IIT Bombay gets $7.5 mn nanotech lab

A state of the art nano-manufacturing lab costing over $7.5 million donated by a global nanotechnology major was inaugurated at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay on Thursday.

The institute also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Applied Materials (AMAT) Inc, which donated three advanced tools to IIT, for collaboration in R&D projects.

The tools donated by AMAT will be used by students and professors in IIT for research in developing newer flash memory devices and improving present day applications in solar energy, deputy director of IIT-B J Vasi said.

"We first came into contact with IIT two years ago while recruiting people for our new facility in Bangalore. Things moved well and we decided to collaborate with the institute and set up the tools here. Today's inauguration makes IIT the first institute globally to handle an eight inch silicon wafer used in making chips," CEO of AMAT Mike Splinter said.

AMAT has tie-ups with other institutes like Indian Institute of Science, Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology among others, he said. 

"The industry is currently working on 12 inch wafers and the tools given to us are enough for commercial production as well," associate professor of the department of electrical engineering, Souvik Mahapatra said.

Splinter said energy and environment applications is a new area of thrust for AMAT and the company will be looking forward to some "breakthrough ideas in the area from IIT" as they are optimising the technology to make it cost effective.

IIT-B director Ashok Mishra, welcomed the initiative from AMAT and said the institute, which will be celebrating its golden jubilee next year, has always been a leader in nanotechnology due to which the Union Government has given it a special assistance of over Rs 49 crore (Rs 490 million) for the subject.