Infotonics Technology Center Packaging Lab Open for Business

Combines with fabrication lab to offer Full-service microsystems capabilities

February 18, 2008

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK — With the recent investment of $5 million in packaging capabilities, the Infotonics Technology Center (ITC) has positioned itself as a full-service partner for customers seeking to create new devices and microsystems.

ITC is a New York State Center of Excellence in photonics and microsystems,

“By bringing this state-of-the-art packaging facility on line, ITC now offers the largest array of world-class, MEMS-related services in the industry,” said ITC chief executive officer David. R. Smith.

“We are helping customers move rapidly from concept to commercializaton in application areas that include defense, biotechnology, telecommunications, computing, imaging and printing,” Smith said.

ITC’s offerings now include microsystems design, fabrication, packaging and testing.

“As a project matures beyond initial prototypes,” Smith said, “ITC can do pilot-scale manufacturing, then work with clients to develop processes and to refine designs to ensure a smooth transition to high-volume manufacturing.”

In the microsystems industry, packaging provides an optimal working environment and critical interfaces between a device and the external world.

According to Nancy Stoffel, MEMS packaging director, ITC analyzed industry trends and surveyed its customers before choosing the tools and supporting infrastructure for the new laboratory.

“The result,” Stoffel said, “is a lab with both basic and advanced technology process tools that is built for flexibility to support rapid prototyping and process development -- all the way through to low-volume manufacturing.

“Consistent with industry trends, we invested heavily in wafer-level bonding equipment, precision dicing, precision flip-chip bonding at the device level, wire-bonding, electroplating, dispensing, and tools to provide biocompatibility or control surface energy,” Stoffel said.  “This dovetails nicely with the strong capabilities we already had in optoelectronics and microfluidics.”

About the Infotonics Technology Center

The Infotonics Technology Center Inc. (Infotonics) is a not-for-profit corporation that operates New York State’s Center of Excellence in Photonics and Microsystems.  Infotonics is structured as a consortium whose founding participants include Corning, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, and Xerox Corporation.  Academic participants include some 20 New York State colleges and universities.  Infotonics’ goal is to establish a unique, world-class research and development facility to enable rapid commercialization of new products.  This initiative will provide major benefits to the region, including creation of jobs and attraction of new companies and investment revenue.