Who has not dreamed that their laptop or cell phone could operate free of constant recharging? Soon, this will be possible with the coming of magnetic random access memory (MRAM) technology, which uses magnetism instead of electrical charge to store data.

At its huge site near Paris, Altis Semiconductor, a joint venture between IBM and Siemens’ spin-off Infineon, has produced the highest density MRAM chip to date. It is working round the clock to be the first to market the technology, which can significantly increase the battery life of electronics equipment.

Locations scrutinised

Altis has spent E1bn in its Essonnes Nanopole semiconductors plant (named after the county where the site is located), which employs 3000 people, has 25,000m2 of clean rooms and uses as much power as a city of 50,000 people. But when it came to stumping up an extra E170m for a research centre on MRAM and other nanotechnology projects, the company’s shareholders scrutinised every possible site in the world.

“We won because of our industrial performance, France’s attractive incentives and the proximity of the world-class R&D campus of Orsay, where the GMR [giant magneto resistance] effect was discovered 10 years ago,” says Elke Eckstein, Altis chief executive officer.

Altis’ venture illustrates how France is using the strength of its fundamental research to try to become Europe’s leader in nanotechnologies, attract large amounts of foreign investment and bolster the economic life of entire regions. Just as General de Gaulle launched a determined research effort in aeronautics and space in the 1960s that later gave birth to the Concorde, Airbus and Ariane, today’s authorities count on nanotechnologies to ensure that the country remains at the forefront of technological innovation.

For a long time, France’s research sector was reluctant to co-operate with industry. But attitudes are changing. This is particularly true in the Paris Ile de France region, which hosts 45% of the nation’s research capacities and 7% of the EU’s. An Optics Valley marketing bureau, financed by the region, is busy finding foreign partners in China, the US, Singapore and Germany for its 15 top laboratories.

Joint efforts

While Altis works hand in hand with the Institut d’Electronique Fondamentale at the Orsay campus, another laboratory, the Institut d’Alembert has teamed up with researchers at Yale and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The latter are attracted by the combination of skills in physics, electrical engineering, chemistry and life sciences that the institute offers.

The institute, directed by professor Joseph Zyss, works closely with companies such as Sony and Motorola in industrial applications for telecoms and data storage. “We welcome foreign firms that wish to profit from the region’s research potential,” says Jean-Claude Sirieys, Optics Valley marketing director.

Nanotechnologies have also been a boon to Grenoble, which for the past 30 years has strived to become a high-tech and microelectronics research hub. The second largest city in the Rhône-Alpes region after Lyon, Grenoble is now home to one of the top five nanotechnology R&D centres in the world.

Under a five-year agreement that extends to December 2007, three microelectronics giants (Franco-Italian group STMicroelectronics, Philips and Motorola) have joined forces to invest up to €3bn to conquer world markets in miniaturised chips. Inaugurated last year, the Crolles 2 Alliance (the largest industrial investment in France of the decade) is developing CMOS – the main microchip technology – from 90 nanometre processes down to 65nm, 45nm and, ultimately, the 32nm node, at which point the limits of silicon technology are expected to be reached.

The consortium aims to cut costs and market new features on a host of consumer products, such as DVD players, personal video recorders, PC peripherals, and third and fourth-generation mobile handsets.

Time saver

The Crolles 2 centre includes a 300mm wafer semiconductor manufacturing pilot line, which is now ramping up operation. Joel Monnier, corporate vice-president in charge of R&D at STMicroelectronics, says the pilot line has been built to industrial scale to minimise the time that elapses between research and industrialisation. The line is already producing 90nm products, primarily for wireless telecommunications.

Testing is under way for the feasibility of certain functions at 65nm, which makes the venture among the most advanced in the world, according to Mr Monnier. “We were attracted by Grenoble’s large pool of research, with more than 1000 engineers coming out of its schools every year.”

At Crolles 2, the alliance works hand in hand with CEA-Leti, a micro and nanoelectronics research lab that is part of France’s nuclear energy agency, as well as with Belgian research lab IMEC and the Dan Noble Center in Austin, Texas.

With many jobs at stake (the Crolles centre employs 800 people and may reach 12,000 by next year, plus will eventually create about 4500 indirect jobs), the central, regional and local governments have pulled out all the stops to encourage investment, spending more than €500m of public money on facilities.

Grenoble is already reaping the benefits of these efforts. It has become a magnet for microelectronics, attracting components manufacturers from all over the world. Anne-Marie Augoyard, director of the Development Agency of the Isère (the county in which Crolles is located), wants these new technologies to have a ripple effect – giving new qualities to locally produced textiles that cannot be created using existing chemicals, for example.

The availability of public research also explains the emergence of Toulouse (Midi-Pyrénées region) as an important centre for nanotechnologies. Home to Airbus and Alcatel Space, the southern city is Europe’s top aeronautics and aerospace centre and has attracted many companies in the IT industry.

Compared with other regions, the south wants to push diversification to its limits. The LAAS laboratory is well ahead on work on advanced diagnostic techniques that will open the way to personalised treatment for cancer patients and achieve targeted chemotherapy. One Toulouse company, Nanobiotix, already makes “nanobiodrugs”, which target only pathological cells or tissues.

Miniaturisation race

One foreign company in Toulouse, Fujitsu, is also engaged in the race for miniaturisation. The company sells giant, 10-ton scientific calculators to clients such as Météo France (the weather forecast agency), Electricité de France and Airbus. “We dream of developing a calculator the size of a fingernail that will have the same functions as today’s giant computers,” says Pierre Lagier, director of research.

Such projects should ensure that the south “remains a leader in all three sectors: information technologies, biotech and nanotech”, says Jean-Philippe Hanff, director of Midi-Pyrénées Expansion, the region’s development agency.

The region’s ultimate goal is the same as that of the rest of France: to fend off the danger of delocalisation and keep at home the well-paid, highly specialised R&D jobs of the future.