Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine


Steinmeyer’s new precision stage is lightweight and compact. (Photo: Steinmeyer)

Mar., 15, 2007 — German measurement-instruments developer Steinmeyer, Inc. has released a new high-precision linear stage, the MT 84-25-PM, geared to nanotechnology, metrology, biomedical miniature robotics, and medical industry applications.

Steinmeyer manufactures the stage for cleanroom, high vacuum, and non-magnetic applications upon request, and says that the table is compact, lightweight, and robust. It features an overall width of only 27.5 mm, length of 84 mm, and standard travel of 25 mm. Manufactured from high-strength anodized aluminum, it weighs just 600 g and promises resolutions to 5 nm and repeatability of +/- 10 nm. The unit’s piezo linear motor has an incremental linear encoder and preloaded cross roller bearings.


Engineering samples of the FM22L16 are available now; full volume production is slated for Q4. (Photo: Ramtron Intl.)

Mar. 14, 2007 — Ramtron International Corp., Colorado Springs, CO, has launched what it calls the semiconductor industry’s highest density Ferroelectric Random-Access Memory (FRAM) device, the FM22L16. The chip, says Ramtron, provides quadruple the memory capacity previously available.

The FM22L16 is a 4Mb, 3-volt, parallel nonvolatile RAM in a 44-pin thin small outline plastic (TSOP) package that promises fast access, virtually unlimited read/write cycles, and low power consumption. Pin-compatible with asynchronous static RAM (SRAM), the FM22L16 targets industrial control systems such as robotics, network and data storage applications, multi-function printers, auto navigation systems and other SRAM-based system designs.

The FM22L16 is based on a 130-nanometer CMOS manufacturing process that Texas Instruments and Ramtron developed together. “The FM22L16 moves FRAM technology onto a mainstream and proven process node from TI that offers many new stand-alone and integrated product opportunities,” explains Ramtron Vice President Mike Alwais. “This introduction positions FRAM as an ideal nonvolatile memory solution with potential to alter the memory landscape.” Only two additional mask steps have been used to embed the non-volatile FRAM module within the standard CMOS 130nm logic process.

Boasting a 55ns access time and a 110ns cycle time, the FM22L16 promises reading and writing at bus speed with endurance of at least 1e14 (100-trillion) writes. It draws 18mA of power at full speed, 150uA in standby, and less than 5uA in sleep mode. It was designed as a drop-in replacement for standard asynchronous SRAMs, but does not require a battery for data backup and promises improved reliability because of its monolithic form.

By moving to a 130nm process, TI and Ramtron are able to deliver the smallest commercial FRAM cells available, measuring 0.71 microns square, and enabling a higher memory density than SRAM. “These developments are important in the advancement of systems that require low power, nonvolatile memory, fast and reliable data protection before power down and/or unlimited write endurance,” says Ramtron.

Mar. 14, 2007 — Acrongenomics, Inc., Geneva, Switzerland, and Molecular Vision, Ltd. (MLV), a spin-out company of Imperial College in London, England, say they’ve made a successful demonstration of their BioLED Lab on a Chip in a high sensitivity, small size, medical diagnostic device. The lab-on-a-chip unit, which uses MVL’s patented, organic semiconductor technology, proved its capability to measure biomarkers with high sensitivity and at low cost.

BioLED technology uses semiconductor films located on either side of a microfluidics chip. One film illuminates the chip, where appropriate, while the other film detects an output signal, which is fed to a display. The demonstrated device used two forms of detection utilizing chemiluminescence and fluorescence to detect different markers of interest.

Acrongenomics and MLV believe that this technology is capable of further miniaturization along with large scale, low cost manufacturing, which will bring forward disposable, point-of-care diagnostics for a large range of biomarkers.

By Tom Cheyney
Small Times Contributing Editor


Flexible large area printed semiconductor device (Photo: Nanoident)

Mar. 13, 2007 — Nanoident has opened “the world’s first dedicated manufacturing facility for printed organic semiconductors” in Linz, Austria. In conjunction with the plant opening, the company has also launched its Semiconductor 2.0 platform, the “core technology foundation for a wide array of application-specific printed semiconductor products,” including photodetectors, biometric and chemical sensors, OLEDs, and photovoltaic cells.

The company started building its organic fab, or OFAB, in late 2005. The facility, located on Nanoident’s headquarters campus, measures 850 sq meters (9150 sq ft) and includes 250 sq meters (2700 sq ft) of Class 100 cleanroom. Equipment purchases accounted for most of the 10 million Euro spent on the OFAB, according to Wasiq Bokhari, CEO of Nanoident’s U.S. subsidiary, Bioident.

Rather than using traditional chipmaking techniques, the company employs an advanced inkjet-printing process, which can deposit specialized inks onto flexible and rigid substrates, including various polymers, glass, and silicon. The current process can print feature sizes down to the tens of microns on 30 x 30-cm-square substrates as thin as 20 microns, with film thickness of about 300 nm for a typical four-layer device, according to Bokhari.

“We work with different kinds of inks, to get different properties and sensitivities,” he explains. “We can add carbon nanotubes or other nanomaterials, mix and match to create more complex structures to make highly customized, highly specific semiconductors. You can design a new application and have it volume manufactured in a very short time, in a matter of hours or days. It opens the whole idea of just-in-time production. These things are not possible for a traditional semiconductor fab.”

With output volumes for the initial production line in the thousands of sq meters per year, the company’s goal is to hit 100,000 sq meters within a year. Ultimate capacity could reach 100,000 sq meters per hour, once OFAB transitions from sheet-fed or batch processing to roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing, says Bokhari.

“One of the beauties of printed electronics is scalability.” Although the fab has one printer line, it “could have three to four lines, and could be scalable by adding different lines or by changing the printer system. We have the flexibility to do both, depending on market demand.”

Gartner Dataquest’s Dean Freeman believes there is a “latent need in the marketplace” for “a flexible or printable detector” and that fabricating such devices is easier than “trying to build an integrated circuit on plastic.” But he does see manufacturing issues ahead for Nanoident.

“Probably the biggest is ramping from the R&D/pilot-line phase into the production phase. Pilot-line Q&A is much easier,” Freeman notes. “The biggest issue [with the transition from batch to R2R] will most likely be the drying and curing times needed before the next level can be deposited.”

The company has been working diligently on process development and yields for the past three years, says Bokhari. Yields are “very device dependent,” and are also a function of the “complexity of the whole system, not just the devices you’re printing but everything you’re printing around it, as well as the materials details—substrates, inks, the whole stack you’re building.”

“For each of the specific components—substrate, materials, specific devices—we’ve been working on all of these different combinations to get a good handle on what the yields are, and how to improve them. One of the main things about this fab will be that as we ramp up into higher production levels, then it will help us improve on yields because we will be tuning and optimizing the process.”

Bokhari says the company will deliver the products manufactured at OFAB to its internal family of subsidiaries. For example, Bioident will offer what he calls a “radically simplified” lab-on-a-chip solution: low-cost devices for mobile analyses and in-vitro diagnostics, fabricated with the company’s Semiconductor 2.0-based PhotonicLab platform for printed photodetectors.

NanoMarkets forecasts explosive growth in the overall global printable electronics market, which includes sensors, displays, signage, RFIDs, smart cards, and other products. Total sales could reach nearly $1.7 billion in 2008 and approach $21 billion in 2012, with most of the devices printed on plastic substrates, according to the industry analyst firm.


The JSM-7001F characterizes nanostructures with a resolution of 1.2nm at 30kV. (Photo: JEOL)

Mar 13, 2007 — A new thermal field emission analytical SEM from JEOL, the JSM-7001F, promises high resolution micrographs at up to 1,000,000X for applications ranging from semiconductor, metals, minerals, materials, and ceramics, to non-conductive biological samples.

The JSM-7001F features an in-lens field emission gun that delivers more than 200 nA of beam current to the sample. An extremely small probe diameter at low kV and high current is optimal for characterization of nanostructures with a resolution of 1.2nm at 30kV. The JSM-7001F targets low accelerating voltage X-ray spectroscopy and crystallography at and below the 100nm scale.

The large specimen chamber&#8212designed for samples up to 200mm in diameter&#8212accommodates a wide variety of detectors simultaneously. These include multiple EDS, WDS, EBSD, STEM, BSE, CL, EBIC, and IR camera. The SEM can also be equipped as a dual column FIB or an e-beam lithography tool.

The SEM comes with a choice of three stage sizes and exchange chambers, and a new 5-axis automated stage. It can be configured for both high vacuum and low vacuum operation.

The system’s Windows XP interface was designed for ease of operation and image analysis. Users can choose to display up to four live images on the screen, as well as live signal mixing.

Mar. 13, 2007 — Azaya Therapeutics, Inc., a company developing technology for targeted chemotherapy drugs, has been granted a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its PSL nanotechnology platform. The PSL technology promises consistent loading, sizing, and stabilizing of active drugs into targeted nanoparticles.

The company’s first application of its PSL technology is a formulation of one of the world’s top-selling chemotherapy drugs. Oncology drugs are a $60+ billion annual worldwide market, and with some coming off patent over the next several years, PSL technology has the potential to extend their life for years with formulations that make them more effective than their original versions, said Azaya president and CEO Michael T. Dwyer.

“PSL nanotechnology is a breakthrough for the formulation and targeting of effective, yet insoluble drugs and has the potential for very broad application to a wide variety of formulations,” said Dwyer. “We have been able to demonstrate that PSL formulation of a standard-of-care, yet toxic, chemotherapeutic allows for dosing at higher levels, increased drug concentration and circulation time, and statistically significant tumor growth inhibition compared to the original formulation. We’ve clearly proven the principle of what PSL nanoparticles are capable of doing.”

Drugs for diseases other than cancer may offer similar opportunities, Dwyer said.

Azaya’s one-step, proprietary manufacturing process allows for the consistent production of uniform nanoparticles. This size allows for selective tumor accumulation due to the tumor’s leaky vasculature.

Mar. 12, 2007 — Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) has launched a series of educational Kits to help secondary school and junior college teachers inject cutting-edge concepts in their laboratory lessons. Minister of State for Trade and Industry Mr S Iswaran unveiled the Kits to some 400 students and teachers at the Institute’s Open House for Schools at the Biopolis. The institute’s mission is to establish a broad knowledge base and conduct innovative research at the interface of bioengineering and nanotechnology.

Aimed at students between the ages of 15 and 19, the IBN Nano-Bio Kits feature interactive experiments and lessons on practical applications in nanobiotechnology, drug delivery, and medical devices. The first three Kits in the range include the Biological Fuel Cell Kit, the Thermo-responsive Hydrogel Kit, and the Dielectrophoresis Chip Kit, and they come equipped with lesson plans, background readings, experimental components and instructions, as well as worksheets and quizzes. Teachers are also provided with worksheet answers, experimental instructional videos, and slides to help them plan lesson modules based on the scientific topics relevant to each Kit.

The kits are part of IBN’s efforts to cultivate an active research culture among the young in Singapore under its Youth Research Program (YRP), which was established in 2003. Through the YRP, the Institute hopes to encourage more Singaporean youth to take up careers in research. This multi-faceted Program has attracted more than 13,500 participants to date, among whom are 617 students and teachers who have undergone full-time attachments at the Institute.

Samples are deposited directly on the surface of the NALDI chip for high-throughput analysis. (Photo: Business Wire)

Mar. 12, 2007 — Nanosys, Inc. and Bruker Daltonics Inc. have entered into a broad R&D collaboration and distribution agreement for Nanosys’ nanotechnology-enabled matrix-free target plates (known as Capture and Analyze NALDI chips) for use primarily with Bruker’s FLEX-series of laser desorption ionization (LDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers.

NALDI chips promise significant sensitivity, throughput, and ease-of-use benefits for the analysis of small molecules. Previously, these molecules typically had to be analyzed with LC-MS (liquid chromatography ¿ mass spectrometry), which is time-consuming, less robust, and requires more operator training.

The partners say that NALDI chips, combined with fast, robust, and easy-to-use TOF or TOF/TOF mass spectrometers, may “revolutionize small molecule mass spectrometry in many important areas of life science or chemical research and analysis.” Potential applications include chemistry and molecular biology research, molecular diagnostics and molecular imaging research, pharma/biotech and other industrial research and analysis, food analysis, environmental analysis, toxicology, and more.

Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will collaborate on R&D related to the NALDI chips, as well as on applications and assay development. Nanosys will manufacture and exclusively supply NALDI chips for Bruker LDI-TOF mass spectrometers, while Bruker Daltonics will market and distribute the chips worldwide.

Mar. 12, 2007 — Silicon Valley Technology Center (SVTC), a development foundry that helps start-up and established corporations develop and characterize silicon-based technologies, is now an independent company. SVTC, formerly a business unit of Cypress Semiconductor Corp., was sold to Oak Hill Capital Partners and Tallwood Venture Capital. As part of the transaction, Cypress transferred substantially all equipment, process technologies and personnel associated with its SVTC business to the buyers. Cypress will remain an SVTC customer.

SVTC also announced that Dave Bergeron, who recently served as Executive-in-Residence at Tallwood Ventures, is joining SVTC as CEO. Bert Bruggeman, who developed the SVTC business model and grew it into a profitable enterprise, will become SVTC’s Vice President of Operations and General Manager.

“As a venture capital firm that seeks to invest in semiconductor and semiconductor-related companies, we consistently see entrepreneurs and their companies continuously challenged to find an acceptable vehicle to establish feasibility of their new technologies. SVTC offers the fabless community a partner model that will allow them to turn their silicon-based ideas into real products,” said Luis Arzubi, general partner of Tallwood Venture Capital.

By Tom Cheyney
Small Times Contributing Editor

Mar. 8, 2007 — While many of the 4000-plus attendees at the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography event in San Jose focused on the latest developments in immersion, double patterning, and extreme ultraviolet technologies, a growing legion of supporters of the leading alternative nonoptical approach&#8212nanoimprint lithography (NIL)&#8212presented their case.

“The real reason our customers are buying imprint tools today [is because] it has unparalleled capability at 32 nm and below,” claimed Mark Melliar-Smith of Molecular Imprints (MII) during his plenary session speech. “The technology is [also] unique among next-generation lithography technologies, past and present, in that it is cheap enough, fast enough, and flexible enough that it can be used for things other than CMOS.”

During an evening panel on metrology and materials for NIL, moderator Chris Soles of NIST noted that the “key to nanoimprint’s success is for it to work in other fields, giving time for the CMOS applications to develop and propagate.” In addition to a worldwide installed base of a few hundred commercial and custom-built R&D systems, there are imprint-enabled production lines serving certain optics and photonic crystal markets as well as unit-process development and device prototyping tools being used by flash memory and other advanced CMOS manufacturers.

Potential markets for NIL include sub-32-nm CMOS, post-CMOS devices, high-brightness LED, storage media, MEMS, flat panel displays, flexible electronics, and biomedical devices. The patterned storage media sector, characterized by Melliar-Smith as a possible “multibillion-dollar [imprint tool] market over the first half of the next decade,” will soon hit “one of those [technological] brick walls,” Hitachi Global Storage‘s Tom Albrecht told the panel session. To make the complex nanoscale patterns required on future disc media, he said “nanoimprinting could play a very important role,” adding later that “we are not talking about any alternatives [to NIL].”

The nanoimprint “infrastructure is there, and is developing at a nice rate,” said Larry Koecher of toolmaker Nanonex. His company, like some of its fellow equipment vendors, also has a growing NIL photoresist business. Other imprint tool suppliers include MII, EV Group, Suss, and Obducat.

Sweden-based Obducat, one of the first companies to commercialize NIL, has more than 60 R&D systems installed, making it “by far the largest single vendor of R&D tools,” said Ken Mason, Business Development Manager North America. In February, Obducat launched its Sindré production tool line, which can handle substrates of up to 200 mm, features throughputs of 30 wafer levels per hour, decreases contamination levels, and increases master stamp life, he said.

While NIL has made significant progress, both in terms of technological and infrastructure development, many daunting challenges remain. Templates play a critical role in nanoimprint’s ability to achieve single-digit-nanometer resolution. Although fabricated in much the same way as photomasks, templates have a different form factor than regular masks, cannot be properly inspected with available mask tools&#8212employing 1X wafer inspection tools as an interim solution&#8212and require manufacturing write-times that can stretch into days for each substrate.

Mask houses such as DNP, Hoya, and Toppan, smaller suppliers such as Transfer Devices, Danish startup NIL Tech, and Benchmark Technologies (with its Holographics partner), and the imprint tool companies themselves are among the companies fabricating or replicating molds and templates.

Although some imprint skeptics point to inadequate overlay and throughput performance, defectivity remains the major obstacle in NIL’s path to success in CMOS and other nanoscale high-volume manufacturing. In a paper delivered during the conference, MII’s S.V. Sreenivasan discussed ongoing studies of imprint-specific defects on his company’s step-and-flash tools. The results showed “excellent progress made over the past three years,” he noted.

Template defects have been driven down to <0.1 per square cm and imprint defects to <1.0, but both metrics must reach <0.01 per square cm. Still, Sreenivasan believes "there are no fundamental issues seen that could prevent nanoimprint lithography from reaching the desired defect density goals for sub-32-nm half pitch."

NIL’s progress resembles that of an earlier disruptive chipmaking technology&#8212chemical-mechanical polishing. Much as IBM did for CMP in the 1980s, MII’s John Doering believes that nanoimprint needs “an industry champion who’s willing to be vocal and public, and support and nurture the technology, until it is clearly required across the board.”