Lam Research and MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) have extended a collaborative relationship started between the lab and Novellus Systems more than 15 years ago to conduct research and share information on next-generation semiconductor device manufacturing. Novellus was acquired by Lam Research in 2012.
Lam Research is a major supplier of innovative wafer fabrication equipment and services to the global semiconductor industry. Its collaborative work with customers, suppliers, and university partners, combined with its broad portfolio of market-leading etch, deposition, strip, and wafer cleaning solutions help customers develop smaller, faster, and more power-efficient chips that drive advanced technology to consumers everyday.
Lam's current point of research engagement with MTL has been through the university's Research Laboratory of Electronics where, under the direction of Professor Jing Kong, students are studying various graphene and tungsten composites. The results of this research will help Lam understand the viability of these materials for manufacturing semiconductor devices in the future. The company has also hosted visits from several MIT professors who have shared their nanotechnology research observations with company engineers. Professor of Electrical Engineering and MTL Director Vladimir Bulovic visited Lam in February, 2013 with Vicky Diadiuk, Associate Director Operations for MTL and again in June, to present an update on MTL activities.
"The semiconductor industry is facing an unprecedented number of simultaneous technical and financial hurdles over the next decade as the drive to increase chip performance and reduce power and cost at the pace of Moore's Law is met with the limitations of physics and chemistry," said Lam's Corporate Vice President and Product CTO, Jeff Marks. "Partnering with academia is one crucial way that companies like Lam can more efficiently explore new materials and process options that will drive manufacturing in the future."
Marks added, "For engineers who are looking for the opportunity to make truly 'game-changing' innovations that will impact the entire technology food chain, there's no better place to be than the semiconductor equipment industry."
--William Holber, Associate Director of Sponsor Relations