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by Kwok Ng, Semiconductor Research Corp., and T.P. Ma, Yale University

September 29, 2009 – Researchers at Yale University have developed a new DRAM cell using ferroelectric layers that could significantly improve the technological and market competiveness for DRAM technology.

It has been long recognized that the polarization under an electric field in ferroelectric materials has great potential for memory devices. [1] Some degree of success has been achieved in incorporating ferroelectrics in a capacitor in a 1T-1C (1-transistor-1-capacitor) DRAM configuration. However, a capacitor is still needed and imposes severe scaling challenges, so the major limitation has not been removed. There have been many research activities in incorporating ferroelectrics as gate dielectrics in a MOSFET as a single-transistor nonvolatile memory (NVM) cell, but the retention time has never been able to meet the stringent requirement — and industry standard [2] — of 10-year retention time.

These new results aim for the application of DRAM rather than NVM. The advantages compared to standard DRAM include more than three orders-of-magnitude in retention time, so refreshing frequency can be relaxed accordingly. The elimination of the capacitor enables the technology to be much more scalable for nodes beyond ~22nm, which would not be the case for the 1T-1C DRAM cell. Without a large capacitor, the technology is also more compatible with embedded technology. Other advantages include 20× lower dynamic power, non-destructive read, and faster read/write speed.

Classes of common semiconductor memories

The major semiconductor memories are (1) NVM, (2) SRAM, and (3) DRAM, each with advantages and limitations. NVM is able to retain data even after power is off, and its high density is attractive for mass storage such as video (motion and still) and audio recording. NVM’s limitations are writing speed and endurance. SRAM is a latch or flip-flop that retains the data as long as the power is on. It has fast operation, but the penalty is the large area per cell that typically consists of six transistors each. DRAM has the advantages of fast operation and a reasonably small footprint of 1T-1C, but the retention time is the shortest in the order of 10msec; because of that, data needs to be refreshed periodically to not be totally lost.

An ideal memory should have the properties of (1) long retention (nonvolatility), (2) small footprint with long-term scalability and (3) fast operation. For NVM, improving the operation speed would be highly desirable but difficult. The large cell area of SRAM is a more fundamental problem, and a completely different device concept would be needed if major improvement is to be realized. For DRAM, improving the scalability by possibly eliminating the capacitor and improving the retention time would be major steps. The newly proposed FeDRAM cell presents these two major improvements, along with other advantages.

It has to be clarified that in literature, some DRAM cells made on SOI substrate are referred to as being 1T cells. This is because the transistor body-to-substrate capacitance is used as the equivalent storage capacitor in place of a trench capacitor or stacked capacitor. This design eliminates the need for added layout area, but the fundamental problem of retention time of a 1T-1C cell is still present.

Background of FeRAM

Currently in commercial products, the only ferroelectric RAMs are ones where the ferroelectrics are used in the capacitor of the 1T-1C structures. The operation of this design is different from a conventional DRAM cell in that the memory state is the polarization within the dielectrics, rather than charge across the capacitor. The cell is read by sensing the displacement current when applying a voltage pulse, rather than sensing the amount of charge directly. Because of this property, the memory is more stable. It requires refreshing only after reading. However, the drawback remains of requiring a large-area capacitor.

Working principles of FeDRAM

The structure of the FeDRAM transistor cell is simply a MOSFET with ferroelectrics as the gate dielectrics. Its programming and erasing are demonstrated by the schematic drawings in Figure 1. When a positive voltage pulse is applied to the gate (Fig. 1a), the ferroelectric responds by internal polarization as dipoles. After the applied voltage is removed, this internal polarization remains as a built-in internal field that changes the threshold voltage of the transistor. When a pulse of the opposite polarity is applied to the gate, the polarization is reversed, again changing the threshold voltage of the transistor (Fig. 1b). By detecting the current of the transistor, the threshold voltage is known, and the state of the memory is known. Note that this read scheme is identical to that of the nonvolatile flash memory, and that it is non-destructive so one can read many times without refreshing.

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Figure 1. Operation principle of FeDRAM during (a) programming and (b) erasing.

The details of the ferroelectric effect are shown in Figure 2 (a). Here the internal field E is proportional to the applied gate bias, and the polarization P is the internal dipoles built up within the ferroelectrics. The hysteresis depends on the direction of the applied field, and is the main feature contributing to the memory effect. The same effect is manifested in the transistor I-V characteristics shown in Fig. 2b. Note that the I-V characteristics can be much sharper than the P-E plot.

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Figure 2. (a) Hysteresis of P-E relationship in ferroelectrics gives rise to that in (b) MOSFET Id -Vg characteristics.


The characteristics in Fig. 2 are time-dependent, on both the ramping rate of the applied gate voltage as well as the time after the bias is taken off. The latter, known as the retention time in memory applications, is depicted in Figure 3 after either programming or erasing. It is shown that the retention time is in the order of minutes — not enough for nonvolatile memory, but a big improvement over current DRAM capability, by more than three orders-of-magnitude. The retention time in the device is limited by the depolarization field and trapping of carriers when electrons tunnel through the gate dielectrics at zero bias. Both the depolarization field and the tunneling current are caused by the internal field built up from polarization. The gate stack consists of the ferroelectrics plus an insulator with higher barrier. The barrier serves to minimize the tunneling current, but at the same time increases the depolarization field, so there is a trade-off when varying the insulator thickness.

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Figure 3. Data retention after programming and erasing biases are taken off.

A more stringent requirement for DRAM than nonvolatile memory is the endurance/reliability of repeated program/erase cycling. The endurance data are shown in Figure 4. The endurance performance is much better than current flash technologies which are mainly floating-gate or charge-trapping types of devices. Both of these devices involve tunneling or hot-carrier emission of electrons through the gate dielectrics, and their endurance is inferior to that of the FeDRAM. As a reference, the industry requirement for nonvolatile memory is 105 cycles — the endurance data shown here are much longer.

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Figure 4. Cycle endurance in FeDRAM exceeds studied measurement range. V– and V+ are threshold voltages after program and erase.

Advantages of FeDRAM

There are several advantages of FeDRAM compared to current DRAM technology. Longer retention time requires less frequent refreshing. The elimination of the capacitor enables the cell structure to require a much smaller footprint; cell size of 4F2 has been designed in NOR and AND arrays. This makes the structure more scalable beyond the 20nm node and more compatible to an embedded technology. Because during programming and erasing there is no current involved to charge a capacitor, the dynamic power has been estimated to be 20× smaller. Other advantages include non-destructive reading and up to 8× programming/erasing speed.

Further development

Yale University continues to develop the FeDRAM technology toward commercial realization in cooperation with SRC sponsoring companies, focusing on a more scaled device in channel length beyond the demonstrated ~1μm dimension and in ferroelectric thickness to reduce the programming/erasing voltage. Currently the gate stacks consist of ~200nm of ferroelectrics (PZT [PbZrTiO] or SBT [SrBiTaO]) plus a few nanometers of SiON insulator layer, with dielectric constants of 400, 150, and 7 respectively. The goal is to reduce the operating voltage to be around 1V. Further improvement of retention time is possible with a sharper P-E loop by exploring single-crystalline, single-domain ferroelectrics. Even though programming and erasing speed is already better than that of DRAM, further development would reduce it toward the theoretical value of ~70ps by optimizing the FeDRAM gate stack, minimizing the contact resistance, and minimizing the parasitic RC components. The issues of reliability and variability associated with ferroelectrics need to be examined with a larger pool of statistical data. For a long-term goal, expansion to multi-level or multi-bit architecture would open up a new paradigm for DRAM operation and technology.

Biographies

Dr. Kwok Ng is Director of Device Sciences at Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC). E-mail: [email protected], www.src.org.
Dr. T.P. Ma is Raymond John Wean Professor of Electrical Engineering at Yale University.

References

[1] S. L. Miller and P.J. McWhorter, "Physics of the ferroelectric non-volatile memory field effect transistor," J. Appl. Phys., vol. 72, no. 12, pp. 5999-6010, 1992.

[2] H. Ishiwara, "Current status and prospects of FET-type ferroelectric memories," J. Semicond. Technol. Sci., vol. 1, pp. 1-14, March 2001.

September 29, 2009 – Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have come up with a way to use microfluidics to generate microdroplets containing single molecules, which using "optical tweezers" could be merged into multiple droplets to get their contents to react, ultimately informing about the structure and function of organic materials such as proteins, enzymes, and DNA.

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Water flows through a microfluidic channel (35μm wide) into a narrow constriction, where it breaks up into droplets. Varying the width of the constriction changes the size of the drops and lacing the water with desired molecules of just the right concentration causes the resulting droplets to pick up single molecules. (Source: NIST)

The work by NIST physicists Carlos López-Mariscal and Kristian Helmerson involved creating a microfluidic device with a narrow channel through which water, squeezed into a narrow stream by oils, can flow; its abrupt pressure drop (and an added "dash of detergent") breaks the surface tension, creating small droplets of uniform size (1μm, or 0.5 attoliter volume), adjustable by tweaking the constriction’s width. The water droplets are then "laced" with molecules of precise concentration so that each picks up "on average" only one molecule of interest, 99% of the time. They can then be moved by laser beam into each other to coalesce, with reactions observed through "optical methods."

Initial work involved mixing fluorescent molecules emitting different colors; future work could involve "more interesting chemical reactions, such as those between an infectious agent and an antibody, or a chromosome and a drug." The laser beam also can be shaped to capture arrays of the molecule-carrying water droplets, opening up new possibilities for single-molecule spectroscopy."

The work was published in August 2009 by the SPIE (Proc. SPIE, Vol. 7400, 740026 [2009]).

NIST also has a video showing the use of microfluidics to produce the highly-uniform water droplets — click here.

September 28, 2009 – Researchers from the US and India are joining forces to jointly investigate how nanomaterials can be applied to energy needs.

The resulting Joint Networked Center on Nanomaterials for Energy will combine teams from Purdue’s Birck Nanotechnology Center, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research and General Electric Co.’s John F. Welch India Technology Center, both in Bangalore. The collaboration, sponsored by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, will exchange four grad students (two postdocs and two faculty) between Purdue and Jawaharlal; two Purdue grad students also will go to the GE center, as well as interns for up to 20 weeks. One Jawaharlal student is already at Birck studying nanotubes and graphene for use in solar cells and batteries, and Purdue has a student at both Jawaharlal and the GE site.

"Students will have the opportunity to spend several months at partner institutions, formulating and working on joint research projects to solidify and expand ongoing collaborations […] for advancing research in how nanomaterials can address growing energy needs," said Pankaj Sharma, associate director of operations and international affairs for Purdue’s Discovery Park, in a statement.

"This new initiative will focus on providing wonderful new opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers to expand their perspectives both technically and culturally," added prof. G.U. Kulkarni, chair of JNCASR’s chemistry and physics of materials unit. The hope, noted Prof. Umesh Waghmare of Jawaharlal’s theoretical sciences unit, "is that participants will better conceive new discoveries and develop them into technologies that offer the promise of breakthroughs in energy with global impact."

September 25, 2009 – Several weeks ago researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U. of Maryland touted a method to overcome an obstacle in creating molecular switches: sandwiching organic molecules between silicon and metal. The work was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

While the general concept of molecular switches isn’t new, the NIST/UMaryland work managed to achieve a molecular junction of a densely packed monolayer, chemically bonded to silicon and metal, using a nanoprinting method to help overcome the fragility and susceptibility of organic molecules to semiconductor manufacturing process steps — particularly the high temperatures of metal deposition for attaching to electrical contacts.

Previous efforts, NIST materials scientist Mariona Coll Bau told Small Times in an email exchange, used nanotransfer printing (nTP) to build electrodes on top of fully formed monolayers on materials (e.g. metal, dielectric, semiconductors), but it doesn’t work with the silicon generally used in manufacturing due to the reactive nature of the semiconductor surface. What Coll Bau and colleagues did was use a commercially available nTP to create an ultrasmooth gold surface, and (utilizing gold-thiol surface chemistry properties) "create[d] a well-ordered monolayer on the ultrasmooth Au with an exposed functional group capable of bonding to silicon." The same nTP tool was then used to bring the Au-monolayer together with a chemically cleaned silicon surface to bond the reactive groups — a process they dubbed "flip-chip lamination" (FCL). The flexible substrate also enables conformal contact over a large area to make uniform molecular junctions, she added.



The flip-chip lamination method creates an ultra-smooth gold surface (top), which allows the organic molecules to form a thin yet even layer between the gold and silicon. Gold surfaces created by other methods are substantially rougher (bottom), and would result in many of the molecular switches either being smashed or not contacting the silicon. (Credit: Coll Bau, NIST)

Thus, two challenges were addressed and solved, she explained:  Making top electrical contact, with a process that produces a smooth, low-temperature, and conformal electrical contact; and making a dense monolayer chemically attached to silicon. "We utilize well studied Au-thiol chemistry to make highly ordered monolayers first, then attach to Si using FCL," Coll Bau said.

The ultimate goal of their work is a metal-molecule-silicon structure, she noted. Previous work started with silicon and formed a monolayer, followed by metal evaporation — but this was tricky because the monolayers were less dense (than those on Au) and harsh evaporation forms "many shorts and degrad[es] the molecular layers." Evaporation (on molecules on Si) could be replaced with the nanolamination process, she said, but that still leaves a less dense monolayer. "The nanolamination requires a sticky group at the end. Forming monolayers with two sticky groups (one functional group to react with the metal and one for the silicon) doesn’t work well on Si because both stick really well," she said — adding that thiols still well on Au, but not on other species.

Yet another conceivable method would be to evaporate the metal on plastic, form the monolayer on the metal, "and then squish it onto Si," she said. However, this generates a very rough Au layer with grains equal to or bigger than the molecule (see figures), "making it easy to short and hard to have a molecular junction where the electrical properties of the metal-molecule-Si are determined by the molecular layer."

Ultimately, they figured out to lift off the Au to get: an extremely smooth Au surface, shown to make the most dense bifunctional monolayers, and flexible enough to be squished onto the Si wafer and create uniform contacts with the molecules bonded to both Si and metal.

And there’s a bonus to the process, she pointed out. "This fabrication technique can be extended to patterned metal, different molecular layers, different metals and bottom substrates," she said. "In addition to bioelectronics, we could do graphene electronics, nanowires, organic crystals, etc."

by Martin G. Selbrede, Uni-Pixel Displays Inc.

Alternatives to silicon-based MEMS displays have the potential to reach new levels of optical performance. These alternatives impose unique demands on thin polymer membranes with respect to electrical, mechanical, and optical performance. New membranes are being developed that meet the requirements for use in field sequential color displays based on frustration of total internal reflection.

September 25, 2009 – Industry interest in field sequential color (FSC) displays has, in part, been driven by the reduction in complexity they make possible. Instead of three separately-driven sub-pixels (one for each primary color) comprising a single conventional pixel (a tricellular pixel), FSC displays generate all colors from a single unicellular pixel by exploiting the temporal resolving properties of the human eye. As a consequence, while FSC displays enjoy reduced complexity in the number of features, their pixel response times must be significantly faster than non-FSC displays. This is especially true if gray scale is achieved digitally using pulse width modulation (PWM), as would likely be true in MEMS-based FSC display systems.

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Figure 1. Conceptualization of the layers comprising an AM-LCD system

The incumbent flat-panel technology, liquid crystal displays (LCD), provides a benchmark for conventional tricellular performance in transmissive display systems. The advantages of a MEMS-based FSC display, relative to a modern LCD system, are not limited to reduced complexity of design. Optical performance, particularly with regard to power efficiency, can be substantially greater for FSC-based MEMS displays. This is a natural result of the large sequence of layers at the heart of LCD systems, most of which serve to attenuate light passing through them. Polarizers, color filters, pixel apertures, all conspire to reduce the final output of an LCD system to a small fraction of the initial light entering the panel from the backlight subsystem (Figure 1).

MEMS-based FSC systems can do without most of the light-attenuating layers that are required for LCD operation, and without these sources of energy attenuation, the power efficiency of MEMS-based FSC displays can exceed that of LCD technology by nearly an order of magnitude (Figure 2). For FSC displays, where the principle of pixel operation is the frustration of total internal reflection [1] (FTIR), most of the source light (theoretically, >60%) makes it through the display layers to the viewer, as compared to 3-8% for most LCD systems. The efficiency of light output for FSC FTIR displays is a design tradeoff. Maximum efficiency is achieved at the expense of display uniformity thus; the overall system design strives to achieve the maximum power efficiency possible without harming the luminous uniformity of the output. Our research has shown that the optimal balance is at 61% efficiency.

The demands upon the polymer membrane at the heart of a polymer MEMS-based display that uses an FSC FTIR approach to light transmission are significant. Optimizing the electrical, mechanical and optical properties of such a membrane is the key to successful implementation of these novel approaches to display fabrication.

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Figure 2. Conceptualization of the difference in light attenuation between FSC FTIR display (left) and LCD technology (right).

Polymer membranes

Uni-Pixel Displays is developing an FSC FTIR display system, called a "time-multiplexed optical shutter" (TMOS), based on a polymer membrane capable of MEMS actuation. The optimization of that technology has led to the creation of Opcuity films, an innovative series of polymer membranes.

The principle of operation of a TMOS display involves suspending a sheet of the new polymer membrane film about one micron above a slab waveguide, using low-optical-impact standoffs at the perimeter of each pixel. In the quiescent, inactive state, the new film remains suspended above the waveguide such that light traveling inside the waveguide, according to the principle of total internal reflection (TIR), is unable to be transferred into the film and redirected out to the observer. The one micron gap places the new polymer membrane film sufficiently far outside the evanescent field of the waveguide [2] to prevent any appreciable light leakage in the pixel off-state.

During pixel actuation, the membrane is electro-statically pulled into contact, or near-contact, with the waveguide. TIR is thereby frustrated and the light that was otherwise contained within the waveguide will pass into the film and be directed out to the viewer. When the electric field is discharged, the film returns to its former position a micron away from the waveguide, causing light transmission to cease.

The three primary colors, red, green and blue, are injected into the waveguide from one (or more) of its edges. Rapid sequential cycling of the primary lights provides the background energy to be modulated by the individual pixels using the principle of PWM. Rapid on-and-off actuation of the film at each pixel makes it possible to achieve a wide color gamut in an FSC PWM display system.

The new polymer membrane films must meet three key physical criteria (mechanical, electrical, and optical) to be suitable for deployment within the targeted polymer-MEMS display system. Balancing these criteria in one planar polymeric structure is central to the new film’s architecture.

– Mechanical criteria for polymer MEMS systems. The mechanical criteria for the polymer MEMS systems are pertinent to rapid actuation over long display lives. Due to the aspect ratio of the pixel (pixel area divided by the one-micron gap between film and waveguide), the actual strains imposed on the elastomer comprising the polymer-based Opcuity film are well under the polymer’s elastic limit, providing a large safe operating area to prevent degradation of the spring constant.

The polymer film, however, must exhibit high mechanical robustness for other reasons. The mechanical stiffness of the membrane has a bearing on the operational voltage of the pixel, and is a power function of the thickness of the film. Some polymer membrane substrates are as thin as three microns and yet must support an array of micro-optical structures on the waveguide-facing surface. Moreover, the mechanical potential energy stored inside membranes during pixel actuation is necessary for returning the pixel to its quiescent state (passive release of the pixel). Passive release allows for simpler architectures; the alternative is active release, whereby the polymer membrane is electrostatically pulled off the waveguide. Currently, all Opcuity films have met the requirements for passive release of actuated pixels.

The final mechanical requirement is that stiction at the point of contact between the polymer membrane and the waveguide be kept to a minimum. The higher the stiction, the greater the energy needed for passive release, which entails higher operating voltages for the display.

– Electrical criteria for polymer MEMS systems. Because the power draw on an electrostatically driven pixel rises exponentially as a function of the gap between the conductors, the polymer membrane must be configured to provide the smallest possible inter-conductor spacing. A TMOS pixel is a variable capacitor, having one capacitance in its quiescent state and a somewhat larger capacitance in its activated state. One plate of the capacitor is a transparent conductor applied directly to the waveguide surface, while the other plate is borne by the membrane.

– Optical criteria for polymer MEMS systems. The optical coupling efficiency of the membrane film is a function of several different parameters. It is actually undesirable for the membrane film to have an excessively high coupling efficiency. However, due to the inherent recycling of light that arises within the slab waveguide — owing to the non-insertion edges being suitably mirrored to keep light inside the waveguide until emitted by a pixel or absorbed at the system sink — a film exhibiting moderate optical coupling efficiency still delivers a global power efficiency of 61% or better.

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Figure 3. Photomicrograph showing the micro-optical structures protruding from the interstitial conductor. The flat tips of the frustums have no conductive material on them.

The surface of the membrane film that faces the waveguide has an array of micro-optical structures integrated into the polymer. These structures are designed to achieve several goals: 1) extract light efficiently from the waveguide; 2) shape the extracted light into an ergonomically useful output distribution; 3) enable efficient final emission to the viewer without undue scattering or absorption; 4) limit the amount of light being coupled based on the effective surface area in contact with the waveguide during pixel actuation; and 5) provide a standoff that keeps the conductor on the membrane film from contacting the conductor deployed on the waveguide.

This last function arises because the conductor is situated between the micro-optical structures (Figure 3). The interstitial conductor between the micro-optical structures (which are conical frustums in the particular sample of membrane film shown in Fig. 3) does not extend to the flat tip of the frustum. When the frustum tips contact the waveguide during pixel actuation, there remains a gap between the conductor on the waveguide and the interstitial conductor situated between the frustums. This feature of the membrane film provides the lowest possible operating voltages for pixel actuation.

The membrane film has applications beyond FSC displays. Films have been designed that have resistance to retaining any fingerprints. Fingerprint-resistant films represent an important additional market for the membrane film.

Membrane films: key to FSC FTIR display systems

Designing optical thin films for deployment in MEMS systems, where the film is expected to be in rapid repeated motion for billions of cycles, is an undertaking that involves the multidisciplinary application of physical and engineering principles. Films that can meet the requirements for these applications enable the furthering of new and novel next-generation displays, such as Uni-Pixel’s TMOS technology, that are able to deliver optical performance at reduced costs. Uni-Pixel’s polymer membrane films are being developed to meet the requirements for next-generation display systems and for production using roll-to-roll fabrication techniques to further reduce manufacturing costs

In principle, active matrix fabrication facilities can be readily converted from LCD manufacturing to TMOS manufacturing, since TFT mother glass serves as a suitable waveguide for many display applications. Laminating the polymer membrane film onto the TFT layer provides for promising new manufacturing opportunities for older fabs.

Conclusion

Uni-Pixel’s FSC FTIR display technology currently exists as a hybrid system that utilizes flexible micro structured film in combination with a TFT rigid glass backplane. We envision that in the future the entire display can become a flexible structure. Any technological barrier to producing an all flexible FSC TMOS display will disappear as printed electronics matures and low-cost reliable TFTs on thin flexible films become available.

Acknowledgments

Opcuity is a trademark of Uni-Pixel Displays Inc.

Biography

Martin G. Selbrede is chief scientist at Uni-Pixel Displays, Inc., 8708 Technology Forest Pl., Ste. 100, The Woodlands, TX USA; ph.: (281) 825-4500; email [email protected]; www.unipixel.com.

References

[1]. S. Zhu, A. W. Yu, D. Hawley, R. Roy, "Frustrated Total Internal Reflection: A Demonstration and Review," Am. J. Phys. 54 (7), pp. 601-607, July 1986.
[2]. F. de Fornel, "Evanescent Waves: From Newtonian Optics to Atomic Optics," first edition, Springer-Verlag, New York, 2001, pp. 18-28. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 24, 2009 – A new report from Lux Research notes the market for "intermediate" nanomaterials — those enabled by nanomaterials, such as coatings to display components — will surge 61% annually to nearly $500B by 2015, but only a handful of companies are in position to ride that wave.

In a recent report, "The Wizards of Nanointermediates: Assessing Catalysts, Coatings, and Composites on the Lux Innovation Grid" (client-only login, sorry), based on >1000 interviews with execs over the last two years ranks suppliers of nanointermediate materials on criteria including technical value, business execution, and maturity, ultimately deeming them "dominant," "undistinguished," "long-shot," or "high potential."

Their conclusions:

  • It’s still anyone’s game. Large companies are taking over the nanomaterials space, so startups are migrating their materials know-how to nanointermediates, which offer premium pricing (and profits).
  • Energy, environment lead the charge. A convergence of government and venture-capital support are fueling big opportunities in energy and environmental applications — nanointermediates made up 30% of the $2.5B in governmental nanotech investments in renewable energy last year, Lux reports, and made up half of the $1.2B nanotech VC fundings. Energy storage and solar cells are hot areas, but there’s plenty of growth to be found across these sectors.
  • Best bet: nanocoatings. Coatings will make up about 4% ($20B) of the nanointermediate market in 2015, and is so diverse it requires subcategorization (e.g., inorganic, polymer/hybrid, and transparent conductives). Despite this, there’s still the danger of overcrowding in certain segments (e.g. polymer/hybrid) leading to a shakeout, Lux predicts. Such a fate is likely in nanointermediate segments like catalysts, too, they warn.

September 24, 2009 – Indium Corp. has acquired processes, equipment, and "know-how" of nanomaterial developer Reactive NanoTechnologies for an undisclosed sum. Process, equipment, and staff will be moved to Indium’s Utica, NY, facility, with the core team continuing to support the firm’s NanoFoil and NanoBond businesses.

"Indium’s presence in the global electronics materials market will allow NanoBond technology to proliferate more quickly and broadly," said Joe Grzyb, RNT’s CEO, in a statement. He added that there is "strong synergy" with Indium’s solder, assembly, and thermal interface materials.

For Indium, the addition will bolster its position in supplying materials for sputtering targets and metallic interfaces, noted Ross Berntson, Indium’s VP of sales, marketing, and technical support.

The news follows one week after RNT licensed its NanoFoil and NanoBond technologies to Taiwan’s Solar Applied Material Technology Corp. (Solartech), to bond sputtering targets using RNT’s room-temperature bonding technique.

September 21, 2009 – MIT researchers say carbon nanotubes formed into tiny springs can store as much energy, pound-for-pound, as lithium-ion batteries, and offer better durability and reliability.

Based on two papers — a theoretical analysis in the June issue of the journal Nanotechnology, and a laboratory demonstration in the September issue of the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering — indicate that carbon nanotube springs could store more than 1000× more energy for their weight than steel springs, and comparable to state-of-the-art lithium ion batteries.

Two key differences indicate springs’ advantage over traditional batteries: they can deliver store energy either in a rapid, intense burst, or slowly and steadily; and their stored energy doesn’t leak out over time.

Applications for such CNT springs could be emergency backup power supplies that go years untouched until needed without testing or replacement; portable devices in place of gasoline engines; or sensors in harsh environments where conditions like temperature or pressure extremes (e.g., boreholes for oil wells) would affect performance of traditional battery technology. First uses are likely in larger systems, not MEMS devices, since storage and release of energy in such springs is of a mechanical nature and not necessary to convert into electricity, notes MIT prof. and co-author Carol Livermore, in a statement.

Next steps in the work are to test actual performance over time, to confirm the CNT springs can charge and recharge without performance loss, and more research and engineering to determine how close devices using them could come to theoretically possible high energy density. Current CNT growth methods need to be improved to make more desirable highly concentrated CNT bundles with longer, thicker fibers, instead of the CNT fibers joined in parallel made in initial lab tests.

September 21, 2009 –  Rice U. and the province of Alberta, Canada, have formed a research collaboration to explore production of petrochemicals from Alberta’s oil sands.

The work, specifically between Rice’s Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and nanoAlberta of Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, will explore carbon capture and the use of nanotechnology "in the greater energy equation," according to a statement. "We want to help them figure out how to extract oil from their resources in a more environmentally friendly way, a more efficient way and one that will cause less damage to their own territory as well as provide oil for the needs of the human race, as they become a more important source of it," said Wade Adams, director of the Smalley Institute." Future collaborative work also may address applications in healthcare.

"Combining the energy and nanotechnology expertise of teams in Alberta and Texas could help bring about energy technology solutions that haven’t even been considered yet," stated Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach.

September 17, 2009 – Got an eye for nanoscale art? The 2009 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition welcomes the public to pick its favorite image, to be held alongside other finalists chosen from >2000 entries along with judges’ selections of the year’s "most visually stunning and technically proficient" micrographic images. Voting at www.nikonsmallworld.com is open until October 2. There’s also an "Identify the Image" game to correctly ID the five finalist micrographs.

The annual Nikon Instruments-sponsored, now in its 35th year, is the preeminent showcase for beauty and complexity of life as seen through light microscopes, as captured across a wide variety of scientific disciplines. Top selections will be announced on Oct.15 at New York City‚s Astor Center, and exhibited in a full-color calendar and 24-city national museum tour. First among 20 prizes is $3000 toward the purchase of Nikon equipment, and attendance at the NYC awards ceremony.

Not content to rank others’ work? Submit your own image on 35mm transparency or upload digitally via a browser. Any light microscopy technique is acceptable, including phase contrast, polarized light, fluorescence, interference contrast, darkfield, confocal, deconvolution, and mixed techniques. Entries are judged on originality, informational content, technical proficiency, and visual impact.

This year’s judges are:
– Ivan Oransky, managing editor, online, Scientific American;
– Alice Park, department head, science, TIME Magazine;
– David L. Spector, director of research and head of the Gene Regulation program, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory;
– Ron Sturm, senior petrographer, CTLGroup
– Mike Davidson, director of the optical and magneto-optical imaging center, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State U.(consultant)

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Atherix ibis (fly) aquatic larva (25X), from Fabrice Parais, DIREN Basse-Normandie (Hérouville-Saint-Clair, France) —  one of 137 entries for the public’s favorite pick. Source: Nikon Small World competition