Category Archives: LEDs

(November 15, 2010) — In his presentation at the MEPTEC Semiconductor Packaging Roadmaps conference (Santa Clara, CA; 11/10/10), Lee Smith, VP, business development at Amkor, made a case for full supply chain collaboration as the industry moves to 3D ICs with TSVs. Among the drivers for collaboration in 3D packaging development are the rising R&D costs and capital intensity, shorter product and technology life cycles and the attendant margin "squeeze" along with the consolidation of demand to achieve ROI requirements.

One collaboration integrated design manufacturer (IDM)/outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) provider case study is Amkor’s work with TI; in July 2010, the companies announced qualification and high-volume manufacturing of fine pitch copper pillar technology. Smith said that the new lead-free technology enables bump pitches of ≤50µm and is cost competitive with wire bonding. 

Listen to Lee Smith’s interview: Download or Play Now

In this podcast interview, Smith discusses the three generations in the transition to 3D packaging and how the OSATs shape the development roadmap. In the first generation of die stacking, it was the memory industry and their OSAT suppliers who collaborated; then logic plus memory integration led to further collaboration. In the second generation (package stacking), OEMs were the key drivers in initiating collaboration: the logic, memory, OSATs, plus EMS industry, all enabled package stack solution in high-volumes. And as the industry enters the third stage of 3D packaging — a complete 3D architecture with TSVs — Smith says that we need complete supply chain collaboration: EDA tool suppliers, equipment/materials suppliers, logic, memory, fabless, IDMs, and the SATs, to develop and deploy the technologies.

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(November 15, 2010) — Jay Esfandyari, Roberto De Nuccio, Gang Xu, STMicroelectronics, introduce how MEMS gyroscopes work and their applications, the main parameters of a MEMS gyroscope with analog or digital outputs, practical MEMS gyroscope calibration techniques, and how to test the MEMS gyroscope performance in terms of angular displacement.

The significant size reduction of multi-axis MEMS gyroscope structures and their integration with digital interface into a single package of a few square millimeters of area at an affordable cost have accelerated the penetration of MEMS gyroscopes into hand-held devices.

MEMS gyroscopes have enabled exciting applications in portable devices including optical image stabilization for camera performance improvement, user interface for additional features and ease of use, and gaming for more exciting entertainment. Further applications such as dead reckoning and GPS assistance that require high sensitivity, low noise, and low drift over temperature and time are on the horizon.

Here, we discuss the methods and techniques of quickly getting meaningful information from a MEMS gyroscope in terms of angular velocity and angular displacement measurements.

MEMS gyroscope introduction

MEMS gyroscopes are making significant progress towards high performance and low power consumption. They are mass produced at low cost with small form factor to suit the consumer electronics market.
MEMS gyroscopes use the Coriolis Effect to measure the angular rate, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Coriolis effect.

When a mass (m) is moving in direction v→ and angular rotation velocity Ω→ is applied, then the mass will experience a force in the direction of the arrow as a result of the Coriolis force. And the resulting physical displacement caused by the Coriolis force is then read from a capacitive sensing structure.

Most available MEMS gyroscopes use a tuning fork configuration. Two masses oscillate and move constantly in opposite directions (Figure 2). When angular velocity is applied, the Coriolis force on each mass also acts in opposite directions, which result in capacitance change. This differential value in capacitance is proportional to the angular velocity Ω > and is then converted into output voltage for analog gyroscopes or LSBs for digital gyroscopes.

When linear acceleration is applied to two masses, they move in the same direction. Therefore, there will be no capacitance difference detected. The gyroscope will output zero-rate level of voltage or LSBs, which shows that the MEMS gyroscopes are not sensitive to linear acceleration such as tilt, shock, or vibration.

Figure 2. When angular velocity is applied.

MEMS gyroscope applications

MEMS gyroscopes can measure angular velocity. Digital cameras use gyroscopes to detect hand rotation for image stabilization. A yaw rate gyroscope can be used in cars to activate the electronic stability control (ESC) brake system to prevent accidents from happening when the car is making a sharp turn. And a roll gyroscope can be used to activate airbags when a rollover condition happens.

A yaw rate gyroscope can be used in cars to measure the orientation to keep the car moving on a digital map when GPS signal is lost. This is called car dead-reckoning backup system.

The yaw rate gyroscope can also be used for indoor robot control.

Multiple inertial measurement units (IMUs) can be mounted on arms and legs for body tracking and monitoring.

The IMU can also be used for air mouse application, motion gaming platforms and personal navigation devices with the integration of magnetometer and GPS receiver.

Understanding the major parameters of MEMS gyroscopes

Power supply (Volts): This parameter defines the gyroscope operating DC power supply voltage range.

Power supply current (mA): This parameter defines the typical current consumption in operation mode.

Power supply current in sleep mode (mA): This parameter defines the current consumption when the gyroscope is in sleep mode.
 
Power supply current in power-down mode (uA): This parameter defines the current consumption when the gyroscope is powered down.

Full scale range (dps): This parameter defines the gyroscope measurement range.

Zero-rate level (Volts or LSBs): This parameter defines the zero rate level when there is no angular velocity applied to the gyroscope.

Sensitivity (mV/dps or dps/LSB): Sensitivity in mV/dps defines the relationship between 1dps and the analog gyroscope’s output voltage change over the zero-rate level. For digital gyroscopes, the sensitivity (dps/LSB) is the relationship between 1LSB and dps.

Sensitivity change vs. temperature (%/°C): This parameter defines when temperature changes from 25°C room temperature, how the sensitivity will change in percentage per °C.

Zero-rate level change vs. temperature (dps/°C): This parameter defines, when temperature changes from 25°C, how the zero-rate level will change per °C.

Non linearity (% FS): This parameter defines the maximum error between the gyroscope’s outputs and the best fit straight line in percentage with respect to full scale (FS) range.

System bandwidth (Hz): This parameter defines the angular velocity signal frequency from DC to the built-in bandwidth (BW) that the analog gyroscopes can measure.

Rate noise density (dps/√Hz): This parameter defines the standard resolution for both analog and digital gyroscopes that one can get from the gyroscopes’ outputs together with the BW parameter.

Self-test (mV or dps): This feature can be used to verify if the gyroscope is working properly or not without physically rotating the printed circuit board (PCB) after the gyroscope is mounted on the PCB.

Calibrating a MEMS gyroscope

Gyroscopes are usually factory tested and calibrated in terms of zero-rate level and sensitivity. However, after the gyroscope is assembled on the PCB, due to the stress, the zero-rate level and sensitivity may change slightly from the factory trimmed values.

For applications such as gaming and remote controllers, one can simply use the typical zero-rate level and sensitivity values in the datasheet to convert gyroscope measurement to angular velocities.

For more demanding applications the gyroscope needs to be calibrated for new zero-rate level and sensitivity values and other important parameters such as:

  • Misalignment (or cross-axis sensitivity)
  • Linear acceleration sensitivity or g-sensitivity
  • Long term in-run bias stability
  • Turn-on to turn-on bias stability
  • Bias and sensitivity drift over temperature
  • Getting rid of zero-rate instability

The gyroscope output can be expressed as Equation 1.

Rt = SC × (Rm – R0)     (1)

Where,
 Rt (dps): true angular rate
 Rm  (LSBs): gyroscope measurement
 R0 (LSBs): zero-rate level
 SC (dps/LSB): sensitivity

In order to compensate for turn-on to turn-on bias instability, after the gyroscope is powered on, one can collect 50 to 100 samples and then average these samples as the turn-on zero-rate level R0, assuming that the gyroscope is stationary.

Due to temperature change and measurement noise, the gyroscope readings will vary slightly when the gyroscope is stationary. It is necessary to set a threshold Rth to zero the gyroscope readings if the absolute value is within the threshold as shown in Equation 2. This will get rid of the zero-rate noise so that the angular displacement will not accumulate when the gyroscope is stationary.  

ΔR = (Rm – R0) = 0 if |(Rm – R0)| < Rth      (2)

Every time the gyroscope is stationary, one can sample 50 to 100 gyroscope datum and then average these samples as new zero-rate level R0. This will eliminate the zero rate in-run bias and small temperature change.

After the zero-rate instability has been taken care of from the above steps, then Equation (1) becomes

Rt = SC × (Rm – R0) = SC × ΔR      (3)

So the next step will be to determine the sensitivity SC in Equation 3 by using a reference system.

It should be emphasized that the MEMS gyroscope sensitivity usually is very stable over time and temperature and this calibration is needed only for high-sensitivity applications as mentioned above.

Using a rate table to determine gyroscope sensitivity

Because gyroscopes can measure the angular rate directly, the rate table is a perfect reference to calibrate the gyroscope sensitivity.

An accurate rate table includes a built-in temperature chamber and sits on a vibration isolation platform so that the rate table is not sensitive to environment vibration during calibration.

One can mount the hand-held device in an orthogonal aluminum cube or plastic box and then mount the whole system on the rate table for calibration. Control the rate table to spin at two different angular rates clockwise and counterclockwise. For multi-axis gyroscopes, put the orthogonal box at different orientation on the rate table and repeat the above process. After collecting the gyroscope raw data in different situations, the zero-rate level, sensitivity, misalignment matrix and g-sensitivity values can be determined.

Another option is a step motor spin table to calibrate the gyroscope. The spin table can be programmed and controlled by a PC. 

Using a digital compass to determine gyroscope sensitivity

The other option is to use a digital compass to calibrate the gyroscope if there is no rate table available.

Before gyroscope calibration, the digital compass needs to be calibrated for tilt compensation and operate on a table without surrounding magnetic interference field. Then combining digital compass relative heading information and gyroscope output data at constant sampling time interval, the gyroscope sensitivity can be calibrated as shown in Equation 4.

H(n) = H(1) + h × SC × n/∑/i-1 ΔR(i)      (4)

Where,
 n: samples collected
 h: sampling time interval.
 H(1): initial electronic compass heading
 H(n): the new compass heading at nth sample
 SC (dps/LSB): gyroscope sensitivity
 ΔR(i): gyroscope output data after removal of zero-rate level and dead zone at ith sample

Equation 4 can be rewritten as:

H = SC × G      (5)

Where,

Then from Equation 5, one can get the SC based on Least Square method.

SC = [GT × G]-1 × GT × H      (6)

Figure 3 shows the plot of compass relative heading change in degrees and the gyroscope angular displacement after integration in degrees.

Figure 3. Compass relative heading and gyroscope angular displacement

In Figure 3, one can see that the compass relative Heading change (red) and the gyroscope angular displacement (blue) have perfect linear relationship. By applying Equation 6, one can obtain the gyroscope sensitivity calibration parameter.

Testing a MEMS gyroscope

After gyroscope calibration, the last step is to test the performance of the gyroscope to understand how to obtain meaningful angular displacement information from the gyroscope raw data.

Test 1: When gyroscope is stationary. When gyroscope is not rotating, the gyroscope output raw data should be around the zero-rate level and the gyroscope heading after integration should be always 0°.

Test 2: When gyroscope is rotating full round clockwise. After sampling 30 to 50 samples of the gyroscope raw data as the new zero-rate level offset, rotate the gyroscope clockwise 90°, and then another 90°, till full round 360°. The plot is shown in Figure 4. The peak of each 90° rotation gyroscope raw data is different showing that the angular velocity is slower or faster. But the error of the final angular displacement is only about 0.6°.

Figure 4. Single axis gyroscope rotating full round clockwise.

Test 3: When gyroscope is rotating full round counterclockwise. After sampling 30 to 50 samples of the gyroscope raw data as the new zero-rate level offset, rotate the gyroscope counterclockwise 90°, and then another 90°, till full round 360°. In this case the angular velocity polarity is positive other than negative in Figure 4.

Conclusion

Advances in MEMS technology and processes have led to low-cost, high-performance MEMS gyroscopes with lower power consumption and smaller size, enabling new exciting applications in handheld devices.

MEMS gyroscopes are calibrated during the characterization and qualification process. They do not require re-calibration for most applications. However, for complex and demanding applications such as navigation and dead reckoning, re-calibrate the zero-rate level and sensitivity after the gyroscope is mounted on the PCB is recommended.

References
1. STMicroelectronics MEMS gyroscopes Presentation, http://www.st.com/stonline/domains/support/epresentations/memsgyroscopes/gyros.htm

2. STMicroelectronics MEMS gyroscope Portfolio: LY330ALH, L3G4200D, http://www.st.com/stonline/products/families/sensors/gyroscopes.htm

Jay Esfandyari received his Master’s degree and Ph.D. in EE from the University of Technology in Vienna and is MEMS product marketing manager at STMicroelectronics, 750 Canyon Dr., Coppell, TX, 75019; (972) 971-4969; [email protected].

Roberto De Nuccio received his Master’s degree in Telecommunication engineering in Milan / Italy and is business development manager at STMicroelectronics.

Gang Xu received his Ph. D from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and senior application engineer at STMicroelectronics.

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(November 12, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — Arrayit Corporation (OTCBB: ARYC) sold a third advanced microarray manufacturing system to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. The NanoPrint LM60 Microarrayer equipped with Arrayit’s Patented Microarray Manufacturing Technology is a computer-driven robotic microarray manufacturing system that enables the screening of 1.5 million lead therapeutic compounds per run, and the NanoPrint LM210 enables more than 5 million.

UT Southwestern will use the NanoPrint LM60 to screen large libraries of potential therapeutic small molecules involved in cancer and heart disease. These small molecules have advantageous stability and biological activity, are suitable for drug delivery, and are easily manufactured in large, diverse libraries, making them attractive for therapeutic use. Read more about nanotechnology in medicine in our Life Sciences and Medical Technology center.

The use of Arrayit’s technology and UT Southwestern’s systematic approach has already led to the discovery of specific compounds known to be involved in cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Once an Arrayit manufacturing platform is installed, UT Southwestern can purchase an ongoing supply of proprietary consumable products for applications in small-molecule high-throughput screening, gene expression, multiplexed immunoassays, cytogenetics and more.

The company’s proprietary microarray manufacturing technology has been installed at more than 3,800 institutions worldwide, including 27 in Texas.

Arrayit Corporation supplies proprietary life science technologies and consumables for disease prevention, treatment and cure to genetic, research, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic sectors. Please visit www.arrayit.com for more information.

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(November 11, 2010) — According to Dean Freeman, research VP at Gartner, the LED market will see ~11% growth in 2010, and ~35% growth in 2011. Primary drivers are LCD backlit TVs, which are expected to have an adoption rate of about 25-26% in 2010 to ~80% by 2014. The real driver for LED market, however, is solid-state lighting.

Click to Enlarge
Figure 1. Lighting inflection point: 2015 (2010-2020 forecast) Gartner September 2010 forecast data.

According to Freeman, the inflection point, i.e., the point at which people will start switching to LED lighting in a very rapid manner, will occur in about 2015. Sometime in the 2014-2016 timeframe, the price of a 60W LED bulb should be dropping down to the $12-$15 range. The market may see growth over a 4-year time frame where shipments of LEDs go from about tens of millions of LEDs to billions of LEDs on an annual basis. Freeman details the market drivers and inhibitors in a podcast interview with Debra Vogler, senior technical editor, at Gartner’s Semiconductor Briefing (San Jose, CA 11/4/10).

Listen to Freeman’s interview: Download or Play Now

Reaping the benefits of the accelerating interest in LEDs is the MOCVD equipment market. Sales of MOCVD equipment nearly tripled in 2010, but the cloud in the silver lining, according to Freeman, is an over/under supply situation that is developing as the LED TV market is in a pause point and LEDs are becoming more efficient, so not as many may be needed for backlighting applications. Until solid-state lighting takes off in a few years, the road will be a little bumpy with a lot of ups and downs said Freeman. Overall, in the next five years, Gartner sees a 30% growth rate in the MOCVD market. As end users move from 2in. wafers to 4in., 6in., and potentially 8in., there are inflection point opportunities for suppliers (other than current MOCVD suppliers) to move into the MOCVD market notes Freeman, though due diligence will be critical because the space is already saturated with some very strong players.

Click to Enlarge

Figure 2. MOCVD equipment improvements impact the outlook. Gartner September 2010 forecast data.

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(November 11, 2010) — Nordson ASYMTEK, provider of dispensing, coating, and jetting technologies, was selected by LG Display Co. Ltd. as the exclusive provider of dispensing equipment for LG Display’s LED BLU manufacturing operations in Nanjing and Guangzhou, China.

Nordson ASYMTEK automated dispensing equipment installations at both sites are part of an ongoing relationship between the companies in which Nordson ASYMTEK will also provide process development and on-site service support.

The LED dispensing products that have been provided to LG Display incorporate Nordson ASYMTEK’s DispenseJet technology. The jet dispensers were able to increase the speed, accuracy, and yield in the manufacture of LG’s LED BLU technology, which were key factors in the supplier selection.

"Nordson ASYMTEK’s equipment, service, and support are aligned to foster LG’s growth strategy to secure a competitive edge by setting and meeting the highest goals in all realms of innovation, including design and technology. It is anticipated that LG’s investment in Nordson ASYMTEK will continue to benefit LG and its customers," said Greg Wood, VP, Nordson’s Advanced Technology Systems, Asia.

LG Display Co. Ltd. manufactures and supplies thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, OLEDs and flexible displays. Please visit www.lgdisplay.com for more information.

Nordson ASYMTEK provides automated fluid dispensing, conformal coating, and jetting technologies, and designs and manufactures a full line of dispensing and coating systems. For more information, visit www.nordsonasymtek.com.

Nordson Corporation produces precision dispensing equipment that applies adhesives, sealants, liquid and powder coatings and other materials to a broad range of consumer and industrial products during manufacturing operations. Visit Nordson at www.nordson.com

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(November 9, 2010) — Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: KLIC) introduced the IConnPS ProCu wire bonder optimized for copper wire bonding. The K&S IConnPS ProCu offers a significant and new level of capability for packaging lines transitioning from gold to copper wire bonding.

This is the latest addition to the Power Series product line, which offers high accuracy over a large bondable area for advanced packaging. It employs a combination of precisely designed new hardware, an optimized gas delivery system, and powerful new process controls to provide the most advanced system available for copper wire bonding. Specialized copper processes, ProCuBond and ProCuSSB, address the many challenges of bonding copper wire while delivering higher productivity. New process tools and features make the complex capabilities easy to use. A new cover gas delivery system enables a wide process window with less gas consumption. High precision gas regulation, metering, and filtering enables production stability.

In addition to wire bonders, K&S has been delivering innovative capillary solutions for fine copper wire bonding. The latest offering is the CuPRA3GTM, which delivers excellent bondability, extended life span, and workability with any copper wire type.

The IConnPS ProCu is currently being qualified with customers. Initial production shipments to customers are anticipated this quarter.

Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC) designs and manufactures semiconductor and LED assembly equipment. Learn more at www.kns.com

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(November 5, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — Dow Electronic Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) has broken ground for a new metalorganic precursor manufacturing plant in Cheonan, Korea.

The construction of Dow Electronic Materials’ new Korea plant is part of a multi-phase plan announced in June 2010 to expand TrimethylGallium (TMG) production capacity to meet the surging global demand for the material in the LED and related electronics markets. The facility is expected to be operational in early 2011.

Capacity expansion in the United States at existing facilities is also progressing as planned, with new capacity expected by the end of 2010 and continuing through the first quarter of 2011. Total additional capacity resulting from the multi-phase plan is expected to be 60 metric tons per year.

“Meeting our customers’ near-and long-term needs for high-quality materials continues to be a priority for us,” said Joe Reiser, global business director, Metalorganic Technologies, Dow Electronic Materials. “The construction of our new facility in Korea illustrates our commitment to investing in expansion and having supply capabilities close to our customer base in Asia.”

TMG is a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) precursor material that is critical to the manufacture of LEDs and other compound semiconductor devices. Exceptionally high-quality materials and precise delivery of metalorganic precursors are essential to building reliable LEDs.

The new metalorganic precursor plant in Korea will be located in Cheonan, approximately 85 kilometers south of Seoul. Dow Electronic Materials currently manufactures TMG and other metalorganic precursors in North Andover, MA, while packaging is done in both North Andover, MA, and Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Dow Electronic Materials supplies precursors to the LED market and has patented precursor manufacturing processes and delivery technology. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

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(November 4, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — Post-doctor Yen-Hsun Su of Research Center for Applied Science (RCAS), Academia Sinica, Taiwan, a former student of Department of Physics at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) supervised by Prof. Wei-Min Zhang of Department of Physics and Assistant Prof. Shih-Hui Chang of Institute of Electro-Optical Science and Engineering, has discovered that gold nanoparticles can induce luminescence in leaves.

As this discovery has captured the attention of Royal Society of Chemistry, the largest organization in Europe for advancing the chemical sciences, the paper Dr. Yen-Hsun Wu has written has been accepted for publication in the journal Nanoscale and he has also been interviewed by the academic magazine Chemistry World.

When senior executive VP Da-Hsuan Feng is informed of this incident, he has found time to meet Dr. Yen-Hsun Wu, encouraged him to continue his research on the related fields and made a suggestion that Department of Physics and Department of Materials Science and Engineering should jointly organize workshops for the students to have a deeper understanding and knowledge of nanotechnology and bioluminescent science.

Assistant Prof. Shih-Hui Chang said, "Light emitting diode (LED) has replaced traditional light source in many display panels and street lights on the road. A lot of light emitting diode, especially white light emitting diode, uses phosphor powder to stimulate light of different wavelengths. However, phosphor powder is highly toxic and its price is expensive. As a result, Dr. Yen-Hsun Wu had the idea to discover a method that is less toxic to replace phosphor powder. This is a major motivation for him to engage in the research at the first place."

In his research, by implanting the gold nanoparticles into Bacopa caroliniana plants, Dr. Yen-Hsun Su was able to induce the chlorophyll in the leaves to produce a red emission. Under high wavelength of ultraviolet, the gold nanoparticles can produce a blue-violet fluorescence to trigger a red emission of the surrounding chlorophyll.

"In the future, bio-LED could be used to make roadside trees luminescent at night. This will save energy and absorb CO2 as the bio-LED luminescence will cause the chloroplast to conduct photosynthesis," said Dr. Yen-Hsun Su in the interview with Chemistry World.

Prof. Wei-Min Zhang, Assistant Prof. Shih-Hui Chang and Dr. Yen-Hsun Su have emphasized that the technologies and bioluminescence efficiency need to be improved for the trees to replace street lights in the future and reach the goal of energy saving and environmental protection.

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the largest organization in Europe for advancing the chemical sciences, has a global membership of over 46,000 and the longest continuous tradition of any chemical society in the world. Supported by a worldwide network of members and an international publishing business, its activities span education, conferences, science policy and the promotion of chemistry to the public.

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(November 3, 2010) — Bare die in yarn, comfortable electronics, stretchable interposers, washable photovoltaic clothes, and other elements will be on the table for the PASTA project to bring smart textiles from the lab to industrial manufacturability. Imec leads the program.

Imec and its project partners announce the launch of the European FP7 (Framework Program) project PASTA (Integrating Platform for Advanced Smart Textile Applications) aiming at developing large-area intelligent textiles. Large-area manufacturability is an essential aspect in bridging the gap between lab prototyping and the industrial manufacturing of smart textiles for sports and leisure wear, technical textiles for safety and monitoring applications, and textiles for healthcare monitoring purposes.

The PASTA project will combine research on electronic packaging and interconnection technology with textile research to realize an innovative approach of smart textile. By introducing new concepts for electronic packaging and module interconnect, a seamless, more comfortable and more robust integration of electronics in textile will be possible. The main technological developments will concentrate on a new concept for bare die integration into a yarn (by means of micromachining), a new interconnect technology based on mechanical crimping, and the development of a stretchable interposer serving as a stress relief interface between the rigid component and the elastic fabric. The technologies will also be assessed in a functional evaluation and reliability testing program. The proposed solutions for integration of electronics in textile will cover a whole range of components, from ultra-small LEDs to complex multichip modules. Moreover, a system design task will tackle the power distribution and system partitioning aspects to provide a complete solution for integration of a distributed sensor/actuator system in fabric.

Four applications areas will be addressed by the project. For outdoor sports and leisure wear, luminous textile with integrated photovoltaic cells will be developed. Moreover, washability will be addressed, as this is an essential aspect of intelligent clothes. PASTA will also explore a bed linen application with an integrated sensor to monitor humidity and signal excessive humidity due to bed-wetting. Two home-textile safety applications will be addressed by integration of building evacuation markings using LEDs. And last, a fabric will be developed which allows non-destructive in-situ monitoring of accumulated stress in composites to predict the residual life-time and to indicate damage of industrial components.

PASTA is a 4-year project, coordinated by imec, and will build on the results of the very successful STELLA project (FP6) and the extensive textile know-how in the consortium. Industrial as well as academic players will bring their expertise to the project: project partners are imec (Belgium), CEA (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives), PEP (Association Pôle Européen de Plasturgie), Sport Soie SAS (France), Fraunhofer IZM, STFI (Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut), ETTLIN Spinnerei und Weberei Produktions GmbH & Co KG, Peppermint Holding GmbH (Germany) and CSEM – Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique (Switzerland).

Imec performs world-leading research in nanoelectronics. Further information on imec can be found at www.imec.be.

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(November 3, 2010) — Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO) delivered a GEN10 Automated Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) system to the University of New Mexico (UNM) Center for High Technology Materials (CHTM).

The GEN10 was purchased through a successful instrumentation grant by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research awarded to Dr. Sanjay Krishna, Associate Director, UMN CHTM and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Krishna’s group consists of research professors, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduates who are investigating next-generation infrared detectors. The system is also accessible for use by the other researchers at the center, department, school and university and is available for industry to assembly specialized prototypes.

The system will also benefit small businesses by supplying wafers to them. For example, Dr. Krishna has a start-up company that will use the grown samples in an infrared camera that will permit early detection of melanomas on the skin using extremely small temperature variations. Biological sciences, in addition to energy harvesting, is the newest focus for researchers at the CHTM facility since its inception 25 years ago, with an historical concentration in electrical and optical semiconductor research.

“We’re excited about the delivery of our new automated R&D MBE system, being the first system of this kind available for use in a university setting in the U.S,” said Dr. Krishna.  “We chose the Veeco GEN10 because of its state-of-the-art design that allows researchers to grow complex crystals with better quality control than has been possible in the past. In addition, its flexible footprint design provides for efficient use of multiple growth modules for projects of interest by our various groups.” The system allows independent growth of multiple incompatible materials in a single system architecture. The GEN10 for R&D is the most recent introduction to the Veeco cluster tool product line.

Veeco makes equipment to develop and manufacture LEDs, solar panels, hard disk drives, and other devices. Learn more at www.veeco.com/mbe.

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