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Spin-off firm gets $1.1 million
By LORRAINE O. WAPPMAN
Reporter Contributor
AMBP Tech Corp., a UB spin-off company, has received a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency.
James Garvey, AMBP Tech founder and UB professor of chemistry, said the grant will allow the company to develop further and commercialize its advanced molecular beam disposition equipment for use in the microelectronics, optoelectronics and coatings industries.
AMBP Tech plans to develop a prototype of its new pulse arc molecular-beam deposition (PAMBD) unit under the two-year grant. AMBP's technique pulses pressurized gases through a plasma arc to create and deposit metal oxide thin films on substrates.
Garvey said that the development of thin films that do not damage sensitive substrates, such as silicon, during chip fabrication has been one of the greatest challenges of the electronics industry. High chip failure rates, he added, can be extremely costly for research-grade supercomputer chip fabricators.
As a UB spin-off company, AMBP Tech has taken advantage of programs made available by the UB Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR).
Working on behalf of STOR, The InVentures Group has provided business-counseling services. The company also is working with a local venture capital group to secure additional funding, and plans to work with the Western New York Technology Development Center to develop a marketing and business strategy.
This is the second grant awarded to AMBP Tech in the past two years. AMBP Tech, founded in 1997, was awarded a grant under the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program in 2000.
This grant allowed the company to develop its laser-assisted molecular beam deposition (LAMBD) unit and enabled the company's move into the UB Technology Incubator, located in Amherst adjacent to the North Campus.
According to Garvey, the idea behind PAMBD is similar in principal to LAMBD. While LAMBD uses a laser to rapidly heat a metal target, creating high temperature plasmas, PAMBP uses an electrical discharge between two metal target rods to create the plasma. He explained that a pulse of reagent gas is injected into the plasma, causing a unique chemical reaction. With each pulse, the resulting product, or film, is uniformly deposited onto a substrate with 100 percent efficiency.
By adjusting the pulse power and expansion conditions, Garvey added, the amount of material deposited by each pulse can be varied. Likewise, regulating the total number of pulses used in the deposition process allows precise control of film thickness. Varying the metal rods and reagent gases can develop a variety of complex film or alloys.
AMBP Tech plans to have a PAMBD prototype developed by the end of 2003 and begin marketing the tool the following year. More information on AMBP Tech can be found at http://www.ambptech.com.