Intel Corp. has awarded a $500,000 equipment grant to MIT's Microsystems Technologies Laboratories (MTL).
"We have recognized for some time the excellent research projects that have been going on here at MTL, and also the high caliber of students within MTL," said Intel Fellow Mark Bohr of Process and Technology Development. "By making this donation, we hope to help MTL stay at the forefront of integrated circuits and semiconductor device research and also to help MTL continue to turn out the very best students in this type of research project."
MTL director Rafael Reif, professor of electrical engineering and computer scence, noted that the award will enable purchase of equipment which "we cannot get from donation, we cannot get at deep discount, and we cannot afford because the price tag is too high." This includes test and metrology equipment which will aid research and teaching and improve MTL's ability to attract the highest caliber students, he said.
The Microsystems Technology Laboratories support facilities for the fabrication and study of small monolithic structures and their use for the implementation of integrated systems from X-ray lenses to VLSI circuits. The microfabrication facilities are open to the entire MIT community as well as researchers from other university or government laboratories.
The facilities are also available to a select group of companies such as Intel which are members of the MTL Micro-systems Industrial Group (MIG). In certain instances, they may also be used by non-MIG industrial researchers for noncommercial investigation, particularly for activities complementary to specific faculty research.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on February 26, 1997.
