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Upstream Technology Platform (PTA)
An “open-source” nanoscience research tool. One of the pillars of MINATEC is the Upstream Technology Platform (PTA), which is run jointly by INAC (formerly DRFMC) and LTM (Laboratoire des technologies de la Microélectronique). With 750 square meters of clean room space, PTA offers a broad array of state-of-the art equipment for optical and electronic lithography, depositing and etching, metrology, and micro and nanosystems.
Research at the platform focuses mainly on nanoelectronics beyond CMOS, spintronics, nanophotonics, molecular electronics, mechanical nanosystems, nanomaterials, and biological interfaces.
The PTA is available for use by researchers and industry professionals from Grenoble and elsewhere. The platform’s staff of scientists and engineers review potential research projects and, once a project is selected, train users—who then benefit from direct access to the equipment.
The platform’s annual operating budget is around €850K, and total investment about €15 million.
The platform has the capabilities to host research on all kinds of materials and substrates up to 100 mm in diameter.
When operating at full capacity, the platform can handle around 100 projects representing from 30 hours of research per year up to 500 hours a year or more. No other facility in France hosts as many outside research projects as PTA.
