Four Texan Startups Receive AMRC Funding

The Austin-based joint advanced R&D effort involving Sematech and Texas universities, the Advanced Materials Research Center (AMRC), is financially backing four Texas-based startups working on lithography, lighting, organic RFID systems, optical interconnects, wireless networks and nanomaterials.

The companies – Molecular Imprints, OrganicID, Xidex Corp. and Zyvex Corp. – are receiving technology or support from the AMRC, established in 2004 to develop new materials and nanostructures for semiconductors and to explore opportunities for nanotechnology, biotechnology, and other emerging technologies, the organization said.

“One of our primary aims in forming the AMRC is to commercialize new technology in ways that can benefit the people of Texas, by helping create the industries and jobs of the future,” Sanjay Banerjee, technology coordinator for the AMRC and a key educator in the College of Engineering at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin, said in a statement.

These four companies represent the first fruits of that effort, he added.

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Molecular Imprints, based in Austin employing approximately 90 people, is conducting joint development work with the AMRC. The company provides enabling lithography systems for manufacturing applications in nano devices, microstructures, advanced packaging, bio devices, optical components and semiconductor devices. UT professors Grant Willson and S.V. Sreenivasan initiated this technology and UT’s engineering college has already purchased one of Molecular Imprint’s lithography tools.

OrganicID is developing a low-cost, organic electronic process technology designed to replace bar codes with printable electronic radio-frequency (RF) ID tags since silicon RFIDs cost up to $1 each, and are too expensive for item-level tagging. Associated with Ananth Dodabalapur of UT’s college of engineering, the company has a technology development center located at the university’s microelectronics research center, one of the facilities making up the AMRC.

Austin-based Xidex, assisted by AMRC funding and facilities, developed one of Texas’ first business applications of nanotechnology for semiconductor production. The Xidex process uses carbon nanotubes as surface sensors for scanning probe microscopes, which can measure the dimensions of extremely small features in semiconductor devices. Keith Stevenson of UT’s chemistry and biochemistry department collaborates with Xidex on process development.

Finally, Dallas-based Zyvex is collaborating with AMRC researchers and has teamed with the Texas Workforce Commission on major workforce training in nanotech. Zyvex is assisting Texas State Technical Colleges in developing standard nanotechnology curriculum focused on advanced nanomanufacturing along with an internship program that can be replicated by other nanotechnology companies and community colleges across the state.

“With these early successes, the AMRC has done a commendable job in realizing its mission to commercialize critical research in advanced technologies,” said Michael Polcari, president and CEO of Sematech, in a statement. “We look forward to the continuation of these promising business collaborations, which we believe will help create the technology clusters of industries and jobs that will benefit Texans for generations to come."

Details of the funding were not released.