Researchers sponsored by Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) developed new sensor-based metrology technology that can significantly reduce water and related energy usage during semiconductor manufacturing. The sensor-based real-time monitoring approach showed 30% less water and energy used for ultra-clean chip production. The SRC Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing team at the University of Arizona (UA) calls this "the most significant metrology improvements for the rinse and cleaning of wafers in more than a decade."

Dhane, K., Jeongnam Han, Jun Yan, O. Mahdavi, D. Za- mani, B. Vermeire, F. Shadman: Dynamics of Cleaning and Rinsing of Micro and Nano Structures in Single-Wafer Cleaning Tools, In: IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, Volume 24, Issue 1, Feb. 2011, Page 125-133, DOI:10.1109/TSM.2010.2089542: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2010.2089542

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University (US) has entered into a Cooperative Agreement worth up to $37 million with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop an automated instrument that integrates 10 human organs-on-chips to study complex human physiology outside the body. This effort builds on the Institute‘s past breakthroughs in which Institute researchers engineered microchips that recapitulate the micro-architecture and functions of living organs, such as the lung, heart, and intestine. Each individual organ-on-chip is composed of a clear flexible polymer – about the size of a computer memory stick – that contains hollow microfluidic channels lined by living human cells. Because the microdevices are translucent, they provide a window into the inner-workings of human organs without having to invade a living body.

Image: Wyss Institute researchers and a multidisciplinary team of collaborators seek to build and link 10 human organs-on- chips to mimic whole body physiology. The system will incorporate the Institute‘s Human Lung-on-a-Chip (top) and Human Gut-on-a-Chip (bottom). © Harvard University

Wyss Founding Director, Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., and Wyss Core Faculty member, Kevin Kit Parker, Ph.D., will co-lead this five-year project.