Cargill partners with ASU to explore bio-based materials in chip manufacturing

 The Minnesota-based agribusiness giant’s bioindustrial team is working with scientists at ASU’s Biodesign Institute to study the performance of a compound known as Priamine dimer diamine, often used in computer chip packaging materials, and how the product could be used to improve speed, efficiency and reliability of electronic devices.

Originally developed for other applications, #Cargill’s Priamine has shown strong potential in the semiconductor industry, according to a university announcement.

Cargill’s Priamine — made from bio-based raw materials exhibits performance benefits such as flexibility, durability and moisture resistance. That makes it ideal for use in adhesives, films and coatings, which are all critical parts of semiconductor manufacturing.

This is a great example of how customer feedback and academic research can open up new possibilities, Erwin Honcoop, research and technology leader at Cargill Bioindustrial, said in a statement. We discovered that Priamine was delivering excellent performance in electronics, and this partnership allows us to better understand why and what more we can do to help our customers solve real-world challenges.

ASU professor Tim Long and his team will lead the research project, which began May 12 at ASU’s Biodesign Institute.

“The research really revolves around ‘Can we use bio-based feedstocks in a computer? Well, at first glance, it’s like, ‘Oh no, you can’t do that,'” Long told the Business Journal. “But what Cargill is doing is they’re taking really intricate fatty acid-based molecules and they’re generating precursors to plastics that give properties equal to many of the materials used right now in various components in the semiconductor manufacturing process. So it’s kind of intriguing.

The yearlong research project represents the first step in what could lead to a comprehensive, synergistic relationship between Cargill and ASU, said Long, who is also director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing,Cargill is an internationally known leader of bio-sourced chemicals, plastics and materials.

It’s an outstanding opportunity to bridge the company with the Biodesign Institute, which is all about nature-inspired research.

Long has already selected two ASU students to participate in the research project and they’ll also gain exposure to Cargill’s operations, he added.

“It’s very much a working relationship. The students are visiting Cargill. Cargill will be coming here,” he said. “So I think it’s very much going to be a seamless laboratory between the university and the company.

ASU plays critical role in semiconductor R&D

The Cargill and ASU research partnership marks the latest of many semiconductor-related announcements involving the university.

In January, the U.S. Department of Commerce selected Arizona as the site of the NSTC Prototyping and NAPMP Advanced Packaging Pilot Facility, which will be based at ASU’s Research Park in Tempe.

It will be the country’s third flagship CHIPS for America research and development facility, set up with a focus on R&D to bridge the gap between laboratory research and full-scale semiconductor production.

What’s more, ASU last November landed a $100 million federal CHIPS Act grant to support the SHIELD USA initiative, a project led by a university research team and Deca Technologies, a Tempe-based advanced packaging technology provider.

SHIELD USA will spur creation of a domestic ecosystem of new advanced packaging service providers — or interconnect foundries — centered on molded core substrate and fan-out wafer-level packaging technologies, the Business Journal previously reported.

And earlier this week, Quantum Computing Inc. opened its semiconductor manufacturing facility at ASU Research Park, where it plans to produce thin film lithium niobate chips for use in high-performance computing, machine learning, cybersecurity, sensing and imaging products.

As the U.S. cultivates investments in this industry, ASU’s ongoing research and workforce development are driving innovation and training the next generation of engineers and scientists,” Sally Morton, executive vice president of ASU Knowledge Enterprise, said in a statement. “Arizona is the place to help secure a lab-to-fab ecosystem.”

source:Cargil/Arizona Technology Council