July 23, 2007 — During the Semicon West trade show (July 16 – 19) last week, a standing-room-only crowd looked on as executives from Brewer Science and Nantero Inc. took the stage to announce a development particularly applicable to standard semiconductor processing: the availability (for sale beginning August 1, 2007) of “the first microelectronics-grade carbon nanotube (CNT) coating.”
Brewer manufactures the material, and under a technology license from Nantero, is the exclusive manufacturer and supplier of microelectronics-grade CNT coating for Nantero’s NRAM field of uses.
Brewer Science says that a breakthrough in the refinement of the carbon nanotube material enables the removal of metallic and carbonaceous contaminants. The company also notes that the solution is easily applied by spinning, spraying, micro-dispensing, or ink-jet printing.
The room-temperature stable coating promises consistent resistivity across a substrate, a shelf life of more than 6 months, and compatibility with standard processing tools.
Jim Lamb, Brewer Science’s Director of Corporate Business Development, states, “This breakthrough carbon nanotube coating opens up a new realm of possible avenues of emerging technology. We will see the viability of carbon nanotubes being used to form not only nonvolatile memory but also thermal conductive coatings, touch screen displays, chemical/biological sensors, and carbon-based electronics. These carbon nanotube networks are easily patterned by traditional photolithography processes to allow placement and use of the electrical and mechanical properties of the nanotubes within a device.”
The Brewer Science CNT coating promises:
+ Industry standard cleanliness for trace metals
+ Low carbonaceous impurities
+ Individual, unbundled CNTs in a surfactant-free benign solvent
+ Stable suspension of individual carbon nanotubes
+ Trusted semiconductor materials manufacturer
+ Ability to be processed by legacy fabrication and diagnostic tools
Its applications include:
+ Nantero’s NRAM — nonvolatile, highly scalable, fast memory for stand-alone, embedded, or application-specific designs
+ Biosensor and IR detector applications
+ Touch-screen display applications
Said Greg Schmergel, co-founder and CEO of Nantero, “We wanted to work with Brewer Science because the companies that will license NRAM know and trust Brewer Science as a highly innovative materials supplier.”