1/4/02
NDSU moves forward in high-tech arena
North Dakota State University's technology-related facilities are on a rapid upward track. From working with "aliens" to developing spintronics, the campus is swiftly moving into a leadership role in cutting-edge research.
Among the latest developments, NDSU will receive $18 million for four defense research grants for high technology projects in fiscal 2002. U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan announced Dec. 21 that the projects are included in the Department of Defense budget that has been sent to President Bush for his signature.
"This is very, very exciting," said NDSU President Joseph A. Chapman of the cutting-edge research funded by the grants. "This is going to allow us to do some things we couldn't do in the past. Nobody else is doing this."
At the heart of the exciting new research is something called a nanosensor. The term first came to local attention Aug. 19, when it was announced that NDSU was one of the partners in a $1.4 million U.S. Department of Defense contract in sensor technology development.
The innovative technology, exclusively licensed to the university by Alien Technology Corp., Morgan Hill, Calif., allows for tiny circuits that are paper-thin and can conform to nearly any shape. The chips, which are smaller than the "D" on a dime, can be put on any sort of package, material or coating. The chip can even be activated by a radio frequency wave and information collected from it.
The uses seem infinite. A chip could tell if a food item has spoiled. It could deactivate a machine or disarm a weapon after a certain date. It could help locate battlefield personnel.
Philip Boudjouk, vice president for research, creative activities and technology transfer, likes to demonstrate the remarkable technology by holding a 1 inch vial filled with computer chips. "We have more than 100,000 chips in here," he said. "This is amazing.
NDSU researchers will work with Alien Technology's patented NanoBlock and Fluidic Self Assembly technology that allow the production of microchips the size of flecks of pepper at a rate of 6 million per hour. By comparison, traditional "pick and place" technology produces 6,000-8,000 chips per hour.
Other partners in the Defense Department contract are the University of Alaska, Fairbanks; Northrop Grumman Corp., Baltimore; and Superconductor Technologies Inc., Santa Barbara, Calif.
Among the latest projects are $5 million for miniaturized wireless systems which will be shared with the University of Alaska. The project will involve NDSU students and researchers with companies that are world leaders in miniaturizing components for next generation mobile telephones, pagers and other wireless devices. Partners include Tessera Inc., Superconductor Technologies Inc. and Signal Technology.
Superconductor Technologies is developing receiver technology which is necessary to get information from microchips, while the area of expertise of Tessera Inc. is in electronic densification and miniaturization. Tessera works with chips imbedded in polymers in a method called "chip scale packaging," which is licensed in more than 35 commercial products can be found in items produced by PlayStation, Nokia, Intel, Sharp, Motorola and Compaq.
In addition, $3.5 million in federal funding for anti-corrosion coatings research will allow NDSU to be the only university using Symyx Inc. technology that reduces the time and cost of discovering new materials. Symyx's new proprietary technologies, including instruments, software and methods, accelerate the screening of polymer samples by as much as 90 percent.
The Symyx equipment will allow NDSU researchers to conduct experiments on 128 to 384 samples at the same time. According to Boudjouk, "This technology changes fundamentally the way some our scientists will conduct their research. Now, multiple experiments will be executed in 'parallel' as opposed to the traditional 'one at a time' serial fashion."
The latest federal funding also expands work in the original battlefield sensor system project. It will receive $27 million, which will be shared by NDSU, the University of Alaska and Northrop-Grumman. In the project, NDSU researchers will use Alien Technology processes to design and assemble low-power electronic sensors for a wide range of military applications.
Also, NDSU will receive $500,000 to $1 million for a spintronics nanotechnology program. NDSU researchers are expected to work with nanoelectronics experts at the University of California, Riverside, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
"This work is a launching pad from which NDSU will develop programs for a decade or more," Boudjouk said, noting there are plans for an NDSU center of nanosensor technology. "We will be on the cutting edge."
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