Honeywell Electronic Materials Inc., of Tempe, Ariz., says it plans to invest more than $1 million in remodeling and acquiring new equipment for its research and development center at its Spokane Valley-based plant this year.


The capital project is part of the companys efforts to stay at the leading edge of the semiconductor industry, Honeywell says. The center at the plant here, at 15128 E. Euclid, develops a variety of materials that Honeywells customers use to make semiconductors. Some of the materials are used in connective and resistive layers in integrated circuits. Others, called thermal interface materials, are designed to dissipate the considerable heat created by the huge number of resistors on each chip.


The project here will involve installing 85 new pieces of equipment, which will allow expanded and enhanced thermal interface material mixing, analytical and application testing, thermal and reliability testing, and failure analysis, the company says.


It also will involve creating a metrology laboratory that will allow Honeywell to replicate customers manufacturing problems and test solutions.


The project wont cause the plant, which currently employs more than 400 people, to hire additional workers initially, but Honeywell could hire more people here in the future in response to the growth thats expected to result from the investment, says Peter Dalpe, a New Jersey-based spokesman for the company.


The remodeling project will involve rearranging work spaces within the facility to accommodate the new equipment, he says. The renovations and installation of new equipment should be completed by the end of this year.


Honeywell Electronic Materials operates under Honeywell Specialty Materials, a Morristown, N.J.-based unit of giant Honeywell International Inc., of Morris Township, N.J.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.