SOUTH BEND -- The mantra of technology -- smaller, faster and more powerful -- could translate into new businesses and more jobs for the region, including Elkhart County.
Elected officials and representatives of the University of Notre Dame and Purdue University gathered Tuesday in the Hesburgh Library to trumpet the opening of the Midwest Academy for Nanoelectronics and Architectures which will help develop the next-generation semiconductor.
The $61 million center will be headquartered at Notre Dame and rely on partnerships with other Midwestern universities as well as national laboratories located nearby.
This will be the fourth center funded by the Semiconductor Research Corp.'s Nanoelectronic Research Initiative. The other sites are at universities in California, Texas and New York.
The Albany Nanotech Center in Albany, N.Y., is bringing more than 1,000 jobs and millions of dollars in investments to that area, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
Officials are optimistic the same can happen here.
Conventional microelectronic technology has relied on shrinking transistors to produce increasingly smaller, faster and cheaper devices ranging from cell phones to laptop computers. With the laws of physics preventing conventional devices from working below a certain size, however, the current technology is nearing its physical limits. MANA's mission will be to explore and develop advanced devices, circuits and nanosystems with applications beyond what is done today.
A new device will have to replace the transistor by 2020 in order "to continue the rapid pace of technological advancement," said Jeff Welser, director of the NRI.
"Moreover," Welser continued, "we recognized the country that found (the new device) and made the switch first would likely dominate the coming nanoelectronic era the same way the United States has dominated the microelectronics era over the past 50 years."
As professors and students at Notre Dame develop their ideas, they will build prototypes that eventually will move into production. Alan Seabaugh, director of MANA, said the manufacturing could stay within the local communities.
The focus of MANA is practical application, said Patrick McMahon, executive director of Project Future. As the center works to take whatever new device is developed and put it into a piece of electronic equipment, the region may be best situated to take on the manufacturing component.
"We're one of the better places for that to happen because we're very good in our region at making things," McMahon said. "And a place like Elkhart that is so invested in manufacturing will see significant benefits as this all unfolds over the next five to 15 years."