Focus Center, New York: Rensselaer - Overview

The Focus Center - New York, Rensselaer is part of the SIA/DARPA driven Focus Center Research Program (FCRP). The FCRP plans a number of distributed, multi-university based centers, each of which will focus on one aspect of microelectronics. These centers are being established by MARCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of the SRC, and DARPA.

FC-NY, RPI is part of the 'IFC' or Interconnect Focus Center: Interconnections for Gigascale Integration, that focuses on interconnects. The IFC officially started in October of 1998, and is headquartered at Georgia Institute of Technology. Other universities involved in the IFC, in addition to Rensselaer, include Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, State University of New York at Albany, and the University of California, Los Angeles. The New York universities form the FC-NY, which is headquartered at SUNY Albany.

The IFC focuses on the discovery and invention of new solutions that will enable the U.S. semiconductor industry to transcend known limits on interconnects that would otherwise decelerate or halt the rate of progress toward gigascale integration. Essentially, we look for breakthroughs to overcome perceived 'roadblocks' to improving interconnect performance on the ten year time frame.
Rensselaer participates in the IFC through research focused on the areas outlined below. These research projects are facilitated by considerable support from the state of New York in addition to the funds from MARCO/DARPA, and by collaborations with other universities, particularly SUNY Albany.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us.

Professor Pulickel Ajayan
Director
FC-NY, Rensselaer

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