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May 15, 2007 — Multinational chemical giant BASF has announced the opening of a $2.6 million (S$4 million) R&D center for organic electronics in Singapore that will focus on nanotechnology and energy management, two important growth clusters for the company. The opening is part of BASF’s plan to expand global research activities and investments, especially in Asia Pacific.

The new center augments the April 2006 opening of BASF’s first nanotechnology research center in Asia, the Competence Center for Nanostructured Surfaces.

The total research expenditure for both centers between 2006 and 2009 is expected to be $19.8 million (S$30 million). BASF plans to hire a total of 40 employees for both research centers by end 2007.

BASF has embarked on a new project on organic photovoltaics with the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) in the center.

The organics electronics lab is a shared technology platform that cuts across BASF’s growth clusters energy management and nanotechnology. it will undertake research activities in the areas of printed electronics, OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes), organic biosensors and organic photovoltaics.

Palomar Microelectronics’ services include process development, prototyping, volume assembly, and test. (Photo: Palomar)

May 15, 2007 — Palomar Technologies, provider of precision automation equipment and process development for microelectronic assembly, now offers microelectronic packaging services through Palomar Microelectronics. This new segment of the company was inspired by growing demand for quick-turn product development, prototyping, test, and assembly services.

Palomar’s microelectronic assembly processes include advanced wire bonding, gold ball bumping, and precision component placement for semiconductor packages, high power LEDs, MEMS devices, microwave and RF components, optoelectronic packages, multichip modules, and hybrids.

Palomar Microelectronics will operate from Palomar’s headquarters in Carlsbad, California. Services include process development, prototyping, volume assembly, and test. Processes are developed by Palomar’s design, applications, and process engineers and validated on Palomar’s automated precision microelectronic assembly equipment. Once a process is refined and optimized, volume production is performed by Palomar Microelectronics.

“As an established manufacturer of capital equipment with thousands of systems operating in the field, Palomar is naturally positioned to support the scalable production of complex microelectronic devices at our own facility,” says company president Bruce Hueners.

May 14, 2007 — Micralyne Inc., an independent MEMS fabrication company, has announced a partnership with Polychromix, developer of inspection and analysis tools, to manufacture MEMS near-infrared (NIR) devices for the Polychromix’s Phazir product line.

The Phazir is a handheld device that can perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of materials directly at their source, and Polychromix says it is the first of its kind in the industry. The Phazir combines Polychromix’s trademarked Digital Transform Spectroscopy (DTS), with MEMS technology to reduce large, stationary analytical laboratory instruments into one handheld, NIR analyzer.

The devices can be mass-produced, resulting in low-cost and extremely robust and reproducible products. In addition, the MEMS engine is an electrostatic device, minimizing power usage and maximizing battery life.

May 14, 2007 — Nanocomp Technologies, Inc. says it has successfully produced a new textile material from long carbon nanotubes. The company says that the material, available in nonwoven sheet and yarn formats, could be the key to realizing significant performance benefits in defense and aerospace applications ranging from body armor to structural composites, as well as commercial energy storage and electronics thermal management.

“We believe we are on the cusp of delivering the promise of carbon nanotube materials,” said Peter Antoinette, Nanocomp president and CEO. “Like our predecessors in performance products who developed Gore-Tex® and Tyvek®, we have a product platform with vast real-world functionality and, together with the system integrators that will ultimately incorporate it into end-use products, we aim to determine just how broad the benefits can extend.”

Antoinette said commercial manufacturing processes to date have mostly produced only short carbon nanotubes — usually tens of microns long — that resemble a powder in final form. These nanotubes can be difficult to incorporate into manufactured goods, Nanocomp says, and products incorporating them have not yet demonstrated the attractive structural and conductive properties of nanotubes.

But the company reports that it has overcome these limitations by producing extremely long (hundreds of microns to millimeters) and highly pure nanotubes. These long nanotubes are a key to producing the ultimate functional materials, nanotube yarns and nonwoven sheets, for in end-use applications.

Nanocomp is also developing prototype equipment to automate production of the nanotube yarns and nonwoven materials leading to commercial scale.

In the near term, Nanocomp expects its materials to be 1) used in conjunction with carbon fibers and aramids to reduce weight and improve performance of body armor; 2) incorporated into land, air and marine vehicle structures to improve fuel economy; 3) used for next-generation wiring systems and antennas; and, 4) due to their ability to take an electrical charge much faster and many more times than batteries, used to create ultra capacitors to store large amounts of energy from intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar energy, as well as to smooth out demand spikes in the power network.

May 11, 2007 – The German company Carl Zeiss SMT AG has appointed Frank P. Averdung president of Carl Zeiss SMT Inc. in Peabody, Mass. Averdung has more than 20 years of management experience in sales, marketing, technical support, and operations in the semiconductor industry. He was previously general manager at Applied Materials and Etec Systems.

The American subsidiary is responsible for sales, service and application support in the US and Canada of Carl Zeiss SMT´s high-tech systems for qualification and repair of reticles used in the production of semiconductors and for SMT´s particle beam systems, in particular electron microscopes and Helium ion technology.

Carl Zeiss SMT recently celebrated, with SII NanoTechnology (SIINT), a subsidiary of Seiko Instruments Inc., the opening of the new Yokohama Nanotechnology Demonstration Center. The Center features the electron and ion beam products of both companies, namely Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM), Focused Ion Beam systems (FIB), FIB-SEM Hybrid Systems as well as Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM).

The Nanotechnology Demonstration Center is seen as a further step for both companies to jointly becoming the global leader for enabling nanotechnology solutions by implementing the global strategic alliance of Carl Zeiss SMT and SIINT announced in March 2006. In January 2006, SIINT started to sell and service products of Carl Zeiss SMT´s Nano Technology Systems division (NTS) in Japan. Joint product developments have followed.

May 11, 2007 — Endevco Corp., known for its vibration, shock, and pressure sensors, is now part of Meggitt PLC’s new Meggitt Sensing Systems (MSS) division. The division has been formed by merging the Meggitt Aerospace Systems and Meggitt Electronics groups into an entity that aligns some of the most notable sensor companies with related products, services, and applications.

With centers of excellence in France, Switzerland, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S., Meggitt Sensing Systems promises to deliver more sensing solutions into the aerospace, energy, medical, industrial, and automotive sectors. The new division will be led by Dr. Richard Greaves, a 30-year industry veteran and most recently the Managing Director of Meggitt Aerospace Systems.

Endevco, which specializes in advanced accelerometers, transducers, microphones, is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2007.

Meggitt produces sensors for measuring virtually every physical parameter — acceleration, speed, pressure, force, temperature, distance, position, vibration and level – in a wide variety of applications. The company is investing substantially in MEMS.


The PhotonicFlow can link via Bluetooth to a PDA for display. (Photo: Business Wire)

May 10, 2007 — BIOIDENT Technologies Inc., developer of printed optoelectronic solutions for life sciences, has announced what it claims is the industry’s first complete, functional lab on a chip: the PhotonicFlow System. The system’s first application involves a multiwell chip, a handheld device controller, and readout software.

The PhotonicFlow System is based on BIOIDENT’s PhotonicLab Platform, which combines printed semiconductors with various lab-on-chip technologies. BIOIDENT’s customers and partners can now develop disposable lab-on-a-chip solutions (sans expensive, bulky readout systems) for cost-effective mobile diagnostics and analysis.

The PhotonicFlow System application expands upon BIOIDENT’s previously announced nanotiter plate prototype, a 1″x3″ multiwell chip (with a fully integrated photodetector array based on printed semiconductor technology) with a dedicated pixel under each well of the chip. This array converts light into electrical signals, enabling real-time analysis of multiple agents.

The new components of the PhotonicFlow System are the handheld device controller for electronic readout of the signals from the photodetector and the readout software for analytics and calibration. This new prototype eliminates the need for large, expensive, external readout systems being used today and opens up new opportunities for applications in medical in-vitro diagnostics, chemical and biological threat detection, and water testing.

“The PhotonicFlow System is a significant milestone for BIOIDENT and for the industry,” said Dr. Wasiq Bokhari, CEO for BIOIDENT Technologies. “This is truly a next generation mobile lab that is set to transform current diagnostics and analysis testing across multiple markets.”

BIOIDENT’s PhotonicLab Platform uses printed semiconductor-based technology to print light detection and electronics capabilities directly onto any surface, including glass and plastic materials, enabling on-chip analysis and diagnostics. In addition, the company uses existing assays and reagents and established testing protocols to deliver real-time and in-situ, multi-parameter detection capabilities for all categories of chemical and biological analytes. BIOIDENT’s printing process can also be used to create a wide variety of existing in-vitro diagnostic devices, opening up new opportunities and applications for real-time analysis of chemical and biological substances.

May 10, 2007 — Netzsch Fine Particle Technology, LLC of Exton, PA has introduced its MicroSeries line of agitator bead mills for wet grinding of small batches (0.14 to 0.5 liter) with resultant particles down to 10 to 20 nanometers. Designed for laboratory and sample grinding, the MicroSeries line comprises three mills, each with grinding chamber parts fabricated in different materials for specific applications.

The general-purpose use MicroFer is designed in stainless steel and has a cooled chamber. For metal-free grinding, the MircoCer features chamber parts in wear-resistant zirconium oxide (composite SiC/Si3N4) and is designed for solvent-based applications. The MicroPur uses polyurethane parts for grinding water-based products.

All three machines are equipped with Netzsch’s proprietary ZETA grinding system. The MicroSeries also features an improved centrifugal separation system that employs grinding media from 0.05 to 0.8 mm in size, which the company says is the smallest in the industry.

MicroSeries machines are equipped with double-acting mechanical seals and adjustable hose pumps. Particles are continuously processed in circulation operation between the integrated circulation tank and the laboratory mill. MicroSeries units also feature swivel grinding chambers that simplify operation and thereby reduce product loss.

Each mill in the MicroSeries line can also be scaled up to handle larger volumes similar to those of Netzsch’s MiniSeries mills.

May 10, 2007 — Amtech Systems, Inc., supplier of production and automation systems and related supplies for the manufacture of semiconductors, solar cells and wafers, has entered into a manufacturing agreement with DSG Technologies to manufacture a vertical microwave system, combining Amtech’s vertical furnace platform with DSG’s Micro-Mode Microwave (M3) heating technology.

This new product will be used in the curing processes of sub-50nm semiconductor devices: low-k dielectric, shallow-trench isolation, pre-metal dielectric, and polymide.

The manufacturing agreement has an initial term of five years and provides for automatic one year renewals. It calls for Amtech and DSG to enter into a separate sales and service agreement granting Amtech exclusive rights for all of Europe and its existing customers worldwide.

May 9, 2007 — Boston Micromachines Corp. (BMC) says its MEMS-based deformable mirror products have helped realize achievements in multi photon microscopy, an advanced optical technique that increases the imaging depth in living tissue. Boston University’s Biomedical Engineering Biomicroscopy Lab has recently demonstrated high resolution images of biological tissue using BMC’s deformable mirrors in its multiphoton microscopy research.

BMC’s deformable mirrors allow researchers to resolve images deeper into the tissue. Additionally, researchers will now be able to look at cells and cellular processes in their natural environment, in vivo, which is scientifically more interesting. These advances will pave the way for further progress in the study of neural disorders and various diseases.