Carl Zeiss SMT, Calit2@ UCI Announce Nanotechnology Partnership
Thornwood, New York - November 2005- Carl Zeiss SMT, a global semiconductor and nanotechnology instrument manufacturer, and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2 ) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) will embark on a strategic alliance designed to provide a Southern California regional center of excellence for nanotechnology and biotechnology research, and advanced materials development and innovation.
Carl Zeiss SMT and Calit2 will establish the ZEISS Center of Excellence in the Calit2 building on the UCI campus. Carl Zeiss SMT will provide three fully equipped state-of-the-art electron microscopes worth approximately $2.5 million. The equipment will be shared by Calit2's researchers, its industry partners and Carl Zeiss SMT´s application development team, who will use the lab to demonstrate and further enhance the instruments' capabilities and application ranges for faculty users as well as Carl Zeiss SMT´s customers.
The new center will house a ZEISS 1540 EsB CrossBeam® workstation, a combination of ZEISS´ proprietary GEMINI® ultra-high resolution field-emission electron beam technology and focused ion beam (FIB) technology. Other equipment will include a ZEISS ULTRA 55 CDS ultra-high-resolution field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and a ZEISS EVO® multi- purpose scanning electron microscope (SEM) with variable chamber pressure capability, offering bio-scientists a unique opportunity to image cells in a representative wet environment. All three instruments are considered leading-edge technology in their respective fields.
Officials from Calit2 and Carl Zeiss SMT are equally enthusiastic about the opportunities provided by this new partnership. "We are proud to partner with Carl Zeiss SMT, a respected worldwide leader in semiconductor technology, and materials research and analysis equipment," said UCI Chancellor Michael Drake. "Establishing this innovative center of excellence will create ongoing advantages for the many fields that benefit from cutting-edge nanotechnology research."
The high-level microscopy offered by the new center also will be particularly useful to the aerospace, biomedical, semiconductor and energy systems industries located in the wider vicinity of the UCI campus.
"Carl Zeiss SMT believes strongly in the world-class research and capacity for innovation demonstrated by Calit2 and UC Irvine. The nanotechnology instrumentation suite and resources will immediately enable the pace of innovation to accelerate and the scope of this research to be greatly extended," added Peter Clark, president and general manager of Carl Zeiss SMT Inc. With this new center, Calit2 researchers will have the ability to conduct more advanced research in nanostructure materials research and engineering, benefiting researchers from physical sciences, biological sciences and engineering.
"We're very pleased that these state-of-the-art electron microscopes will be available to Calit2 researchers and our industrial partners," added Professor Albert F. Yee, Calit2 division director and materials scientist. "These instruments are essential for anyone performing nanotechnology and materials research, and with them, we'll be able to extend the boundaries of these fields."
"UCI and Southern California offer tremendous exposure for Carl Zeiss SMT, because this is a high technology growth area and a hotbed of bio-tech activity," said Daniel R. Mumm, UCI assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science, and one of the initiators of the alliance with Carl Zeiss SMT. "In addition to the ever-increasing number of start-up and mid-size technology companies located here, we have well-established aerospace and telecommunications industries that continually require access to ultra-high-resolution electron microscopy."
While the new electron microscopy center itself is not unique within an academic environment, it will be one of only a couple in the country that exists in partnership with an instrument manufacturer. "The benefit to UCI is continuous upgrading of this key instrumentation suite, which will keep us at the forefront of advanced materials, nanotechnology and biotechnology research," Mumm said. "Additionally, this partnership provides Carl Zeiss SMT with access to UC researchers and our industry associates who will push the existing technologies in new directions, potentially opening up new market applications for Carl Zeiss SMT."
Delivery of the ZEISS equipment to Calit2 began in November and is expected to be complete in December.
About Carl Zeiss SMT: Carl Zeiss is a leading international group of companies operating worldwide in the optical and opto-electronic industry. Carl Zeiss AG is headquartered in Oberkochen, Germany. The business groups, which each operate with sole responsibility, are generally ranked first or second in the strategic markets of biosciences and medical technology, system solutions for industry and optical consumer goods. They offer products and services for biomedical research and medical technology, system solutions for the semiconductor, automotive and mechanical engineering industries, as well as high-quality consumer goods such as camera lenses and binoculars. In fiscal year 2004/05 (ended September 30) the Carl Zeiss Group generated revenues totaling EUR 2,222 million. It employs 11,500 people across the globe, including 3,300 outside Germany. The Carl Zeiss Group is directly represented in more than 30 countries and operates production facilities in Europe, America and Asia.
The eyeglass business has been merged with the US company Sola International and now operates as Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH. This company is owned 50:50 by Carl Zeiss AG and a private equity company. Further information is available at www.zeiss.com
For more information contact:
Beth Bressan
Director of Business Affairs and Marketing
Carl Zeiss SMT Inc.
One Zeiss Drive
Thornwood, New York 10594
(914) 919-1010
Fax: (914) 681-7443
Email: bressan@smt.zeiss.com
About the University of California, Irvine: Celebrating 40 years of innovation, the University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,400 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3 billion.
Anna Lynn Spitzer, (949) 824-3317, aspitzer@uci.edu.
