IIT Bombay Nanofabrication Facility wins ASSOCHAMs Platinum Award

IIT Bombays Nanofabrication Facility (IITBNF) was awarded The Associated Chambers of

Commerce and Industry of Indias (ASSOCHAM) Platinum Award in the Science and

Technology category. The Award was presented in an award ceremony held in New Delhi on

June 10, 2014. The award was presented for the work done by the facility for undertaking path

breaking research of social and commercial relevance and developing prototypes and incubating

companies.

Centre for Excellence in Nanoelectronics (CEN) was established in 2005 and made into a facility

(IITBNF) in 2013. Other facilities such as Indian Nanoelectronics User Program (INUP), and the

Silicon Solar Cell research of the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education

(NCPRE) also come under IITBNF. The facility is run by the Department of Electrical

Engineering, and the proceedings are governed by a Faculty oversight Committee. The facility

also receives funding from the industry and the Department of Electronics and Information

Technology (DeitY), Government of India.

Through seminal papers, international patents, industrial collaborations, and technical leadership,

the IIT Bombay Nanofabrication Facility made a substantial impact on the semiconductor industry.

Over 100 institutions and multiple industries currently use the IIT Bombay Nano Fabrication

Facilities through the INUP. Research conducted at the IITBNF has also led to the creation of a

SINE-incubated start up, Nanosniff. Nanosniff is one of the first Indian companies to offer

specialist products around Nano-scale devices, having already commercialized the

Microcantilever Sensor technology successfully.

The ground-breaking work by the IITBNF in the field of drain extended MOS (deMOS), jointly

with the semiconductor industry, has been recognized and granted several international patents

and has been licensed to industries such as Intel and Infineon for commercialization. IITBNF team

demonstrated a piezo-resistive polymer composite cantilever technology by integrating a strain

sensitive thin film transistor with a polymer cantilever (CantiFET). With the CantiFET technology,

the group has been able to demonstrate a record high piezo-resistive response to surface stress.

Using these low-cost sensor platforms, IITB has developed a low cost cardiac diagnostic system

for screening of patients who are in the early stages of acute myocardial infarction. The technology

that is pioneered in the IITBNF uses polymeric materials for building a sub-Rs. 100 chip and a

simple instrumentation (costing below Rs. 5000) to detect incipient cardiac attacks that go

undetected before major attacks occur. The other innovative application in the IITB-NF has been

to develop an ultra-low cost vapour phase explosive detection system for use by the Indian security

agencies.

The IITB-NF has also been driving the emergence of a vital industry-academia relationship in the

field of Nanoelectronics in India. Based on the leadership IITBNF provided in education and

research, the government has set up five National Centres of Excellence in the field of

Nanoelectronics across the country, leading to a significant growth of this vital sector in India.

Over 100 institutions are currently involved in the IITB-NF which has helped provide a significant

impetus to the growth of the semiconductor industry in the country. The centre has emerged as a

hub for multi-disciplinary activity in the country.

Further details about IITBNF can be obtained from:

Centre for Excellence in Nanoelectronics

Electrical Engineering Annex,

Email: cen@ee.iitb.ac.in

Web site: http://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~nanoe/