in India.
Many researchers are natives of other countries including Romania,
Russia, Venezuela, and India, and therefore contribute immeasurable
international experience to the Center. Among CIE's faculty are
a Fulbright Scholar, a NASA/American Society for Engineering Education
(ASEE) Fellow, and National Science Foundation CAREER award winners.
Nationwide Collaboration
The ambitious research projects underway
in the Center for Integrated Electronics are truly national in
scope, and include extensive collaborations with academic, government,
and industry partners. Over 120 government and business partners
support the CIE. These prestigious organizations and corporations
provide an estimated $8.7 million in annual funding. Major government
donors include such well-known organizations as the National Science
Foundation (NSF); the Defense Advanced Research Programs Agency
(DARPA); the New York State Office of Science, Technology, and
Academic
Research (NYSTAR); the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC);
and the Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation (MARCO).
Prominent companies such as IBM provide significant
industry support. Research also takes place within corporate
partners' facilities, such as IBM's research and development complexes
in Yorktown Heights and East Fishkill, New York.
CIE also includes participation from numerous distinguished universities including Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Virginia Tech, Stanford University, Northeastern University, and Georgia Institute of Technology. Significant cooperation among
New York institutes provides great strength to CIE; collaborators include Columbia University; University of Rochester; University
at Albany State University of New York; Cornell University; and City University of New York.
Total Integration
The field of integrated electronics impacts
every commonplace electronic device we encounter each day, from
computers to car radios, and telephones to televisions. However,
Center for Integrated Electronics researchers also are working to
create revolutionary devices we cannot yet even fathom. Futuristic
broadband communications, clothing with electronic functions and
properties, and robust electrochemical actuators for artificial
muscles are among the many radical improvements currently under
development within this pioneering center. These faster, smarter,
more cost-effective electronic devices and systems that are
created through the work of CIE will open doors for new inventions
that will improve lives in ways that are unimaginable today. For
more information on the creative research being undertaken at CIE,
please contact one of the members of our leadership team.
Michael Shur,
Acting Director
(518) 276-2201
Morris Washington, Associate Director
(518) 276-3064
Toh-Ming Lu,
Associate Director
(518) 276-2979
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