July 2008

ETH Zürich and IBM establish nanotech lab in the Greater Zurich Area

ETH Zürich – the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich – and IBM are strengthening their longstanding scientific cooperation. The two institutions are investing 90 million USD in a new nanotechnology research center. The center will be built in the grounds of the IBM research laboratory in Rüschlikon (canton of Zurich). The foundation stone will be laid in spring 2009 and by 2011 the center will provide around 6000 square meters of space for joint research into various branches of nanotechnology such as nanophotonics, spintronics and tribology.

The ETH-IBM collaboration will «accelerate knowledge of nanotechnology and its multiple uses,» says John E. Kelly, senior vice-president and director of research at IBM. This will also benefit the Swiss economy. «This nanotech lab will be a big gain not only for the participating institutions, but also for Swiss industry as a whole,» says ETH president Ralph Eichler. The new laboratory also allows ETH students to carry out their research work in close cooperation with an industrial partner.

ETH Zürich and IBM have recently notched up big successes in connection with nanotechnology: with Wolfgang Pauli’s quantum-mechanical concepts and the development of the scanning tunneling microscope by Gerhard Binning and Heinrich Rohrer. The new research laboratory offers good conditions to promote another decisive step forward in nanotechnology.

www.ethlife.ethz.ch

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