Intel Ireland is producing a new chip which will be used in Irish universities to further research in nanotechnology. The chip, called the Adaptive Grid was co-designed by Intel Ireland and scientists in CRANN, the centre for Research in Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices, located in Trinity College, Dublin. This new chip is suitable for testing materials and devices at the nano scale of a billionth of a metre.

At an event in Trinity College today to recognize this industrial-academic achievement, Intel Ireland General Manager and Vice President Technology Manufacturing Group, Jim OHara said, “It is a clear example of the synergy gained through academic-industrial partnership which is at the heart of CRANN. Collaboration can be very powerful. Here, scientists and technologists are working together to unravel the promise of the nanoscale. I’m delighted that Intel Ireland and CRANN have achieved the first test chips in this project and I look forward to many new scientific and technological breakthroughs ahead as a result.”

The Adaptive Grid concept will address the issue of arranging objects at the nano scale. Using Intel’s world-class manufacturing expertise, silicon chips have been patterned and functionalised to act as templates for the arrangement of materials such as carbon nanotubes. The trick is to encourage the nanotubes to bed down in predefined trenches on the silicon grid pattern. In this way the CRANN researchers can find them, measure them and gain much more reliable information about these materials and their distinct properties. In the future, more functionality can be added to form the basis of practical, usable devices - indeed more revisions of these chips are being planned.

Prof. John Boland, the director of CRANN, commented, “The successful outcome of the project would not have been achieved without the different skills provided by all parties and the blend of academia and industry. This technological development will provide both CRANN and Intel with a unique window to the future, and ensure Ireland is recognised as a world class centre for research.”

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

About CRANN

CRANN, the centre for Research in Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices, is located in Trinity College, Dublin. Announced in January 2004 by Tánaiste and then Minster for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney, TD, it is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the National Development Plan (NDP). CRANN works closely with Intel Ireland and other industry and university participants.