PARC, a Xerox company, announced the opening of new cleanroom facilities for use by corporate research departments, government agencies and startup companies to develop prototype electronic devices and novel technologies quickly and cost-effectively.
 
PARC’s shared “cleanroom-as-a-service” center was designed to enable partners to develop and test new thin-film electronics and optoelectronic devices. PARC provides end-to-end processes to design and fabricate a wide variety of active devices. The PARC Cleanroom can prototype display and imaging thin-film transistor backplanes which are compatible with manufacturing facilities.
 
The PARC Cleanroom is equipped with a wide range of tools that allow for unique processes such as deposition, electroplating, etching, wafer bonding and sputtering. In addition, PARC Cleanroom clients can draw on PARC’s expertise in working with semiconductor thin-film materials including amorphous silicon, metal oxides, low-temperature polysilicon and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
 
“The new cleanroom gives PARC’s partners a newfound ability to develop and test exciting products in the areas of printed organic semiconductors, flexible electronics, nanowire devices, and solar cells,” said Bob Street, PARC Senior Research Fellow and manager of the Printed Electronic Devices area.
 
“Many large technology manufacturers already have advanced cleanrooms in place, but very few facilities are readily available to those who need small and medium-sized research and development capabilities to develop next-generation electronic devices,” said Noble Johnson, PARC Research Fellow and manager of the Optoelectronic Materials and Devices area. “Using these advanced tools, our expert staff is poised to help clients with their prototype designs, simulation and fabrication.”