NY CREATES, Fraunhofer Institutes Announce Joint Development Agreement to Advance Memory Devices at the 300mm Wafer Scale

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NY CREATES and Fraunhofer IPMS announced at a signing ceremony a new Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to drive research and development focused on memory devices. The JDA will leverage and link the strengths of each organization to engineer, develop, and characterize these devices that are critical for advancing the memory development ecosystems of each respective organization.

"As we build upon the strong connections we have with semiconductor R&D centers around the globe to create the technologies that the U.S. and the world will rely on in the future, we look forward to this collaboration with Fraunhofer IPMS to further develop next-generation ferroelectric memory devices at the 300mm scale," said Dave Anderson, President of NY CREATES. "We are proud to work together to accelerate the processes and the evaluation and deployment of these materials which can lead to innovative breakthroughs, maintaining our global R&D leadership.”

"With the Center Nanoelectronic Technologies (CNT), Fraunhofer IPMS maintains a leading international competence center for the development of ferroelectric memories based on hafnium oxide (HfO₂). These memory technologies are particularly promising for neuromorphic computing applications as they are very energy efficient, CMOS compatible, and scalable down to very small technology nodes. We look forward to working with NY CREATES to develop new promising memory designs based on the expertise of both parties,” said Dr. Wenke Weinreich, Deputy Director of Fraunhofer IPMS.

Leaders from the New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering, and Science (NY CREATES), based in Albany, N.Y., and the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS, based in Dresden, Germany, formalized the JDA with a ceremonial signing by NY CREATES Vice President of Strategies, Partnerships, & New Ventures and Chief Operating Officer Paul Kelly and Fraunhofer IPMS Deputy Director Dr. Wenke Weinreich at NY CREATES’ Albany NanoTech Complex on May 15, with a number of dignitaries from New York State and Germany in attendance. NY CREATES and Fraunhofer IPMS will embark on a joint development project for the co-development of advanced memory devices built at the 300mm wafer scale, the platform upon which chips are made.

In May of 2023, representatives from Fraunhofer IPMS met with counterparts at NY CREATES’ Albany NanoTech Complex, the largest non-profit semiconductor research and development facility in North America. There, Dr. Weinreich signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations and in the presence of Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer with the aim of further advancing economic prosperity through innovation in both regions.

In October 2024, NY CREATES’ Albany NanoTech Complex was designated as the location of the flagship National Semiconductor Technology Center facility, the CHIPS for America EUV Accelerator. The EUV Accelerator is expected to drive significant R&D based on Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, underpinning U.S. technological leadership and economic and national security.