All the Right Stuff

Peter Singer, Associate Editor -- Semiconductor International, 11/1/1999

Last month, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) -- an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department -- announced 37 new programs that will be administered through its Advanced Technology Program (ATP). These will be funded by approximately $102M from private industry, matched by about $110M from the ATP.

Although many of the new projects involve the semiconductor industry, one in particular caught my attention. It involves one large chip-maker, a small software company, a university and the government.

The goal of the three-year, $9M project is to develop a 'biochip' device that rapidly diagnoses infectious diseases. Work will be centered at Motorola Labs' Physical Science Research Laboratories (PSRL) in Tempe, Ariz., and include researchers from CFD Research Corp. (Huntsville, Ala.) and Arizona State University. The biochip is envisioned to be a small, inexpensive device that could rapidly profile bacteria, which in turn would help control the spread of often deadly infections. It would be capable of performing all preparation steps and genetic analysis functions on a single disposable chip.

Specifically, Motorola Labs will be responsible for designing and fabricating the device, and developing and building a test station. Sophisticated, three-dimensional device structures will be designed and then produced in batches using novel microfabrication techniques involving molding and bonding. CFD Research Corp. will develop modeling tools for device optimization resulting in faster, more efficient prototype development. Arizona State University will provide expertise in immunology and relevant subfields of biology.

This project clearly has 'all the right stuff.' Not only does it put hard-won microelectronic manufacturing technology to good use; it also pulls together a diverse crowd of people to address the most honorable of all objectives -- saving human lives. I can't imagine a better use of taxpayer dollars than the $4.3M the ATP is expected to kick into the project.

The icing on the cake is that, if successfully developed and later commercialized, the technology could expand the market for point-of-care devices, now expected to reach $1.3B by 2000. The group believes the new fabrication techniques also will be applicable to other types of microdevices for biomedical and other uses.

The goal of NIST's Advanced Technology Program is to provide 'cost-shared funding to industry for high-risk R&D projects with the potential to spark important, broad-based economic benefits for the United States.' The idea is to fund projects that industry on its own could not support fully because of the technical risks involved, and where timing is critical to eventual economic success in the highly competitive global market. The Motorola/CFD/ASU project appears to be a good case in point.

The ATP plans to hold a national meeting in San Jose, Calif., Nov. 15-17, featuring more than 30 workshops and general information presentations. More details can be found on the Web at www.atp.nist.gov/nationalmeeting.

While most of the semiconductor industry is obsessed with making faster, higher-density chips, it is refreshing to see some other applications finally getting the attention they deserve. It's also refreshing to see a government program that actually works.