Clarkson University wins FuzeHub grant for manufacturing project

POTSDAM, N.Y. — Clarkson University is among the recipients of a total of $450,000 in grant funding that FuzeHub recently announced.

Clarkson was awarded $50,000 as part of a series of grants to facilitate research and development, industrial innovations and creative solutions for manufacturers. The Potsdam school will use its funding for the development of novel polishing pads for sub 7 nanometer (nm) semiconductor manufacturing.

The nonprofit FuzeHub, which is based in Albany, awarded a total of 10 grants with money through the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund. All projects were awarded about $50,000 each.

Besides Clarkson University, other grant recipients included Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Columbia University, University at Buffalo, University at Albany, and Alfred University, FuzeHub said.

The second round of FuzeHub’s manufacturing grants opened April 1, and FuzeHub will be accepting applications until April 29.

About the Clarkson project

As described in a FuzeHub news release, Clarkson University and Smart Pad LLC of Cohoes in the Capital Region aim to design the patterns of micro-features on the surface of a CMP (chemical mechanical planarization) pad to “increase peripheral length and complicate the slurry flow-through with an increase of contact area between wafer and pad during the CMP process.”

The process will allow them to not only overcome the technical challenges of CMP in the semiconductor industry — such as post-CMP wafer-level uniformity, chip-level topography, planarization efficiency, and defects — but also expand the semiconductor material supply chain in upstate New York.