Community College Boosts MEMS Commercialization
MEMS technology commercialization is getting a boost with the establishment of the Richard Desich SMART Commercialization Center for Microsystems at Lorain County Community College in Ohio. In an interview last week, Matt Apanius, director of the center, described it as a multi-user, shared resource focused on the back-end packaging and commercialization of MEMS, microsystems, and sensors. The center currently operates a 1,800 sq. ft. class 10000 cleanroom.
A 47,000 sq. ft. facility is currently under construction and is set to open next year, Apanius said. It will include cleanroom labs, incubating space for startups and for corporate R&D, private R&D labs, a software design and simulation lab, and customer landing spaces that visitors can use to attend to other business when not engaged in the labs. Apanius added that the center complements additional initiatives at LCCC, including the GLIDE (Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise) on-campus technology incubator; the “if” Innovation Fund, a pre-venture early-stage fund that has made more than 100 investments since 2007; the MIT-supported FabLab; and SITT (Sensor Integration & Technology Testing), an independent FTD industrial-automation sensors testing and certification center.
With regard to MEMS and related technology, Apanius said that post-wafer activities constitute 70% of the time and cost involved in commercializing sensor products. Companies can perform packaging and testing themselves, an expensive, time-consuming effort that can distract a company from the core product its sensors go into. Companies can also contract out the effort, but that results in a time-intensive fragmented process that entails a loss of control.
The SMART Center's goal is to offer shared facilities that provide companies with an alternative to in-house efforts and contracting. The center, Apanius said, provides a low-cost resource that enables large companies as well as entrepreneurs to develop effective MEMS solutions.
The center offers packaging equipment, reliability testing equipment, inspection and characterization tools, and co-design and simulation software. Lab access, Apanius said, is priced at $60 to $150 per hour, depending on equipment used, and visitors can access the center's software for $75 per hour. The center provides special pricing for long-term reliability testing.
Apanius cited several projects in which the center is involved. Beckett Corp., for example, is developing a sensor that will improve water-boiler efficiency. Acense LLC is developing an acetylene sensor for transformer fault detection. GreenField Solar is developing a direct optical sensor for a solar concentrator. And Case Western Reserve is working on a transdermal sensor for a metabolic monitoring platform.
The SMART Center complements another MEMS initiative I wrote about earlier—the effort by Dr. Michael Gaitan of NIST to develop a MEMS roadmap. Apanius supports the roadmapping effort. He said of Gaitan, “It will be interesting to see if he is successful in rallying a common voice from industry regarding MEMS test. He is right on the mark but is in a position where the most he can do is advocate the solution—others will need to implement it.
As for the SMART Center, backers have high hopes for the project. When groundbreaking for the new facility was officially launched in September 2011, Mark Kvamme, chief investment officer and president of JobsOhio, suggested that whereas California is home to the Silicon Valley, Lorain County could become “MEMSville.” JobsOhio is the state’s private, non-profit corporation designed to stimulate economic growth.
The new center is named after Richard Desich, a Lorain native and member of Lorain County Community College District Board of Trustees for 34 years, a serial entrepreneur, a national speaker, and a philanthropist and community leader. “Everything I have ever tried to help with at this college has been a partnership: A partnership with the state, a partnership with the college, a partnership with private industry. With partnerships, things can happen,” Desich said at the September 2011 launch announcement.
At the same time, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown said, The SMART center will help to make Ohio the go-to place in the United States for sensor commercialization support. It makes sense. This is in an important manufacturing area of an important manufacturing state. Ohio is the third leading manufacturing state in the nation.” At the same time, LCCC President Dr. Roy A. Church said, “This capacity represents extraordinary opportunities for business and job creation in high growth industries as well as training opportunities for LCCC students.”