Valued at $4.5 million, the new research facility, funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Government of Québec, is one of five laboratories across Canada that are part of the national emSYSCAN initiative.

emSYSCAN is a national five-year project worth over $50 million, and involves more than 250 university researchers at 37 institutions in Canada. The emSYSCAN project, led by Queen's University, provides platform-based microsystems prototyping environments, design and simulation tools and brings functional enhancements to labs like emSYSCAN-Poly.  emSYSCAN infrastructure will shorten the microsystems development cycle, leading to rapid commercialization, publication, and training of highly qualified personnel within a national and international multidisciplinary research environment.

As a project manager and strategic partner of emSYSCAN, CMC Microsystems is providing management and engineering development services with the support of its personnel to purchase, install, operate and maintain the national infrastructure.

“Through the emSYSCAN network, which now includes Polytechnique Montréal, CMC microsystems enables and supports the establishment and integration of microsystems research, creating access to prototyping and manufacturing capabilities through partnerships with industry,” explains Simon Fraser University professor and CMC Board Chair Bozena Kaminska. “I strongly believe that our national joint efforts will create extraordinary value for Canada, with organizations sharing ideas and information and working together to build both a global vision and the infrastructure necessary to realize it.”

The emSYSCAN-Poly laboratory consists of a wide range of micromanufacturing equipment, design and prototyping tools and test platforms located in four well-established laboratories in Polytechnique's Electrical and Engineering Physics departments: the Poly-Grames Research Centre, the Polystim Neurotechnologies Laboratory, the Microelectronics and Microsystems Research Group (GR2M) and the Thin-Film Physics and Technology Research Group (GCM).

“Microsystems are a burgeoning field. They are found everywhere, such as in the areas of health, the environment, aerospace, automobiles, mobile phones, inkjet printers and myriad applications and optical devices,” says Christophe Guy, Chief Executive Officer of Polytechnique Montréal. “The emSYSCAN equipment complements our laboratories perfectly and enables us to support the industry to an even greater extent. Many Canadian companies, including AMD, BlackBerry, and Micralyne, and in particular Québec firms such as Bombardier, Matrox and Octasic, will benefit from new products and skilled young graduates.” 

From left to right: Christophe Guy, Chief Executive Officer, Polytechnique Montréal; Bozena Kaminska, Chair of the Board of Directors, CMC Microsystems; Richard Oleschuk, Professor, Department of Chemistry, Queen's University; Yvon Savaria, Professor and Department Head of Electrical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal; Ian McWalter, President and Chief Executive Officer, CMC Microsystems.

For his part, Yvon Savaria, one of the 10 initiators of the Canadian emSYSCAN project, a member of the initiative's co-ordinating committee and Director of Polytechnique's Department of Electrical Engineering, notes: “The emSYSCAN-Poly laboratory, a unique facility, will serve as a comprehensive toolkit for the rapid design and prototyping of microsystems.” Available to partners in industry and academia, the equipment will help create synergy among the sector's various stakeholders. Mr. Savaria adds: “Some 40 researchers from 13 universities across Québec will use the new facilities on an ongoing basis, and 90 other professors and about 650 students at the master's and doctoral levels will also benefit from the facility.”

CMC Microsystems has been enabling and supporting the creation and application of micro- and nano-system knowledge for over 30 years by providing a national infrastructure for excellence in research and a path to commercialization of related devices, components and systems.