Worries grow over mini-fab funding.

This article reports that a national facility for high technology silicon process development, seen by industry and academia as essential for Great Britain's competitiveness in mainstream semiconductors, won't be funded. At least not through the British Office of Science and Technology's Large Facilities budget, the contenders for which are due to be shortlisted in the next few weeks. Apart from a general lack of faith in government committees and processes, reasons for the scepticism include comments last week from John Wand, head of Materials at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, that the council will have a better idea of British nanotechnology capabilities when it completes a review in October 2006. The Budget also raised the possibility that in future, projects such as the mini-fabrication will struggle to find support, since it proposed the formation of a dedicated Large Facilities Research Council.